Monday Lunch Thread: Radio Radio

Move Chone Figgins to second, bring up Brandon Wood. Platoon Aybar and Izturis. Kendrick goes to Salt Lake.

Best advice to Angel fans: EXHIBIT SOME PATIENCE. Lackey and Santana will get to where they need to be. Just relax; this team has what it takes to get better as the season progresses.

FREE WOOD… and possibly S-Rod

in another thread yesterday;

We need;
1) SP to remain consistent.
2) Relief pitching to continue improving.
3) Power hitting to improve.
4) Fewer base-running follies.
5) A 5-6 game win streak.

Those 5 things should help turn us from .500 to a contender with for 1st place.

Even after last night, I am a LONG, LONG way from giving up on this team. Texas pitchers still have a long hot summer to ponder…

The only added thought…Scareduck posted yesterday just how bad our bullpen has been so far this year. I hope/believe we have seen the worst they have to offer, and will only improve from this point forward.;
 - Oliver seems to have re-adjusted to his RP role and is throwing well again.
 - Bulger and Shields seem to be trending better over the last month, especially Bulger.
 - Speier…I still don’t have any confidence in him. His pitches are too slow and flat.
 - Fuentes – He will likely continue to be a roller-coater…shuts down opponents 3 out of 4 tries, then completely blows one like he did on Saturday.
 - The balance of the bullpen (Rodriguez, Palmer (?), Thompson, Loux) just don’t have enough RP experience this year to know if they will be fire extinguishers or gas cans, or just moderately combustible.
 - With Escobar slated to return as a starter, that leaves Arredondo as the mystery of the bullpen. Anaheim Angels had this excellent comment in a thread yesterday;

His peripherals are actually about the same as last season. While he is striking out more batters this year (10.23 v 8.11 last year) he is walking more people, but his K/BB is identical to last year. His 65% strand rate (rate where baserunners score) isnt too far from average. He hasnt given up a HR this year yet. His LD rate is a tad high, but his GB/FB rate is also higher than average, so those should even out and not affect him too much. His infield hit% is 18%, compared to last years 6%, so that should regress as well. His average fastball is down 1.3 MPH to 92.4 MPH, while his slider has raised 1.2 ticks to 86.6 MPH. His changeup is the same velocity, but his split finger has dropped a MPH too to 84 MPH.
   His fastball was 1.55 runs above average/100 pitches last year, but is actually .3 runs BELOW average per 100 pitches this year. His slider also went from about 1 run above average/100 pitches to average this year. The real problem has been the change however, going from his best pitch last year (3.73 runs above average/100) to absolutely awful (-10 runs below average/100). His usage of the changeup has also dropped from 12.5% last year to 1% this year. His split finger has improved over a 1/2 run however to 2.74 runs above average/100.
   The main problem however is his BABIP (batting average on balls in play). This is usually completely out of a pitchers control (average is around .300), and Arredondo’s is .422, which adds alot of baserunners which have come around to score.
    In conclusion, it seems like Arredondo has lost confidence in his change because his fastball velocity is down. Coupled with his increase of velocity in his slider, it doesnt provide enough change of speed to keep batters guessing. His numbers will improve however because he has been extremely unlucky. His movement has been pretty much the same on his pitches (horizontal and vertical) although his slider is sinking more, and running in on righties instead of away from them this year.

Really not sure how ‘Dondo will do if he has lost confidence in his change-up. I think ’Dondo getting turned around will be a key to the bullpen’s overall success, and perhaps the difference-maker for the team this year.

When I was a freshman, the Varsity baseball coach said he would pick the best players for the team, and would not be committed to Senior holdovers riding the pine. Well, those 2-3 Seniors who had played the year before made the team over me, and they sat the whole season while I was in JV. Why do I bring this up? It’s time to part with Quinlan. Ship him to Minnesota for a low minors bullpen arm, or to Houston or SF for high minors reliever. We have plenty of AAA players who can do what Q is doing, and do so cheaper. Brown, Sandoval come to mind, or just call up that third catcher.

For the season, I’m in favor of keeping Chone at 3B. His defense has been spectacular, and although he just a singles hitter who seems to pop up everytime I’m watching, his OBP is not bad.

Aybar has to go. I don’t care where. AAA for a confidence boost, or another organization for a power reliever, or a strong prospect bat. I’m ready for Wood at short. I’d rather watch Wood’s above average defense than Aybars supposed spectacular defense. With the stick, I’ll take .240 if it means he gets regular AB’s and can triple Aybar’s HR total.

Kendrick needs to go. Again, I don’t care where. let him hit .400 in Salt Lake to regain some swagger. Or, let SeanRod have June with the occasional Maicer spot start. If SeanRod doesn’t translate, move HK to FLA for Uggla.

Change nothing with KMO.

For the OF/DH, I think it’s time to move on from Vlad. In the Army, soldiers are promoted for not what they have done, but the potential for they can do. I don’t think Vlad is feared by anyone anymore, and that hurts his production. I don’t think he has the potential to hit like a middle of the order bat. Mostly, though, we have to move away from allowing him to hit into the inning ending or momentum killing DP. Quietly shop him to assess his value. If he can bring more than the perceived value of a compensation draft pick next year, do the deal. If not, then, shit. Let’s just hope he gets lucky in the late summer, and carries whatever momentum he gets for helping us win the wild card into carrying our scrappy asses into the playoffs. extension is out of the question.

I’ll assume that HGH is not agreeing to any trade, or there is no interest, or we are not picking up any salary in whatever interest there has been. Fine, he’s our 4th. He’s healthy, and I’m satisfied if he keeps it up. If he plays like last season, DFA him, take the loss, suck it up, move on, and learn from the bad contract experience.

Johnny and Torii are just fine. Abreu can keep doing what he is doing, even if he finishes the year with 6 HR’s, I’ll still be happy with his production and OBP. Package Willits as long as we have another successful pinch runner. Aybar is fast, but not successful. Terry Evans is not going to get us to the playoffs, but he has both pop and speed. He’s been hot, and we need to give him his chance soon. I’ll soon be saying the same for Pettit and Bourjos, I’m sure. It does us no good to have this many OF’ers that deserve a look, and nowhere to put them.

Bullpen – it’s been horrific to watch, but Bulger is settling down. He’s the new Shields. Give Shields more time than he needs. When he’s healthy, give him 2 weeks to make AAA’ers look silly, then bring him back. Dondo will be fine, but it might not always be pretty. Fuentes will be good, but not great. I think we’re going to need a power arm to make all our junkballers effective again. Maybe that guy is Bulger, I’m not sure. No more FA signings for the bullpen. Developing our own is the key, even if it means we have a rough year.

Rotation – Ervin needs to regain some mojo. AAA might anger him—it didn’t work the last time we did it, but somethign clearly is not right. Everyone else is fine.

kelvim – might be better for the bullpen than the rotation. Keep the confidence for Palmer, as I don’t like his first inning jitters (despite the jitterless last start) and the potential that could hurt coming into a game.

So:

Wood/SeanRod/Maicer manning the MI.

DH Napoli, bring up the 3rd catcher to act as the 1 start a week C.

Sell Vlad, Willits, Quinlan, and one of Aybar or Kendrick. Eat HGH, and give Evans the 5th man.

No FA’s. No extensions (Chone/Vlad).

Work with the bullpen, it will get better. It just won’t be typically great.

Let’s no go all crazy and sell off the entire team. We have to stick with Vlad and see what he can do for the rest of the year. If he’s still hitting .250 in August, then you can bench him.

I really hate to say this, but maybe sending Howie to AAA to work on his swing (if even for a couple of weeks) is a good idea. In that time, you move Chone Figgins to 2B, where his bat surely plays better, and bring up Brandon Wood, PLAYING HIM EVERY DAY.

The bullpen needs help. Swing a trade for a hard-throwing reliever. We have a ton of young arms, so one of them may need to be dealt (R. Rod, Jepsen, Thompson, etc.).

Wait out the starting pitching. Escobar is coming back in a week. There’s no guarantee that he’ll be dominate (see Lackey/Santana), but I have a feeling that he’ll perform well. If he does and Santana continues to suck, try to get him back on the DL and let Palmer continue to pitch.

That’s really all you can do given the team we have right now.

• If Kelvim Escobar is ready to re-join the rotation later this week, then put Ervin Santana on the DL. The drop in velocity is alarming. It would be better for Ervin to focus on re-gaining velocity over the next 3-to-4 weeks and hopefully have him ready to rejoin the rotation in late June or early July.

I do not think signing a 40-year-old has-been like Rudy Seanez is the solution. I’m putting my faith in Escobar. Scioscia has been quoted as saying he wants to put Escobar in the rotation since it’s easier to go from the rotation to the pen, if needed, than from the pen to the rotation. Well, Sosh, it is already needed!

I’d also like to see what we could get in trades for Aybar or Izturis, Mathis, or Matthews (if he waves his no-trade). If our woes continue much longer, I’d even be willing to part with Figgins or Vlad (blasphemy, I know). The Brewers have a great bullpen and need a 2nd baseman. The Cards have a great bullpen and need a 3rd baseman. Plus, Cincinnati, San Francisco, and the Chi Sox all have decent pens, and might be willing to deal since they are also struggling to contend.

with a trip to White Castle please.

1. flip SRod for HK.

2. put Escobar in the pen, but limited to the role of 3rd/4th inning replacement for Santana until Ervin gets his head back together. This eases Escobar back into pitching against big league hitters and gives us TWO starters in that slot in the rotation until they get stronger.

3. Hire a batting coach. (hey, while we’re askin’…)

but we just need some offense. The bullpen will come around and be good enough, but if we cant score more than 3 runs a game, doesnt matter how good the pen is.

we need to have an offense that can keep up with texas along with our pitching staff being better. we cant just settle for being slap hitters. that will only get us to the playoffs, it wont win us a title.

Compared to teams like the White Sox and the scary Red Sox of a few years ago, our team often looks like a bunch of tennis players against these teams. It is most obvious in post season play. These teams with the big knarly guys end up rolling over us. We just are not an intimidating team with a lineup of guys that can put together three or four hits in a row that wins a game.

We have Torii Hunter who is proven that’s one. Mike Napoli if he played everyday would be more consistent. Kendry Morales and he has not even hit his prime yet. Vlad Guerrero is way past his prime, not contributing enough, and keeping Napoli from occupying the DH spot.

I would hang on to Figgins, but try to upgrade players like Aybar, Izturis, Kendrick, Quinlan, Matthews, and even Willits.
 

I prefer
  
  1 Figgy
  2 Abreu
  3 Torii
  4 Vlad
  5 Rivera
  6 K-mo
  7 Naps
  8 Wood
  9 Maicer

Look what it did for us with Matt Palmer.

(going to Poland/Israel/London until the 29th or so).
I think we are overreacting. Howie needs a little bit more time, when he relies so much on balls dropping into hits to be effective, hes going to hit some rough patches. If he gets sent to AAA, he is not going to see the quality breaking balls that he needs to see to improve. Bench him for a few days, show him tape of his ABs where he was mashing, have him meet with Torii or something, but sending him to AAA I doubt will solve any problems because he wont deal with that problem in AAA.
   Aybar is fine, other than occasional off days, he has been performing as a league average shortstop. Thats right, AVERAGE. Have you looked around at what some teams are doing at that position? While Wood and S-Rod are needing major league ABs, Aybar is not hurting our team.
Ervin Santana is NOT fine. His fastball velocity is down four MPH from last year. His MCL is hurt, and the slider causes the most pressure on that muscle, which happens to be Santana’s best pitch. Send him to AAA for a little to see how his arm holds up, and keep Palmer in the rotation in the meantime. Have Escobar fill in the rotation or call up someone from AAA, but Santana is not a major league pitcher at the moment.
   Our bullpen will come around. They were extremely taxed and thin at the beginning of the season, but now they are starting to get healthier. Fuentes is fine, as is Arredondo, and Bulger has been nails. When Shields comes back, he should revert to form, and with Chopper and hopefully a somewhat effective Speier to pair with the ever effective Oliver we have ourselfs a solid ‘pen.
   Maicer is an effective player, he just doesn’t get the opportunity to show it on the Angels. Starts that go to him or Quinlan just take away ABs from Wood/S-Rod. If Acuda has taught us anything, its not to underestimate his mancrushes. The problem is that we dont have enough space on the roster. We could trade Q/Maicer for some relief help, then call up S-Rod to get a few starts a week at 2B/SS, or Wood to play 3B/SS and shift Figgins to 2B to give Howie a rest (even though Figgins has been great at third). If we call up Wood or Sean, they need to get ABs, which aren’t available at the moment. Im sure the Cardinals need a SS and a 3B, so shipping Q/Maicer to them in exchange for a reliever (Glaus has a 50/50 shot and not playing this year).
    We are panicking right now and want to make moves left and right, but take a look outside (sorry non west coasters), bask in the sun, take a deep breath and relax. The Rangers have had everything (minus Hamilton) going right for them this year, the Angels have had everything going wrong. Remember two years ago when the Mariners were poised to win the AL West. They were outperforming themselves like crazy, and just as they did the Rangers will fall to earth (at least this year). We will be fine this year. If management thought we didnt have a chance, they would trade Figgy, and call up Wood. Besides, last time I left for more than three weeks during the summer, the Angels trade for this guy named Teixeira. Im jealous that you guys will be able to see the Angel renaissance while I will be stuck scrounging for internet in cold, rainy Poland.

Let’s hear him go off on Physioc.

no wonder our hitting sucks so bad…. our hitting coach is too busy getting his 15 minutes in on the radio!

blah!

if you’re struggling, you want to hit your way out of it. you press, and swing at everything.

is it the right approach? no. but that’s what happens

should debate: Angels bullpen vs. SLC bullpen ;)

about the patience thing. I’m not saying we go all ‘07-’08 A’s, but we really need to stop the first pitch popups…..

BIG thanks to the Cabreras and the Suzukis. that’s so awesome of them to do something like that.

it pendeltonmike calling in? :)

 mentioned

This may be the only week where I’ll root for the Sox. They’re playin the Rangers…

Eric from Riverside loves him some Wood…

to whoever is on the line

mention!!

to Steve in Anaheim

Matt Brown is Q-Stick 2.0.

forgive us for not wanting to shove him into a starting role.

nice job, Rev

..way to go Rev!

I DARE someone to ask about the Del Ninja bargaining!