dream_weaver

The one silver lining to the Heaney injury is that Tropeano gets some for time in the majors. He's got nothing left to prove and is definitely one of the better pitchers in the org.

Barring any shockers, the 25 man roster should be something like this: SP: Richards, Heaney, Weaver, Santiago, Shoemaker RP: Street, Smith, Salsa, Morin, Rasmus, Alvarez, Bedrosian/Mahle C: Perez, Soto 1B: Pujols, Cron, Choi 2B: Gia 3B: Escobar SS: Simmons, Pennington LF: Nava, Gentry CF: Trout RF: Calhoun It could get interesting if they decide to start with 4 starters. Then they'd probably take an extra reliever or maybe Ortega/Cunningham.

Kendrick's fangraphs profile is hilarious: "There was a time when Kyle Kendrick wasn't awful at baseball. That time has passed. Last season, Kendrick had one of the worst seasons in baseball history. His 6.35 FIP was the worst FIP by a pitcher who tossed 140 or more innings since Mike Moore posted a 6.39 FIP for the 1994 Detroit Tigers. Kendrick became just the eleventh pitcher to toss 140 innings and post a FIP of 6.00 or higher since Jackie Robinson integrated baseball in 1947, and the first since 2001. That the Rockies trotted him out time after time was nothing short of an embarrassment. To their credit, they declined to bring him back for a return engagement, and Kendrick has moved on to the similarly bottom feeding Atlanta Braves. Perhaps back in the National League East, which he pitched in for eight seasons with the Phillies, he won't be as big of an embarrassment, but he is not a pitcher who you should be thinking of picking up -- not even in an NL-only league. To be honest, I wouldn't even pick him up in a league where you could only draft Braves pitchers. At least some of their young guys might be fun to dream on. There's nothing fun about Kyle Kendrick. (Paul Swydan)"

Stop Pre

Did no one bother to look up the meaning behind the shirt? Everyone is hating because you do not understand the significance. Back in the day Bill Bowerman, Nike founder and head coach of Oregon track and field, made shoes using a waffle machine. His first sponsored athlete was Steve Prefontaine, who went on to become a distance running legend. In one race, everyone wore shirts that said "Stop Pre." After Pre won the race, he took one of the shirts and wore it himself. The shirt does not mean that we are trying to "Stop Trout," it is a call back to the invincibility of Pre. There's your history lesson for the day!

So...either Kubitza or Cowart. Cowart would be really interesting, but probably Kubitza.

The allure of trading for a rental is promising at the time, but bad for long term. The Angels need to make smart moves and I'm glad they aren't gonna cash in the chips and go all in. I'd rather build something to last. If they could get a major league ready position player prospect, I'd be happy.

It would be really cool to see them both hit 50 home runs. It's unlikely, and chances are neither one will, but man that would be so sick.

I also want to point out that Trout is almost exactly league average in strikeout rate this year (he is at 22.8%).

You are correct but extremely oblivious. The truth is that EVERYBODY is striking out more. The trend in baseball has been a huge increase in strikeouts because nowadays pitchers have, lets face it, better stuff for striking guys out. The Mets have 5 guys who throw in the upper 90's with great breaking balls (Matz, Harvey, Wheeler, Thor, deGrom). That is unprecedented. Read this article by Fangraphs published in 2013: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-continuing-rise-in-strikeout-rate/ . Read this quote: "Over the last 30 years, the strikeout rate in MLB has gone from 14.0% to the 20.0% it stands at today. It took 24 years to move from 14% to 17%, but it’s only taken six years to move from 17% to 20%. Those six years correspond perfectly to the PITCHF/x era." Strikeout rate has risen since to an even higher 22% this season. My point is that comparing the strikeout rates of current players to past players must be done in context, which you are ignoring. Willie Mays would strike out WAY more in todays era of baseball. He would be great, but let's not pretend baseball hasn't changed. Of course guys in the '20's struck out less than current players. That is common sense. Trout's strikeouts are not worrisome because his rates are in line with everybody else in baseball. I'm not worried about his strikeout rate and neither should you.

I love the fact that Cowart is hitting in AAA, but his 24% strikeout rate and .413 BABIP show that this might just be a small sample size thing. Still, better than nothing. It's a shame that we don't have a spot for Tropeano in the rotation. He is major league ready right now and could put up good numbers. I could see him being traded in a move for a position player either at the deadline or the offseason.

I for one would be infuriated if Heaney was moved from the rotation to the bullpen or sent down to AAA. He looks like a #2 starter. His fastball location is great, smooth delivery, decent offspeed pitches. Shoe is the clear odd man out here. Somehow the Angels went from such thin pitching depth to great depth (Thanks DiPoto!). Richards-Santiago-Weaver-CJ-Heaney-Shoe-Tropeano-Alvarez-Nate Smith-Chris Ellis-Sean Newcomb with a few others too looks great for this year and even better two years from now.

Fangraphs bases its defense off of UZR, but in its little defense tab it takes into account positional adjustments for hitting (a good hitting second baseman is worth more than a player who hits just as well at first base). So to look at defensive WAR, look at the UZR stat on Fangraphs. And Trout was actually not even close to being the worst defensive player in baseball by fangraphs last year, but he was not rated well because of his arm and range.

Harper is not far below average according to Fangraphs. Actually, he is 0.1 above average.