Orange County Register: Angels in throes of unproved

[AngelsWin.com]

The gap between where most experts put the Angels – third place, around .500 – and the postseason aspirations held within the organization is easily explained.Hector Santiago. Garrett Richards. Tyler Skaggs.Those three pitchers represent 60...

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[ELEVEN]

Is that like unproven?

[Blarg]

Looks like they don't believe Lance Lynn, Shelby Miller and Joe Kelly could have been relied on to take the Cardinals to the playoffs last season.

[Angel Oracle]

Why is it the experts think the Rangers, A'ths, Nats, and Cardinals can have young pitchers get it done, but not ours? 

[Chuck]

Yep. The A's and Rangers are both starting the season with Scheppers and Gray as their opening day starters. 

 

There are no sure things in baseball. Our 2012 rotation was supposed to be the best in baseball. It wasn't even top 15. 

[Homebrewer]

Saw Sonny Gray pitch in Sacramento last year. There wasn't a whole bunch of buzz about him from the Oak fans I sat around that day.

Nice AAA stadium there in Sac town btw.

[19HALO71]

I would rather the Angels be considered in the lower tier of baseball. I believe that we have to many veterans that will take it personally and actually do something this season. So let the "Experts" continue to underestimate OUR Angels.

[Inside Pitch]

Why is it the experts think the Rangers, A'ths, Nats, and Cardinals can have young pitchers get it done, but not ours? 

It's the mob mentality and a case of what have you done for me lately.  Last year the Angels pitching moves ALL backfired, so naturally this year's will as well.   Reading out of town newspapers makes for cheap entertainment, they rarely fact check, they constantly spout opinions as facts and the respective fan base echos what the "experts" are saying. Had Hanson, Blanton et al been even passable last year some of these articles would be about how the Angels are looking to be even better now that they are getting younger and more talented -- but because they failed miserably they simply pile on.

[Inside Pitch]

BTW, for a good example of how recent events can gloss over a situation or buy a team a certain amount of leeway look at Boston.

 

They won the WS last year with Ellsbury being Ellsbury.  They spent the early part of the off-season talking up Jackie Bradley Jr., today they announce Grady Sizemore is the opening day starter in CF.  He's gone .333/.381/.462 this spring which is great to see but Sizemore has hit .234/.314/.413 in the 900+ at bats since 2008, hasn't played MLB since 2011, and been healthy to play in 104 games since 2009.   Basically, this guy was last useful the season before Kendry's broke his leg.

 

If it were the Angels going with Sizemore, the talk would likely be about how the team is pinning it's hopes on a guy that hasn't been able to play and when he has played hasn't looked remotely like his former self. 

[Homebrewer]

Winning 3 WS in a decade earns you some cred points from your fans.

Edited March 28, 2014 by Homebrewer

[HaloFan85]

Has there been any health or arm issues with Santiago this spring?  The velocity on his fastball looks to be down 3-4 mph from his average speed and is by far the lowest of any spring dating back to 2011.

[Second Base]

Predictions means diddly squat. I make plenty of them and know just as much if not more about the Angels than any national columnist. We can all predict til our faces turn blue but even ESPN in all their homer loving tendencies couldn't predict a Boston World Series win last year.

As for unproven, there was a time when Mike Trout was unproven. Even after he posted the greatest rookie season of all time a large chunk of the country thought he'd regress.

Mike Trout unofficially says "to hell with your predictions."