Bench INF / OF

[Hubs]

Looking over the first two weeks of stats in ST… I have to say I'm surprised by some players lines offensively. 

 

Before ST started, I'd have said that the Angels were going with 14 position players and 11 pitchers. I still think that's the way they start, excepting the fact that I think Cordero or Shoemaker starts with the club and Madsen starts on the DL. 

 

Yet the BP is another post. For the position guys, I thought we'd see:

 

OF Trout, Bourjos, Hamilton, Wells, Calhoun

DH Trumbo

INF Pujols, Kendrick, Aybar, Callaspo, Romine

C Iannetta, Conger

And either Hester or Hall as the #14 guy.

 

Now looking over the stats, I think it's changed. I think 

 

OF Trout, Bourjos, Hamilton, Wells, Young

DH Trumbo

INF Pujols, Kendrick, Aybar, Callaspo, and two of (Harris, Romine, Jimenez, Rodriguez)

C Iannetta, Conger

 

Romine has been hitting okay, as has Field. But Luis Rodriguez, Brenden Harris, and Luis Jimenez have all been hitting really well. Hall hit well to start, but hasn't got a lot of playing time recently. As for the younger guys: Taylor Lindsey has hit well. Cowart has struggled but he wasn't going to make the team this year anyway. Callaspo, as I thought, has gotten off to a horrible start...which is why I hated that contract. Tell me the team wouldn't be okay (or even better off) with his salary spent on pitching and any one of Luis Rodriguez, Luis Jimenez, and Brendan Harris there. 

 

For the OF, Calhoun has has the playing time, but has not produced. Witherspoon and Girchuck have done really well, but are both righties and I think that spot goes to a lefty. Wells has had a good spring, as had Trout, Hamilton, and Bourjos. NRI Matt Young has done really well, and the guy has played some second base in his career as well. I think he has a real shot to make the team out of spring.

 

Calhoun is obviously the team's first choice as he's on the 40 man roster, and can play all three OF spots plus 1st. 

 

As for the 40-man roster, they are at 39 with the release of Bobby Cassevah the other day, plus Scott Cousins is not hitting well and is on the roster. Field could also be bumped in favor of a NRI. 

 

Young, Harris, Rodriguez all have shots to make team as NRI. 

 

He's had 27 plate appearances against level 8.6 pitching (10 being quality major league starters, 8 being AAA guys) so he's holding his own. That's the most PA of any infielder. He's hit .286 with a .407 OBP (5 walks!), 

 

I think Harris has a reputation as a whiz defensively at short, but Romine can hold his own too. Harris was a major league starter for three seasons, 2007-2009, but never hit super well. Last year at AAA he did really well, but was possibly helped by the mountain air in Colorado Springs. He's 31, but his fielding numbers aren't reflective of where his reputation is. Still, he's capable at SS, 2B, and 3B.

 

Luis Rodriguez seems to dominate in AAA, but never hits well in the Majors. Capable defensively though. He's 32. Can he make the jump? Last year in Tacoma, it was one of his best AAA seasons.

 

 

Jimenez also has a shot but he's on the 40-man roster. Does that help his case?

 

Many of you think I have a prospect-crush on Jimenez, but that's really not the case. I know he has plate discipline issues, but to me the results look like a right handed Garrett Anderson at 3rd base. A doubles guy who just hits. Yeah he may walk 30 times a season on the high side, but he doesn't have a strikeout problem either. 

 

Anderson in his two best seasons, had around 30 walks and 80 strikeouts to go with his 50 doubles His 162 game average is 31 and 89. He usually had 38 doubles and 21 HR in a 162 game season. A .293 average and a .785 career OPS.

 

This is what I think Jimenez will be. In his last three years in the minors, he's had 46, 40 and 38 doubles to go along with 14, 16, and 18 HR. He's had  24, 27 and 19 walks. He's had 70, 72, and 70 strikeouts.  In an average of 123.5 games played. If he had 150 games played, those averages are 50 2B, 19.5 HR, 28.5 walks, and 85 k's.

 

Anderson didn't show this in the minors, but this is very similar to where he ended up being in the majors. 

 

Don't you want a 50 2B, 20 HR, guy with a .290 average even if he walks 30 times and strikes out 85?

 

 

 

The point of this long post is to say that the team has a lot of interesting directions it can go, the next two weeks will be fun. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jshep]

Okay, I'll go ahead and tell you we wouldn't be better off with one of Luis Rodriguez, Luis Jimenez, or Brendan Harris at 3rd and a whole 4 million dollars to spend.

 

Because we wouldn't.

 

As far as the bench, I think they'll go with 12 pitchers, and I'm guessing the reserves will be Wells, Backup C(Really no idea who here, especially if Conger's throwing is really that big an issue for Scioscia), Romine or maybe Field and I guess at the moment Hall.

 

Harris and Rodriguez have both had nice springs, but neither one is a particularly capable defender, particularly at SS, and don't have the bats to make them superior options to the great glove guys in Romine and Field IMO.

 

And if they are going to carry another actual outfielder, I think it's much more likely it would be Calhoun or Cousins instead of one of the NRI guys.

[Troll Daddy]

Callaspo hitting .083 this spring ... I guess it's still too early.

[jshep]

Callaspo hitting .083 this spring ... I guess it's still too early.

 

Sometimes I wish they didn't make Spring Training stats public, because they really don't tell you anything.

[Second Base]

Cowart is struggling this Spring?  That's news to me.  The only guys that had an outside shot at making this team that are performing well enough to earn a spot are Luis Jimenez, Luis Rodriguez, Andrew Romine and Brendan Harris.  Young is doing well but he'd be way too redundant following Wells and Calhoun on the depth chart.  Conger is hitting well but his hitting was never the question.  Defensively he's left a lot to be desired and hasn't really earned a backup spot yet.  Neither has any other catcher. 

 

As far as minor leaguers go, our collection of AA hitters have done well (Lindsey, Witherspoon, Grichuk).  Alex Yarbrough has really opened some eyes this Spring (as I was fortunate enough to predict in this scenario) and may end up jumping to AA. 

 

As for Bill Hall, we'll see where he's at after he gets healthy.  My guess is he goes to AAA and serves as depth.

 

The real question here is who gets that final bullpen spot with Madson beginning the year on the DL.  Figure Frieri is the closer, with Downs, Jepsen and Burnett serving as middle relief.  Williams has the long relief spot locked up.  There could be one to two spots open.  Richards has been stretched out, so he'll be a starter in AAA.  So far. Kohn and Sisk have looked the most solid. 

[gotbeer]

IMO, I think the Angels may go with the veterans before the youngsters as far as bench depth goes.  They will want the prospect bench guys to get regular everyday reps in AAA, as opposed to sitting on the bench at the MLB level using up mlb service time.  

 

This is why I think Hall has a legitimate shot at the roster.  Of course now it depends on how he comes back from injury.  

[Hubs]

Cowart is struggling this Spring?  That's news to me.  The only guys that had an outside shot at making this team that are performing well enough to earn a spot are Luis Jimenez, Luis Rodriguez, Andrew Romine and Brendan Harris.  Young is doing well but he'd be way too redundant following Wells and Calhoun on the depth chart.  Conger is hitting well but his hitting was never the question.  Defensively he's left a lot to be desired and hasn't really earned a backup spot yet.  Neither has any other catcher. 

 

As far as minor leaguers go, our collection of AA hitters have done well (Lindsey, Witherspoon, Grichuk).  Alex Yarbrough has really opened some eyes this Spring (as I was fortunate enough to predict in this scenario) and may end up jumping to AA. 

 

As for Bill Hall, we'll see where he's at after he gets healthy.  My guess is he goes to AAA and serves as depth.

 

The real question here is who gets that final bullpen spot with Madson beginning the year on the DL.  Figure Frieri is the closer, with Downs, Jepsen and Burnett serving as middle relief.  Williams has the long relief spot locked up.  There could be one to two spots open.  Richards has been stretched out, so he'll be a starter in AAA.  So far. Kohn and Sisk have looked the most solid. 

 

I think Young has a shot only because Calhoun needs consistent AB's in SLC. He'd be a lefty backup in the OF and at 2nd. Calhoun has struggled to get going this spring. It's still early but a .143 average and a .450 OPS isn't a great start. Young can take Cassevah's spot on the 40.

 

Cowart has a .590 OPS. 4-16 with 1 walk. He may not be struggling, but he's not lighting the camp on fire either. Doesn't really matter as he's headed to A or AA anyway.

 

Callaspo is hitting .083 which is 1-12. Not a good start. He has 2 walks though.

 

The four guys you mentioned I think all have legit shots to make the team. They can go with 4 OF plus Trumbo and a bunch of infielders too… They don't need to have five OF. 

 

Quick Depth Chart

1B) Pujols/ Trumbo/ Kendrick 

2B) Kendrick / Romine / Rodriguez or Harris

SS) Aybar / Romine / Rodriguez or Harris

3B) Callapso / Jimenez 

 

C) Iannetta / Conger / (Hester in AAA)

 

RF) Hamilton / Wells / Trumbo

CF) Bourjos / Trout / Wells

LF) Trout / Wells / Trumbo

 

Jimenez is likely the odd man out if they keep Rodriguez or Harris or Hall, and Young would be an ideal candidate as he's not needed in the minors, and is a lefty OF option. 

[Hubs]

Sometimes I wish they didn't make Spring Training stats public, because they really don't tell you anything.

 

Except when a veteran players "struggles" carry into the regular season, like they did last year with Abreu. 

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120329&content_id=27719868&notebook_id=27734304&vkey=notebook_ana&c_id=ana

 

Trumbo by contrast had an excellent spring but got to watch from the bench while Abreu got starts in his place.

 

This is the same thing that could happen in 2013 with Callaspo…if he continues to struggle and Harris / Rodriguez / Romine or Jimenez knock the crap out of the ball, what do they do?

 

Callaspo is clearly the worst hitter in the projected lineup (you can say Bourjos based on scattered AB's last year or you can look at his rookie season or stretches where he did get to play consistently, like at the end of June last year) and if he struggles during spring, why do you give him the job?

 

I understand a veteran who usually performs having a bad spring and you say okay, but Callaspo hit .252 with a .695 OPS last year,  which is pretty similar to the numbers Abreu put up in 2010 and 2011 before struggling last spring.

[jshep]

You still give him the job because spring training numbers aren't meaningful indicators of talent. Vernon Wells is crushing the ball, Matt Young is getting on base all over the place, C.J. Wilson is getting hammered by opposing hitters.

 

Abreu didn't deserve to start because he was a 37-38 year old OF who tailed off badly in the 2nd half and there were clearly superior options to him present. Not because he struggled to hit in ST, it was obvious he didn't belong in the Angels' starting lineup before anyone even reported to camp.

 

That's not the case here.

[Hubs]

The $4 Million plus Joe Blanton's 7.5 would've brought us back Dan Haren. That option was for $15.5, but there was a $2.5 buyout that the Angels paid, so effectively, they could have had Dan Haren back should they not have Signed Callaspo and Blanton.

 

Dan Haren > Joe Blanton.

 

And to those who worry about Haren's health, insurance would've covered most of his salary should he have missed any time, and even though he had a down season last year, he could easily turn in another 2011 in 2013. 

 

Joe Blanton is Joe Blanton. Do I think he'll be successful in 2013? I am hoping so. 

 

I'd just rather have had Luis Jimenez and Dan Haren than Alberto Callapso and Joe Blanton.

 

Okay, I'll go ahead and tell you we wouldn't be better off with one of Luis Rodriguez, Luis Jimenez, or Brendan Harris at 3rd and a whole 4 million dollars to spend.

 

Because we wouldn't.

[Wallerrrr]

damn, i wish Bill Hall was healhty