Out: 1B Mark Teixeira, P Francisco Rodriguez, P Jon Garland, OF Garrett Anderson
In: OF Bobby Abreu, P Brian Fuentes
Fuentes for K-Rod is a wash. If given 70 opportunities, Fuentes may have saved more games than K-Rod. However, the upgrade of Abreu for Gary Matthews / Juan Rivera does not nearly compensate for the downgrade of Kendry Morales for Teixeira (in the understatement of the day). It does not help matters that Rivera signed a three-year deal this offseason. The Angels cannot afford this kind of offensive downgrade as their offense finished 10th in the AL in runs scored last season. Abreu could not be a worse fit for a team in desperate need of a power threat. Check out Abreu's stats for the previous three years:
HR: 15 (2006), 16 (2007), 20 (2008)RBI: 107, 101, 100
SB: 30, 25, 22
CS: 6, 8, 11
BB: 124, 84, 73
UZR: -15.6, -4.2, -25.6
Headfirst Dives / Slides: 0, 0, 0 - No one has ever seen Abreu dive or slide headfirst. Clearly doesn't want to scratch that face of his.
As seen in his UZR numbers, Abreu does not even play average defense making him a great candidate to DH. Unfortunately, Vlad Guerrero falls into the exact same boat.
The team had bundles of money in a buyer's market and has very little to show for it. Angels' fans should be displeased that the team added to its strengths but failed to address their most glaring deficiency - power.
In full disclosure, there are two redeeming factors in play. Although Abreu will be 35 years old on Opening Day, the Angels are only locked in for a single season. Also, Abreu has a reasonable contract ($5m) so it seems like a reasonable risk.
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Other Thoughts and Observations
*Same classic goal celebrations, including the matador (1:05), row the canoe (1:30), and snort the line (1:35) among others.
*A highly recommended, interesting read about Pitch Sequencing.
*Check out Dodgers' latest acquisition: Tanyon Sturtze. Think Joe Torre had anything to do with this move? I do. Now, he just needs Scott Proctor back and he'll be able to sleep easy at night.*Co-Dirtbag of the Week: Roberto Alomar. Plax was named earlier in the week.
*Leave it to the NY Post to come up with a way to cheer us up in these tough economic times:
Posts
Typical "stats" junkie analysis. The Angels will do what they have always done--rely on home grown talent to fill in the gaps. Wood, Morales, Rodriguez, Jepsen, Adenhardt, Mosely will all play key roles for another 90 win season for the Angels. The trend in MLB, other than in NY and Bos, is to develop young players and let them play. TB is a great example. Angels will be just fine without spending yankillions of money.
ReplyDeleteVlad is home grown talent? text was home grown talent last year? please. the angels have had a nack for developing and finding pitching these last few years. vlad's been the O for the last 4+ years. they really need to bring someone else in to help him out.
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell did you want the Angels to do? Reminder - the Angels were 12 games up before they traded for Texiera. Abreu for Anderson (even); Morales for Kotchman (almost even); Fuentes for K-Rod (about even) and a deserving quality youngster to replace 4.90 era pitcher Garland. All this with a boat load of dollars saved. The 2 month rental of Texiera wanted to go to east...that became very clear when things came down to it. The Angels offer of $160 million was a good offer and I'm confident $180 million and $25 million to his wife would not have made him an Angel. Congrats to Texiera...who will make $40,000 every at-bat he takes. http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/salary/index?athleteId=3708899&salary=40000 Maybe he will do more than draw walks and hit singles in the playoffs.
ReplyDeleteThe Angels played in one of the weakest divisions in history last season. Taken in context, being 12 games up at the time of the Teixeira deal means very little.
ReplyDeleteThe A's have reloaded, the Rangers might only need an arm (or three) to compete and the M's figure to be more competitive than last year.
The Angels needed to sign Manny. They had the money and the willingness to spend. Now, they will have to small-ball there way to the playoffs.
And pitching for the A's.....
ReplyDeleteor Rangers.....
or Mariners...?????
The Angles are "a bit" better than last year before acquiring Texeira. Would he have made them a better team this year? Absolutely. But at what cost?
Morales and Rivera will easily equal what creaky Anderson and the slick-fielding Kotchman could do offensively. Abreu adds a nice lefty bat to break up the lineup. 100 wins? Tough to do. 95 wins, though? Sure.
asshats. that first comment was fuqin music to my ears. the jerkoff stat/crack addicts love act like the have in depth knowledge of teams, but every time they get exposed.
ReplyDeletewow man. wow. you were able to name two players on the team that are not home grown. wow. i guess your right. they have two free agents so forget the home grown theory. napoli, morales, kendrick, aybar, figgins, lackey, santana, saunders, weaver, shields, arredondo all born and raised in the angels system. get it together dumb ass.
angels are dominant. they have something no other team has. scioscia. represent.
"Angels' fans should be displeased that the team added to its strengths but failed to address their most glaring deficiency - power."
ReplyDeleteThe Angel's were slightly below league average in HR's (9th) and SLG (9th). Power may not be an Angel strenght, but it is hardly a "glaring deficiency."
It would be more accurate to say that the Angels' glaring weakness is plate discipline. They were 12th in drawing walks, and 11th in OBP (even though they ranked 7th in BA).
Abreu has a career OBP over 400 (.371 last year). Abreu projects to help the Angels significantly in this area of weakness.
Texiera would be considered home grown talent in a way, because we gave that up to get him!! As far as home grown talent, both NY and Boston have used quite a lot of their own recently. They just have the $ to resign them also. I agree with most of what Laredog says, except Anderson and Abreu (even?). Look at their OBP and that will tell you all you need to know!!
ReplyDeletePS--With all this money we saved, can Artie pull his head out of his a$$ and change the name back to Anaheim? I hear the Dodgers might go with Brooklyn again!!
ReplyDeleteAs an Angels fan the only thing I question is why they don't sign Manny.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to believe they can't sign him for a couple of years. With Scioscia and the other veterans on the team I don't think Manny would be an uncontrollable problem and he is in arguably one of the best hitters of all time. The fact that they came out so emphatically against signing him makes me think it has more to do with Arte's anger with Boras than with not wanting to deal with Manny.
Maybe even more than Tex, Manny could be the difference between making the play-offs and getting a WS ring.