2014 Projections

[LAA Road Tripper]

As the train wreck continues to burn for another couple of months and knowing that, although there isn't a significant amount of flexibility going into next spring, there could be a few unexpected positives that occur before the 2014 season begins, I think that it's reasonable to expect a few things.

1) No publication, no baseball analyst, no website, no one at all will pick the Angels to win the AL West or finish second and few will consider them a third-place team when pre-season picks come out in February. And with Houston seemingly beginning to execute a plan expect the Angels to be slotted for fifth by more than a few people. Thank 2012 and 2013 for that. Expectations falling through the floor may not be a bad thing in some respects, however. Maybe this emboldens the team to take a longer view of things. Maybe not.

2) Where it will hurt is the gate. With lowered expectations comes lowered attendance. That takes a while to drop when things are bad (like now) but it also takes time to recover when things improve. So even if you see a Red Sox-like renaissance in '14, the days of the routine 38K-40K+ crowds will take into '15 and '16 to transpire. More likely, with a 75-80 win 2014 team we'll probably see 28K a night on average for some time.

Obviously I'd like to have a nice big meal with these words next September as the guy wearing number 5 turns into Albert Pujols again, Hamilton decides he really does want to play baseball, three more legitimate starting pitchers appear out of anywhere as does a major league bullpen while Trout and Weaver continue being Trout and Weaver. We'll see.

[Troll Daddy]

Angels will win the WS

Book it!