Spring Training Stats mean squat

[Angelsjunky]

Here's a case in point:

 

Albert Pujols 2012:

Spring Training: .383/.437/.850 with 7 HR in 23 games

March/April: .217/.265/.304 with 0 HR in 23 games

 

Hmm.

[Brent Maguire]

Here's a case in point:

 

Albert Pujols 2012:

Spring Training: .383/.437/.850 with 7 HR in 23 games

March/April: .217/.265/.304 with 0 HR in 23 games

 

Hmm.

Exactly. The people who overreact to Spring Training really must not have been watching the past few years. There is absolutely no correlation between Spring Training wins and Regular Season wins. 

[Chuck]

Yup!

[tdawg87]

I'd like to see the opposite of that though.

 

A hitter who absolutely sucked in ST then went on a tear in April.

[Second Base]

Agreed.  I'd hope there'd be folks on the board willing to make the same statement if the Angels had the Royals ST record instead.  I know I'd feel the same.  I'd say right now, the only thing that concerns me is Vargas performance last night and the fact that the Angels are willing to put Richards in relief when the smartest decision would to stretch him out as a starter. 

[fan_since79]

My concerns right now:

 

Vargas

CJ

Hanson's health

Madson's health

bullpen

Trumbo

Conger's defense

 

Blanton has been a pleasant surprise, as well as Richards. Lowe could also be a valuable asset.

[Jason]

I agree that there is way too much panic over ST but what we've seen from the pitching does not give a lot of confidence. Just because Vargas sucked last night does not mean it was a bad trade as some believe. The same goes with some of the pen arms. The one thing that is most concerning is the lack of pitching depth in the org that may come back to bite them. We'll just have to wait and see.

[jshep]

I'd like to see the opposite of that though.

 

A hitter who absolutely sucked in ST then went on a tear in April.

 

Joey Votto had a .671 OPS in 2012 ST and then put up a .939 mark that April.

[tdawg87]

Validation!

[jshep]

I agree that there is way too much panic over ST but what we've seen from the pitching does not give a lot of confidence. Just because Vargas sucked last night does not mean it was a bad trade as some believe. The same goes with some of the pen arms. The one thing that is most concerning is the lack of pitching depth in the org that may come back to bite them. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

Ya, this is the most concerning thing for me as well.

 

Reagins and Dipoto have traded an awful lot of pitching prospects over the past few years, and that could very easily come back to bite us this year when injuries hit.

[Stradling]

Didn't Weaver have an awful spring last year and pitch great in April?

[WallyWorld]

Didn't Weaver have an awful spring last year and pitch great in April?

 

Yes, even threw a no-hitter in April.  If there's a difference, I guess it's that Weaver has/had a track record of success.  With a guy like Hanson, his numbers have been declining, so seeing him struggle is concerning.  Same goes with the 2nd half CJ Wilson had last year.

[jshep]

Didn't Weaver have an awful spring last year and pitch great in April?

 

Ya, and the same was true for Vargas as well.

[jshep]

Yes, even threw a no-hitter in April.  If there's a difference, I guess it's that Weaver has/had a track record of success.  With a guy like Hanson, his numbers have been declining, so seeing him struggle is concerning.  Same goes with the 2nd half CJ Wilson had last year.

 

Ya, especially in the case of Hanson, we have plenty of reason to be concerned above and beyond his ST #s.

 

Although on a positive note, Keith Law saw Hanson pitch in that AAA game on Monday night and was surprisingly complimentary of what he saw, considering earlier in the offseason he made a comment along the lines of Hanson's shoulder being hamburger meat.

[Brent Maguire]

Brandon Belt is currently posting a 1.306 OPS in Spring Training. I think we can expect that to drop off a significant amount. 

[bloodbrother]

Yeah, I don't really care about the results of spring, but the pitching problems are definitely my main concern and were prior to the start of spring. I just simply don't trust Hanson to stay healthy with his poor delivery and this team really needs Madson to be healthy and pitch well for them. They are relying heavily on a few arms and if one of them doesn't play up to par, it could have a snowball effect on the rest of the group. Putting a lot of faith in Madson to help the pen and putting a lot of faith in Weav/CJ to remain healthy and pitch very well

[bloodbrother]

Ya, and the same was true for Vargas as well.

 

MAkes sense, to. Both guys are flyball pitchers, Vargas moreso....that won't bode well in the Arizona heat especialy when the guys are just working on getting their arms ready for the season

 

Vargas bad spring doesn't worry me. His game will transfer well to Angel Stadium with the OF D he'll have. Now, all bets are off when he's pitching @ Arlington

[Docwaukee]

I think Vargas is gonna do this 3-4 times this year, but he'll be good otherwise. His overall numbers won't look great, but a full run of his era will be from like 3-5 blowup starts so it will be ok.

I love the addition of Lowe. If we can get Madison back in late April then maybe we can stretch Richards back out. By that time we will have a good idea about how Hanson is gonna do as well. I'm still a little worried about downs and frieri though.

Trumbo is a mess. I most worried about him of all things.

I still have reservations about aybar in the two spot. He swung at the first two pitches he saw with trout on last night.

[jshep]

Brandon Belt is currently posting a 1.306 OPS in Spring Training. I think we can expect that to drop off a significant amount. 

 

And Steve Pearce just hit his 7th HR of the Spring.

 

Yes, the same Steve Pearce who spent time on 3 different teams last year, and who owns a career .234/.309/.369 line and 13 homers in 709 PAs in the majors.

[bloodbrother]

Yeah, I'm worried about Trumbo as well. It's only spring but he still looks the same and is swinging at everything. Just looks like he's deciding to swing before the pitch is even thrown

 

If they get the Aybar who hit like .320 from late May-end of season, I'm ok with him hitting there. Ideally though, it would have been nice to see Callaspo in that spot. Just know I'll get annoyed at Aybar seeing him hack away at some pitch that is clearly a ball, fouling it off, while Trout is on the run for a SB that he likely would have gotten. You want a guy hitting after Trout who takes pitches and works the count, giving Trout ample time to read the pitcher's tendencies and maximize on his SB potential

[Brent Maguire]

And Steve Pearce just hit his 7th HR of the Spring.

 

Yes, the same Steve Pearce who spent time on 3 different teams last year, and who owns a career .234/.309/.369 line and 13 homers in 709 PAs in the majors.

Also the same Steve Pearce who hit a 3 run home run against the Angels on a Friday night game last year. It really bothered me that he had to be the one to have the go ahead home run lol. 

[Wallerrrr]

Spring stats don't mean squat....however, I'm pretty proud of our many ties

[jshep]

Spring stats don't mean squat....however, I'm pretty proud of our many ties

 

Did we earn the Spring Training Tie Trophy?

[Blarg]

Kendrick can't even win a Spring training batting title.

[Mark68]

My concerns:

 

Trumbo. He's looked terrible this spring. Just like last-half of 2012 Trumbo.

 

The bullpen. Last night was a good performance, and there have been a couple other ones, but I was hoping to see more the last week or two in AZ.

 

Hanson. I don't know what we're gonna get from him.

 

We know that this team is going to score runs, in bunches. The problem is that they might have to, just to stay in games.