ettin

I mentioned this velocity loss in the "More From Angelswin.com" series about 2013 Projections. The velocity loss is concerning and the possibility of too much wear and injury is real. However if there is any pitcher that could work in a reduced-velocity type of environment I believe Jered can, as he has an excellent mix of pitches and speeds combined with pin-point control. It will probably effect him negatively in terms of regular ratio/counting stats like ERA but unless he goes on an extended DL stint (read: serious injury) I'm not horribly worried (read: concerned with some negative impact to his overall performance).

wRAA (Weighted Runs Above Average) measures a players total offensive runs that they contribute over a normal replacement type player. It is sort of a catch-all stat for offense.

Also if you go into FanGraphs and select any player you can select 'Splits' then click 'Career' and scroll down to the sections that list 'Bases Empty', 'Men on Base', and 'Men in Scoring' to get an idea of each individuals career stats in those situations.

solid starting pitching

 

Iannetta continues to rake

 

clutch hit by trout

 

i know "close" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades but at least we have been in every game

Actually it's horseshoes, hand grenades, and nuclear weapons but point made and taken.

Did they talk about his super hot Brazilian girlfriend (she is a supermodel)?

For those who might have been concerned about Vernon Wells' 3-for-4-with-a-three-run-homer night in New York, things have returned to normal. VDub went 0-for-4 last night with a strikeout, ground out, fly out and line out. The ground out - or at least that was the way it was scored - was classic. Vern hit a screaming dribbler that rolled maybe a foot from home plate. As he dropped the bat on his backswing, it hit the ball and knocked it away from Boston's catcher. He was called out before he was two steps down the line.

 

I was watching the game with the wife, a Yankee fan. I told her that a whole summer of this lies ahead.

So he got two hits?

The Ranger fans are acting like they just won the World Series. 

Everyone needs to act out their wildest fantasies once in a while.

Trout 4-5, 2 HR's

Votto has a .900ops vs. lefties.  pitching to Votto at all is dicey at best.  Phillips is at sub .800ops hitter vs. righties.  Walk Votto and bring in a RHer to pitch to phillips.  It probably wouldn't have mattered anyway. 

In Scott Downs defense, he has a .209 BA Against vs. LHH over his career and a 64.3% Ground Ball rate on top of that against LHH (and that did happen in this case). However, Joey Votto is one, if not the, best hitters in the League right now. It just found the right spot and it didn't work out.

I don't think this was a colossal fail on S-C-I-O-S-C-I-A's part. The numbers pointed to a coin flip and the numbers also pointed to a majority of the hits turning into ground balls. I don't think this decision was as bad on the surface as it appeared, to be honest.

I missed who was up next behind Votto (Phillips?) but the ball managed to find that one hole.....

I'm ap-paul-ed by that picture.

Trout 3-5, 1 Double

Lock up the season. Doesn't get better than this.

 

Awesome!

Trout 3-5, Single

Then what will you read when you take a deuce?

Playboy?

Under $20 a month for the LA Times delivered + Digital.  Or $1.99 a week just for digital.  

 

So $2 a day is way too expensive.

And this really is where the OC Register might fail in its endeavor. I would rather pay the LA Times $2, and get Angels coverage, than pay an extra $2 to get the more "localized" Orange County reports (which, to be honest, are not that different or substantial to be worth the, albeit, small investment).

Pay sites need to have content that drives people to shell out the money. Sam Miller at Baseball Prospectus makes me want to subscribe to Baseball Prospectus. Good coverage, writing and content is what drives subscription, in my opinion.

Wow.  harper 2 for 2, 2 hr's.

This is incredibly good juju for my one fantasy team that has both Trout and Harper on it.

Notably these moves preserve positional depth since most of the players involved performed pretty well during Spring Training.

Yay for Avatars making the team! Woot!

Trout 3-4, 2 Doubles

Big-boo-tay! Tay! Tay!

858

I know Robert's projections are a bit conservative, but if Aybar can settle down a bit in the 2-hole, be a bit more selective, I think he can easily hit over .300 this season. 

The reason why I don't think his batting average will be significantly higher is because of the fact that he will be asked to move Trout over quite often. When players try harder to direct their bats that has a slight tendency towards more ground ball outs (for instance in a hit and run scenario). That is the main reason I think he'll hit closer to his career average.

You are correct that if he goes the other way and becomes more selective it could lead to a higher average, but Aybar tried that before (2011 I think it was) and it is just not in his nature to be patient at the plate. He really does swing at a high number of pitches.

Low-level prospect with average upside or possibly a reliever that is closer or at the MLB level if the money involved is actually true.

There could potentially be more in play than just Vernon. Perhaps we might send one of our minor leaguers over in exchange for a better player in return?

Lots of different scenarios so this topic is a real guessing game.... I'm glad we were able to move him off of our 25-man roster to make room for someone like Conger or Calhoun.

As I wrote back in an article last year, about Vernon's trade value and possible partners, if Dipoto could get $5+ million paid by another team in trade for Wells it would be a job well done in my opinion.

If that $13 million number is true I'll be really pleased. Of course we haven't seen the other details about players exchanged so don't go crazy yet. If we are sending more than just Vernon this may not be as mind-blowing as it could be.

Here is an excellent article at FanGrahps: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/the-changing-caught-stealing-calculus-2/

It speaks to the MLB break-even average which is around 67%, currently. Last year the Angels had the 2nd highest success rate (thank you Mr. Trout!) with a break-even point around 70%.

The bottom line is that stolen bases are becoming more valuable but you obviously have to have the right players capable of stealing bases at a high success rate.

Just Another Halo Victory is my favorite although I am partial to Light That Baby Up. Miss Rory's voice!