Everything that could have went wrong, did...

[TroutField]

Going into the season we knew our pitching was shaky and we couldn't afford any injuries. We knew that there was no way Weaver could go down and we could stay competetive, we knew CJ Wilson couldn't pitch the way he is pitching, we knew Blanton couldn't totally suck, and we knew we couldn't have Tommy Hanson throwing 87-88 mph fastballs. On the offensive side we thought we had a powerhouse, every big name in our line up has failed miserably except Trumbo and Bourjos, we are supposed to have 3 of the best players in the game in Pujols, Hamilton and Trout and they all have let us down. We all knew we had issues in our bullpen and didnt have the depth to recover from injuries to main components, and Madson was supposed to be back by mid April. Well.... We have lost almost our whole bullpen to the DL and Madson is still a couple weeks away. If our bullpen could have been Madson, Frieri, Jepsen, Burnett, Richards, Williams I guarantee we are at least .500. Oh well coulda, woulda, shoulda.... I'm on the fire Scioscia wagon and the lets blow this thing up and rebuild wagon too but just a reminder to you guys that it isn't all solely on the shoulders of Scioscia and Dipoto, I really doubt when they were constructing this team in Spring training they were expecting Hamilton to be hitting .202 with 2 homers on may 7th or that they were going to have to call up Ryan Brasier for a spot in the bullpen before April was over.

[mulwin444]

Everything that could have went wrong, did...

 

Including a double-post...

[WallyWorld]

fair point - what we're seeing is a mix of poor roster construction, ineffective managing, and a lot of bad luck to boot.

[Mark68]

Everything that could have went wrong, did...

 

Including a double-post...

Triple post.

[Mark68]

Craig says we needed three of these threads.

 

English Cop says that everything that could have gone wrong with this thread, did...

[Chris]

I think the biggest problems have been the injuries:  Weaver, Pujols, Aybar, Callaspo, Bourjos, Madson, Burnett, Jepsen, etc.

 

I would put player performance as #2:  Hamilton, and everybody else to an extent

 

I would put ineffective managing/coaching at #3:  Scioscia/Butcher

 

I would put roster construction at #4:  No Santana or Haren?  Blanton?  bullpen and bench depth?

[jsnpritchett]

"If our bullpen could have been Madson, Frieri, Jepsen, Burnett, Richards, Williams I guarantee we are at least .500."

 

I'm not so sure, really.  The starting pitching has been terrible, too.  And, honestly, who the hell knows what we'll get out of Madson, even when he's back?  I think he's a complete wild card.

[ELEVEN]

Even the wrong players got injured.

[TroutField]

Sorry for the triple post, I have sprint and was posting with my iPhone and it kept saying could not post, but I guess it was. If a mod could delete the two others that would be sweet.

[stormngt]

Going into the season we knew our pitching was shaky and we couldn't afford any injuries. We knew that there was no way Weaver could go down and we could stay competetive, we knew CJ Wilson couldn't pitch the way he is pitching, we knew Blanton couldn't totally suck, and we knew we couldn't have Tommy Hanson throwing 87-88 mph fastballs. On the offensive side we thought we had a powerhouse, every big name in our line up has failed miserably except Trumbo and Bourjos, we are supposed to have 3 of the best players in the game in Pujols, Hamilton and Trout and they all have let us down. We all knew we had issues in our bullpen and didnt have the depth to recover from injuries to main components, and Madson was supposed to be back by mid April. Well.... We have lost almost our whole bullpen to the DL and Madson is still a couple weeks away. If our bullpen could have been Madson, Frieri, Jepsen, Burnett, Richards, Williams I guarantee we are at least .500. Oh well coulda, woulda, shoulda.... I'm on the fire Scioscia wagon and the lets blow this thing up and rebuild wagon too but just a reminder to you guys that it isn't all solely on the shoulders of Scioscia and Dipoto, I really doubt when they were constructing this team in Spring training they were expecting Hamilton to be hitting .202 with 2 homers on may 7th or that they were going to have to call up Ryan Brasier for a spot in the bullpen before April was over.

Glad you added Trout to that equation.  He certainly isn't performing like one of the best in baseball.

[yk9001]

I think the biggest problems have been the injuries:  Weaver, Pujols, Aybar, Callaspo, Bourjos, Madson, Burnett, Jepsen, etc.

Weaver was way less than dominating when he went down.

Pujols is of questionable age and medical history.  Any injury from him can't be a surprise.

We signed Madson hurt/recovering.

 

Aybar, Callaspo and Bourjos injuries have hurt the team, but every team gets them.

[Reveille1984]

Glad you added Trout to that equation.  He certainly isn't performing like one of the best in baseball.

 

Is this sarcasm?  He's already at 1.5 WAR even with his mediocre start and is top five in the AL behind only Cabrera, Longoria, Machado and Santana.  Also has the same ISO as Miggy and his BABIP is only .311 compared to a .350 career mark.

[nando714]

Murphy's Law = Angels

[Angel Oracle]

Trout is fine, .846 OPS and on pace for 90 XBHs (currently 10,3,5).

The only thing is that he isn't 2012 Trout, yet.

[yk9001]

And it is 'could have gone wrong'.

[Reveille1984]

Chances are Trout won't ever match that season again, let alone top it.  

 

The only anomaly I see in his stats is that his o-contact% is only 58% this year, compared to almost 72% last year.  Basically means that he made contact with almost 3/4 of pitches he swung at outside the strike zone last year, and it's dropped about 15% this season.  He's also been seeing nearly 10% more sliders/change-ups (which should be expected given his 2012 numbers).  Match all that data with about a 4% higher o-swing% in 2013 and its pretty clear that pitchers have adjusted by throwing him a lot more junk, and he's swinging at a lot of it.  His swing rate is up a little from last year even though he's seeing less hittable pitches.  Maybe hitting in the 2-spot has changed his approach slightly, but its only been about a month so who knows.

 

Once he makes some adjustments of his own he'll probably get even better as the year goes on.

[Angel Oracle]

Yep, barring injury, Trout is the least of our worries.

[PercySquint]

The horror won't stop. This team's record is an absolute disgrace. Bad pitching is one thing, but 11-21??? Really? A team that has Trout, Albert, and Hamilton is 11-21? How is that possible?

 

Getting beat by Houston flops us lower than whale shit.

[2002_halos_II]

"Weaver was way less than dominating when he went down."

Wasn't that his 2nd start?!?

[70runner]

Trout will be fine, as soon as he drops about 20lbs.  Losing Aybar and PB, definite factors.  Weav, maybe, but that 85mph heater looms as a hugh concern.  The winner of the what went wrong sweepstakes is: the Moreno strategy of hiring the most famous, expensive players in the world while shipping away the farm system.   This team is old (no way Pujols is just 32), slow, dull, and BAD. 

[Bob Trop]

After 32 Games:

Starting Pitching- D

Relief Pitching- D-

Defense- C-

Offense-C

Bench- C-

Manager- D

General Manager- F

It is pretty easy to explain the 11-21 start. Basically below average in every category. The injuries and lack of organizational depth also are huge factors.

I don't see this team winning 75 games.

[Bob Trop]

After 32 Games:

Starting Pitching- D

Relief Pitching- D-

Defense- C-

Offense-C

Bench- C-

Manager- D

General Manager- F

It is pretty easy to explain the 11-21 start. Basically below average in every category. The injuries and lack of organizational depth also are huge factors.

I don't see this team winning 75 games.