SB Nation User Blog: BryanHarvey'sMoustache

Brian Fuentes on leading the MLB in saves as quoted in the new issue of SI: "Its kind of weird,...

BryanHarvey'sMoustache — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:23:22 -0000

Brian Fuentes on leading the MLB in saves as quoted in the new issue of SI:

"Its kind of weird, I've never led in anything."

The Angels seem willing to listen on Mike Napoli, Jeff Mathis and their entire infield, which...

BryanHarvey'sMoustache — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:10:06 -0000

The Angels seem willing to listen on Mike Napoli, Jeff Mathis and their entire infield, which consists of Kendry Morales, Howie Kendrick, Erick Aybar and Chone Figgins.
They appear to have interest in young, high-upside pitchers, which could mean they're unsure they'll re-sign John Lackey after the season.

Link

Turmoil in Texas: Ron Washington in the Hot-Seat

BryanHarvey'sMoustache — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:48:30 -0000

Howard Bryant recently wrote a lengthy piece on Rangers manager Ron Washington for espn.com. The article delves into the Washington's conundrum of managing a team currently in first place (not for long!) without any job security. As Bryant explains:

Yet for each positive, Washington is managing without a net, baseball's most ferocious lame duck. He does not have a contract after this season, and was very nearly fired last season by the team president -- one Mr. Nolan Ryan -- after the Rangers started the season woefully at 7-16. Even going 72-67 the rest of the way did not convince Ryan that Washington merited security.

Instead, the Rangers announced they would not yet exercise Washington's option to manage in 2010, saying it was not a top club priority...

Ouch. Bryant goes on to note Ryan's increased influence on how the Rangers are managed such as forcing Washington to fire bench-coach Art Howe last year and, as we all know, demanded the starting pitchers are giving larger pitch counts. Bryant also notes Ryan's very candid sentiments, for a front-office figurehead, on his lack of confidence in Washington.

***

I don't want to lean on this as a sign that the Rangers will implode but it certainly seems to be an advantage that goes to us. Admittedly I am not well-versed in how well teams succeed with inner-organization turmoil but this can't be a good thing for the Rangers. Furthermore, I don't know how much influence this has on the players and their performance on the field but it certainly isn't something that is going to have a positive effect. Of course, no matter the effect, the Angels still have to win games to beat them, no matter how organized our FO is and how screwed up theirs is.

Also, after reading the article, it seems apparent that unless Texas has a tremendous year, as in going to the WS, that Washington will not be there next year. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see Ryan as head coach next year.

I highly suggest reading the article for all you baseball geeks out there. I think Bryant does a good job profiling Washington plus its good to "Know thy enemy" and what not...

Escobar No Good in Triple-A

BryanHarvey'sMoustache — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 06:12:35 -0000

Escobar was anything but impressive in his start for the SLC Bees. As the OC Register Angels blog reports:

He [Escobar] allowed five runs (four earned, one unearned on his own error) on eight hits, two walks and a hit batter and only struck out one. He threw 87 pitches, almost split down the middle balls-and-strikes (41 balls, 46 strikes).

Do the Angels bring him up anyways or do they give him another start in the minors? Who knows. However, it certainly looks like Matt Palmer might be sticking around in the rotation for a bit longer.

Question about Dondo...

BryanHarvey'sMoustache — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:07:30 -0000

I posted this as a comment but thought it wouldn't hurt to write a fanpost about it and start a small discussion.

Question: What the hell happened to Jose Arrondondo? How can someone be so lights out one year and so terrible the next?My initial thoughts is that the league just learned how to hit him. However, it seems like teams wouldnt even go through the trouble of “studying” a middle reliever. Has he lost some of his speed? Is his breaking ball not working like it use to?

Speier I can understand. Shields, taking into consideration his injury, I can understand. Bulger—who has actually been nails lately—I can understand, hes never been THAT impressive. But Dondo….wtf?

What happened? Rghan? Welch? We need your thoughts.

Make Torii Hunter an All-Star

BryanHarvey'sMoustache — Wed, 27 May 2009 23:27:54 -0000

This from the LA Times:

Angel outfielder Torii Hunter ranks among the American League leaders in four offensive categories but trails nine other outfielders in balloting for the league's All-Star team, according to vote totals released today.

[...]

In the outfield, the top three choices are Boston's Jason Bay, the Rangers' Josh Hamilton and Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki. The Mariners' Ken Griffey Jr., who is hitting .226 with almost as many strikeouts (22) as hits (26) in just 115 at-bats, is fourth among outfielders, more than 60,000 votes ahead of Hunter, who is hitting .323 with 11 homers and 40 RBI and has 242,712 votes so far. Balloting ends July 2.

Without a doubt, Torii deserves to be there this year. If everyone on this site votes for Torii, it might not do the trick but there is no hurt in trying, right?

Go HERE to cast your ballot before July 2nd.

Scot Shields to Disabled List, Rich Thompson Called Up

BryanHarvey'sMoustache — Wed, 27 May 2009 06:59:20 -0000

This from the Angels blog via OC Register:

The Angels placed setup man Scot Shields on the 15-day disabled list with left patella tendinitis and recalled reliever Rich Thompson from Triple-A Salt Lake.

A second post quoted Shields in reference to his last outing:

"There were some good days, but today I wasn’t even thinking about the hitters. I was just thinking about how much pain is this going to be?" Shields said. "When it came to that point, I was just like, ‘I can’t go on like that.’ "

Hope Shields gets better. Until then, break out the Welcome Wagon for Rich Thompson, the next one in-line of the ever revolving door that is the 2009 Angels blow-pen.

Hey Clowns! FYI: Matt Palmer is our fifth starter

BryanHarvey'sMoustache — Fri, 15 May 2009 01:31:51 -0000

I keep reading comments on some recent post about how Matt Palmer is moving to the pen when Lackey and Erv come back. This is just a friendly reminder to look at your hand, then count how many fingers on it. Now pretend like each one is an Angels starting pitcher...Missing someone? Oh right, there are five starters. And Matt Palmer is the fifth.

1. Saundo

2. Dream Weaver

3. Big John

4. Santana

5. Palmer

Note: There is this CRAZY website called angelsbaseball.com that can help you keep track of who is on the 25-man roster and who isnt. Also, if you scroll down when on HH(that stands for Halos Heaven...the website you are on), Rev and co. are keeping tabs on what players are on the DL (that stands for disabled list.)

Just a friendly suggestion to keep your facts in order before you start whining about our bullpen, how Weaver should have stayed in longer or whatever else gets your goat.

Photos from SLC Bees @ Portland

BryanHarvey'sMoustache — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:05:02 -0000

The Bees got off to a promising start going up by two with a four run 3rd inning. However, the Bees quickly fell apart and ended their 4-game stand against the Portland Beavers (Padres-affiliates) with a whopping 13-4 loss.

Despite rumors that Ervin Santana was going to start, Sean O'Sullivan took the hill and looked anything but impressive over his 5 innings of work. Blames of the game can be handed out to both Fernando Rodriguez who gave up 4 runs in the 6th and my personal BOTG, Kevin Jepsen. After a strong seventh, Jepsen gave up five runs in the 8th including two home runs. This all happened with two outs too! When Jepsen finally got pulled I couldn’t help but tell him from my seat right behind the dugout to "start looking for apartments in Salt Lake" because he certainly isn’t going anywhere. The highlights for the Bees were doubles by Freddy Sandoval and Matt Brown. Other than that, the Bees offense was mostly quiet due to the superb pitching of Padres prospect Jonathan Ellis who pitched 2.1 innings and struck out four including a Mr. Brandon Wood.

Enjoy the following photos I took from the game...

V Sean O'Sullivan V

V Terry Evans popping up and proving why he's a Triple-A lifer V

V Brandon Wood with a hard ground-out V

V A 4-2 Lead... That's as good as it got for the Bees V

V The girlfriend contemplates Sean Rodriguez's ass V

V Fernando Rodriguez V

V Bobby Wilson drops the ball on a good throw to home by Evans V

V Matt Brown tries to get things started with a double to right-center V

V Brandon Wood: DH, fill-in warm up catcher and future 2010 starting Angel V

Dan Patrick: Scioscia best manager in baseball

BryanHarvey'sMoustache — Wed, 06 May 2009 19:28:42 -0000

Driving home today I heard Dan Patrick say on his radio show that he thought Mike Scioscia was the best manager in baseball. He was talking about this because Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated recently published who he thought were the top ten MLB managers right now.

Here is Heyman's top five from his third annual list:

1. Tony La Russa, Cardinals

2. Scioscia, Halos

3, Francona, BoSux

4. Torre, that OTHER LA team

5. Ron Gardenhire, Twins.

To read who makes the bottom five and Heyman's thoughts check out the article HERE.

No doubt Scioscia is a great manager but sometimes his decisions make me wonder. After the live chat featured here with Mike Digiovanni a couple weeks ago, he seems to agree.

This IS NOT a criticism of Scioscia. I love the guy and do not yearn for the days of Buck Rodgers or Marcel Lachemann. I just want more beyond the usual fluff that people praise him for. A real baseball anaylsis of what Scioscia does that so many other managers don't. Often times, I feel like that is lacking in praise for Scioscia and it makes me skeptical.

Nevertheless, I wouldnt want anyone else leading this club even if he decided to bring Willits up yesterday... ; )

So who is your top five or ten?