Jump to content
  • Welcome to AngelsWin.com

    AngelsWin.com - THE Internet Home for Angels fans! Unraveling Angels Baseball ... One Thread at a Time.

    Register today to join the most interactive online Angels community on the net!

    Once you're a member you'll see less advertisements. Become a Premium member and you won't see any ads! 

     

IGNORED

All-Time Single-Season Team: California/Anaheim/LA Angels


gotbeer

Recommended Posts

My all-time team by position:

1B - No Halos have ever held this position for a long time.   But the best for the longest would be Wally Joyner. 

2B - Bobby Grich

SS - Jim Fregosi

3B - Troy Glaus

LF - Garrett Anderson

CF - Tough call, many are close to one another (Rivers, Pettis, Lynn, Edmonds, Erstad...Trout having been here just 2 years) 

RF - Tim Salmon  (I know, Vlad should be here.  But Kingfish ruled there for about 11 years.) 

C - Bengie Molina (Downing split between C and LF, hurting him positionally on the all-time team.) 

DH - Don Baylor

 

SP - Nolan Ryan

SP - Frank Tanana

SP - Chuck Finley

SP - Mike Witt

SP - Jarrod Washburn

 

RP - Troy Percival

RP - K-Rod

RP - Brian Harvey

RP - Scot Shields

RP - Brendan Donnelly

Edited by Angel Oracle
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I want this staff!!!

 

STARTING PITCHERS - 1964 Dean Chance, 1973 Nolan Ryan, 1977 Frank Tanana, 1990 Chuck Finley, 2011 Jered Weaver

 

Well, let's see ... Chance won a Cy Young in '64 after leading the AL in wins (20), ERA (1.65), complete games (15), shutouts (11), innings pitched (278 1/3), ERA+ (200) and home run rate (0.2 HR/9 IP). He also had a 1.01 WHIP and 207 strikeouts. Oh yeah, and he even threw in four saves for good measure.

 

Ryan never won a Cy Young, but he finished second in '73 and that's also the season he posted a career-high 383 strikeouts. The quick-and-dirty line: 21-16, 2.87 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 26 complete games, four shutouts, 326 innings pitched.

 

Tanana was outstanding early in his career for the Angels and his best effort came in '77 when he was 15-9 with an AL-best 2.54 ERA (AL-best 154 ERA+). He also had 20 complete games and seven shutouts, working 241 1/3 innings.

 

Finley went 18-9 in consecutive years (1990-91), but the former was much better. He had a 2.40 ERA (158 ERA+) in 236 innings.

 

Weaver was 20-5 and led the majors in WHIP (1.02) in 2012, but I like his 18-8 2011 season better because his ERA was 0.40 better, ERA+ was 21 points higher, WHIP was better, he struck out 56 more batters and threw 47 more innings.

 

Some of the other names in the crowded field (again): Jim Abbott, Bartolo Colon, John Lackey, Dan Haren, Ervin Santana, Mike Witt, Mark Langston, Andy Messersmith, Jarrod Washburn and Bert Blyleven. There were some real gems and obviously tough omissions in there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Baylor's '79 was incredible. As much as Salmon is my favorite player, I can't justify starting him over Baylor at DH when comparing seasons.

 

Damn, our team would be sick and probably lead the league in OBP.

 

Our rotation may be the best all-time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In case you're all wondering, here's the lineup by fWAR:

 

C: 1979 Downing 5.0

1B: 1967 Minchner 4.4

2B: 2011 Kendrick 5.7

SS: 1964 Fregosi 7.0

3B: 2000 Glaus 8.2

LF: 2000 Erstad 8.7

CF: 2013 Trout 10.4

RF: 2004 Guerrero 6.1

DH: 1973 Robinson 4.2

 

And here's 2nd place fWAR:

 

C: 1990 Parrish 4.6

1B: 1982 Carew 4.3

2B: 1979 Grich 5.6

SS: 1970 Fregosi 6.8

3B: 1982 DeCinces 7.3

LF: 1982 Downing 5.4

CF: 2012 Trout 10.0

RF: 1995 Salmon 5.8

DH: 1987 Downing 3.9 (or 1980 Thompson 3.8 if you want different players)

 

I like how Downing appears at three different positions on those two teams. What a great career he had.

 

By the way, Baylor's 1979 is 4th highest all time among Angel DHs in fWAR. Now I personally don't think fWAR is the best stat for a DH, so let's look at wOBA or wRC+. In wOBA Baylor drops to 6th at .392 (Thompson is 1st at .424) and 7th in wRC+ at 142 (Thompson is 1st at 165). Unfortunately Thompson only played in 102 games in 1980.

 

Baylor played more in LF than at DH in 1979, and really the DH spot in something like this should go for the best hitter - so among players that didn't make the other eight spots, if we have a minimum of, say, 120 games played, then Salmon's 1995 is next in line - at 163 it is quite a bit higher than Baylor's 142. DeCinces 1982 is also a fine choice at 147.

 

Baylor had a good season in 1979, but it was a classic case of "oooh, look at all those ribbies!"

 

(cue Chuck's rant about how WAR is for couch-nerds :P)

 

But seriously, Baylor's MVP award goes along with Juan Gonzalez's two, Andre Dawson's in 1987, and a few others as among the worst choices in history.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ryan never won a Cy Young, but he finished second in '73 and that's also the season he posted a career-high 383 strikeouts. The quick-and-dirty line: 21-16, 2.87 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 26 complete games, four shutouts, 326 innings pitched.

 

Interesting to note that closer Steve Bedrosian, father of Cam Bedrosian, undeservedly won a Cy Young over Ryan in 1987. It's a travesty Ryan never got that hardware, though. Definitely should have won in 1973. Beat Koufax's record, and Koufax never had to face a DH like Ryan did.

Edited by Llewyn Davis
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not to be downer, but my guess is that in a league of all-time rosters of all teams, the Angels would have a losing record.

 

I'd think you would have to look at teams that came into the league similar to when the Angels did in 1961.  

 

Just because the history of some of these teams like the Yanks, Dogs, even the A's goes back to the late 1800's.  

 

So astros 62, Blue Jays 77, rays 98, mariners 77, Rangers 61, royals 69, Rockies 93, Padres 69, nationals 69, mets 62, marlins 93, Diamondbacks 98, and Brewers 69.   I think we match up to these teams pretty well.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd think you would have to look at teams that came into the league similar to when the Angels did in 1961.  

 

Just because the history of some of these teams like the Yanks, Dogs, even the A's goes back to the late 1800's.  

 

So astros 62, Blue Jays 77, rays 98, mariners 77, Rangers 61, royals 69, Rockies 93, Padres 69, nationals 69, mets 62, marlins 93, Diamondbacks 98, and Brewers 69.   I think we match up to these teams pretty well.  

 

Or just look at the roster options available to all teams since 61.

 

I've played in Whatifsports.com fantasy leagues where you can set the rosters to just about anything.  We have done them using franchises, decades, all sorts of different combos.

Edited by Inside Pitch
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shields missing is not OK 

 

Yeah it's interesting to exclude him from the list of relievers. I think he was just looking for 3 closers.

 

Interestingly, it's hard for me to pick a standout year for Shields. He was just so damn consistent. 2004 he was basically the most reliable reliever in the game. 2005 and 2006 were equally great years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My SS would probably be:  GARY DiSARCINA, 1995 Halos........big surprise here.

 

I'd also find a way to get GA on that list.

 

Darin Erstad's 244 hit season or whatever his amazng total was that year, is a no brainer.

 

interesting (but I agree with it) that one of the TWO Angels' Cy Young Award winners, Bartolo Colon, didn't make the list.

 

Best overall 26th player: Gene Autry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

no mention of all at Bobby Knoop at 2B..............I agree with Grich as the choice -- but Knoop deserves at least an honorable mention.......

 

there's a reason why the Fregosi at SS teams had a great DP combo.

 

also Marcialino (Spelled wrong) Lopez deserves an honorable mention in the pen............he was a closer guy in the pen before there were closers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...