2005 Record: 90-72, AL West Champs
With consecutive AL West titles and three playoff appearances the last four years in their pocket, including the 2002 World Series, the Los Angeles-California-Orange County-West Coast-Not Far From Malibu Angels of Anaheim are going to be favored by many to make the postseason again in 2006.
I am not among the many, at least so far as picking them to win a 3rd-consecutive AL West crown.
The pitching is sound overall and adding Jeff Weaver to the rotation in the last day or so helps. He should slide in behind Bartolo Colon and alongside John Lackey in the starting mix. Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar round out the all-righty group of starters. Santana and Escobar have to chime in with solid campaigns to make up for the nearly 400 innings lost with the departure of Jarrod Washburn and Paul Byrd.
Francisco ‘K-Rod’ Rodriguez is the closer, and the scrawny Venezuelan is among the game’s best, as long as he doesn’t break down. Setting him up is a capable crew led by Scot Shields, Brendan Donnelly and now Hector Carrasco after the signing of Weaver bumped the ever-aging Carrasco to the pen. But the Angels will continue to pay for having Esteban Yan on the roster, and not just in terms of his contract. Keeping Yan around has cost the team Bobby Jenks and Joel Peralta the past two winters.
Having Vladimir Guerrero in the middle of your lineup is a good thing, a very good thing. There’s nobody I enjoy watching swing the bat these days more than Vlad. But not having a whole lot around him in the order is not a very good thing. Darin Erstad moves back to CF with Garret Anderson in LF, and both really need rebound seasons to augment the Halos’ offense. Erstad is in the last year of his contract, and that’s always something to keep an eye on as players shoot for a new megabuck deal. Juan Rivera is the primary OF backup right now and should also see time at DH.
The middle of the infield finds Adam Kennedy and Orlando Cabrera back at second and short, respectively. Short on power specifically and offense in general, the pair is going to be pushed aside very soon by prospects Brandon Wood and Howie Kendrick.
Chone Figgins is the best offensive weapon on the team behind Guerrero, and he figures to play all over the place once again. Right now he’s being listed as the primary third baseman until the club sees if Dallas McPherson is healthy and ready to show off all of his proverbial potential.
The Angels have a pair of newcomers at first and catcher this time, and there’s a lot of buzz surrounding Casey Kotchman down at 1B. Originally signed by his own father, longtime Angels scout Tom Kotchman, Casey was a very high pick out of high school in 2001 when he was pegged as the top schoolboy player of the year by a couple of groups. He is not a huge home run threat, at least just yet, banging but 10 taters in almost 100 games in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, but he has good gap power and is solid around the bag on defense. Jeff Mathis is the newcomer behind the plate, and he should battle Jose Molina for a majority of the catching duty now that Jose’s hermano Bengie bolted. Mathis has a good mitt behind the dish and could develop better-than-average power. But I’m not looking for much offense from him this season.
The Angels remind me in many ways of the Houston Astros: Good-to-great pitching and an offense that isn’t real scary once you get past Guerrero. They have some excellent talent on the horizon, but I suspect they could slide back a bit this year with a shot at the AL Wildcard their best hope.
Key Performer(s): McPherson and/or Anderson have to step up and bang 20+ homers in support of Guerrero, and Erstad needs to have a good showing in his contract season.
Camp Question(s): McPherson’s health and his ability to put his name on the 3B job, along with Kotchman proving his success at the lower levels was no fluke.
My Play: My projection says 88 wins for 2006, and with Pinnacle offering +101 on under 88.5, the Halos are a slight value in my opinion.
With consecutive AL West titles and three playoff appearances the last four years in their pocket, including the 2002 World Series, the Los Angeles-California-Orange County-West Coast-Not Far From Malibu Angels of Anaheim are going to be favored by many to make the postseason again in 2006.
I am not among the many, at least so far as picking them to win a 3rd-consecutive AL West crown.
The pitching is sound overall and adding Jeff Weaver to the rotation in the last day or so helps. He should slide in behind Bartolo Colon and alongside John Lackey in the starting mix. Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar round out the all-righty group of starters. Santana and Escobar have to chime in with solid campaigns to make up for the nearly 400 innings lost with the departure of Jarrod Washburn and Paul Byrd.
Francisco ‘K-Rod’ Rodriguez is the closer, and the scrawny Venezuelan is among the game’s best, as long as he doesn’t break down. Setting him up is a capable crew led by Scot Shields, Brendan Donnelly and now Hector Carrasco after the signing of Weaver bumped the ever-aging Carrasco to the pen. But the Angels will continue to pay for having Esteban Yan on the roster, and not just in terms of his contract. Keeping Yan around has cost the team Bobby Jenks and Joel Peralta the past two winters.
Having Vladimir Guerrero in the middle of your lineup is a good thing, a very good thing. There’s nobody I enjoy watching swing the bat these days more than Vlad. But not having a whole lot around him in the order is not a very good thing. Darin Erstad moves back to CF with Garret Anderson in LF, and both really need rebound seasons to augment the Halos’ offense. Erstad is in the last year of his contract, and that’s always something to keep an eye on as players shoot for a new megabuck deal. Juan Rivera is the primary OF backup right now and should also see time at DH.
The middle of the infield finds Adam Kennedy and Orlando Cabrera back at second and short, respectively. Short on power specifically and offense in general, the pair is going to be pushed aside very soon by prospects Brandon Wood and Howie Kendrick.
Chone Figgins is the best offensive weapon on the team behind Guerrero, and he figures to play all over the place once again. Right now he’s being listed as the primary third baseman until the club sees if Dallas McPherson is healthy and ready to show off all of his proverbial potential.
The Angels have a pair of newcomers at first and catcher this time, and there’s a lot of buzz surrounding Casey Kotchman down at 1B. Originally signed by his own father, longtime Angels scout Tom Kotchman, Casey was a very high pick out of high school in 2001 when he was pegged as the top schoolboy player of the year by a couple of groups. He is not a huge home run threat, at least just yet, banging but 10 taters in almost 100 games in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, but he has good gap power and is solid around the bag on defense. Jeff Mathis is the newcomer behind the plate, and he should battle Jose Molina for a majority of the catching duty now that Jose’s hermano Bengie bolted. Mathis has a good mitt behind the dish and could develop better-than-average power. But I’m not looking for much offense from him this season.
The Angels remind me in many ways of the Houston Astros: Good-to-great pitching and an offense that isn’t real scary once you get past Guerrero. They have some excellent talent on the horizon, but I suspect they could slide back a bit this year with a shot at the AL Wildcard their best hope.
Key Performer(s): McPherson and/or Anderson have to step up and bang 20+ homers in support of Guerrero, and Erstad needs to have a good showing in his contract season.
Camp Question(s): McPherson’s health and his ability to put his name on the 3B job, along with Kotchman proving his success at the lower levels was no fluke.
My Play: My projection says 88 wins for 2006, and with Pinnacle offering +101 on under 88.5, the Halos are a slight value in my opinion.
Mentioned this in another thread last night, but I'm planning to do a team a day, plus add some other baseball related info regarding the funky way-unbalanced schedules in the majors that play a role in my W-L projections.
