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KTE - Angels, April 11-13

Frayed Knot Apr 11 2014 12:03 PM

First west coast swing of the year (meaning our first late-night games) takes us out to Anaheim as the Mets continue their ‘Triple A’ road trip: At Atlanta, At Anaheim, At Arizona As far as I know, owner Artie Moreno hasn’t given out any absurd contracts yet this week, but there’s still a day and a half left to go. Angels are coming off a 78-84 2013 season despite the largess doled out to the likes of Pujols, Hamilton, and CJ Wilson. They were seemingly a post-season regular for a while (and, not coincidently, a pain in the Yanx collective asses) but to find their last division win/post-season appearance you now need to go back to 2009 This season they’re 4-5 against a schedule that’s had them playing only Seattle (1-4) & Houston (3-1) Friday - 10:05 EDT Gee vs Tyler Skaggs (LHP) Skaggs was a former 1st (Supp) round pick (40th overall) of the Angels in 2009. They sent him a year later to Arizona in the Dan Haren deal. Then, after three years of watching him rocket up the prospect charts, the Snakes did the only logical thing, they traded him back to Disneyland via a three-team deal. Career = 4-6; 4.86 ERA; 1.33 WHiP in 14 starts/76 innings Saturday - 9:05 Niese vs Jered Weaver Now in his 9th season, all with the Angels, Weaver was Top-5 in CY voting three years running in 2010-12 (5th, 2nd, 3rd) but missed some starts early last season and is off to a 0-2 start this year. Sunday - 3:35 Colon vs CJ Wilson (LHP) Wilson is starting his 3rd year in Anaheim after signing a big FA deal to jump from Texas. Is 31-18 / 3.64 / 1.34 in 69 starts over 2+ years as a Halo 1B - Albert Pujols - The Angels had to figure they’d be getting a diminished Pujols by the end of his contract, I just don’t suspect they thought he’d be plummeting this early. OPS last three years: 906 (last w/Cards), 859, 767 $25 million/year just doesn’t buy what it used to. 2B - Howie Kendrick - 30 y/o, now in his 9th season with Anaheim. Career .292/.329/.428 hitter SS - Erick Aybar - 30 y/o SS is also in his 9th season with the team. .276/.313/.385 A quick glance tells me that only Rollins & Utley have been together longer among current middle infield pairs … and I bet none of you would have gotten that in a trivia quiz. Me either. 3B - David Freese - Former Cardinals WS hero has pretty much been dining out on that rep for like two years now. LF - Josh Hamilton - off to a hot start after a couple of off years. BUT WAIT!!!, thumb surgery as the result of — say it with me folks — Sliding head-first into 1st!!!! (he may have also sprained a few tattoos) and is out for six weeks or more so obviously we won’t see him. What this does mean is that we might have a Colin Cowgill sighting in his stead. CF - Mike Trout Trout’s OPS in his Age-21 season? … That would be 988 Others that age with a higher one? … That list would consist of Jimmie Foxx and Ted Williams Those with a higher OPS+ (adjusted for home park and era) at that age? … That list would consist of NO ONE. And, unlike Foxx & Williams (or Miggy Cabrera for that matter who is currently in possession of AT LEAST one of Trout's MVP awards), this guy can run and throw and field … and probably cook an omelet. RF - Kole Calhoun - I never heard of this guy and wouldn’t know him if stuck on an elevator with him while looking at his ‘Missing’ picture on a milk carton. He got about 200 ABs last season with no particular distinction. C - Chris Ianetta - I thought Ianetta was on the Rox until like an hour and a half ago, but it turns out that this will be his 4th full season with the Angels. DH - Raul Ibanez - Now 42 Freaking Years Old he’s coming off a ridiculous 29 HR/51 XBH season, while in pitcher-friendly Seattle no less. And it’s not like that was an aberration, he gets 50 or more XBHs just about every year. I was afraid of him being too old when there was talk about the Mets getting him and that was like a decade ago, but he’s one of those guys whose back half of the career was better than the first half. He now has 416 career 2Bs and 301 HRs - when he turned 30 those totals were just 33 & 27 Ernesto Fieri is the closer. Started his career with SD (which I absolutely do NOT remember) but was shipped to the Angels in 2012 where they almost immediately installed him as their closer, and despite never having done so before has been decent at it ever since (amazing how that works, huh?). K’s a lot of guys although will walk his share too. Other pen guys you might recognize without a background check: Fernando Salas, he was with the Cardinals for a time which means we probably didn't hit him. Joe Smith, the submarining one-time NYM who signed a 3-year/$16mil FA contract with LAA this past off-season. Really. They're no Angels -- aka: Guys you may be looking for but won't see: - Toriiii Hunter was one of their past big budget contracts but has been with Detroit since last season - power hitter Mark Trumbo (95 HRs in 3 years) was dealt to Arizona in the off season so we won't see him until next series - Rod Carew, Tim Salmon - I'm pretty sure they're both retired, but naming old ballplayers for a team is one of those in things to do if you're an ESPN anchor and you find yourself suddenly forced to talk about a team that isn't the Yanx, Sawx, or Dodgers. It's their way of admitting -- hell, bragging about -- the fact that they haven't followed baseball in several decades and so don't actually know anyone on the current team.. Anchor #1: "And now for some Twins highlights" Anchor #2: "Ummm, is Kent Hrbek still there? Kirby Puckett? How 'bout Tony Oliva?" FK at home: "Fuck you, assholes"

Edgy MD Apr 11 2014 12:28 PM Re: KTE - Angels, April 11-13

If I hear one more reference to Willywhacking, I'm gonna get mean.

A Boy Named Seo Apr 11 2014 12:33 PM Re: KTE - Angels, April 11-13

I still remember crying about the Mets passing up Weaver in the 2k4 draft. They went with Humber at #3 (right after the Tigers took Verlander) and Weaver went 12th because Boras demanded a truckload of money for him. I'd like to see a parallel universe where we took Weaver and never end up with Johan (and maybe still have Carlos Gomez?). Good job, Knot.

Frayed Knot Apr 11 2014 01:48 PM Re: KTE - Angels, April 11-13

Yeah, the way I remember it is that, after Weaver had a great final year in college, there were comparisons made to another college stud RHP from a draft three years earlier, Mark Prior. But scouts tended to think that, despite his college record being similar to Prior's, Weaver's talent wasn't going to be quite on the same level. So back at that time when even the "suggested" slotting wasn't yet in fashion much less the harder standards of today, the upshot was that Weaver, spurred on by Boras, was going to cost you the superstar price of Prior without actually being Prior, something which caused a bunch of teams, Mets included, to think that they could get better use for their draft money elsewhere and making Weaver still available to the Angels at #12 To date, only Verlander (2nd overall and supposedly the guy the Mets wanted most of all) has racked up more WAR from that 1st round than Weaver, with Stephen Drew (15th overall to Arizona) and Gio Gonzalez (38th - ChiSox) next. The 2nd round that year saw Yovanni Gallardo (46th - Brewers), Hunter Pence (64th - Astros), & Dustin Pedroia (65th - Red Sox) Horrid draft year for the Mets overall that year, not a good thing when picking 3rd in each round.

Edgy MD Apr 11 2014 01:55 PM Re: KTE - Angels, April 11-13

HEF! Round 46! Oh, sure, technically he didn't sign and went to college. And then the Padres drafted him, and the Mets only got him after the Pirates grabbed him off waivers, and the Mets grabbed him from the Buccos. But still, inspired pick!

Zvon Apr 11 2014 02:00 PM Re: KTE - Angels, April 11-13

omg, Weavers in his 9th season? Time flies faster when you get old. Great job FK. Thank you.

A Boy Named Seo Apr 11 2014 02:13 PM Re: KTE - Angels, April 11-13

Dis fuckin' guy. [youtube:rphgg9un]glYi34HnHmc[/youtube:rphgg9un]

Zvon Apr 11 2014 02:26 PM Re: KTE - Angels, April 11-13

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Dis fuckin' guy. [youtube]glYi34HnHmc[/youtube] Wow. Some amazin fielding there. Meh, we can do that too.

Edgy MD Apr 11 2014 02:30 PM Re: KTE - Angels, April 11-13

It's a special player who can not only get back there and make the leaping catch put pause to admire his dancing shadow. That shadow should get its own baseball card.

Frayed Knot Apr 11 2014 02:31 PM Re: KTE - Angels, April 11-13

And since we're reviewing draft picks in days of yore: the Angels drafted Mike Trout with the pick they received from the Yanx for the signing of Mark Teixeira - although they actually had the previous pick in the same year for the Mets signing of Frankie Rodriguez and probably would have selected Trout with that pick if they didn't have the two consecutive picks (24th & 25th overall). The Angels swear (after the fact of course) that Trout was higher on their board than anyone aside from that year's #1/1 Steven Strasburg and probably took Trout with the second of the two picks in order to try to save on bonus money. Mets didn't pick until 72nd that year and chose Steven Matz which, despite the injury and slow recovery, does offer some in the end.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Apr 11 2014 05:51 PM Re: KTE - Angels, April 11-13

Calhoun's actually interesting. Walks a bit, runs a bit, has decent range, and has shown 20-25 HR pop at various minor league levels-- an underrated, does-everything-well-but-nothing-great guy with the potential to be, say, a Poor Man's Abreu.