If you can take injuries away from any past player

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 hour ago, Inside Pitch said:

I think you're forgetting how raw he was.  Everyone remembers he only played baseball part time, but people forget he only played 53 minor league games before making his MLB debut, and this was after missing his sophomore season in college and then being declared ineligible and only playing 20 or so games his senior year after the TB Buccaneers tried to sabotage his playing baseball. 

For me it was less about who he actually was .vs what he would have been had he gone through the normal development process.  Also, most people have either forgotten or didn't know that he was drafted by the Angels in 1985, the year before the Royals.  Things could have been fed different.

Yeah, i just read a week ago that he was drafted here first... that would have been rad. He was my favorite growing up.

I just see him as being "too strikeout not enough walk". He had all the tools. But i think his rep had more to do with being a phenom athlete back when baseball had a ton of mostly non athletic types. From a fitness level he was a freak compared to the others. 

[mpcincal]

For the Angels, probably Tanana or Richards as stated before. If Tanana hadn't had his arm problems, he might have mitigated the idiotic decision to let Nolan Ryan walk after 1979. With Richards, I wonder if that freak knee injury in 2014 was a factor in his arm problems later (sometimes you might change mechanics to offset effects of another injury and it affect your arm later); without that he might still be our ace or close to it.

One non-Angel who hasn't been mentioned is J.R. Richard. He was very dominant with the Astros in the late 1970s and then suffered a stroke in 1980 that effectively ended his career. If he had his health, he could have been like the right-handed Randy Johnson (or Johnson would have been known as the left-handed J.R. Richard when he hit his prime) and could have been a Hall-of-Famer.

[Angel Oracle]

I had forgotten that Bo Jackson as a Halo put up nice stats in 1994, in the equivalent of a 1/3 of a season’s at bats (13 HRs, 43 rbis, .851 OPS), and then retired from baseball.

[happybat4]

I think Kelvin Escobar could have had some good seasons if he never got injured. Wasn't he better than Bartolo when Bartolo won the Cy young. 

[failos]

Brandon Webb

[happybat4]

45 minutes ago, Tim69 said:

Brandon Webb

That is a good one. He won the Cy young, finished 2nd, finished 2nd then was out of baseball. 

[KPhalo]

Along with someone like Tanana I would pick Tyler Skaggs. Maybe if the injuries didn't happen then he wouldn't have been taking the crazy pain meds and he'd still be here. Plus when he was healthy he could be pretty good. 

 

[Brandon]

2 hours ago, Tim69 said:

Brandon Webb

Good memory.

[Brandon]

On 5/3/2020 at 5:19 AM, Inside Pitch said:

Non Angels pitcher -- Mark Prior.   Non Angels hitter -- Bo Jackson.   Jason Kendall is another guy you can't help but wonder about -- that ankle injury wrecked him.

Angels pitcher -- he's still playing but Richards is a big what coulda been.   Non playing, you gotta wonder what Tanana would have been had he not blown out his arm but at least he managed to have a career.  Not as lucky was Jason Dickson..   

Angels hitter -- Troy Glaus -- through age 27 he was on pace with Mike Schmidt..     Salmon and GA -- we got to see them at their peaks, Glaus was 27 when his back went sideways and while he had that one huge season he is maybe second to Trout as far as pure talents to come out of the system.

This is almost my exact pick verbatim. I thought Prior and Richards. I had Glaus in the peripheral, but my favorite player of all-time and constant IR list is Ken Griffey Jr.

[happybat4]

Mark Fidrych is another one. 

[happybat4]

Jr Richard had a stroke at 31.

[happybat4]

Eric Chavez and Johan Santana also come to mind. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

Way before my time... but i watched the HBO mickey mantle doc at the gym tonight... imagine if that guy never got hurt

[Fish Oil]

What if The Babe wasn't a fat lazy drunk?

 

[floplag]

Injuries are part of the game, no one is likely to ever go injury free, so i guess for me its more about being injury prone. 

That having been said, the first that comes to mind as many have said Angel wise was Richards. 
I would have loved to have seen what a fully healthy Bo could have done.
And im going to throw out maybe a Joe Mauer to add to the non Angels list.

[nate]

I would go with Glaus probably.  Could argue Tanana, GA, Vlad or Tripod too.

Griffey or The Big Hurt for non-angels.

[Tank]

i wish kotchman would have turned out to be as good as we hoped he was going to be.

[Angels Never Die]

I forgot someone I think I would've rather picked. Kelvim Escobar. Think about what difference it would've made if we had 2-3 healthy seasons from him.

[Brandon]

3 hours ago, Angels Never Die said:

I forgot someone I think I would've rather picked. Kelvim Escobar. Think about what difference it would've made if we had 2-3 healthy seasons from him.

His dick would have done some damage

[HaloBronco]

I'd like to add Fred Lynn, didn't see him listed. 

[Bronson]

On 5/2/2020 at 5:44 PM, Taylor said:

I know he's not retired yet, but if Kendry(s) doesn't break his leg in 2010, a lot would have been different for the Angels in the years that followed.

Absolutely. It’s pretty crazy how one mans injury had such an effect on a franchise... when he broke his ankle it was literally the end of our dominant era. The dumbass trade we made in the offseason leading up to that year didn’t do us any favors either. Man what a terrible season.

[Tank]

i don't know if he was injured but i wish we could have gotten another year or two from paul byrd.

[Torridd]

Angel - Wally Joyner . I think we beat the Sox in 86 if he were healthy.

Non-Angel - Don Mattingly - I used to hate seeing him come up against the Angels. I think he hit about .350 against them, but he got such a bum deal hurting his back right before their dynasty run.