Howie's Future

[Skram]

If you want to see a lot of love for Howie on the boards, trade him in the off season and do a platoon of Green and Beckham all year. Howie is solid, quit acting like baseball is easy. "He needs to learn how to hit a breaking ball" made me LOL. He is without a doubt an above average 2nd baseman.

[Adam]

Howie has a chance to be one of those 12-15 year guys (all with one team). 

 

At 31 he doesn't seem to be losing anything. In fact, he had a career high in walks this past season. He might actually be on an incline. 

[Skram]

Well, we seem to read a lot about his workout habits, I think that would contribute to him having a long career.

[Adam]

Plus, Black guys

[mtangelsfan]

Wait, what?  Howie's black?

[Adam]

Howie is good but one of those guys you're not really going to get anything great for in the off-season. I feel like if you trade him you gotta do it at the deadline to a team with a clear deficiency at 2B and a surplus of talented arms. You'd have to kind of luck into a scenario like that.

 

His price tag is reasonable and his production is very good. 

Edited October 17, 2014 by Adam

[Angel_Fan_4_Life]

They ALL need to learn how to hit the breaking ball, not just Howie

[shellback]

If you want to see a lot of love for Howie on the boards, trade him in the off season and do a platoon of Green and Beckham all year. Howie is solid, quit acting like baseball is easy. "He needs to learn how to hit a breaking ball" made me LOL. He is without a doubt an above average 2nd baseman.

have you watched howie at the plate? how he ever gets a rapido is beyond me.

check reading comprehension. did i say he wasnt solid? did i say to trade him? did i say or allude to that baseball is easy?

yall seem frustrated...

[Stradling]

Shellback types rapido, then immediately says "check reading comprehension". Awesome. How bout checking, I don't know, spell check?

[tdawg87]

Semantics: The Argument

Lets get back to talking about Howie's ethnicity, ok?

I just realized he is the only black guy on the team. Keep him pls.

[Angel Oracle]

His SLG% declined this past season to the lowest it has been at the MLB level (.397), and has been at or under .400 for 2 of the past 3 seasons.

If not for the increased BBs, he may have flurted with a very low .700s OPS.

This from a supposed gap hitting machine

Edited October 17, 2014 by Angel Oracle

[Inside Pitch]

His SLG% declined this past season to the lowest it has been at the MLB level (.397), and has been at or under .400 for 2 of the past 3 seasons.

If not for the increased BBs, he may have flurted with a very low .700s OPS.

This from a supposed gap hitting machine

 

You keep posting raw OPS figures... why?  Are you completely unaware of the league wide drop in offense?   "Just stop it"..  

 

The average MLB player posted an OPS of .700 last year and a slugging percentage of .386, for second basemen it was .372.   The MLB average SLG% by DHs last year was .385, for 1B it was .425 (.410 in the AL)...  Hows that for putting that career worst SLG of .397 into perspective?   You have a plus defensive 2B putting up a SLG% within 30 points of 1B - and 1B/DH is a "supposed" power position.   

 

Kendrick's OPS+ of 115 was not too far off his 118 from 2013 and above his career OPS+ of 108.   Posting a career best walk rate in an era where offense is drying up is a good thing -- the fact that he also positively impacts games on the defensive end of things is a great thing.

[Brent Maguire]

His SLG% declined this past season to the lowest it has been at the MLB level (.397), and has been at or under .400 for 2 of the past 3 seasons.

If not for the increased BBs, he may have flurted with a very low .700s OPS.

This from a supposed gap hitting machine

A low .700's OPS from a middle infielder in today's hitting environment is pretty good. Plus, playing at Angels Stadium knocks his numbers down. 

[Adam]

You keep posting raw OPS figures... why?  Are you completely unaware of the league wide drop in offense?   "Just stop it"..  

 

The average MLB player posted an OPS of .700 last year and a slugging percentage of .386, for second basemen it was .372.   The MLB average SLG% by DHs last year was .385, for 1B it was .425 (.410 in the AL)...  Hows that for putting that career worst SLG of .397 into perspective?   You have a plus defensive 2B putting up a SLG% within 30 points of 1B - and 1B/DH is a "supposed" power position.   

 

Kendrick's OPS+ of 115 was not too far off his 118 from 2013 and above his career OPS+ of 108.   Posting a career best walk rate in an era where offense is drying up is a good thing -- the fact that he also positively impacts games on the defensive end of things is a great thing.

 

Oh Snizzley Snappity Snap!

[Angel Oracle]

I won't disagree with his defense being rock solid, and with his plate discipline for him being a pleasant surprise.

 

But while the numbers throughout MLB have decreased, we are still talking about someone who was admittedly forced into the cleanup spot thanks to a Mr. Roger Dorn Hackilton.   If that has to continue, is the team best served having a .397 OPS in the cleanup spot?   The next question then is, what was the average OPS for cleanup hitters in 2014? 

 

Clearly, Kendrick will be best served by Hackilton getting his act together just enough in 2015, and at least post a close to .800 OPS.

Then Kendrick could focus on hitting 5th/6th again, where his hitting is best served.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Angel Oracle

[Blarg]

Oh Snizzley Snappity Snap!

 

Quit trying to talk like Bill Cosby.

[Blarg]

I won't disagree with his defense being rock solid, and with his plate discipline for him being a pleasant surprise.

 

But while the numbers throughout MLB have decreased, we are still talking about someone who was admittedly forced into the cleanup spot thanks to a Mr. Roger Dorn Hackilton.   If that has to continue, is the team best served having a .397 OPS in the cleanup spot?   The next question then is, what was the average OPS for cleanup hitters in 2014? 

 

Clearly, Kendrick will be best served by Hackilton getting his act together just enough in 2015, and at least post a close to .800 OPS.

Then Kendrick could focus on hitting 5th/6th again, where his hitting is best served.

 

 

Howie being forced into the #4 spot this season has zero to do with your argument that he isn't producing at par with second basemen in baseball.

[Angels]

Kendrick had the sixth-highest wRC+ among all second basemen (35 players) with a minimum of 300 PAs. Kendrick was one of the very best players at his position.

Context matters.

[Angel Oracle]

Howie being forced into the #4 spot this season has zero to do with your argument that he isn't producing at par with second basemen in baseball.

But it does play into why maybe some, including me, on first glance were disappointed with his numbers, knowing that he had to hit cleanup in the latter part of the season.  

Admittedly, after reading some responses in here, Kendrick does appear to be a much more valued player on this team than at first glance.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Angel Oracle

[shellback]

GIDP's anybody? c'mon big boy, swallow it hook line and sinker!

[Stradling]

Yea he hit into 15 of them, behind about 9 other second baseman, including one of the guys you guys want to replace him with, Beckham. He wasn't in the top 60 in the league. Fifteen is about one every 11 games. You guys are trying too hard to hate the guy. Two second baseman we would all agree were better last year, Altuve and Cano, both hit into more.

[shellback]

FISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Stradling]

As you would say, "my condolences".

[DoubleOffTheWall]

It would be dumb to trade Howie, one of the glue guys for this team.

I however, would start Green instead of Freese. 

[Second Base]

If it weren't for the fact that Howie's been thrust into a spot in the lineup he's unsuited for, we wouldn't even be discussing Howie's slugging pct.  You won't find a 2B available with more power.  Grant Green is probably the closest option and even then he's not a cleanup hitter.

 

However, this is a team that scored the most runs in baseball last year and was pretty rock solid at preventing them.  Not the best in the game, but good.  The Angels could sacrifice some offense if it means upgrading the defense.  A more balanced team is a better team.  Green, while he maintains the offensive output of Kendrick, would be a major defensive downgrade.  Yarbrough, while good is not as good as Howie on either side (though I must emphasize, still good enough to be an MLB starting 2B).  

 

The best course of action, undeniably is to probably keep Howie.  The Angels will be competitive again next year and Howie's in the right place to be in the middle of it.  Once his contract expires, thank him for his time and turn to Green or Yarbrough.  If you're looking for pitching via trade, I'd suggest searching elsewhere.  I think the only other trade option really is Cron and I wouldn't do that anyway because I'll quite enjoy the 30 HR's he'll be hitting on an annual basis.