At 81 Games, Angels Get Mid-Season Report Card
by Rev Halofan on Jun 29, 2011 11:37 AM PDT
in Angels News
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PrintAfter their 81st game of the year Tuesday night, the Angels are 41 - 40 at the halfway point of the season. All mediocrity considered, this comes as a pleasant surprise as does the incompetence of any other team in the American League West to run away with the division. Here is a player-by-player letter grading on the Mid-Season Report Card...
PITCHERS:
Trevor Bell - D+ ...unreliable out of the pen besides one great extra inning effort over Boston.
Bobby Cassevah - C ...from afterthought to hopeful but don't get your hopes up.
Tyler Chatwood - A- ...Who'da thunk it ? ! ? !
Scott Downs - B+ ...almost earning that paycheck as a Lefty Shields.
Dan Haren - A- ...an occasional longball smudges things a little for him.
Kevin Jepsen - D ...high hopes any time jersey #40 is assigned.
Michael Kohn - C ...responded well to that AAA demotion
Joel Pineiro - C+ ...just good enough to take the ball and put us in a hole.
Fernando Rodney - F ...just retire already.
Ervin Santana - C+ ...from Ace to Chased and back again.
Hisanori Takahashi - C+ ...overpaid, sketchy.
Rich Thompson - C+ ...glimmers of greatness if only innings were two-out affairs.
Jordan Walden - B- ...control abandonment needs lots of work aka on the job training.
Jered Weaver - A+ ...and in the master's chambers, they gather for the feast.
CATCHERS:
Hank Conger - C ...why give up on him now?
Jeff Mathis - D- ...occasional glimmer of trade value but close to talentless 3 games out of 4.
Bobby Wilson - C ...like a forgotten Beach Boy.
INFIELDERS:
Alexi Amarista - D ...see ya in 2013, be like a steak and get more seasoning.
Erick Aybar - B ...in the mix often enough not to be scorned.
Russell Branyan - F ...Kazmir at bat.
Alberto Callaspo - C ...above average at being average.
Maicer Izturis - C+ ...they stab it with their hamstring knives but they just can't kill the beast.
Howie Kendrick - B+ ...average at being above average.
Mark Trumbo - B ...that glove is now the lodestone.
OUTFIELDERS:
Peter Bourjos - B ...that bat is slowly developing.
Torii Hunter - C- ...the complete package, just a rapidly aging version of the package.
Vernon Wells - D- ...too relieved to achieve.
Bobby Abreu - B+ ...good but not great.
INCOMPLETES: Reggie Willits, Andrew Romine, Chris Pettit, Matt Palmer, Francisco Rodriguez
EXPELLED: Jason Bulger (readmitted to minors), Scott Kazmir, Brandon Wood
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I agree with most of your grades, but where we differ:
Downs easily gets an A
Takahashi only rates a C
Callaspo, although disappointing recently, led the team for a while offensively, so he gets a B
-and I’d move Amarista to the “Incomplete” group
A wise man does not need advice and a fool won't take it.
That's what VW said!
If the Halos don't care about the way they play, then why should I?
by red floyd on Jun 29, 2011 9:36 AM PDT up reply actions 6 recs
Bam!
Official prediction: The Angels will win the AL west this season.
by RexTookMyStash on Jun 29, 2011 10:12 AM PDT up reply actions
I guess if you put a minus sign at the end of the grade, you get a strike through instead.
A wise man does not need advice and a fool won't take it.
yeah and I think Howie is an A-, Collapso at least a B-, Aybar maybe B+
"Ballplayers play baseball. Hrrmmmff." -Jose Mota
by Fred Fredrix on Jun 29, 2011 11:41 AM PDT up reply actions
Welcome to
The Hotel Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California?
"The world is made for people who aren't cursed with self-awareness." - Annie Savoy
well if I had to pick one area to get mostly A's it would be starting pitching.
and if the outfielders can improve a grade level or two for the rest of the year I think we can win the division.
Uhhhhh Chatwood graded the same as Haren?
Haren = 13/16 Quality Starts, 1.06 WHIP, 3.05 ERA
Chatwood = 8/15 Quality Starts, 1.47 WHIP, 3.64 ERA
Chatwood has been great but not that great.
Scott Downs only a B+? Almost earning his paycheck? Imagine how many more blown saves we would have and games lost had he not been in.Dude has been lights out. His 1.62 ERA is inflated due to bad luck such as Torii not wearing sunglasses, losing an easy out in the sun and the play being scored a hit.
I don’t know what ERA+ is, but Downs is at 221. For comparison, Weaver is at 187. Shields had 2002 at 202 then hovered in the 150-170 range.
Downs should be at least an A. Maybe an A+ when you consider he has one of the best mullets in the game today.
Izzy a C?
Overall, I am really impress with the youngsters. Our smurfs (or is it smurves?) have been valuable as well. Just need our $18 and $20 mil outfielders to earn half of their pay check and we got a shot to compete.
agreed on downs
This guy is the glue holding the angels ’pen together. After the early setbacks i was worried we just got another justin speier, but he has been amazing. He gets an A in my book. He should be closing.
R.I.P. Nick Adenhart - Always an Angel
The grades aren't based on stats,
they’re based on expectation. Chatwood has been an excellent 4/5 starter and no one thought he would be doing as well as he his, but this is exactly what we thought Haren would be. Chatwood’s grade makes sense to me.
Correction
The grades aren’t solely based on stats.
ahhh, gotcha
So its like Chatwood got an A- in HS Algebra and Haren got an A- in Multivariable Calculus.
If that's the case, any chance MLB will allow division standings to be graded on a curve, too?
Pollyanna is dead. But don't get mad at me, I didn't kill her. Tony Reagins did.
Overall, a solid C
But they can make it to a B by the end of September and that’ll make the playoffs.
And they can ride Weaver and Haren to glory on the Final.
Only one I’d quibble with is Haren. He gets an A.
Overall, I believe the grading is fair...
The Halos are currently a mediocre team playing .500 ball. They’ve met expectations from my perspective.
I think the grades for Downs and Thompson are low
Takahashi’s is probably about accurate given how he started the season, but he seems to have turned it around over the last several weeks. He’s also only making about $4 mil this year, so I don’t know if he really qualifies as overpaid.
I actually have a pretty high level of confidence in our bullpen because of these 3 guys and Walden, who has been legit for a rookie thrust into the closer’s role.
Scioscialist Party of America - Redistributing your defense since 2000.
Why the bad grade for Izzy?
2.3 WAR season already for him with a solid .295/.354/.414 slash line (for a utility infielder) and outstanding defense.
Jeff Mathis Batting Average Watch: .191
Izzy's stats are an A
but his hamstrings are an F
average them together and you get a C
by Rev Halofan on Jun 29, 2011 11:23 AM PDT up reply actions
I think an injury F would be like Kendrys' leg.
Maicer’s hamstring are like a C. What did he miss, like a week and a half?
"I have one word for you...Be careful."
-Jose Guillen
love that pic of Sosh
action shots of him are so rare these days
"You realize that Ive been posting on AN since 07 on this name and I am one of the most rec'ed posters there right?" - Some douche named DFA from AN
I agree. I haven't seen him that excited in a long time.
Not giving up yet... but man this season stinks right now (6/9/11)
looks like Torii's threatening to go grab the last piece of lasagna
and Sosh ain’t havin it
"You realize that Ive been posting on AN since 07 on this name and I am one of the most rec'ed posters there right?" - Some douche named DFA from AN
by 2pintsofbooze on Jun 29, 2011 11:16 AM PDT up reply actions
Was this before morning coffee, rev?
Izzy a C?
Downs a B+ but not an A?
Hard grader…I don’t get it. Please explain.
dissenter, dubious and devil's advocate to blog monitors everywhere.
by BryanHarvey'sMoustache on Jun 29, 2011 10:47 AM PDT reply actions
no
teachers can be total control freak douchebags and finally I understand the power that those who cannot do thrive upon.
by Rev Halofan on Jun 29, 2011 11:24 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
The season went south last year
Right after we finished smacking around the NL. Kind of like we’re doing again this year…
It will be interesting to see where things go from here.
Yeah...
All these teams the Angels have been beating up on the last few weeks are .500 or worse. The head-to-head series against Texas might be the difference in the end.
We actually had a better start this year too if I recall, correctly.
dissenter, dubious and devil's advocate to blog monitors everywhere.
by BryanHarvey'sMoustache on Jun 29, 2011 12:13 PM PDT up reply actions
Awfully generous toward Torii and Hisanori.
Takahashi has been a bust for what he is being paid, and Torii has just been a barely league average player at best.
"It's our money," owner Arte Moreno said.
Do you think Vernon Wells could move up to a C if the number of HRs he hits ends up being higher than the number of millions he's being paid?
Pollyanna is dead. But don't get mad at me, I didn't kill her. Tony Reagins did.
He get's an "A" if he gives us a +5 WAR this season.
by mustard_man on Jun 29, 2011 12:53 PM PDT up reply actions
We should expect a $23 million player to get an A
But he would have to hit .330 / .470 / .670 the rest of the way, no exaggeration.
But what about his veteran presence in the lineup?
Pollyanna is dead. But don't get mad at me, I didn't kill her. Tony Reagins did.
Forgot about that
Clearly his veteran-ness is responsible for raising the team OPS by eight points since last year.
most depressing is the comparison to Juancho
VW WAR is at -0.2
Juancho is at 0.4
If Juancho was here he’d be done after this season and Trout could slide in.
Instead we have VW for years to come
Boo mercilessly on the utterly slim possibility he will hate Anaheim and opt out!
Throw his homer run balls back on the field!
All he has to do is look for his pitch to hit, put a good swing on it and not try to do to much.
I’m not sure if staying within one’s self is only for pitchers, but that seems like that would help too.
Pollyanna is dead. But don't get mad at me, I didn't kill her. Tony Reagins did.
More love for Aybar
A plus defensive shortstop with a 115 OPS+ who is becoming a dominant base stealer has got to be worth at least B+.
Still lots of games left, but he has been excellent thus far.
And though I’m not a big fan, Bell might deserve a little bit better grade. He’s not been anything close to special, but his overall numbers aren’t awful. The WHIP is high, and I suspect the ERA will follow, but so far he hasn’t been a disaster. And helping to beat the Pinkhatters in Bandwagonville has to be worth at least a C-. Particularly so after the nightmare of the first six games with them.
Also more love for Maicer
his defense is solid and may be our most clutch batter with RISP
o_O
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