Grigori

Actually the Cardinals are not if you use the advanced stats like you can find on Fangraphs which take into account things like ballpark factors. The Rangers have a 73 ERA- and Cards 81 ERA-. 100 is average. Below that is better, which means the Rangers are 27% better than average and the Cardinals only 19% better. The Rangers outstrip the Cards in xFIP, FIP- and xFIP-, as well. Using some of the more "fair" traditional stats, the Rangers have a 1.19 WHIP, the Cards 1.22, the Rangers a .234 BAA, the Cards .245. I could go on, but clearly the Rangers have the best pitching staff in the major leagues right now. You give the Rangers that Busch home field and they'd put up way better pitching numbers than those Cardinals pitchers. The advanced statistics show that, anyway.

Hamilton is having great May. He could go on a tear at any moment and carry the entire team on his back for months. He will make fools of starving and some other haters before long. You could say he already had the past two weeks. Sure, I love it the Angels aren't threatening my Rangers right now. I'd be crazy not to enjoy my team's good fortunes. But, I'd never count the Angels or Hamilton out.

I'm a nice Ranger fan and offer my heartfelt sympathies. After all, you Angels fans were real Princes about the Rangers when we were losing. Also, you are being good Sports about the Angels losing so many games. Things will turn around one day. You guys have eight division championships to the Rangers five and you have a World Series win. Maybe one fewer league championship, but that can change. So there is no reason to feel downtrodden. One day the Angels will have a good team again.

Nice to know that Hamilton is living the stress-free Southern California lifestyle.

That $120 million starting point does not include what is owed Wells, but it does include what is owed Blanton next year. But do you want Price? Look how he's doing now. He lost a couple MPH off his fastball and has a 6.25 ERA. All these pitchers everyone used to want like Price and Halladay are already becoming albatrosses. Like Lincecum? Who wants him anymore? You never know in this game.

I'm a Ranger fan and I actually agree with AJ. Look at how many injuries the Angels have. All of those guys are coming back. If they can just pick up a few games with this weak schedule until they get back, they might get on fire and eke out enough wins to squeak into the postseason. And as far as the future goes, they start with about a $120 million payroll next year needing a starting pitcher and a bullpen. Since Moreno is obviously willing to spend $30 to $40 million a year more than that, there is good reason to think the Angels can address their pitching issues. Weaver, CJ and Pitcher X could be the beginning of a good rotation next year, and they would still have money left over for a couple of plus bullpen arms. So, I wouldn't count these Angels out quite yet. The Rangers and Rangers fans aren't. We all know we have to play the Angels in more games to get to the promised land. We hope the Angels continue to flail around and lose, but no one is counting on it.

That was a really good article. Sums things up nicely. The Angels are due for a total rebuild from the bottom up. That's going to take a long time.

Shamilton

I have an idea, if I might offer a little objectivity. The Angels are probably three or four years away from fielding a competitive team. In the meantime, all of Trout's talents are being squandered. They might consider trading Trout to the Texas Rangers for a few A-ball players who will be ready for the Big Leagues in a few years. The Rangers have some really good prospects at that level, like Joey Gallo, who we got as a compensation pick for losing CJ Wilson to the Angels. Now, why would the Rangers do this? Well, the Rangers might be interested in using Trout in left field. There's a lot of ground to cover there in our home park, and he might be ideal for that job. Murphy is a free agent at the end of the year. So, this might be a good time to swoop in and get some premium talent. Dipoto seems to like ex-Rangers players. This might be a way he could get some before they are so expensive. Just a thought.

They could lose a bunch of games to get better draft picks.

The Angels offense is about in the middle of the pack. Not that bad at all. I think they will get better, too. I don't think that is the big problem. The big problem is the pitching. It started last year when it got measurably worse. Their moves to fix it did not pan out, and now Weaver is on the DL. They will start to hit better, but what's really wrong with this team is that when the pitching began to fall apart last year they had no solutions. CJ is fine as a number three or four pitcher, but that leaves a lot of gaps after Weaver when he gets back. They need at least two front-line starting pitchers and two quality relief pitchers to fill in the gaps. They've only scored three fewer runs than the Rangers so far this year, and the Rangers are doing great. It's about pitching.

Well, if you think the idea is funny, consider an alternate plan... instead of trading him to a competitor within the division, they could trade him to the Blue Jays

I know I'm a Rangers fan, but as an outsider maybe I can offer some objective insight. Have you noticed that the Angels have gotten worse every year since they brought Trout to the majors? Second place when they first brought him up, if I recall.. Third place last year. Fourth now. It might be time to trade him to the Rangers for David Murphy before they wind up in last place. I know, I know, it's risky trading players to a competitor in the same division, but hear me out. This could be a good "change of scenery" move for both teams. Look at how Wells is doing for the Yankees and how well Blanco Cahones is doing for the Angels organization, for example. Another hidden aspect of this trade proposal is the salary implication. I know Trout's salary has been a burr in Dipoto's saddle. Remember what a pain it was for Dipoto to increase Trout's salary $25,000 this year. Well, the Rangers might offer to take on half of Trout's salary which might please Dipoto and help tide the Angels over until the TV deal kicks in. It's only going to get worse. Trout might be asking for another $500 or so next year. You wouldn't want that to get out of hand, right? And what kind of signal would that send to Pujols and Hamilton if they paid Trout that much? The might start asking for more money as well. Like maybe they might pressure Moreno for an extension. Anyway, food for thought.

That's a good description of what happened. Last July someone wrote an atricle that basically showed how Hamilton swung at the same number of pitches even though a much larger number of them were being thrown out of the zone. He seemed to get over it in August and September, but all June and July he just kept hacking even though no one was throwing pitches near the strike zone. I'm not sure what happened in August and September. Maybe he came across some pitchers who had not caught wind of how stupid he is. But you are right. The best way to pitch to him is to just throw balls outside the zone and watch him put himself out. Vernon Wells was doing that as an Angel, so I'm thinking the Yankees have some sort of electro-shock treatments that cures that. The Rangers just make low offers and say "Adios, muchacho." The Angels probably need to go the electro-shock route because they have him for a long contract. Maybe they can waterboard him or something. I don't know. But, he has to figure out that he's not supposed to swing at every pitch no matter where it goes.

I think the Angels have a long-term plan, AJ. I read that Dipoto hired 35 new player development and scouting personnel. That's a lot! It's the place to start, too. It's just that it takes a long time to make the sort of changes the franchise needs. In the meantime, Moreno was willing to pony up a significant sum to win until they can revamp the organization from the bottom up.

Cheer up, Angels Fans. The offseason starts in November.

It's just hard to come back on the Rangers when they have you down three runs to six.

Ervin Santana is doing pretty good, too. I didn't know Wells had a .394 OBP and hit more home runs. He's up to five home runs now. Wow!

So cool... that dog wanted to make sure it got out before going crazy over it. LOL.

Wells hit his third home run of the year.

Don't know if he can keep that up, but maybe we'll find out.

Maybe they could trade for these players: Hunter .405/.419/.476 Santana 1.07 WHIP, 3.21 ERA Wells .360/.467/.720

I remember some poster here started a thread during Spring Training saying the Angels would finish in fourth place behind the Mariners.

I'll be cheering for the Angels to slow the Athletics down, AJ. They need to move Hamilton into the number three spot so he'll get more fastballs. Someone needs to kindly tell him to quit swinging at every pitch. The three-pitch out is becoming all too typical of him.