Hubs

Alex Torres (traded in Scott Kazmir deal): 0.29 ERA, valuable piece of Rays pen. Patrick Corbin (traded in Dan Haren deal): 12-2, 2.24 ERA for D'Backs. Tyler Skaggs (traded in Dan Haren deal): 5.35 ERA, but still just 21. Tyler Chatwood (traded in Chris Iannetta deal): 2.48 ERA for Colorado. Will Smith (traded in Alberto Callaspo deal): 3.86 ERA in majors (2.88 in minors) Donn Roach (traded in Ernesto Frieri deal): 3.76 ERA in minors. Johnny Hellweg (traded in Zach Greinke deal): Struggled in Majors, 2.47 ERA in minors. Ariel Pena (traded in Zach Grienke deal): 4.06 ERA in AA. Joe Saunders (traded in Dan Haren deal): 4.48 ERA in Seattle. Ervin Santana (traded for minor leaguer Brandon Sisk): 3.06 ERA for KC. Darren o'Day (let leave): 2.20 ERA for Orioles in pen. Matt Harvey (2007 third round pick, failed to sign). Angels offered $1M for a third round pick, but Scott Boras was the reason he didn't sign, as they wanted Porcello money ($7 M plus) and he slipped out of the first round. He started the NL All-Star game as a Met. Now, if not for the animosity between Eddie Bane and Tony Reagins, it's possible they sign the kid. Not for $7M but what if they offered 4.5? It was a mistake by Reagins. They lucked out and got a first round talent in the third round, after not having a first round pick that year, and didn't make it happen. I know they don't have a Crystal Ball, but consistently trading away young talent, losing first round picks as compensation for FA signings, as well as promoting young players, has taken the first overall minor league system to the last overall minor league system. They have had success here, but teams like the Rays seem to do so much better and they've consistently been winners too…just don't get it.

Gotta trade quality pieces for quality pieces. I'd be against trading Aybar, as the SS market is thin. Kendrick, Trumbo, etc, would depend on the return. They need pitching, badly, which they have squandered for years in trades. Had we not traded for Dan Haren and just kept Saunders, they'd have had young arms this season or last who could actually man the 5th starter spot. In 2005, when the team went to the ALCS, the starters were Colon (FA), Byrd (FA), Washburn (developed), Lackey (developed) and Santana (developed). Escobar was hurt but started 7 games. 2006, saw Washburn & Byrd go, replaced by Escobar (healthy again), Jered Weaver debuted, and we had Jeff for a few months as well. That team finished 2nd, and missed out on the playoffs. In 2007, Joe Saunders rookie year. Finished first. Lackey, Weaver, Santana, Escobar rounded out the rotation. So each year, the Halos debuted a new young starter. Then Reagins became the GM. In 2008, He added Garland to the rotation via trade. Team did well, allowed just 697 runs. Lackey, Weaver, Santana, Garland, Saunders. No young rotation guys debuted, but it was still pretty young and cost effective. Lackey was the oldest starter at I think 29. In 2009, They said goodbye to Garland and didn't really replace him. They relied on Sean O'Sullivan and Matt Palmer, after Adenhart's tragic death. The Angels clearly were stunned by this, because they had expected him to step in as the fifth starter behind Weaver, Santana, Saunders, and Lackey. Traded for Scott Kazmir late in the year, who had been a top AL starter. In 2010, they said goodbye to Lackey, and brought in Joel Pinero via FA. Obviously a flawed rotation, having Weaver in his first year as the ace, plus Santana and Saunders and Kazmir Struggling. Kazmir had dominated in his first six starts the previous year for the Angels, so that wasn't a bad rotation going in, except, well, we know how that turned out. Lefty Alex Torres was part of the 2009 trade for Kazmir, and then midseason, DiPoto, then with the D'Backs, fleeced the Angels in the Dan Haren deal. It looked like the Angels fleeced the D'backs….obviously not. Those three pitchers weren't the highest rated pitching prospects the Angels had, but in Torres, Corbin, and Skaggs, the Angels lost three good pitchers and got one good one back. They were all good pitchers. Skaggs got demoted, but he showed good stuff early on, and has a bright future in the desert. Corbin has been lights out for the D'Backs.. with the 4th best ERA in the national league. Skaggs was the higher rated prospect, and dealing one of them in the Haren trade along with Joe Saunders would've made sense, but three of the Angels top guys in a span of six months? What else did they have in the pipeline? Alex Torres has a 0.29 ERA this year in relief for Tampa. Sense a pattern here? Highly paid starters for young prospects? Saunders was struggling when they moved him, but he was under control for three more years, which would've been useful. Haren did well in 2010, 2011, and then struggled in 2012. No one was against the trade then, but looking back is not a pretty sight. 2011 rotation featured Weaver, Haren, Santana, Pinero, Chatwood and a bunch of spot starters. Chatwood could've continued the young starter trend from 2005-2008, but didn't work out. Richards is still a work in progress. But the top three were really good. Then Santana and Haren fell off the map. 2012 was good, but they traded more prospects for impending FA pitcher Zach Greinke, which would've been ok in the old rules, the Angels would've got a top prospect back via the draft pick if he didn't sign, but now, they didn't. So they lost Ariel Pena, Johnny Hellweg, etc. They did add CJ Wilson to the staff via FA, which was a nice move. But now going into 2013, they have no young good controllable proven arms, as those guys were all moved. Do you think the team would've signed Joe Blanton had they had a Corbin in the wings or a Skaggs? Richards is not that guy. Vargas was good via trade, but yeah, not great. Rant over, but basically by not developing young arms for the rotation, the Angels screwed themselves over. They need young projectable starters, but by trading all the pieces away, then not having draft picks because of new rules and massive FA signings, plus inexplicably cutting international scouting…just not a good stretch.

Callaspo should be next to be traded. Not expecting much of a return, but he'd help a team in need of infield depth. Like the Yankees. Kendrick may get more in return, but what is reasonable to expect back? Aybar may get a ton, but who plays in his absence? Angels have Romine but thats it. I'd also look to trade Shuck for whatever he can give you which isn't much, but hey, they have a lot of OF and right now Calhoun needs to play. Then Iannetta has to be looked at as an option. He's not going to get you much. Trumbo would only be moved if they got good pieces back, same for Bourjos. I know Bourjos is on the DL, but he can be activated any time, if they wanted to move him. How about Frieri? He's got to have a lot of value.

On the Santana Blanton thing, Santana + Segura salary wise is about $13.5 M. We're paying $1M of that anyway, so it's actually $12.5 M net cost. Blanton costs 6.5 M this year and Callaspo costs 4.1. That's 10.6. So for $2 M more they could've kept Santana and Segura. Yet I also pointed out that Segura being traded and Greinke being an uncertain returnee made them panic and sign "innings eater" Joe Blanton. They also could've likely declined Santana's option and signed him for two years for less than the $13. If they had seen Segura in Winterball tearing it up, or just doing well in AAA in the second half of the season…they may have tried him at third. My point is the Greinke trade led to a much worse situation than if they had simply stood pat at the deadline.

With the Season almost at the halfway point, I'd like to say, I'm glad the Angels are doing better, because for a while there it looked really bad. Yet not all of DiPoto's offseason decisions are looking that great. A year after a successful coup in getting Pujols, CJ Wilson…the team looked poised to do great things. Last year when they traded for Ernesto Frieri, we thought we had a master GM... after years of futile moves under Tony Reagins… we all thought…finally. But we thought the same thing about Reagins after he signed Torrii Hunter at a Del Taco. Have things started the other way though? Last season, there was a domino that started a chain of events that doesn't look so good for the Angels. That unfortunately was the ridiculously bad decision in trading for former Royal & Brewer and Current Dodger Zach Greinke. I've stated in other posts in the past that I believed not resigning Texieira after 2008 led to Abreu, and then the Wells trade, which led to two bad seasons and ultimately Reagins firing. It's not that Greinke didn't perform, as he did, but giving up Jean Segura didn't seem that bad at the time because the Angels were set in the infield with Kendrick and Aybar and Segura certainly isn't a Mike Trout. Yet he was a solid prospect who this season is an All-Star in Milwuakee. The other prospects, Johnny Hellweg and Ariel Pena given up in the deal for the two month rental, haven't become an All-Star like Segura has, Hellweg certainly struggled in his first taste of the majors, but yeah, this deal doesn't look too good for the Angels at all….Especially... ...As they failed to sign Greinke to an extension. They took the money earmarked for Greinke and gave it to Josh Hamilton. Who before his recent surge, looked awful... ...After adding Hamilton, that domino falling led to an extra OF / DH, which meant traded Kendrys Morales for Jason Vargas and while Vargas has arguably been the teams best pitcher at points this season, and while Morales isn't killing it in Seattle, he's doing okay. It's a pretty good swap for both teams.... Still, the rotation would've been better if they had decided to keep or had the money to keep... Ervin Santana… who is excelling with the Royals. The Angels had an option on his contract which would've cost the team $13 M. The right hander has a 2.90 ERA for the Royals. His replacement in the rotation is not a low cost minor leaguer like Garrett Richards, no…it's Joe freaking Blanton. And somehow Joe has had some good starts, but Dipoto traded Santana because he gave up too many longballs, and then replaced him with a guy that gives up more home runs! Santana has excellent stuff and had been inconsistent…I get that they didn't want to commit $13 M for one season. Yet, coming off a bad year, he probably would've taken 2 years and 20 M in lieu of that option…. and the player they got back in the trade had TJ surgery. Royals are clearly winners here... …But with Hamilton is finally showing flashes of the guy he was in Texas, which is great and it is certainly possible at some time in the next 4 and a half years we'll get a season like the 2010 AL MVP had. They badly needed lefty balance in the lineup…. ….And I like the Vargas move, but really this team would've been much better off keeping Segura and acquiring a guy like Jeremy Guthrie for rotation help last year. But Joe Blanton v. Ervin Santana? That was only made because they didn't have faith in Santana. Adding three new starters is never a good decision, especially from a team that gave up under 700 runs last year. It was definitely motivated by money too, as they wanted to save money for Greinke / Hamilton…. With Segura in the lineup this year, likely at third, or at short when Aybar went down… the Angels would've scored more runs in the first half. Which with their shotty rotation, was sorely needed. ...The other starter the team acquired has been inconsistent at best in Tommy Hanson. Hanson probably won't be brought back next year, likely being non-tendered. Williams and Jason Vargas are free agents. The Angels will be left with Weaver, Wilson as sure rotation members again…. And because they had no Segura, Alberto Callaspo was retained for two years to be the bridge to future Angel Kaleb Cowart, but he hasn't returned to the player they thought he was. He's hitting slightly better for average than last season, but nothing he did in 2012 made him worthy of the contract he got in 2013, and nothing he is doing in 2013 is validating it either. If Segura was here, perhaps they'd have kept Callaspo under an arbitration one year deal, or perhaps they'd have non-tendered the guy saving enough money to bring back Santana... Callaspo's contract and Blanton's contract would have easily equaled the dollar value in bringing back Santana at his option (and if he took less, all the better) and having Segura or Aybar at third…. Blanton's WAR is -0.7 and Callaspo's is 0.1. Santana's is 2.3 so far this year, Segura is at 3.2. So -0.6 vs. 5.5. It's likely then that over the course of the season, this one decision ended up costing the team what 9-10 WAR? I know WAR doesn't mean Wins…But worse yet, these guys are both under two year deals! If the Angels had not traded for Greinke, they'd have not been over a barrel in FA and may have been able to make the Vargas move first, adding a solid starter. They may have signed Hamilton earlier, and been in a position then to keep Santana and let Callaspo go. Luis Jimenez may not have had a lot of success after a few weeks of a scorching hot bat, but the guy is still hitting in AAA… and he wouldn't have been a bad backup plan. Segura Trout Pujols Hamilton Trumbo Kendrick Iannetta/Conger Aybar Bourjos With a rotation of Weaver Wilson Santana Vargas Williams is a much better team than they have currently. And it all started with the domino of trading for Zach Greinke. I hope that the Greinke / Segura call doesn't lead to further futility, but it doesn't look too good now.

if Kole Calhoun was producing and CJ Cron, Randal Girchuck, were raking in AAA, ready for a shot at the majors, I'd consider it based on the return you could get, but with Pujols's foot issues, and none of these guys really ready for a full-time gig save maybe Calhoun, I don't think it's a good idea. This guy also wants to trade CJ Wilson and Peter Bourjos, which are both horrible ideas. They don't have enough starters now, so why would they trade a guy they have locked up for three more years, and why trade Bourjos who if he had been healthy would be in All-Star consideration? Um No. He's looking it all from a surplus angle not from what they actually need to do.

Seattle had offered 4 years, 100 M.

Is Calhoun healthy?

These are great seats guys and gals. Quite possibly the best sightline in the park other than portions of diamond club. And I'm sitting next to you! How much fun is that?

FYI if you can't go tonight, don't answer the question

They need an assistant hitting coach.

In April the team went 9-17. In May they face the Dodgers three more times and the Astros once. Three wins puts them at 17-12 for the month, 26-29 overall. June features 3 home games with Houston, 2 with the Cubs, 4 with Seattle, 3 with the Yankees, and 3 with Pittsburgh. They get 3 road games against Boston, 3 against Baltimore, 3 against Detroit, and finish the month with 3 against Houston. Not a bad 27 game schedule overall. If they go 17-10 I'd be really happy. If they go 15-12, It'd be okay. 17 wins puts them at 43-39 for the year. July features 3 home games against the Cardinals (best record in MLB), 3 against Boston, 3 vs Oakland, and 3 vs. the Twins. They get road games against the Cubs in Wrigley for 2, go to Safeco for 3, 4 against Oakland, and three in Texas. 24 games featuring 12 on the road and 12 at home. They play much better teams, so a .500 record is okay, but hopefully a 14-10 record. 14 wins puts them at 57-49. The Dog Days of August begin with 4 at home versus Toronto, then three against Texas, then later in the month Houston, and Cleveland three each. There is a mid-month road trip with three in Cleveland, and 4 in New York, and they close the month with three in Seattle, three in Tampa and Two in Milwaukee. 28 games featuring 15 on the road and 13 at home. Good teams and bad teams. If they go 17 and 11, I'd be really happy. If they go 15-13 I'd be okay. 17 wins puts them at 74-60. September features 1 on the road in Milwaukee, 1 in Minnesota, three in Toronto, three in Houston, and three in Oakland followed by four in Texas to finish the month. In between there are 4 at home with Tampa Bay, three with Texas, three with Seattle and Three with Oakland. 28 games again featuring 13 at home, and 15 on the road. They need to go 16-12. Which would put them at 90-72 for the year. To get to 95 wins, they'd need to do maybe 18-9 in June, 15-9 in July, 19-9 in August, 18-10 in September. That's a lot of wins. But they can start by winning tonight.

Look, this wasn't an article it's a Yahoo contributor blog. Still….not that far from reality. 51 games into the season the Angels are 23-28. Considering they were 9-17 in April that's pretty good. Especially when you factor in their first few games of May. (6-8 through the 15th). At 23-28, they need to play well in the next 7 games against the Dodgers and the Astros, then they get the Cubs at home for two before an off day, and venturing to Boston for a weekend set. Next Thursday, they will have played 60 games, with 102 to play. If they are at 32-28, that's awesome. It'd be a 9 game winning streak. I'm hoping for 7-2, which is doable, considering who they are playing. The Dodgers have scored the second least amount of runs in the league, Cubs are 21st, and Houston in 20th. The Angels have allowed the third most, but have been much better in the last 2 weeks. They allowed 36 runs in the last 11 games while scoring 70. When they go to Boston on the 7th, they'll have 102 games left. With 30 wins, it would take somewhere between a 60-42 and a 65-37 record to firmly grasp a playoff spot. No doubt they are in a hole, but hopefully they can dig their way out

Or I guess they go with Enright. That's not being creative. That's ridiculously uncreative and it starts a weekend series with the possibility of overworking our pen. Jeebus.

If Hanson can't make tonights start… as reported by Alden Gonzalez, what should the Angels do? According to Alden, they could bring up Orengal Arenas (6.75 ERA) or push Williams ahead to normal rest but then they'd need a starter for Saturday so apparently that's not an option? Okay maybe I'm reaching here, but why couldn't they do something a little more creative? Like say, bring Wiliams forward a day and use the SLC starter from Monday's game on Saturday? That would be Buckner, I think. Or they could bring up a AA guy I suppose. Manny Correa is the starter up for Saturday I think if they pitch Williams tonight. Or Is it Possible Hanson could be back on Saturday, and they just swap he and Williams? They can also pitch Wilson Saturday on three days rest and slot Hanson back in on Sunday or go with different starters from SLC (Schugel?) or Lay Batista from AA. They can also use Roth again I suppose though his first start wasn't the best.

Last time I checked, it wasn't Scioscia swinging and missing on pitches in the dirt or throwing hittable pitches up in the zone. They need better starters after the 1-2-3 of Weaver, Wilson, Vargas.

Weaver needs to come back soon. Please. Wilson's been good in his four last starts, but he's not throwing enough innings. He's getting behind in too many counts, walking too many guys. Quick GB outs are your bread and butter. Stop trying to nibble at the corners and get ground ball outs. Blanton's first three starts were awful. Then his next one was okay, he was a little lucky. His last two have been good. The difference? He gave up 6 Home runs in three starts, then one in the three since. He walks none, but gives up two many hits for my taste. Keep the ball down. Vargas was great in his last two starts, poor in the one in Minnesota, then bad luck in the one in Oakland, and maybe could've got through the inning that Jepsen destroyed. In Texas he was good. In his three good starts, he's had more strikeouts, more flyballs. In the two bad ones, he was allowing more groundball hits. Stay with what you did last time in Seattle. Minnesota wasn't all your fault as it was below 40 degrees for part of that game. Stay strong. Hanson was pretty great in three of his four starts actually. In the game he didn't do well, he gave up HR, but was basically a little unlucky. He needs to go a little deeper into games, but otherwise keep doing what you've been doing. Richards needs to be the guy he was against Detroit at home, and against Houston. In his start against Oakland and Seattle, he was too hittable. Better off with him in the pen, when Weaver returns. Williams should be commended for his work. He's done pretty darn well, with one game where he's done poorly. Instead of going to guys like Roth and Carpenter, maybe Williams should get more work in early innings. Burnett needs to come back soon and be the guy we thought you were going to be. Frieri, what were you doing last year that you're not doing this year? Too many hittable balls mean runs scored in close and late situations. Three runs isn't a lot, but it's meant at least two losses. Downs…look at 2011 game tape and figure out what's been going wrong. Too many late leads or close games blown. Roth, we're sorry about the emergency start. You're work in the pen has been good. Keep it up. De La Rosa, we like what you've been doing. Should be the 8th inning guy against righties. Lowe…you looked great, then awful. Stay on the DL until you can get guys out. Jepsen…see above. Kohn…at least you don't let anyone on base. Stay healthy. Maronde…maybe stay in the minors as a starter. Working in the pen isn't working out too good. Brasier…tough luck man, but it's not a big deal. Shake it off. Enright…Maybe as an emergency starter? Maybe otherwise enjoy SLC life. Carpenter…keep the ball down. You've been way too hittable.

I have four tickets on Friday, May 3, in Section 111, Row P. These are some of the best tickets in Angels Stadium, so I really don't want to sell them. I want to swap them for another set of equal four tickets, later in the season, on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Or I'll sell them at face. $125 each.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/pitchinglogs.php?p=gubicma01&y=1997

I'd rather have an Angels Ex-Player, not a former pitcher who lasted all of two starts with the Angels after 14 years with the Royals. The guy should be in Kansas City doing Royals games instead of Hudler, or in Philadelphia, the team he openly roots for, despite working for a different club. Yes he was born and raised in Philly, so I have no problem with him being a Phillies fan….except he shouldn't ever talk about it, while employed by a different club. The week after the Angels lost in the ALCS to the Yankees in 2009, he was on Mason and Ireland discussing his love of the Phillies, for 10 minutes. A quick, cursory, Angels question. Nothing about the screwed up calls, virtually nothing about the Angels at all…instead…all Philly love. Scioscia is from Philly too….do you think he'd be caught dead talking about how good they were only days after the Angels were eliminated? No.

Aybar was never my favorite player, but he has put up good numbers in back to back seasons after struggling in 2010. Considering he is on par defensively with Elvis Andrus, and as capable of a hitter if not better, I'd say keeping him is a good thing. Andrus's contract is freaking ridiculous, as is Kinsler's. Kendrick may be able to bring you back a starter like Matt Garza, if he is swapped in a deal which also gives them solid prospects from our A/AA teams. Callaspo honestly might get you as much in that same type of deal seeing as he can play 2nd, 3rd, and SS in a pinch, plus is a switch hitter (which people actually think he can do) and the prospects are really the key there anyway. The Angels do have Taylor Lindsey in the minors as an eventual 2nd base replacement, but he's not ready yet.

5 walks to 14 strikeouts is actually a good number for Trumbo. If you push that to 650 plate appearances, you're looking at close to 50 walks and yes 135-150k's. He can hit. And the last two months where he was awful can truly be 100% attributed to his rib cage injury. Even after he recovered, his swing was off. And he was trying to push himself back into playing shape without really taking any time off.

Anyone going tomorrow (Saturday)?

Everyone on this board seems to have a least favorite player, but who is everyone's favorite player? And for kicks, who is your least favorite player? Let's do position players separately than pitchers. My favorite player on the team was Torrii, but since he's gone, I'm really digging Trumbo, Kendrick, and of course Trout. My least favorite player is easily Alberto Callaspo (shock!, I know). Other least favorite players have been Benji Gil, Ben Weber, Juan Rivera, Rodney, Bobby Abreu. My favorite pitcher on the team is CJ Wilson, now that Santana is gone. Least favorite pitcher is easily Joe Blanton. I didn't understand the signing and unfortunately it looks like I was right. SO for me: Trumbo / Callaspo and Wilson / Blanton

If they fired Scioscia, which IMHO would be a bad decision, Dino Ebel is the likely candidate for the interim job. Butcher would likely be fired too. There aren't any candidates I'd rather have than Scioscia, who is regarded as a very good manager. Think about who the Dodgers have had since Lasorda retired. They had Walter Alston, Lasorda, then these guys. Bill Russell (3), Glenn Hoffman (I), Davey Johnson (2), Jim Tracy (5), Grady Little (2) , Joe Torre (3), and now Mattingly (3). In the same time frame the Angels had Marcel Latcheman (3), John McNamara (I), Joe Maddon (I), Terry Collins (3), Maddon again (I), then Scioscia (14). Stability is underrated in Managers. Scioscia is the 23rd manager (by tenure) in Angels history. Given that 5 of the other 22 have had multiple stints, (Mauch, McNamara, Lachemann, Rodgers, Maddon), that means only 18 guys have held that job. Best Managers in the game have been there for many, many, years. Taking Scioscia's tenure out of the equation, the other 17 have then covered 35 years. Which is just over two seasons per guy. Seeing as a lot of these guys lasted less than a year or were interim managers, you really have eleven guys helming the club for more than two years. Scioscia is in his 14th season. Rigney had 7 1/2 seasons. Mauch had 4 1/2 seasons. Lefty Phillips had parts of three. Dick Williams had parts of three. Fregosi had parts of three. Doug Radar had parts of three Buck Rodgers had three. Marcel Lachemann had parts of three Terry Collins had parts of three. McNamara had two. We're spoiled to think that there is someone better out there. Looking around the majors, after Sciocia, the longest tenured guy is Gardenhire in Minnesota. Then in the AL, you have guys hired for 2006 in Joe Maddon and Jim Leyland. Then guys for 2007 in Ron Washington and for 2008 in Joe Girardi, Everyone else has been replaced in the last three years. In the NL, Charlie Manuel has been leading the Phillies since 05. Bruce Bochy and Bud Black since 07, and Dusty Baker for 08. Everyone else has been replaced in the last three years. Do you want to replace a manager every three seasons, as is the evidence for the trend in baseball? How many guys have World Series rings in the group who has lasted more than three seasons? Manuel, Bochy, Scioscia, and Girardi. That's it. The Tigers have been there and lost. Gardenhire never has been. Baker has been and lost. If they aren't going to upgrade to a better manager, it's best if they just hope Scioscia pulls something out this year, or we'll end up in a manager search every three years. I don't want that.