Angels: Best Outfield in Baseball?

Dogman — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 18:45:32 -0000

ESPN.com posted an article by Phil Rogers today in which he claims the Angels have the best outfield in baseball (even taking into account Juan Rivera's injury). I was a bit surprised.

I think the Angels have a decent outfield and there aren't any other outfields that stand out as being exceptional, but I'm not sure I would say Guerrero-Matthews-Anderson comprises the best outfield in baseball. I was curious to gauge other Angel fans' feelings about this.

Are we going to get to watch the best outfield in baseball every day this year?

If not, who is the best, and why?

Poll

Best outfield in baseball?

Angels (Guerrero, Matthews, Anderson [No Rivera])

85 votes

Red Sox (Ramirez, Crisp, Drew)

9 votes

Mets (Alou, Beltran, Green)

1 votes

Devil Rays (Crawford, Baldelli, Young)

14 votes

Tigers (Ordonez, Monroe, Granderson)

1 votes

Braves (Francoeur, A. Jones, Langerhans?)

3 votes

Yankees (Abreu, Matsui, Damon)

31 votes

Cubs (Floyd, Soriano, J. Jones)

1 votes

Other

2 votes

147 votes | Poll has closed

Angels were the best baserunning team in 2006

Dogman — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 20:32:33 -0000

As a "stat-head," I enjoy Baseball Prospectus and have a subscription to their premium stuff online. They posted an article today with some stats that quantify baserunning. The Angels ranked first last year, adding an estimated 13.64 runs with their baserunning. (This was the highest single-season total by a team since BP started keeping track in 2000.) Interestingly, only three teams helped themselves on the basepaths (the Mets and Phillies being the other two). This is mostly because stealing bases is a high-risk, low-reward proposition and most teams aren't very good at it.

The Angels were led by Chone Figgins who added almost five runs with his legs. Izturis and Cabrera also seem to be particularly good baserunners based on BP's stats.

By the way, the stats are based on:
Advancing on hits
Advancing on fly balls
Advancing on groundouts
Stolen bases (and caught stealing)

I know there is a bias against stats such as this around here, but I thought it might at least open up some discussion as to what our anecdotal observations tell us about the Angels' baserunning.

Any thoughts?

SB Nation User Blog: Dogman

Angels: Best Outfield in Baseball?

Best outfield in baseball?

Angels (Guerrero, Matthews, Anderson [No Rivera])

Red Sox (Ramirez, Crisp, Drew)

Mets (Alou, Beltran, Green)

Devil Rays (Crawford, Baldelli, Young)

Tigers (Ordonez, Monroe, Granderson)

Braves (Francoeur, A. Jones, Langerhans?)

Yankees (Abreu, Matsui, Damon)

Cubs (Floyd, Soriano, J. Jones)

Other

Angels were the best baserunning team in 2006