Thursday Halolinks: A Perception of Reality For Bobby Abreu and Left Field

Mark Trumbo and Kendrys Morales have been cleared (or will be very shortly) by the Angels' medical staff to go full steam ahead with all baseball activities. Yay!:

• The mind's eye and personal perception can be a bitch: Can Bobby Abreu still play the outfield? - ESPN Los Angeles. A few years ago, when creating a Facebook page, I was going through photos to use as my profile picture and I found one from when I was in Scotland. I asked my wife her opinion of the photo. "That picture is 10 years old", she said. "So what, I still look the same". "Uh, no you don't". I was flabbergasted! I honestly thought that 10 year-old picture was a true representation of how I looked. So what that I had gained a few pounds and my hair was a little grayer! Maybe Bobby should have a talk with my ex-wife for his reality-check, "There's no doubt I can still play the outfield," Abreu said Wednesday morning. "You know when you start to lose it and I know I have the same ability I've had in my career. I stole 25 bases last year, so you know my legs are still good."
• When I read the above post about Abreu and the outfield, I thought, "He can't be much worse than Vernon Wells". Boy, was I wrong. In this post, Objective PMR, Leftfielders : baseballmusings.com, Baseball musings ranks the players who manned the left side of the outfield last season and guess who placed third...Vernon Wells, while the Angel left fielders from the years 2005-2010 ranked roughly in the middle of the majors. In those years the position was filled by Garret Anderson, Juan Rivera, and...Bobby Abreu.
  
• This pisses me off a little: Delving deeper into Mark Trumbo at third base - ESPN Los Angeles. ""We're not going to be afraid to put him there, but if you had a guy who was not adequate at a position, you could still play him there if the spray chart gave you a probability that there's not enough action there to cause anything," Scioscia said." Okay, that makes sense, they're setting up Trumbo to succeed by playing him when there's a fly ball pitcher on the mound. But then Mark Saxon says this crap, "Based on crude analytics," Crude analytics? Is Saxon sliding into the Lyle Spencer rut of non-numbers? If so, why continue with this, "that seems to mean Trumbo is quite likely to play third when Jered Weaver is pitching and doubtful for starts made by Jerome Williams or C.J. Wilson. Especially Wilson. Two seasons ago, Weaver led the majors in strikeouts and, when batters put the ball in play, it tends to go in the air. Last season, his groundball rate, 32.5 percent, was among the lowest in baseball. It always is, especially for an elite pitcher." If the analytics are so crude, why quote them? BAH!

MORE LINKS AFTER THE BREAK...

• Kendrick could thrive hitting second - angels.com. "It'd be fun. It'd be fun hitting in front of him if that happens, but at the same time, too, as long as I'm in the lineup, that's all I can ask for." I hate to say it, and I know what I wrote above, but in my opinion the best option for the two-hole would be Abreu. I doubt he'll even be on the team once the season starts, but his OBP and the way he works the count would be a nice fit ahead of Prince Albert. Another option could be Alberto Callaspo. To me, Kendrick's game fits better in the middle of the line-up.
  
• Jerome Williams continues his "feel good story" this spring: Angels' Jerome Williams finds a good place to work on mind control - latimes.com. "Williams, a top pick of the San Francisco Giants in 1999, admittedly squandered his first opportunity in the game. He was 23-29 with a 4.25 ERA in 76 big league games from 2003 to 2007 but succumbed to poor work and eating habits. After he was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 2005, Williams ballooned from 200 pounds to 270. He weighed 265 when he was released by the Nationals in 2007 and spent the next four years in four minor league towns, two independent leagues and Taiwan."
• Here's one of those photo-things the Register often does, but this one is entertaining: Angels Photo Day gets lots of smiles - The Orange County Register. "I’m silly anyway. I’ve done a lot of things myself," Hunter said. The silliest request, though? "Action – guys will ask you to run like five yards so they can get an action photo," Hunter said with a laugh. "You’re like, ‘Dude, it’s too early to run.’ "
• Who consistently hit the longest home runs in 2011? - The Hardball Times. "One giant blast over the fence is impressive, but there's just so much entertainment value in watching a slugger crank out home runs into the third deck on a regular basis. To find out, I grabbed some data from the invaluable Hit Tracker Online and averaged out the home run distances of the top 15 home run hitters last year."
• Sorry Moondoggy, but the bromance continues for me: Foul Territory: Rangers catcher Mike Napoli expects to test free agency. "I’d love to be here, but I’ll test the market," Napoli said. "Every player plays to get to free agency. But it’s not something I’m going to worry about. That’s why I have my agent."
• The Gods of Wisconsin: Meeting of the MVPs: Aaron Rodgers drops by Brewers camp, visits with Ryan Braun - Yahoo! Sports
• I thought this was interesting. No, not that Davey Johnson calls it "tweeter", but that they actually have discussions about it: Bryce Harper deletes Twitter account - CBSSports.com. "Earlier this week, manager Davey Johnson mentioned social media use to his ballclub: "We warned them about Tweeter (sic) and Facebook and all kinds of sites," Johnson said . "Nothing's secret anymore. I did point to a couple guys and said, 'Now you listen to this.' I'm (not) mentioning any names, but you know probably who." The article mentions that players are starting to delete their accounts because of fan abuse.
  
• I have mixed feeling about these comments: Luke Scott takes a swing at Red Sox fans - CBSSports.com. "Just their arrogance," Scott said. "The fans come in and they take over the city. They're ruthless. They're vulgar. They cause trouble. They talk about your family. Swear at you. Who likes that? When people do that, it just gives you more incentive to beat them. Then when things like [the last game of last season] happen, you celebrate even more. You go to St. Louis -- classiest fans in the game. You do well, there's no vulgarity. You know what? You don't wish them bad." He's somewhat right, but the fact that he's voicing this opinion to the press kinda makes him a trouble maker too.