I was thinking about it a lot today and Grady Sizemore strikes me as the perfect fit.

He can play left field (GG in CF speaks for itself).

He can hit lead-off (career .363 OBP and averages 81 walks per 162 games).

He's got speed (stole 30+ bases consistently when healthy).

He hits left-handed and has power (we don't really have a left-handed power threat outside of K-Mo and maybe Abreu although he isn't really a power hitter anymore).

He is presumably available (the Injuns suck and are in full rebuild mode).

He is presumably available at a discounted price (down-seasons the last 2 years due to injury).

When healthy, this guy is a dynamic player and can be a MUCH CHEAPER alternative to Carl Crawford. And maybe playing for the Angels will rejuvenate him a bit since he'd be on a contender.

So what do you guys think? Is this a good and/or realistic idea or am I just crazy?

Here are his PA/BB ratios by season for his career:

2006: 325 PA, 51 BB (6.37 plate appearances per walk)

2007: 263 PA, 33 BB (7.97)

2008: 274 PA, 35 BB (7.83)

2009: 432 PA, 40 BB (10.80)

2010 (as of August 5th): 352 PA, 24 BB (14.67)

As you can see, over the course of his career, his plate appearances per walk ratio has more than doubled which means his walk rate has essentially been cut in half. And it's been more or less a steady decline with only a slight increase in walk rate from 2007 to 2008.

In 2006, he hit a career low .228 but posted a .360 OBP which is only second to his .374 OBP in 2008 in which he hit a career high .273. That is a .045 point jump in BA but only a .014 jump in OBP. This year his slash line is .254/.324/.486.  Juan Rivera would be proud.

So my question is...WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS PATIENCE?

Has he become more aggressive due to increased confidence in his hitting ability? Or has he just been plain Mickey Hatcherized?

Feel free to jump in with your theories and explanations.

This name is probably not familiar to you, but maybe someday it will be. Francis Larson, a catcher out of UCI, was the 22nd round pick of the Angels. He is an old friend of mine that I went to school with. We met in 4th grade when he first entered my elementary school (moved from somewhere else).

I casually followed his college career and while he put up good numbers, I wasn't aware that he was a legitimate major league prospect. When I found out he was drafted, I was amazed. When I found out he was drafted by the Angels, I was ecstatic.

Anyways, I just wanted to say that he is a REALLY smart and likable guy. He was always popular and athletic but was classy and genuine to everyone he met. He took all the AP classes and whatnot and had really good grades all the time. With all the catching depth ahead of him in the organization, it remains to be seen if he will ever be an Angel at the major league level but one thing is for sure, they just added a quality human being to the organization.

I'm really excited for him and wish him the best and I hope sometime in the future, you all will become a fan of his.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed but the dude is absolutely annihilating opposing pitching so far in ST. Yes, I know it's just ST but even so, the numbers are just absolutely insane:

Here is his slash line is 27 AB's:

.407/.484/.1074 with 5 HRs and 11 RBIs.

Yes, you read that correctly. 1.074 is his SLG, not his OPS. He has more total bases (29), than AB's (27). That means his OPS is 1.558. Albert who?

To reiterate, I'm aware that ST numbers should be taken with a grain of salt but if this is a sign of things to come in the near but not necessarily immediate future, it makes me wonder if trading him for Kazmir wasn't such a great move.

I think we are all disappointed to see Figgins, Lackey, and Vlad depart. I don't think anybody expected ALL of them to leave. But it is what it is. We can't spend too much time moping about what we could have done or what we should have done. Let's focus on what the situation is right now and move forward with what we have. That being said, here is what I think the Angels should do. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts on my ideas:

Phase 1: Sign Jason Bay

- While it is clear that pitching is the number 1 current need of the Angels, signing Bay would give the Angels a formidable offense to carry the team through periods of inconsistency of the pitching staff and it would give the Angels a legitimate shot to defend the AL West title once again. Yes, the Mariners have superior pitching but signing Bay would not only bolster our offense, but it would keep him from making Seattle's anemic offense respectable. Lastly, It should be noted that Bobby Abreu was brought to help transform the Angels into a patient team. Hideki Matsui and Jason Bay further that cause. That would give us 3 legitimate run producers that have good AB's and work counts and I think that would be a great influence for the young core, especially Brandon Wood as he will likely become a full time big leaguer finally.

Phase 2: Trade Juan Rivera 

-Assuming that Bay is signed, there will be no place for Juan Rivera. Rivera has good trade value as he can give a team solid production (25 HRs, 88 RBIs, .287 BA) and he comes at a very reasonable price. He is a good "bang for your buck" player and that is a great asset to have, especially in this economy. He could be used to acquire pitching help from a power starved team. The Giants and Braves come into mind. Maybe we could do a Rivera-Jonathan Sanchez swap or a Rivera-Lowe swap (If Atlanta eats alot of his salary). Or he could be used to acquire bullpen help. There are many options that can be explored.

Phase 3: Sign Erik Bedard or Ben Sheets

-Both of the aforementioned starters have an extensive injury resume', but both can be dominant aces when healthy. Given their injury woes, they can come cheap. We can give either of them a "Rich Harden" type deal, laden with incentives. And if it doesn't work out, it's not the end of the world as we won't be stuck with their contract for very long and it won't be a huge money loss.

Projected Lineup:

SS Erick Aybar

RF Bobby Abreu

CF Torii Hunter

1B Kendry Morales

LF Jason Bay

DH Hideki Matsui

2B Howie Kendrick

C Mike Napoli

3B Brandon Wood

OR

2B Maicer Izturis

RF Bobby Abreu

CF Torii Hunter

1B Kendry Morales

LF Jason Bay

DH Hideki Matsui

C Mike Napoli

3B Brandon Wood

SS Erick Aybar

Projected Rotation:

Jered Weaver

Joe Saunders

Scott Kazmir

Ervin Santana

Erik Bedard/Ben Sheets

Now that you've made it through this ridiculously long post, tell me your thoughts.

So I'm sure all or at least most of you have heard the rumors that the Rangers are interested in signing Vladimir Guerrero. I'm surprised nobody has said anything on here about it yet so I thought I'd make a post about it.

Anyways, if Vlad did sign with Texas, how would you feel about it?

Continue reading this post »

So I was on ESPNBoston.com last night just for shits and giggles and while on there, I read an article about the Angels-Red Sox upcoming playoff series authored by Pedro Gomez. In this article, he analyzed each different positional matchup and also comparing the rotations, bullpens, intangibles,, and managers. As I read this articles, I could not help but laugh my ass off. It's so full of bias that it's unbelievable. I know it's ESPN and it's not at all surprising but sometimes it makes you think that they would attempt to at least try and hide the blatant bias every once in a while. Anyways, here are some of the points I found particularly ridiculous:

1) Pedro Gomez states that Mike Lowell is a better 3rd baseman than Chone Figgins because he has more RBIs and 3rd base is "supposed to be" a run-producing position. Since Chone Figgins isn't a power hitting RBI man, therefore he is a crappy third baseman.

2) He thinks the Red Sox win in the "intangibles" category. First of all, they are INTANGIBLES. How do you measure them if they are intangible? Clearly Mr. Gomez doesn't even know the meaning of the word. And secondly, it's hard not to say the Angels win in that category. To see why, watch Rev Halofan's video because I'm too lazy to explain it here and frankly, he does quite a good job of explaining it himself.

3) He thinks Bobby Abreu is spelled "Bobby Abreau".

4) He thinks Joe Saunders is starting game 3. Do some f***cking research, idiot.

5) It's hard to say the Red Sox have a better rotation when they only go 3-deep and they have Clay Bucholz going up against Scott Kazmir.

There are probably some other BS points that I am missing, but these are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. I need to shower and head off to school but here is the full article if you care enough to bother reading it:

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/columns/story?columnist=gomez_pedro&id=4531541

He was just realeased from the Cubs. He had a crappy ERA last year but he did pitch in coors and he DID have an impressive 9.6 K/9 mark. He has been pretty solid throughout his career and our bullpen could use a shakeup. He has decent upside. Why not take a flier on him?

Damn this 75 word requirement blah blah blah blah blah blahb opwirpoweirpowieriurro8ty woieurtwoieutoiwrutowiur weituweoiturewoituoierutoi iuewroewiut blah blah blah

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/03/angels-matthews.html

So, how do you think this went? Here's how I see it:

HGH: "Hey Soth can I play moar plz?"

Soth: "HGH you are my home dawg and whatnot but sry, u suxxorz LoL!"

HGH: " I wanna go home now. You hurt my feelings =( ."

Soth: "OK dawg, laterz."

Reporters: "Soz HGH howz it goin? So are they shipping your ass out?"

HGH: "LEAVE BRITTNEY....I MEAN ME ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111"

Alright, in all seriousness now, do you think there is any possibility that Matthews gets traded? If so, where? Do you think that maybe we can do something like the Dodgers did with Andruw Jones and restructure his contract, making him more tradeable? The White Sox and Yankees are the obvious fits. Maybe the Orioles could play him in left or put him in center and shift Adam Jones to left. They seem committed to Felix Pie but I have to believe they would want to upgrade LF if given the opportunity. Hell, maybe the Braves would be interested. He could reunite with his old BFF's GA and Kotch and right now their center fielder is Gregor Blanco, who has no power at all. HGH could play good defense and he has good speed and can hit 15 homers to 20 homers if healthy. I'm just spitballin' here.

Your thoughts?

Now that Minaya has basically said Pedro will not be back with the Mets, what do you guys think of him as a fit for the Halos 5th starter spot? We could sign him to a 1 year, incentive laden deal and make him earn the job in Spring Training. He can't be worse than Moseley or Adenhart, right? And if he is.....we can you know....replace him with Moseley or Adenhart.

And since I'm pretty much convinced that he will never last a full season again as a full-time starter, maybe instead of considering him as a starter, he could be a reliever/spot-starter. This should help get him through the season and it could potentially help out our bullpen (displacing Speier) and he could hold down the fort until Escobar comes back.

I understand that Burrell and Abreu are 2nd tier hitters and that our outfield is overcrowded. I understand that they both play bad defense and I understand that Burrell is just another right handed bat and that our lineup is right handed. For these reasons, I have generally have said I would not want these guys on the Halos.

However, according to MLBtraderumors, Pat the Bat is close to signing with the Rays for just 2 years and 16 million. That is a bit of a shock to me that the Rays can land a guy like him for so cheap. That's less than what we gave Fuentes and what Cleveland gave Kerry Wood! I agree that Burrell is not the best fit for this team but at that price, wouldn't he be worth taking a look at? And if Burrell does sign for that amount, that means Abreu might have to settle for even less than that and he would be a better fit to our lineup since he is left handed and would give balance. If he is cheaper than 2 years and 16 million, I think it's worth reconsidering adding another outfield bat.

Your thoughts?

So with the coming of the new year, I was really looking forward to the launch of the MLB Network. Well, I found out the hard way that AT&T U-Verse will not be carrying it. Neither does DirecTV. And unfortunately, I can't do anything about it because I am not the one in my family paying for our cable service. We switched over from Time Warner not too long ago and I was really excited to find out we were ordering the U-Verse 400 package, which offers all the movie and sports channels. But now this sucks because Time Warner carries the MLB Network and AT&T doesn't so I feel some sort of dirty trick has been played on me. I called AT&T earlier today about it and the automated voice said the U-Verse office was closed and then proceeded to list the business hours and according to what they listed, it should have been OPEN! Ugh. I guess I'll try again tomorrow. But yeah, if there are any other U-Verse/DirecTV subscribers that are also pissed, feel free to vent here.

P.S. I randomly came across some Cardinals board (not Viva El Birdos) and one of the members there said he had been told that the MLB Network will be carried on U-Verse starting January 5th but I have not been able to find any information to back that up at all.

So it seems as though Manny being the Halos plan B could be more than just a rumor. According to reports, Mike Scioscia asked Boston Skipper Terry Francona about what it's like to have Manny in the clubhouse. This could actually hurt our chances at Manny if we lose out on Tex since I'm sure Terry doesn't have the greatest things to say about Manny. Also, he wouldn't be too thrilled in campaigning one of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball to the Angels, a rival American League power. But on the other hand, this can put some theories to rest which stated that Manny was in no way a "Mike Scioscia" type of player. Scioscia is clearly interested in Manny, otherwise he wouldn't be asking about him. Perhaps if he wants a full perspective on Manny, he should make a phone call to Joe Torre.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8945572/Scioscia-could-see-Manny-in-Angels-uniform

I know that everybody is all caught up in the Teixeira sweepstakes, and for good reason, but as I was looking through the list of players who were non-tendered by their teams, one name in particular caught my attention. Takashi Saito. That's right. The all-star closer in 2007 for the Dodgers was non-tendered. He struggled this past year due to injuries and he's really old and I guess the Dodgers felt it was time to hand the ball over to Broxton, literally and figuratively.

It has been well documented that we need a big bat, but our bullpen has issues that need to be addressed as well. Last year our bullpen was good, but overrated in my opinion. The back of the bullpen with Arredondo, Shields, and K-Rod was great and Oliver was solid as well but we did have some problems in middle relief. Losing K-Rod certainly doesn't help the situation either.

Do you guys think we should take a flyer on Saito? Given the circumstances, we could get him for really cheap and who knows, if he's healthy, he can be a guy with 2.00 ERA, 40 save stuff. I'm not saying that he would be the closer but he certainly gives us another option. And he'd be one more guy to take innings away from Speier.

It has been long reported that free agent pitcher Carsten Charles Sabathia will be the focus of the Angels if they fail to land Mark Teixeira. I don't know about you guys but I think this is a bad idea. Let CC go to the Yankees or Dodgers. Here's why:

1) We need OFFENSE. Our starting pitching was exceptional last year and we didn't have a true big name pitcher. Sure, John Lackey is pretty well known but he is never mentioned in the same breath as the Sabathia's, Santana's (of the Johan variety), Beckett's, and Halladay's of the world. With Jon Garland expected to depart via free agency, the Angels rotation will be perfectly fine as long as they sign a decent, cheap back-end starter. Somebody like Randy Johnson.

2) This team is already choc full of players who flame out in the post-season. WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER ONE. Take a look at Sabathia's career post-season statistics:

5 starts, 2-3 record, 7.92 ERA, 25 IP (that's only 5 innings per start for you mathematically challenged individuals), 33 hits allowed, 24 K, 22 BB (again, a K/BB ratio of nearly 1)

And most of these atrocious numbers have come just in the past 2 seasons. He had 5.40 ERA in the 2007 ALDS, a 10.45 ERA in the 2007 ALCS, and a 12.27 ERA in the 2008 NLDS. So he single-handedly got the Brewers to the playoffs but he also had a big say in their early exit as well. The Angels don't need help getting to the playoffs. We have been able to do that consistently and plus we play in a pathetic division. We need help WINNING in the playoffs. Sabathia has shown he can't really do that.

This off-season is truly Tex or bust if you ask me.

According to MLBtraderumors, the Angels will NOT make a formal offer to free agent 1st baseman Mark Teixeira during their exclusive negotiating period. This goes against their usual philosophy of getting things done quickly but they know it's useless since Scott Boras wants his clients to test the market no matter what. By not making a formal offer, Boras will not be able to take it to other clubs and drive up the price.

What do you guys think? I honestly never thought about it that way but now that it's been brought to my attention, I think it's a good move. That way when the media showcases the Tex war between Boston and New York, Ninja Reagins can chill at Del Taco and sign Tex while chowing down on a burrito or something.

Tex: "Wha???? 10 years for only 20 million??? Are you kidding me?"

Ninja: "Oops, sorry. I spilled some sauce over that second zero."

Tex: "OOOOOOOH. 10 years, 200 mill. Now THAT'S more like it!"

*Signs contract*

*ESPN cries like an emo kid when they find out Tex is staying out west*

*Halos win 2009 World Series*

It's been long rumored that the Angels are interested in dealing for Rockies 3rd baseman Garrett Atkins. And once again, the rumors are flying. What do you guys think about this? Personally, I think it's a bad idea. He would be a massive power upgrade at third but he'd be a huge defensive downgrade at third. If we did acquire him, maybe instead of moving Figgins to left, we could keep him at 3rd and maybe experiment with Atkins in left, much like the Brewers did with Ryan Braun. That worked out well for them. But Atkins' numbers away from Coors are rather disturbing. In 2008 he batted .342/.380/.523 at Coors Field but just a dismal .233/.278/.383 on the road. The only encouraging sign is that 12 of his 21 home runs did come away from Coors. So the power is legit but the hitting isn't. I'm afraid that his line might resemble the road split of 2008 more so than the home split if he played in Anaheim for the Halos. Also on one last note, his walks have gone from 79 to 67 to 40 in 2006, 2007, and 2008 respectively. He had 602, 605, and 611 ABs respectively in those 3 years so the reduced walks is not a circumstance of fewer ABs.

So to sum it up, I don't think Atkins is the big bat to get us over the hump, whether we keep Tex or not.

I didn't expect the Angels to be major players in the Peavy sweepstakes since we've had our eye on Sabathia for a long time now, but apparently it's official now. The possible destinations for Peavy are now just Atlanta, Los Angeles (Dodgers), or Chicago. I am writing this final sentence to meet the minimum word requirement for fan posts. Blah.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/1267764,CST-SPT-cub08.article

If for whatever reason we don't acquire a top of the line starter, whether it be not signing CC Sabathia to a mega deal or not making a blockbuster trade with San Diego to acquire Peavy, do you think we should pursue a back end starter? I think it's pretty much a given that Jon Garland will not be in a Halo uniform come 2009 and I also feel that there are free agent options out there who are better options as a 5th starter. We might need one in case Kelvim Escobar doesn't return to the rotation right away, which is a likely possibility. Anyways, some names that intrigue me are Oliver Perez, Randy Johnson, and Greg Maddux.

Maddux is still decent but he is basically just an older (though probably much cheaper) Jon Garland and it is understood he will probably retire anyways. That being said, I like Perez and Johnson. I have absolutely no idea where Perez will go or what his priorities are but I have a feeling he will stay with the Mets. Johnson apparently likes California and the D-Backs want Johnson back but only if he will accept a low-ball offer and he is unlikely to accept. I think he could be a good fit. He could notch his 300th career win as a Halo and last year he showed everybody that he still has something left in the tank as he held down that number 3 spot in their rotation quite capably.

So what do you guys and gals here at Halos Heaven think?