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Posted

"Spending limits on the draft aren’t good for lower-budget teams. Spending limits on international markets aren’t good for lower-budget teams."

 

I don't like Bud Selig.

 

For the past year I've presumed that the new market inefficiency is the idea of building a ball club that's perfectly tailored to your ballpark and game management style.  The Yankees find success because they develop and buy ground ball pitchers to keep the baseball within the confine of the walls and sign left handed hitters that put loft under the ball, which turn out to be HR's in that park.  They don't steal bases, they don't sacrifice.  They bomb you and give up less HR's than you.  

 

The Tigers sign and develop high frequency strikeout pitchers because their defense is just plain terrible.  Less balls in play = less errors.  They also sign power hitters who make their already power friendly park play considerably better toward the offense.  They bomb you and find pitchers that will get the ball past you.  They don't run, they aren't manufacturers or ground ball specialists.  

 

This is where I feel the Angels are lacking.  Scioscia likes to take the extra base and manage aggressively, but he doesn't necessarily like to steal.  Still, his managerial style is dependent upon team speed and as of right now, we don't have excellent team speed, but we do have aggressive runners.  Our ballpark does not cater toward the power hitter, yet we've signed guys like Pujols and Hamilton to hit HR's when what we really need are guys that can hit the double like David Freese and Kole Calhoun.  In fairness, Pujols will likely hit more doubles now because his HR's will decrease with age.  As for the pitching staff, Scioscia is VERY SLOW to give the hook, so what the Angels need are starting pitchers that can log innings and a very, very deep bullpen.

 

Right now, I can't say I'm entirely confident in Weav staying healthy and Richards, Santiago and Skaggs logging 180+ innings each.  As for their bullpen, Dipoto's done a fair job at creating more depth this offseason with Smith, Salas, Carson and Moran.  Still, I don't think this ball club matches it's strengths and weaknesses and thus lacks an identity.  I believe it hinges on Weaver staying healthy and Richards, Santiago and Skaggs logging innings.  If those things happen, we'll win.       

Posted

"Richards, Santiago and Skaggs logging 180+ innings each"

I'm not confident at all. Have they ever? I'm also not totally sold on Santiago as a starter.

I have never seen Santiago pitch, but his stats indicate that he has good stuff and misses bats.  If you look at his game log from last year, he rarely gets hit real hard (in his 23 starts, he gave up more than four earned runs only once).  In fact, I bet he compares relatively favorably to CJ Wilson - doesn't give up a lot of hits and strikes out 8-9 guys per 9 innings, but also walks 4 per nine.  As long as he can limit the number of homeruns he gives up, he ought to at the very least be a serviceable 5-guy. 

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