The Starting Rotation Will Save Us...

[totdprods]

Richard's four starts, against Seattle, Minnesota, Houston, and Toronto...
1.50 ERA, 24 IP, 4 walks, 20 strikeouts, .216 batting average against. 

Ohtani's last four starts (Houston, Seattle, Minnesota, Tampa)
3.20 ERA, 25.1 IP, 10 walks, 22 strikeouts, .226 batting average against. 

Skaggs' last four starts (Yankees, Seattle, Minnesota, Tampa)
2.78 ERA, 22.2 IP, 8 walks, 29 strikeouts, .247 batting average against.

Heaney's last four starts (Baltimore, Colorado, Houston, Tampa)
1.38 ERA, 26 IP, 10 walks, 24 strikeouts, .191 batting average against. 

Pretty encouraging! The bullpen and offensive struggles are hurting us, but the consistency the four arms above are bringing, and the improvement they're showing, bodes well. Barria and Trop have done a good job and I look forward to seeing what Bridwell can do against a team that's not Oakland.

I think Eppler will start addressing the pen and offense in coming weeks through very minor moves and minor league promotions, but the rotation is showing signs that they'll be consistent and a force as the year goes on. Pitching and defense wins. Things will come around.

[Second Base]

I still think Eppler adds to the rotation as well. As good as Richards, Heaney, Skaggs and Tropeano have been, all four have a pretty lengthy injury history, and we're one injury away from potential derailment.

Now personally I don't believe that so much because I believe that Suarez and Castillo could get some outs at the major league level. But admittedly, there likely would be a drop off in quality. Canning definitely could, and would be a quality starter, but the Angels are limiting his innings.

I don't think it's coincidence that we are as far under the luxury tax as we are. There likely will be a trade to add a steady mid or back end starter as well as a couple relievers.

[zenmaster]

Hate to be Debbie Downer but what if they return to their averages? Then we are really screwed. 

[jordan]

1 minute ago, zenmaster said:

Hate to be Debbie Downer but what if they return to their averages? Then we are really screwed. 

And I've seen time and time again, the offense will get it going and then the rotation will stumble.  Hopefully, these guys can put it all together because this is a talented group that can make some noise, in the playoffs. 

[Chuck]

2 hours ago, totdprods said:

Richard's four starts, against Seattle, Minnesota, Houston, and Toronto...
1.50 ERA, 24 IP, 4 walks, 20 strikeouts, .216 batting average against. 

Ohtani's last four starts (Houston, Seattle, Minnesota, Tampa)
3.20 ERA, 25.1 IP, 10 walks, 22 strikeouts, .226 batting average against. 

Skaggs' last four starts (Yankees, Seattle, Minnesota, Tampa)
2.78 ERA, 22.2 IP, 8 walks, 29 strikeouts, .247 batting average against.

Heaney's last four starts (Baltimore, Colorado, Houston, Tampa)
1.38 ERA, 26 IP, 10 walks, 24 strikeouts, .191 batting average against. 

Pretty encouraging! The bullpen and offensive struggles are hurting us, but the consistency the four arms above are bringing, and the improvement they're showing, bodes well. Barria and Trop have done a good job and I look forward to seeing what Bridwell can do against a team that's not Oakland.

I think Eppler will start addressing the pen and offense in coming weeks through very minor moves and minor league promotions, but the rotation is showing signs that they'll be consistent and a force as the year goes on. Pitching and defense wins. Things will come around.

I'm really pleased with the starting pitching. Hell, you didn't even mention Barria... 

The part that's so frustrating is that our offense is MUCH BETTER than what they've shown over the past 3 weeks. We've lost too many games where our starting pitchers gave us quality innings.

[Dick B Back]

3 hours ago, totdprods said:

Richard's four starts, against Seattle, Minnesota, Houston, and Toronto...
1.50 ERA, 24 IP, 4 walks, 20 strikeouts, .216 batting average against. 

Ohtani's last four starts (Houston, Seattle, Minnesota, Tampa)
3.20 ERA, 25.1 IP, 10 walks, 22 strikeouts, .226 batting average against. 

Skaggs' last four starts (Yankees, Seattle, Minnesota, Tampa)
2.78 ERA, 22.2 IP, 8 walks, 29 strikeouts, .247 batting average against.

Heaney's last four starts (Baltimore, Colorado, Houston, Tampa)
1.38 ERA, 26 IP, 10 walks, 24 strikeouts, .191 batting average against. 

Pretty encouraging! The bullpen and offensive struggles are hurting us, but the consistency the four arms above are bringing, and the improvement they're showing, bodes well. Barria and Trop have done a good job and I look forward to seeing what Bridwell can do against a team that's not Oakland.

I think Eppler will start addressing the pen and offense in coming weeks through very minor moves and minor league promotions, but the rotation is showing signs that they'll be consistent and a force as the year goes on. Pitching and defense wins. Things will come around.

I look at Richards’ numbers and they look much better than what I see with my own 2 eyes watching him pitch.

Seems like a lot of the unearned runs he gives up are partially his own doing.

[Angel Oracle]

The defense was really good in April.   What has happened to it the past 2-3 weeks?

[totdprods]

4 hours ago, zenmaster said:

Hate to be Debbie Downer but what if they return to their averages? Then we are really screwed. 

I only listed the past 4 starts, but really, they've all been pretty solid and consistent every start. Each has one 'poor' start and that's about it. 

And as happy as I am with our depth, I do think it needs to be addressed in some fashion one way or another - maybe a minor Chacin/Bridwell type acquisition, maybe something more, but agree with @Scotty@AW that one injury could really derail things. 

Overall, the point I was intending to make was that our guys have actually been pretty consistent and certainly productive enough to be competitive, and by seasons' end, the strength of any team's rotation is usually what gets them over the hump. There's some optimism to be had here still.

[Warfarin]

Nice post and thread.  I feel really good about our SP this year and the future direction of it.  

We have a plethora of quality SPs, with more on the horizon in Canning, Suarez, Castillo.   In past years, the injuries to Shoemaker and Ramirez would have devastated us, but thanks to our newfound depth, we are able to withstand it and still be in good shape.

We have other areas that need some help, but SP is not one of them.  Not many teams can say this.

[Chuck]

In the month of May so far, Angels starters have a 2.17 ERA in 132.2 IP.

[T.G.]

47 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

In the month of May so far, Angels starters have a 2.17 ERA in 132.2 IP.

Slackers.

[Angel Oracle]

Time for the bullpen to pull its' fair share of contributing 

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

Garrett Richards. 3.34 ERA
Tyler Skaggs ..... 3.11 ERA
Andrew Heaney. 3.35 ERA
Shohei Ohtani.... 3.35 ERA
Nick Tropeano.. 3.86 ERA
Jaime Barria..... 2.13 ERA

Bullpen needs work

[Billy_Ball]

1 hour ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

Garrett Richards. 3.34 ERA
Tyler Skaggs ..... 3.11 ERA
Andrew Heaney. 3.35 ERA
Shohei Ohtani.... 3.35 ERA
Nick Tropeano.. 3.86 ERA
Jaime Barria..... 2.13 ERA

Bullpen needs work

That looks like the starting pitching version of the 2009 all .300 lineup.

[101halo]

@Lou, I'm too lazy to go bump those disagreeing with me in the Heaney thread when a bunch were ready to give up on him after 2-3 starts. Is it impolite to ask for a little help? Ha. 

[Lou]

Yes

[101halo]

23 minutes ago, Lou said:

Yes

Sigh, I agree, I guess. 

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

Tropeano was on the DL not long ago with shoulder inflammation, luckily it turned out not to be serious. Over the last couple of years any seemingly little injury turns out to be season ending. Even when Heaney opened the season on the DL with elbow inflammation it turned out not to be serious, everything looks golden at the moment.

Eppler talked about having 9 starting pitchers all healthy, and ready to pitch in the offseason. Which is why we stayed clear of the FA market. Of those 9 we are down to 6, but those 6 six have been excellent. We do have Bridwell at AAA but he has been injured and not pitching very well at the moment anyway.

Suarez was promoted to Triple-A Salt Lake on Tuesday, Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register reports.

Thanks to a shiny 2.79 ERA and 16.1 K/9 across 38.2 minor-league innings this season, Suarez has quickly worked his way to Triple-A after opening the season with High-A Inland Empire. The 20-year-old prospect has yet to throw more than 75 innings in a season as a pro, so the Angels will likely be careful with his workload the rest of the season. Suarez will likely spend most of the remainder of the season with the Bees, but he could force a promotion to the majors later in the season if he continues to dominate minor-league hitters.

[Warfarin]

4 minutes ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

Tropeano was on the DL not long ago with shoulder inflammation, luckily it turned out not to be serious. Over the last couple of years any seemingly little injury turns out to be season ending. Even when Heaney opened the season on the DL with elbow inflammation it turned out not to be serious, everything looks golden at the moment.

Eppler talked about having 9 starting pitchers all healthy, and ready to pitch in the offseason. Which is why we stayed clear of the FA market. Of those 9 we are down to 6, but those 6 six have been excellent. We do have Bridwell at AAA but he has been injured and not pitching very well at the moment anyway.

Suarez was promoted to Triple-A Salt Lake on Tuesday, Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register reports.

Thanks to a shiny 2.79 ERA and 16.1 K/9 across 38.2 minor-league innings this season, Suarez has quickly worked his way to Triple-A after opening the season with High-A Inland Empire. The 20-year-old prospect has yet to throw more than 75 innings in a season as a pro, so the Angels will likely be careful with his workload the rest of the season. Suarez will likely spend most of the remainder of the season with the Bees, but he could force a promotion to the majors later in the season if he continues to dominate minor-league hitters.

For the core 6, we have Ohtani, Richards, Skaggs, Heaney, Tropeano, and Barria.

After that, as you mentioned, we have Bridwell, although he's probably more of an emergency spot starter vs a mainstay at this point.

Lamb could probably be serviceable in a pinch as well.

Beyond that, we have Suarez, Canning, and Castillo.  They aren't "quite" ready, but basically on the cusp of it and will certainly be significant factors for us in 2019.

I'd say we are in good shape in terms of SP.  The offense, while struggling overall, does appear to have some possible re-inforcements in AAA if we ever choose to play them (JMF, Blash, Hermosillo, Fletcher, etc).

It's the bullpen that probably needs some outside assistance at this point.