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mancini79

By mancini79
in LA Angels | MLB Daily

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mancini79 Just Drafted

mancini79

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Nothing really earth-shattering or informative.

 

I find it interesting he said the Angels didn't have the pieces last year to be an aggressive baserunning team, but this season will be different. How have the Angels improved this offseason in regards to baserunning???

 

Also inferred that Trout will not be leading off anymore. The highest he will be batting is 2nd but will make his way to the middle of the order.

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KingJustinian Just Drafted

KingJustinian

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Nothing really earth-shattering or informative.

I find it interesting he said the Angels didn't have the pieces last year to be an aggressive baserunning team, but this season will be different. How have the Angels improved this offseason in regards to baserunning???

Also inferred that Trout will not be leading off anymore. The highest he will be batting is 2nd but will make his way to the middle of the order.

Caloun, a healthy Pujols, maybe a faster replacement for Trumbo

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WallyWorld Just Drafted

WallyWorld

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I don't like Trout hitting 2nd, assuming Pujols is 3rd, because it will take away his running game.  Even more importantly though is that I don't think this team has another great candidates at leadoff.  Calhoun may grow into that role, but there's really no one else.  Aybar is literally just about the worst candidate for leadoff in the league IMO.  I'd rather have Pujols hit leadoff.

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Chuck President / Commissioner

Chuck

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On Tuesday's trade, in which the Angels acquired Tyler Skaggs and Hector Santiago for Mark Trumbo ...


I think it's a big step in the right direction. It's always tough to ‑‑ when you're trying to find pitching and to have to lose a piece as important to us as Mark Trumbo was.  It's a little easier to sign a guy like Joe Smith, who we signed as a free agent. But our deficiencies, I think, were very evident, probably for the last couple of years on the pitching side, to be able to have starters that can get you to your game and have the lead and hold those leads. And we were very poor at that for the last couple of seasons and we paid a huge price for it.  Hopefully we're working back for that direction.


 


On whether the Angels still need to add to the rotation via free agency ...


I don't think Jerry [Dipoto] is done as far as trying to find pitching depth and adding to the rotation. He has a lot of things on the table that he's looking at. And if we're able to acquire someone, it'd probably be important; if we don't, I think we're in a much more solid side on the pitching end than we were for most season last year.


 


On Albert Pujols' progress ...


He's swinging the bat. He's taking batting practice. He feels very strong physically. I really feel that he's going to be the healthiest he's been, certainly from what he's been out here with us, probably a couple of years before that in St. Louis where he was banged up. I think the foot will be a non-issue.  And I think that he'll take a lot of pressure off of his knee that kind of went hand-in-hand with having his foot issue. I'm going to be really surprised if he's not the healthiest he's been in a number of years.  And that obviously is an important piece of what we need.


 


On the expectations for Josh Hamilton ...


I think Josh is going to move back to left field and just stay in left field. And I think he'll be more comfortable with that aspect as opposed to switching him to right field. But I do feel, from the way he finished up the second half of last season and made some adjustments, that he understands what his role is a little more, what our team is about and what he can bring. And Josh is going to have a big year for us next year.


 


On what kind of bat fits in the DH spot ...


I think there's a number of ways to go because we have versatility with a guy like Kole Calhoun that can play first base. It can be on the defensive side, a corner outfield and first base, to a player that might be just restricted to a DH spot or a leftfield spot.  And so as far as the bat being left‑handed or right‑handed, I think you're always happy to add left‑handed depth in your lineup. But there's also, as we go through the whole exercise of looking at rosters and possibilities, there's also a role for a right‑handed bat that can fit very nice.


 


On whether Pujols will still need a lot of time at DH ...


I think we'll probably be proactive with that and do it on a hopefully preventative basis. Albert is at his best when he's playing first base. We're a better team when he can play first base and bring that defensive component to our team. We'll look at that first and just try to manage the health issue of how he feels on a daily basis. I do think we'll use him DH days just to keep him fresh, as we will a lot of our guys. But I don't think that he needs to be pigeonholed. And it's not in our best interest as a team to pigeonhole him in the DH, because I think he's going to be healthy and ready to play first.


 


On where C.J. Cron fits in ...


I think C.J. is a guy that is working his way on to our depth chart.  As far as breaking Spring Training and making our team, that might be a bit of a stretch.  But I think we're very comfortable with the fact that at some point next year, if he makes the same improvement that he made this year in the Fall League to where he was during the season this year to the Fall League, and in winter ball he's swinging the bat well down in the Dominican.  He will be in our depth chart, no doubt.


 


On whether the Angels can reach 93-94 wins ...


If you analyze on the offensive side our season last year, although maybe we underachieved because maybe some guys were struggling a little. Still we scored enough runs to reach our goal. I think it's real clear we're going to be ‑‑ to go down very deep on the layers of our club to understand, our starters didn't pitch at a certain point in the game, some of our starters, C.J. Wilson had a terrific season.  Some guys struggled to get us there.  Missed Jered Weaver for a long time. I think there are components on our club that will come together.  And we're very comfortable in the challenge of bridging that gap that you're talking about in getting there.  It's definitely something we can achieve.  And I think what Boston did is a great indication, two years ago, of what they did last year.  I think we have the same potential to hopefully do what they did.


 


On Mike Trout's first two years ...


He's done things that most players at that progression of Mike Trout are in Double‑A doing, and he's doing them at a Major League level, or triple League level, getting their first taste.  He's been around a couple of years, and realize he's not even 23.  He's ‑‑ this guy is just a kid. So I didn't see Ken Griffey Jr. up close when he came up in Seattle when he was 19 and obviously had his Hall of Fame career.  So I can't say a guy like this has never been around, because I think there are some instances of guys that did it. But I can only say from a personal perspective, I've never seen anyone this young that is this ‑‑ that has this much poise and the ability to do the things that Mike can do on a baseball field.  I just haven't seen it.  It's going to be hopefully fun to watch for the next 15 or 20 years.


 


On where Mike Trout fits in the lineup ...


I think a number of things for Mike Trout, if you look at what his potential is and what is the potential of the team, he has the capability of scoring a hundred‑plus runs and driving in a hundred‑plus runs for the season if we set the table well enough for him. I think in the American League in the lead‑off spot, where in the National League if you're always having pitchers bunting, he might get more RBI opportunities in the 1 hole.  That's tougher to do, because your on‑base guys usually aren't 8th or 9th in the American League. So you have to look at that, factor that in as far as who do you want hitting in front of him?  Some higher on‑base guys like Calhoun and [J.B.] Shuck at times in front of Trout last year, his RBI chances totally picked up when we moved him to the 2 hole, if you look at the raw numbers of it. So I think that his future is definitely anywhere 2, 3 or 4 in the lineup.  Where he ends up this year, I just think that from a leadoff spot it's always sexy to talk about that type of leadoff hitter.  But I don't know if it's as functional for Mike or our team if you're not setting the table for him.  So that's probably why it bodes better for him to hit at least 2 and see where it goes from there.


 


On Masahiro Tanaka ...


Yes, I have seen his video.  I think he's a unique talent and you can see why he's coveted.  And there will certainly be a lot of interest in Major League Baseball, if all the details are ironed out that he can come over.  I think much like a lot of the Japanese pitchers we've seen over the years, particularly in the recent past with [Yu] Darvish, there was a lot of talent in Japan, and he's certainly on the top of the list.


-- Alden

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Tank Hall of Fame

Tank

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"If you analyze on the offensive side our season last year, although maybe we underachieved because maybe some guys were struggling a little. Still we scored enough runs to reach our goal. I think it's real clear we're going to be ‑‑ to go down very deep on the layers of our club to understand, our starters didn't pitch at a certain point in the game, some of our starters, C.J. Wilson had a terrific season.  Some guys struggled to get us there.  Missed Jered Weaver for a long time. I think there are components on our club that will come together.  And we're very comfortable in the challenge of bridging that gap that you're talking about in getting there.  It's definitely something we can achieve.  And I think what Boston did is a great indication, two years ago, of what they did last year.  I think we have the same potential to hopefully do what they did."

 

i think English Cop's head just exploded.

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