Problem with the Team is Pitching!

[stormngt]

Pitching was expected to be mediocre in the off season, it sucked in the spring training and it sucks now.  We can all bitch all we want about Scioscia should be fired but no manager in baseball in baseball can win with this staff.  

 

There is fair argument about Butcher.  After all CJ was pretty good before he got here and he sucks now.  Rodney sucked when he was here and he is an All Star now.  However, I am not sure how much he can really be blamed for this mess.  After all Rodney sucked before becoming an Angel.

 

Blanton sucked before becoming an Angel.  Hanson was a question mark and Vargas was mediocre.  

 

We can blame Dipoto, but one poster made a good comment that Dipoto really didn't have much to deal with.  How minor league system has no depth and the costs of keeping Haren and Santana were too much.  He gambled and right now it looks like the gamble lost.  In hindsight he should have made a play for Saunders over Blanton.  I still think Vargas will return to his mediocre status.  And Hanson was probably the best pitcher he probably could have traded for with our thin farm system.

 

In hindsight it would have been best to rebuild the team in 2010 instead of trying to contend.  We should have never gone after Haren and kept Corbin and Skaggs.  We should have used to money spent on CJ, Pujols, and Hamilton and rebuilt from within.  However, that is hindsight.  At the time I liked all of those moves.  Lesson learned....the question is what to do now?

[Earnest Borgnine of 9]

[Blarg]

What we do now is watch the games.

[Brian Ilten]

While the pitching is a problem, you can't say it is THE problem.  The offense is not producing anywhere near what it should be. 

[Blarg]

Starting off games down 4-0 in the first usualy puts the offense in a difficult position.

[Brian Ilten]

Starting off games down 4-0 in the first usualy puts the offense in a difficult position.

 

Hitting a buck with RISP normally make the pitcher press thinking they have to throw up zeros.

[katie]

.

[stormngt]

While the pitching is a problem, you can't say it is THE problem.  The offense is not producing anywhere near what it should be. 

I agree its not producing like it should, but it isn't really that bad.  Its only been two weeks and in the end the offense will be fine.  However, with the pitching the way it is, there is no way this team becomes a contender.

[nando714]

Captain Obvious

[stormngt]

Hitting a buck with RISP normally make the pitcher press thinking they have to throw up zeros.

how often have the Angels

 

Only four times has the team scored less than three runs.  9 times the pitching staff gave up over four runs.  I think its safe to say the problem is the pitching.  

 

this might be a shock, but a mediocre pitcher should give up only 4 runs a game.  

[Brian Ilten]

how often have the Angels

 

Only four times has the team scored less than three runs.  9 times the pitching staff gave up over four runs.  I think its safe to say the problem is the pitching.  

 

this might be a shock, but a mediocre pitcher should give up only 4 runs a game.  

 

 

Not a shock, in fact, I would expect them to give up 4 runs a game because they are mediocre.  But I also expect that offense to produce 5+ runs. 

[Angel Oracle]

Moral to the story = Arte needs to stay out of dictating which players play here.

All of that money spent on players over 30 when starting off here = fools gold.

 

No more over 30 FAs signed to big money contracts, thank you!

 

After thinking about it, while it's true that Reagins sucked, and that Scioscia and Butcher are not what people thought they were back in the 2000s, the biggest blame goes to:

Arte Moreno and his 1980s Steinbrenner ways destroying what Stoneman had built from 2000-2007.

 

What caused Arte Moreno to go ape s_it on spending money on over age 30 players, starting with GMJHGH in 2007, and ignore the farm system and foreign presence????

 

The $1 million question is:  how does the farm system look currently from a pitching standpoint?

Will we get out of this bad pitching rut in the next 2-3 years?

[nate]

The problem with this team is that they are not winning enough.

[fan_since79]

Might as well blame AngelsWin. The vast majority here loved the Pujols and Hamilton signings.

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

Offense - 3.71 runs a game 4th worst in the AL

Pitching - 5.43 team ERA last in MLB

Defense - 12 errors 28th in MLB

Base running blunders - still a problem

 

Any way you want to slice it this team has underperformed in pretty much every aspect.  I expect the offense to come around and agree the pitching had major question marks but no one thought both would be doing this poorly at this point.  Even if you take that away this team still makes dumb mistakes which has been a recurring theme for a few years now.  Some of what they do on the bases is beyond laughable.

[Lifetime]

Not a shock, in fact, I would expect them to give up 4 runs a game because they are mediocre.  But I also expect that offense to produce 5+ runs. 

It is unreasonable to expect the offense to put up 5+ runs every game. Giving up runs early and constantly fighting to catch up makes the offense press. When the pattern is SP's that struggle to get out of the 5th inning, the offense presses knowing that they have to try to fill the gap. We expected the rotation to be mostly average but they haven't even lived up to that. We had a  lot of questions about the bullpen, but they are being asked to provide 4-5 innings every single game. That's too much for a good pen. It's ridiculous for a mediocre pen. 

[fan_since79]

If players were held accountable for the frequent, dumb mistakes, they might make fewer in the future. Has anyone even been fined once? Or yelled at?

 

Scoscia's expression never changes, and his postgame comments after excruciating losses sound disconnected.

[Lifetime]

Fined for errors? LOL. Do you know of any MLB players fined for errors? 

[tdawg87]

Fined for errors? LOL. Do you know of any MLB players fined for errors?

He didn't say anything about "errors".

[fan_since79]

I'd be happy if they just got yelled at once in a while, instead of returning to the dugout and walking past the statue/manager like nothing happened.

[Lifetime]

I'd be happy if they just got yelled at once in a while, instead of returning to the dugout and walking past the statue/manager like nothing happened.

OK, when is the last time you saw an MLB player get yelled at returning to the dugout on any team not managed by Bobby Valentine or Terry Collins?

[Lifetime]

He didn't say anything about "errors".

cute

[nate]

MLBPA doesn't allow you fine for non rules violations.

[Brent Maguire]

Well yeah, the team ERA is last in baseball so obviously they're a huge problem. The horrible situational hitting is at fault too though. 

[EDinTUSTIN]

It is unreasonable to expect the offense to put up 5+ runs every game. Giving up runs early and constantly fighting to catch up makes the offense press. When the pattern is SP's that struggle to get out of the 5th inning, the offense presses knowing that they have to try to fill the gap. We expected the rotation to be mostly average but they haven't even lived up to that. We had a  lot of questions about the bullpen, but they are being asked to provide 4-5 innings every single game. That's too much for a good pen. It's ridiculous for a mediocre pen. 

You make good points, LT. I still say the lack of hitting with RISP is hurting the team also, but your analysis here is spot on.