Around the Halosphere

by Rev Halofan on May 25, 2009 10:00 AM PDT in Angels News

There are a couple of good articles around the Halosphere that you don’t want to miss...

At The Halo is Lit, SubOptimal goes contrarian on all of us and says that promoting Brandon Wood might actually break what is working. At 4.9 runs a game, the 2009 Angels are scoring more runs already than the 2008 squad did. Those 10 bullpen losses really grate when you consider these ramifications. Suboptimal posts here at Halos Heaven in comment threads quite often.

At In Play No Outs, Marcus breaks down why numbers by specific defensive positions are so important. This gets overlooked in many arguments over how a player should be expected to perform. While so much baseball writing is geared toward either snobby stat-heads or jarhead conformity demanders, Marcus explains complex ideas in easy-to-understand language in a series for baseball lovers who want to learn more that I really hope he continues ... might make a great book (hint hint). Marcus posts here as Carl Johnson.

Shredder Seitz has a good wrapup of Sunday’s game at L.A. Seitz of Chicago, in fact, he has some recent writeups that are as good as any you will read. It is just that in being Mister Successful out in Chicago, Seitz cannot write them every day, so you are all stuck with my rantings and ravings if you want for every game. Would you believe that he posts here too, under the moniker LA Seitz!

Chone Smith at ALL THE WAY is selling his player projections. If you are into that sort of thing, he has PECOTA and MARCEL whipped. Chone Smith himself is her on occasion posting under the monicker RallyMonkey5.

Rob McMillin at 6-4-2 keeps a daily watch over the Angels minor leaguers performance the night before. Rob Posts here as scareduck.

Amidst the detailed reporting of the Arkansas Travelers having a massive comeback lost on a play at the plate, TRAVELEROCITY reports an exclusive: the kid in the between-innings dizzy bat contest got knocked out amidst the mayhem. Plus great pictures of our AA players in action, a sore, benched Hank Conger and commenters who hate Mike Scioscia!

Torii Hunter updated his blog on Friday but I doubt he will be hopping online to describe being punchdrunk from that Dodger stadium wall. Torii doesn't post here, but you might find him on the domono blogs.

And finally... Tommy Lasorda was caught at Angel stadium a week or so ago and reportedly lied his way out of a confrontation with the fans. Read about it at the Angels Flickr Group.

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Tommy Lasorda -- The Baghdad Bob of all Dodger Apologists

by PieceOfAase on May 25, 2009 11:22 AM PDT reply actions

Lasorda

I would have liked to have heard the question posed to Lasorda in the first place, since the person quoting on the Flickr page might have heard either the question or answer incorrectly.

In fact, the history of the AL Angels is intertwined with the Dodgers. Walter O’Malley bought the PCL Angels in 1957 in order to move the Brooklyn Dodgers to LA, then moved the Angels to Spokane, WA to be the Dodgers’ AAA team (the Spokane Indians).

When Gene Autry went to the baseball Winter meetings in 1960 to buy the radio rights to the team the AL was going to place in LA, he left the meetings as that team’s new owner (O’Malley wanted a neophyte owner who wouldn’t out-promote the Dodgers). Autry bought the team name from O’Malley for $300K, even though the team which formerly had the name was now in Spokane.

So, in a contrived and bizarre sense, the Angels did (sorta, kinda) begin as the Dodgers—or certainly, because of the Dodgers.

Or maybe Lasorda was talking about how he didn’t stand up for Scioscia to be Dodger manager when Glenn Hoffman was fired and the team hired Davey Johnson instead, clearing the path for Scioscia to become the manager of the Angels—while the Dodgers are on their 4th manager since Scioscia was hired.

by George Kaplan on May 25, 2009 9:10 PM PDT up reply actions

Thanks for the shoutout, Rev.

Really does mean a lot, particularly as I’m still new at this.

http://inplaynoouts.blogspot.com/ - A blog about teams I like, written by me.
#34

by Carl Johnson on May 25, 2009 12:13 PM PDT reply actions

Question for Suboptimal

Do you think that we should re-sign Figgins at the end of the year? If yes, then where does Brandon Wood play next season? If not, why not, and who leads off next season?

by Brody on May 25, 2009 1:50 PM PDT reply actions

I've thought about this question all year

I really don’t know the answer yet. The Angels will have a tough decision to make. There isn’t anyone on the team who could easily fill Figgins’ role of getting on base and stealing them. The Angels signed GMJ to be their new leadoff guy back in 2006, and that didn’t work out so well. Other than him, Reggie Willits has speed and discipline, but he’s looked awful at the plate ever since his rookie season, and do you really want to waste a corner outfield spot on his punchless bat? As for middle infielders, Aybar is fast, but he’s never going to have a high OBP, and Kendrick is pretty speedy, but he would have to hit like .350 to get on base as much as Figgins does. In the farm system, Peter Bourjos seems like Figgins’ heir-apparent, but his plate discipline is still developing (we hope) and he’s going to have to wait for Torii Hunter to outgrow centerfield before he’ll get a starting job.

So there’s no easy answer that will work for the next year or two without booting someone else. The possible scenarios are (1) ditching Kendrick (if he doesn’t turn it around) and re-signing Figgins to play second or (2) going with an outfield of Figgins-Hunter-Rivera. Without re-signing Figgins, the Angels will either have to close their eyes and bat Matthews leadoff or maybe hope Abreu has one more year in his legs. I’ve wondered if Sean Rodriguez might have the skills to replace Figgins, but they’re not using him that way at Salt Lake, and I don’t see Mike Scioscia changing his vision of the leadoff hitter any time soon. I suspect in the end Scioscia will be loyal to Chone and re-sign him, but if Brandon Wood continues to own AAA pitching this year, he will be a starter next year, one way or another.

by Suboptimal on May 25, 2009 5:23 PM PDT up reply actions

Thanks

Interesting analysis. I had assumed for a long time that we would not re-sign Figgins thus clearing space for Wood. But I did not expect Figgins to get on base or to steal bases as well as he has — he seems to have regained a step from a year ago. He is a uniquely valuable leadoff man for us.

So I guess I have no idea what we should do. Perhaps a trade of Kendrick or Aybar … but to which team and for whom?

by Brody on May 25, 2009 9:28 PM PDT up reply actions

Figgins had some personal issues last year that I think took the smile from his face. I could see he was not all there on the field. Just my observation. His dad was sick … I cannot recall exactly what ailed him.

Figgins has had a much better disposition this year and it has positively affected his on-field performance. I am all for the Angels pursuing him as long as it is not an overpriced contract. My offer is 3yr/$21M.

Make some noise already people. Come on!

by Downing Rules on May 26, 2009 1:23 PM PDT up reply actions