Alden Gonzalez: Blanton gets the call to start Tuesday vs. Mariners

[tennischmp]

Nice edit.  He is the same guy as a starter vs as a reliever, though... over his career.  He's been better in relief this year and last year.  

Who cares about the career? When he regresses and starts pitching like he has in the past you remove him from the rotation.

[tennischmp]

Wins and Losses are the the bottom line for a starting pitcher?  Harold Reynolds, is that you?

They are in the standings, isn't that what we are talking about? Reasons why the Angels are 30-39.

[fan_since79]

Blanton has a 4.44 ERA in his last 4 starts. 26 1/3 innings.

 

Williams has a 4.26 ERA in his last 25 1/3 innings.

 

You can cherry pick the first two months of the season and call this move absurd, if you want, but in the long run, there isn't going to be much difference between these two pitchers.  Career numbers say that.  Last year's numbers say that.  The last few weeks say that. Jerome Williams seems like a nice guy.  Sucks for him.  Blanton may be a nice guy, too.  

 

For the 34th time, I didn't like the Blanton signing... because the Angels had Richards and Williams... but it isn't why the team has been a big disappointment so far.

 

That's right, his ten losses are a very small part of this disappointing season so far. He probably had very little to do with that. Just some bad bounces here and there.

 

/SARCASM

[ScottT]

There were some bad bounces.  He had two games that should've ended ok, but the box score looked terrible.  

[Angel Oracle]

Maroth at least was pitching for an historically bad Tigers team in 2003.

[HaloMagic]

He had thirteen games that should have ended okay but he sucks donkey balls as a pitcher. Bad bounces.

[Docwaukee]

who cares.  let the guy start.  he strings together so good looks and maybe he gets traded.  He looks like shit and he gets released.  At least it gets the decision made this year as opposed to pushing it off to next year.  Put the guy in a position to get him off this team instead of lingering around. 

[HaloMagic]

I guess. It would just suck if it comes at the expense of a deserving player not getting to start.

[ScottT]

He had thirteen games that should have ended okay but he sucks donkey balls as a pitcher. Bad bounces.

 

I disagree.

[disarcina]

I am not a big fan of either Blanton or Williams as my prior posts point out.

 

Like so many here, I really did not like the Blanton signing and before anyone says, 'Monday Morning Quarterbacking/ hindsight and all that' there were a lot of folks here, I'd say most, who all commented that Blanton would not do well here, would give up a lot of dingers and was/is not worth the contract dollars committed to him......this was all at the time of the signing and into ST.

 

As for Jerome Williams, I thought he should have been a 4-A guy for us at Salt Lake City and posted that at ST cut-down time. Oh well.

 

All that being said, Jerome Williams, once again, has come through as fill in rotation guy and has exceeded expectations in his last four starts and most of this year. Some of his long relief effort before being inserted temporarily back into the rotation, has been stellar.

 

I'd go with Jerome Williams.

 

Still the whole situation illustrates the problems the team has and why the Halos probably won't be able to get back to ,500 at the All Star Break to make a run the second half.

 

To make a run the second half, we're going to need to pick up some F/A, perhaps expensive rental, rotation help -- but that's (Grienke, Haren etc.) sort of what got the Halos to the point where they are now..........the most telling stat/ situation of the DiPoto era now is that the Halos' minor league organization is now ranked 30th out of 30 teams.......that's embarrassing.

[ScottT]

Dipoto didn't inherit much in the farm system.  He traded Segura, Pena, Hellweg, Amarista, Roach, and Chatwood.  Who else?   

Segura has started to cool off.  Predictable no matter what his minor league track record indicates, but I still doubt the guy will turn his .807 OPS in the minors to an .895 OPS in the majors.  There's more decline coming.  He may be a very valuable middle infielder, but at the time, you had Aybar and Kendrick.... good players... locked up at a good rate.  Then, you had Jimenez at 3B.   You made a move for a guy that cou'dve made the difference in a playoff push.  It didn't work out.  oh, well.

 

Pena is doing ok in AA.   Hellweg has a good ERA in AAA, but almost as many walks as strikeouts.  Good luck with that. Amarista is a bench player... for now.  Roach is struggling in AA ... walks are up... strikeouts are down.   Chatwood is pitching well.  I'm surprised.  Let's see how long it lasts.  He is doing much better now than he ever did in the minors.   

 

If the Angels have all of those guys now, are they any better?  I don't think so.  

[disarcina]

yeah, little unfair to pin the total collapse of the minor league system on DiPoto -- but he did have that big shake-up of scouting personnel and things haven't gotten better since -- in fact, we've plummeted to near the bottom -- I guess you can point to the deterioration of quality of prospects in the minor league system to justify the shake-up ('See, this is why we got rid of those guys...") but I don't think it's that easy to foist off the blame.........there should have been some sign of a turn-around at the lowest level and that hasn't happened.

 

Halos are rated 30th of 30.  Can't get worse.

 

So what do the Halos do now? Having spent a good amount of money on high priced contracts, if they somehow draw close to .500 at the All Star Break, do they become buyers at deadline time and continue the practices which probably helped lead to the current situation -- or despite the fortune spent to win this year, do they acknowledge, hey, we need some young players (like Trout) to build this franchise on and we REALLY NEED YOUNG ARMS (note this year's amateur draft emphasis).......so, we're in re-building mode for year or three here.

 

Hard to say -- but look back 8 years or so, did the Halos have the worst ranked minor league organization / player development effort in all of MLB??  NO. Do they today?  Many suggest YES. 

[Docwaukee]

Dipoto didn't inherit much in the farm system.  He traded Segura, Pena, Hellweg, Amarista, Roach, and Chatwood.  Who else?   

Segura has started to cool off.  Predictable no matter what his minor league track record indicates, but I still doubt the guy will turn his .807 OPS in the minors to an .895 OPS in the majors.  There's more decline coming.  He may be a very valuable middle infielder, but at the time, you had Aybar and Kendrick.... good players... locked up at a good rate.  Then, you had Jimenez at 3B.   You made a move for a guy that cou'dve made the difference in a playoff push.  It didn't work out.  oh, well.

 

Pena is doing ok in AA.   Hellweg has a good ERA in AAA, but almost as many walks as strikeouts.  Good luck with that. Amarista is a bench player... for now.  Roach is struggling in AA ... walks are up... strikeouts are down.   Chatwood is pitching well.  I'm surprised.  Let's see how long it lasts.  He is doing much better now than he ever did in the minors.   

 

If the Angels have all of those guys now, are they any better?  I don't think so.  

Agreed.  Segura wouldn't even be playing.  Amarista would be Maicer.  I am not a believer that Chatwood's current success will continue.  Hellweg and Pen have bullpen written all over them and Roach is two years away if he makes it as a middle to back end starter at best. 

 

However, maybe they would have created some depth or allowed JD to go in a different direction last offeseason.  The team would actually be worse without Frieri though and likely the same otherwise.  The Frieri move was necessary.  Could you imagine how bad the pen would have been last year without him? 

[YouthofToday]

Maroth at least was pitching for an historically bad Tigers team in 2003.

In all fairness the 2013 Halos might set a record for falling so short of Vegas's expected win total. It could be historic. Some lines had us at 92 wins. We are on pace for 70.

Thanks Arte!

[mulwin444]

1.63 WHIP .332 AVG 13 HR 76.2 IP

 

The guy is terrible and is a big reason why the Angels are struggling to get to .500.  I happy that he hasn't completely sucked against offenses he shouldn't (KAN, LAD, and HOU) but BOS again exposed him for what he is and, if the Angels are serious about doing something this season, he shouldn't be near a start unless both WIlliams and Richards are injured.

[mulwin444]

 Yes...Damn you, Arte, for spending money and trying to win!  (Shakes fist at the sky)

[mtangelsfan]

Blanton sucks.  Nothing to argue.  Williams has proven to be better this season.  Nothing to argue.

 

Conclusion??????????

 

Start Blanton. 

 

sigh

[desiderata]

$10,000 is always a solid bet amount.

This deserves so much more credit than it's getting.

[CaliAngel]

AGGHH!!! Blanton is the new monkee on this teams back