WeatherWonk

I'm not seeing much difference in this spring, compared to last, except (and this is a big exception), we are getting production out of our third baseman, who is also doing a great job of leading off.. Our left fielders are hitting well..........but so did Matt Joyce in ST last year. With so many pitchers working on locating their 2nd, 3rd and 4th pitches UP TO THIS POINT IN ST, I put very little credence in ST hitting stats. But now that we're down to most everyone's last start of the spring, I expect so see pitchers really letting go. This week ahead may show us much.

I though Casey Kotchman's career had ended but, in looking at yesterday's box scores, a "Kotchman" hit a HR for the Blue Jays. Sure enough, it was ex-Angel Casey Kotchman. He's hitting ,286 this spring, playing first base. Hey, he hasn't been released yet. Kotch really hasnt played in the big since 2012, with CLE. His best season was 2011 with TAM, when he hit .306 with 10 HRs over 500 ABs.

Anecdotal? You mean because no one has actually set out to prove it. No one has because it is so self-evident. I wonder what percentage of runs scores as a DIRECT result of a strikeout? One could say it's actually ZERO, as the WP or the PB actually accounts for the run scoring, not the K. Or, maybe on an error when a runner on third is caught in a rundown after a K. The probability of these happening is probably in the 1/1000 range. Maybe greater. Much greater odds on outs made by balls put in play.

Kurkjian correctly points out how important PUTTING THE BALL IN PLAY is, even if it is a ball that probably leads to an out. In this era of spiraling Ks, metrics need to stop treating the strikeout as the same as a ground out or fly out. Good things happen when you put the ball in play. http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/15007298/hosmer-mad-dash

The problem is, our team doesnt play in a bubble. As someone mentioned, the entire AL West is better than it was in 2014, excepting OAK. I see 3-4th place and a .500 season.

It remains to be seen if Harper can repeat the incredible season he had last year. To increase one's BA by almost 60 points over the average of your previous three seasons screams "outlier season". Heck, it remains to be seen if he can even stay healthy for consecutive seasons. He also hit HRs at a rate almost double of his previous three seasons last year. Harper just hasnt strung together more than one great season the way Trout has.

I havent looked at his defensive stats (nor, did I look at Wagner's, Cobb's or Hornsby's) but I recall him being a pretty good fielding shortstop. Was that not so? I'm too lazy to look it up right now, and compare it to the others. Great arm, as I recall, too. I still think his stance at the plate is one that more players should emulate. ARod rarely looks foolish at off speed pitches. HIs swing and stance were altered slightly when he became a Yankee, but he can hit to all directions with his stance. Here' an old article on ARod swing and stance, over the years. http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2010/08/adjustments_to_swing_have_kept.html

I take exception to the writer saying Gia "didnt show too much at the plate" last year. A .272 hitter with 25 doubles and 5 triples in 500 ABs is pretty good.

In point of fact, he's the greatest infielder that any of us have ever seen. In the history of the game, only a few even approach what he has done on the field. Cobb, Wagner, Hornsby, maybe. And he's played in a more difficult era. Better pitching, more traveling, etc. I'm disappointed in his PED use, but so many in baseball (yes, even ones that weren't on The List) were using that I just have to move on from all that. I believe Bonds and Clemens should get in the Hall. A-Rod, too. I could care less about his off the field antics. Thank God no one ever judged my work by what I was doing in the 70s, while on weekends.

How much dumpster diving do we need to do? I think we're done. Hey, this chicken leg still has meat on it........SCORE!!!!

Is this a serious post? They already have two "possible everyday left fielders". And they are both of the bargain variety. They have had good springs. Nava and Gentry. Nava's D could be suspect. So, we bring in Gentry with a lead, late in the game, if necessary.

Oh, come on. We have so many question marks in the starting rotation, it's beginning to look like the Riddler's tights on the old Batman series.

Uh, except that he went 8-1, with a 3.92 ERA that season, after that game. The Angels would love to have gotten that out of him.

Count me in. Figgins was my favorite player on the Angels while he was here. I seem to remember a stretch where he hit nearly .400 for something like two months. He was en fuego. Anyone else remember that? No, it wasn't spring training.

It wasn't off a Rockie pitcher. It was off Joe Blanton while he was pitching for the Phillies. Blanton was no slouch, at the time. Regardless, it was off a major league pitcher, so he was considered by some front office guy, at the time, to be one of the best 500 or so pitchers on the planet. It's only happened TWICE in the whole history of MLB, with more than a hundred years of bad pitchers throwing pitches. And it wasn't in Coors Field. And even IF it was a bad pitcher's pitch, a batter still has to hit it. He did. Give him credit.

Nava has always been a decent hitter, though sometimes slowed by injuries. My recollection of Joyce is that he had one decent year, fueled by one incredible first half that year. That Nava is hitting doesn't surprise me, really. Daniel Nava; the guy whose career could only go one way, DOWN, after his MLB debut. He hit a grand slam on the first pitch he ever saw in the bigs.

Escobar continues to rake. Man, would it be great to have a true leadoff hitter, in terms of OBP. We havent had a decent one since 2012, when some guy named Trout was there.

So, Gia is not good enough to warm the bench but he IS good enough to start? That's kinda wacky. If Cliffy shows himself to be good enough to start, the Angels should just trade, release or demote Gia to AAA. Defensive backups are easy to find. BTW, two more hits for Cliffy today.

If Pennington continues to hit this well all spring, he may wind up with the starting second base job. Simmons and Pennington (sounds like a 5th Ave. clothier) would be real solid up the middle on defense.

Top five in runs in MLB? Looking like a very safe bet that charity wont be getting any.

If there's 1K in charity money riding on this, someone needs to more clearly define "top five offenses". By what measure? In the AL or MLB?

I assume that line of players is your preferred lineup. Is that the optimized lineup generated by the optimizer? I did not use it. If so, I can't believe it would put our highest OBP guy at 3rd, instead of 1st or 2nd, irrespective of Trout's slugging. ANY "best lineup" should have Trout batting 2nd; the best compromise between his OBP and his slugging. I also like 2nd and it's ability to limit Trout's basestealing, since a high OBP, low speed guy (like Nava or Escobar) will limit Trout's ability to steal bases, somewhat. I dont like the idea of our MVP, weighing 230 or so, stealing bases. He's just to valuable to take those chances. The only exceptions would be late in games with us down by a run or tied with Trout on second with no outs or one out or on first with one or two outs. Maybe even no outs, in that last case. Making a lineup out with Trout batting second is not an easy task. Where do Nava/Gentry and Escobar go. I also like Calhoun hitting behind Trout. BTW, I am not nearly as optimistic of our offense as you are. There is a strong possibility that last year was an outlier year for Escobar, offensively. And while I have always known Nava can hit, he just hasn't done it for a prolonged period for quite a while now. If we get the kind of years out of them that you are hoping for, then YES, our offense will be greatly improved. Cron is also a bit question mark. Simmons figures to provide slightly less offense than Aybar, but Aybar always had the potential to have a year where he hits .280 or better. Not sure Simmons has that potential. Gia had a good year, offensively. Can he continue it? I honestly dont know.

We must be last in plus/minus HR differential this spring. Not that it's a legitimate stat, of course. Just a comment on how many HRs we have given up and how many we have hit.

Mebbe........if he faces a guy who averages 4.5 walks per nine innings, like Eric Johnson does, all the time. Johnson walked two in the inning and threw a wild pitch to score the second run. Not a very bankable situation. It happens, but, statistically, not often enough, compared to other situations like a walk with 0 or one out. Besides, if Trout is running more this year, as he states, wouldnt you want him stealing bases with none or one out?

LOL! I hear ya, bro.