Halos Heaven, a Los Angeles Angels community

Does the Home Run Derby affect a hitter's swing? A look at the past 5 Derby winners, and a hot second half start for Mark Trumbo.

Well, he's leading the Angels in almost every significant metric, but this one, woo boy, who woulda thunk it? This article makes me soar like a ballon. We may be seeing a major generational shift in this franchise embodied in a single player. He thinks. He adapts. He performs. Hard to overstate the significance of some of Trumbo's quotes in this piece. More please.

I keep reading numerous comments that Scioscia is a bumbler when he fails to place Trumbo at 3B, instead placing him in one of the outfield corners, and allowing Callaspo or Izturis to play third. I've read these comments even on days when groundball pitchers like Jerome Williams or C.J. Wilson are on the mound. Just to summarize what we've experienced up to this point. Trumbo has started 8 games at third (only finishing 5, due to late inning substitutions). Over that short span, he has batted .292/.346/.375 –– a slash line pretty typical of Callaspo or Izturis in a normal season. He has 3 runs, 3 RBIs, while committing 4 errors, leading to four unearned runs, in aggregate. This does not account for typical balls that Izzy or Little Al might have nabbed, but which Trumbo failed to get to. To put it short, Trumbo has nearly neutralized his offensive output with his glovework, such that is. So yeah, Scioscia might be a bumbler, but it's not because he's limiting Mark's appearances at third. If anything, Trumbo should be taking more ABs away from a certain leftfielder.

Nice write up by Jeff Sullivan about our rookie of the year.

If the Angels make a move, will they target their weak offense or bolster their pitching staff?

Neyer ranks the best rookie hitters and puts Trumbo 4th and Danny Espinosa 1st despite Trumbo having almost the same stats but with a better slugging percentage, OPS, OBP and BA. Not to mention this flub of grammar to describe Mark: "He's sort of flubbed it." = He is sort of flubbed it. Embarrassing on all accounts, really.

Mark Saxon thinks Brandon Wood's days in an Angels uniform are numbered. As much as it pains me (it's Mark 'Cut-and-Paste' Saxon after all - and worse - Brandon 'Number One Prospect' Wood), I agree with him. Death pool, anyone?