Heyman: Angels have the best outfield in baseball

[Chuck]

Now that the Marlins' OF is in shambles, which teams have the best outfields in baseball now? - https://t.co/TAZ3zl1Dft #Brewers #Yankees #RedSox #STLCards #Angels

— FanRag Sports MLB (@FanRagMLB) January 31, 2018

i'd go 1) angels 2) yanks 3) red sox 4) cards 5) crew https://t.co/ufrhOONgWv

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 31, 2018

[Second Base]

It's the truth. 

When you consider offense, defense, track record and potential, we're the best.

It's not to say the Yanks and Red Sox aren't good. Our unit as a whole is better.

[AngelsLakersFan]

Trout is the best outfield in baseball

[HaloCory22]

Even better in a year or two when Kole is out.

[Chuck]

1 minute ago, HaloCory22 said:

Even better in a year or two when Kole is out.

He either bounces back and has a season like he did in 2016 or he doesn't improve upon his 2017 campaign, which means we should look at replacing him in 2019 with one of Adell, Jones, Hermosillo or a FA/trade. Either way, Calhoun does provide good defense and at the very least average offensive output from the outfield position. 

[HaloCory22]

8 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

He either bounces back and has a season like he did in 2016 or he doesn't improve upon his 2017 campaign, which means we should look at replacing him in 2019 with one of Adell, Jones, Hermosillo or a FA/trade. Either way, Calhoun does provide good defense and at the very least average offensive output from the outfield position. 

Agree completely with what you said here. His 2017 season really soured my opinion of him. So many players outperformed their expectations and Kole was one of the few that fell down a peg or two. If he can rebound to 2015/2016 type numbers that would be solid. Especially for what we're paying him. If Adell/Jones/Hermosillo take positive steps forward this season though I'd look to deal him next off season. Or the pipe dream of Harper in RF hah!

[Chris]

Is it time for Spring Training yet?

 

[Second Base]

10 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

He either bounces back and has a season like he did in 2016 or he doesn't improve upon his 2017 campaign, which means we should look at replacing him in 2019 with one of Adell, Jones, Hermosillo or a FA/trade. Either way, Calhoun does provide good defense and at the very least average offensive output from the outfield position. 

I think Calhoun's reached that point where he either has a good season and stays or underperforms again and is shipped out. 

I mean he's been pretty worthless against LHP and he isn't reaching base, running or hitting for as much power as we had hoped.

Hermosillo can offer the same defense with more speed and a better OBP than Kole. So he's going to need to give the front office a reason to keep him. And it's not like this threat will go away either. Because of it isn't Hermosillo in 2019 then it's Jahmai Jones in 2020.

[Chuck]

7 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

I think Calhoun's reached that point where he either has a good season and stays or underperforms again and is shipped out. 

I mean he's been pretty worthless against LHP and he isn't reaching base, running or hitting for as much power as we had hoped.

I agree on your first point. 

Weird thing about Calhoun's numbers against lefties. When he first came up he mashed them just like he did in the minors, then in 2016 he was better against lefties than against righties, posting a .290/.366/.465  slash line against southpaws.

Hopefully Calhoun was just in a season long funk and he fixes whatever went wrong in '17. If not, Hermosillo could end up replacing him sooner than later, becoming our leadoff guy to boot.

[Make Angels Great Again]

I don't know...Trout/Upton/Calhoun is real close to Judge/Stanton/Gardner.

Objectively, Gardner is a little bit better than Calhoun. He regularly puts out a 4.0 WAR.

Then it comes down to Trout/Upton vs Judge/Stanton.

Well, Judge and Stanton combined for 15.7 WAR by themselves. I imagine Gardner is going to be roaming CF as he has lots of experience there, with Judge and Stanton on the corners. So that's going to put this group at around 20 WAR if they repeat last year. That's just insane in the membrane.

 

If Calhoun bounces back to a 3.0 WAR from his 2.1 last year, and Trout goes berserk and puts up 11 WAR, and Upton matches his highest career WAR of 6, we can match their performance.

 

I would give the nod to the Yanks if you're being truthful with yourself.

[Ohtaniland]

3 minutes ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

I don't know...Trout/Upton/Calhoun is real close to Judge/Stanton/Gardner.

Objectively, Gardner is a little bit better than Calhoun. He regularly puts out a 4.0 WAR.

Then it comes down to Trout/Upton vs Judge/Stanton.

Well, Judge and Stanton combined for 15.7 WAR by themselves. I imagine Gardner is going to be roaming CF as he has lots of experience there, with Judge and Stanton on the corners. So that's going to put this group at around 20 WAR if they repeat last year. That's just insane in the membrane.

 

If Calhoun bounces back to a 3.0 WAR from his 2.1 last year, and Trout goes berserk and puts up 11 WAR, and Upton matches his highest career WAR of 6, we can match their performance.

 

I would give the nod to the Yanks if you're being truthful with yourself.

Stanton / Gardner / Judge / Hicks is probably the best 4 deep outfield in baseball.

[AngelsFanSince86]

I think Calhoun will bounce back. I've noticed a trend with guys who have their first born child also having a down year. Kind of shifts your focus on top of being a very draining experience.

Edit:  To clarify since at least one of you is confused by my statement.  If you have had a child you will more than likely understand.  If not, you need to understand that at the point you have a newborn child there is literally nothing more important. I don't know how it is for a pro baseball player due to the constant traveling, but you can guarantee when they are home they are spending as much time as possible with their newborn and that includes sleepless nights helping to care for the child.  When they are traveling its gotta be tough.  In general it takes time to settle into that.  I specified first born because for most parents its just different that first time around.  Experiencing bringing a life into the world for the first time is something that lasts and takes a while to get used to.  Baseball is a mental sport and if there is anything that can get into your head its having a newborn child.  I have just noticed a trend (and not just in baseball) that players tend to have a down year when they have a child for the first time.  Makes sense that they would.

Edited February 2, 2018 by AngelsFanSince86

[Chris]

If we go technical about it, I think Stanton/Judge rotate thru DH a fair amount in 2018 and not strictly OF (replaced by Hicks/Ellsbury in the field).  I don't see Upton/Trout/Calhoun rotating thru DH much.  So, while strictly playing OF only I think we can beat them on war.  Bottom line 2 top Outfields.

[Chuck]

26 minutes ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

I don't know...Trout/Upton/Calhoun is real close to Judge/Stanton/Gardner.

Objectively, Gardner is a little bit better than Calhoun. He regularly puts out a 4.0 WAR.

Then it comes down to Trout/Upton vs Judge/Stanton.

Well, Judge and Stanton combined for 15.7 WAR by themselves. I imagine Gardner is going to be roaming CF as he has lots of experience there, with Judge and Stanton on the corners. So that's going to put this group at around 20 WAR if they repeat last year. That's just insane in the membrane.

 

If Calhoun bounces back to a 3.0 WAR from his 2.1 last year, and Trout goes berserk and puts up 11 WAR, and Upton matches his highest career WAR of 6, we can match their performance.

 

I would give the nod to the Yanks if you're being truthful with yourself.

In looking at Fangraphs they project the Angels for a 13.5 WAR vs. the Yankees 12.1.

[floplag]

i think an awful lot of people are freaking spoiled wanting to run Calhoun out.  You guys have visions of Yelich dancing in your heads and severely under appreciate the guy. 
Probably our third best player last year overall with a 2+ WAR in a possible down year, gold glove..  idk what you guys want to like a guy sometimes. 

[Make Angels Great Again]

36 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

In looking at Fangraphs they project the Angels for a 13.5 WAR vs. the Yankees 12.1.

 

Yeah I was looking a BR. Projections I imagine are going to be pretty conservative on Judge and Stanton since they both had a kind of breakout last year. They may or may not regress, they're just hitting prime age.

[oater]

26 minutes ago, floplag said:

i think an awful lot of people are freaking spoiled wanting to run Calhoun out.  You guys have visions of Yelich dancing in your heads and severely under appreciate the guy. 
Probably our third best player last year overall with a 2+ WAR in a possible down year, gold glove..  idk what you guys want to like a guy sometimes. 

+1

[Chuck]

I have a good feeling that both Calhoun and Pujols will have bounceback seasons. 

[krAbs]

25 minutes ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

 

Yeah I was looking a BR. Projections I imagine are going to be pretty conservative on Judge and Stanton since they both had a kind of breakout last year. They may or may not regress, they're just hitting prime age.

Honestly, I'm kind of expecting a rough year for Judge. As far as I understand, he has never really hit in the minors at the clip he hit last year, and he really appears to have some holes in his swing. He will always be big and strong enough that he will be able to get some good HR numbers, but I think you started seeing it at the end of last year - once they get a good look at him, MLB pitchers will exploit a young hitter's flaws, no matter how strong he is. I foresee amazing numbers for him as he goes through his career, but I think his 2018 year will disappoint as he learns to make adjustments to MLB pitching.

[UndertheHalo]

I think Calhoun really suffered when Trout was out.  Our line up was pretty terrible and not exactly a difficult line up to pitch around.  Calhoun being one of the more dangerous bats relatively was obviously vulnerable.  I don’t really have any data to back that idea up tho.

Edited February 1, 2018 by UndertheHalo

[UndertheHalo]

1 hour ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

I don't know...Trout/Upton/Calhoun is real close to Judge/Stanton/Gardner.

Objectively, Gardner is a little bit better than Calhoun. He regularly puts out a 4.0 WAR.

Then it comes down to Trout/Upton vs Judge/Stanton.

Well, Judge and Stanton combined for 15.7 WAR by themselves. I imagine Gardner is going to be roaming CF as he has lots of experience there, with Judge and Stanton on the corners. So that's going to put this group at around 20 WAR if they repeat last year. That's just insane in the membrane.

 

If Calhoun bounces back to a 3.0 WAR from his 2.1 last year, and Trout goes berserk and puts up 11 WAR, and Upton matches his highest career WAR of 6, we can match their performance.

 

I would give the nod to the Yanks if you're being truthful with yourself.

I think when you factor in defense that brings the Angels a bit more even.  Or if you really value defense, pushes them ahead.  Agreed a lot of the comp depends on Calhoun.  In any case they’re stacked and so are we. 

[eaterfan]

16 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

I think Calhoun really suffered when Trout was out.  Our line up was pretty terrible and not exactly a difficult line up to pitch around.  Calhoun being one of the more dangerous bats relatively was obviously vulnerable.  I don’t really have any data to back that idea up tho.

Trout missed the month of June. Calhoun's best month by far. Lineup protection doesn't exist.

[eaterfan]

1 hour ago, floplag said:

i think an awful lot of people are freaking spoiled wanting to run Calhoun out.  You guys have visions of Yelich dancing in your heads and severely under appreciate the guy. 
Probably our third best player last year overall with a 2+ WAR in a possible down year, gold glove..  idk what you guys want to like a guy sometimes. 

Exactly this. Two WAR is a pretty solid starter. And it's quite good for his price. 

I know we have some prospects down there but realistically only Herm has a legit shot to be MLB ready in 19. Jones would have to crush AA and AAA and that seems like a lot will have to go right for that to happen. 

Would anyone really bet on Hermisillo out producing Kole in 2019? How many years did we spend looking for a LF who could put up 2.0+ WAR? Now we just want to toss a RF who does that aside.

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 hour ago, floplag said:

i think an awful lot of people are freaking spoiled wanting to run Calhoun out.  You guys have visions of Yelich dancing in your heads and severely under appreciate the guy. 
Probably our third best player last year overall with a 2+ WAR in a possible down year, gold glove..  idk what you guys want to like a guy sometimes. 

He's todays Howie Kendrick

[ten ocho recon scout]

2 hours ago, AngelsFanSince86 said:

I think Calhoun will bounce back. I've noticed a trend with guys who have their first born child also having a down year. Kind of shifts your focus on top of being a very draining experience.

Beat me to it. Ive mentioned on here going back to last year that if were banking on calhoun being a key to our offense, were in trouble. That said, im willing to forget 2017 and give him the benefit of the doubt where he bounces back, due to his personal life.