Wednesday, July 24, 2013
The Dissapointment that is the Los Angeles Angels
For all the money the Angels have spent over the last 2 seasons the product on the field has been disappointing to say the lease. They actually got better after signing Albert Pohjols going from 86-76 in 2011 to 89-73 in 2012...but they also got Kendrys Morales back from injury and signed Zake Grienke before the end of the season. They also had some guy named Mike Trout have one of the best Rookie seasons ever. Still neither record was good enough to win the Western Division. So far this season they're 46-52 and likely to miss the playoffs for the 4th straight season. They haven't made the playoffs since 2009 when they went 97-65 and lost in the ALCS 2-4 to the Yankees.
Back in 2009 the Angels were a fun to watch, overachieving team with a deep bench. They were smart with their money picking up free agents without going to far into the hole (in terms of dollars and length of contracts). This allowed them to put together a pretty good starting rotation. 1 through 4 of John Lackey, Jered Weaver, Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders. The relief pitching was deep and solid with Brian Fuentes getting 48 saves that year. Up until recently the Angels had a reputation for having one of the more solid bullpens in the league.
Fast forward to 2013. They're not as much fun to watch, underachieving and no bench to speak of. The Angels were once know for gambling on hit-n-runs and going 1st to 3rd more than any team in the AL (and maybe even in the league). They don't hit-n-run as much...in fact they don't run that much at all. They had 4 players with double figure stolen base totals in 2012...this season, only Mike Trout (22) has more than 7. Big dollars have been paid out to Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton. Even if this had worked out and Pujols and Hamilton were producing as expected, this handcuffed the team in resigning players. Productive players like C Mike Napoli, OF Torii Hunter, and 1B Kendrys Morales are gone. The depth is also weak with J.B Shuck (yea, I wouldn't expect anyone to recognize the name) starting in LF. The starting pitching is down to two quality starters in Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson. Starters Ervin Santana, Dan Haren, and Zack Greinke all gone from 2012. Wilson was the better off season acquisition two years ago because they got him for a bargain. The bullpen is also suspect. Ernesto Fieri has 24 saves, but he's a "hold your breath until the last out" type of reliever. He's walked 23 batters and given up 30 hits in 42.2 innings. Yea, 1-2-3 innings aren't that common. Getting to Frieri is also an adventure, with Scott Downs the only reliable middle reliever.
Let's play a little "what if", as in what if they didn't sign Puhjols and Hamilton.
1B would be manned by Mark Trumbo or Kendrys Morales. Morales led the Angels with 34 HRs and 108 RBI in 2009. He broke his leg in 2010 and didn't come back until 2012 when he hit 22 HRs and 73 RBI in limited duty. Trumbo hit 32 HRs and had 95 RBI in 2012. Playing in only his 3rd full season the kid has potential. Trumbo ended up playing 1B this season anyway since Pujols's leg injuries has limited his time at 1B. Puljol's has 17 HRs/59 RBI so far this season. Morales has 15 HRs/57 RBI in Seattle. Yea, Morales has less, but isn't being paid nearly as much and doesn't have the bats surrounding him that Pujols does.
Looking in the outfield last season you would have saw Peter Bourjos, Trout, and Hunter. With Hamilton getting the big contract, Hunter went to Detroit where he's hitting .308, only 8 HRs, and 46 RBI with 58 runs scored. I've also seen him on Sportscenter still making great defensive plays in the OF. Hamilton is hitting just .223 with 14 HRs and 41 RBI. I was actually amazed that Hamilton had 48 runs scored since he has a terrible .279 on base percentage.
Would the Angels have been worse off resigning Morales and Hunter instead of going after Pujols and Hamilton? I would argue that they would have been better. Especially considering they would have had much more cash to spend on the rest of the team. Possibly resigning Greinke and/or keeping Santana. How would that pitching staff look...1-4 being Weaver, Wilson, Greinke, and Santana? Maybe just keep Santana and adding depth and shoring up the bullpen.
The team isn't likely to get better any time soon with so much money tied to Pujols and Hamilton for the foreseeable future. What happens when Trout's contract is up? What about Weaver? Or Wilson? Or even Trumbo? With no hope for improving the rest of the team, especially if those guys get paid what they deserve, would you blame them for going elsewhere? I wouldn't.
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I have to say the local sports radio guys like to play the what if game all the time. What if they had signed Albert Pujols to the big contract. They then name off the players they couldn't have resigned to include Adam Wainwright and Carlos Beltran. Just as important are some of the smaller role players and mid level guys who are so important in providing depth and coming through day to day as needed. For the Cards they made the right move. And to be honest the local fan base was smart enough at the time to understand that. When Pujols left they new the long term implications of not paying out the big bucks to Albert were worth the pain of losing his bat.
ReplyDeleteIt is a hard thing for any franchise. When you can afford to make the big splash in the free agent market teams love to do it. And it looks good for a while. But how many times do the really big signings really end up worth it in the end? I'm not sure of the percentage, or even how you quantify that, but I'm thinking it would be on the downside of 50%. Baseball teams must have a balanced roster. It is a long season and you can't have a team that revolves around one or two players. I am in no way criticizing the Angels. They took their show and it hasn't worked out the last two years. Doesn't mean next year won't be different if Albert can stay healthy and both he and Hamilton find their bats again. Still Angel fans have to be shaking their heads. Boston went through this a few years back and ended up blowing up the team. Their salary is still top 5 in the majors but the "get everything they can afford in the free agent market" strategy just didn't work.
That is why general managers get paid the big bucks. I'm glad I don't have to balance all that. As much as I like the thought of playing with a MLB roster I think I'll stick to playing with them in a game setting (http://www.sportsmogul.com/games/baseball2k14.html). It is so much fun and when my franchise loses I don't have to hear it from the fans. :) http://nothingifnotrandom.blogspot.com/search/label/Baseball%20Mogul%202013
I would say the odds are 1 in 32, as in the one team in the league that could afford to pay big money to 2-3 players and still put around them (I'm talking about the Yankees of course) and even they have come down to financial reality this season.
ReplyDeleteAs I said in the article, the Angels are doomed for the foreseeable future because there's no way they can pay to keep the current team together and bring in quality players to sure up problem areas like the bullpen. Trout is going to command a max contract when the time comes. The Angels were lucky when Weaver took less money to stay, but who's to say that his love of playing in Anaheim won't be overcome by his want to win a World Series as he gets older. Wilson and Trumbo deserve raises also. How do they keep those guys and still be able to improve the team?