Troutstanding

Not sure if satire...

I also am a fan of your move to ban hardcore guy, Chuck. Thank you.

Sometime after he decides that Trout batting second isn't exactly where he wants him batting.

I don't think we will see Iannetta at DH unless the Angels bring up a third catcher.

Either would obviously be a welcome addition. I would like the lead off option if it meant moving Calhoun behind Trout.

No I don't think trading CJ Wilson would be a smart move unless the return is sufficiently substantial. I wouldn't be shopping him around by any means.

Not everybody believes your best hitter should bat third.

I don't know about you but this homestand doesn't feel like "the most important of the year" to me. I'm not sure under what extreme circumstances could the third homestand of the year be the most important.

Hamilton, obviously.

Man that Huston Street guy sucks...

Craig Kimbrel signed his 4 year 42 million dollar extension while he was still in arbitration. It's not a valid comparison. Even that being said, Street will likely sign for slightly less than that. Kimbrel is among the top 3 or 5 most valuable relievers in MLB. I don't think you have to be in the top 3-5 to be considered elite. Closers need not be "big strike out pitchers." Nobody does. An out is an out. A guy who gets a high proportion of his outs via the strike out is useful if he's a reliever who is being used to take over when runners are on. That's not Street's job. However his SO/9 over his career is 9.0, which is plenty. While 2013 was obviously a down year for Street's standards, he wasn't "downright bad." He compiled a 127 ERA+ to go along with a 1.02 WHIP. He did give up an excessive amount of home runs that year but he was still quite effective as he converted 33 of his 35 save opportunities. If he blows two saves a year for the next four years he would be a great success for the Angels. Street and Fuentes are not a good comparison. Streets career numbers are better or much better than Fuentes in almost every category. We can agree to disagree.

How is Street not an elite reliever? I don't remember the exact numbers but he's converted about 130 of his last 140 save opportunities or something ridiculous like that. I know saves are a flawed stat but with a sample that big I don't see how he could be anything less than "elite."

Follow Alden GonzalezVerified account‏@Alden_Gonzalez #Angels have Sunday las TBD, but Shoemaker Monday and Santiago Tuesday. Looks like Richards will start Sunday, unless they call someone up. Follow Mike DiGiovannaVerified account‏@MikeDiGiovanna #Angels still list TBA as Sunday starter but Shoemaker scheduled for Monday now, which means Garrett Richards likely to pitch Sunday. Follow Jeff Fletcher‏@JeffFletcherOCR Looks like Garrett Richards will be starting Sunday for Angels, since Matt Shoemaker is now listed for Monday. Still TBA officially for Sun

I think considering the options we have, Aybar lead off vs. RHP is an okay choice. Facing a LH starter I would expect and prefer Cowgill.

No comment.

If Josh Hamilton had hit one more home run, Cabrera wouldn't have achieved the Triple Crown. Tell me, what does one Josh Hamilton home run have to do with the value difference between 2012 Trout and Cabrera?

Everyone has hashed this out over and over but "triple crown" is an arbitrary collecition of somewhat poor indictators of overall value. Trout's 2012 was clearly more valuable than Cabrera's, BA/HR/RBIs or no.

I believe that to some extent the reason that Scioscia prefers Calhoun in the lead off spot is because Scioscia believes that Calhoun is a spark plug of sorts because of his contagious enthusiasm. So there's more to it than just raw stats.

Rasmus will be in the major league bullpen, imo.

Perhaps Scioscia's reasoning regarding Aybar then Cron then Iannetta is this: Aybar is a decent enough hitter to be batting sixth. Cron has good power but low OBP. It wouldn't be shocking for an inning to end (or go big) after a Cron at bat. This means that Iannetta will likely lead off a decent amount of innings. If he does lead off and draws a walk, Rutledge can move him over to second, then Calhoun and more importantly Trout will have the chance to bring him in. Just my thoughts.

I understand the appeal to having Iannetta bat 5th or so though.

Because Scioscia won't bat his catcher in the top of the line up so it's nice to have his OBP as close to Trout as can be.

Order does matter... Perhaps you meant "reasonable orders don't matter very much" I could make a ridiculous line up that would most certainly be worse at scoring runs than any of the line ups suggested in this thread.

The idea that your best hitter should bat third is incorrect according to sabermetrics. Your 2, 4, 1, and 5 hitters are most important.

RF Calhoun CF Trout LF Joyce 1B Pujols 3B Freese SS Aybar DH Cron 2B ? C Iannetta