SB Nation User Blog: The Limey

Vlad and Shields in Sports Illustrated All Decade team

The Limey — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:18:19 -0000

Vlad and Shields in Sports Illustrated All Decade team

Vlad seemed like a fairly safe bet, though it's good to see Scot with one T picked out as the decade's top set-up man...

Halladay to Angels Rumors - LA Times

The Limey — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:30:38 -0000

Halladay to Angels Rumors - LA Times

The latest iteration of the Halladay to Angels rumour. I suspect they'll want Santana, a catcher, A.N.Other...

Alternative Angels Awards

The Limey — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:39:55 -0000

Since we're in awards season (and The Soth aside, we're not going to see much action there), I thought I'd craft some alternative awards to recognize some of the more obscure achievements of the 2009 edition of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Rather than drifting into cliché and repetition (I'm not dishing out an award to Bobby for unsung hitting coach of the year, for instance), these have a vaguely quantitative feel (vague in the sense that there are numbers involved, but for the most part I have no idea what they really mean)*.

* - I have recently discovered Fangraphs and, notwithstanding some of the smug self-aggrandizing bollocks spoken by the numbers fascists over there, there are a couple of things which do tickle the interest, not least this bloke who is at least introducing some random poetry to his analysis (emphasis on the 'random' part)

And without further ado, the envelopes please…

1. The Buy-one-get-two-free award goes to Juan Rivera. To much howling derision from our divisional rivals and stats gimps everywhere, the Angels signed Juan Rivera to a 3 yr $12.75m deal this time last year. According to Fangraphs measurement of salary derived from WAR (or something similarly fancy), Juan Rivera was worth exactly $15.1m in 2009 (or to put it another way, $100k less valuable than Curtis Granderson). Clearly he wasn't worth that - the market establishes value not a group of baseball propellerheads - but I do like the idea that Juan has already paid out his contract with his performance this year* and that from here on in it's all gravy.

* - I think Sam Miller at the OCR was first to pick this, but it's still worth an prize in my book

2. The That's-why-Mike-loves-Jeff award for defensive incompetence behind the dish goes to Mr Side Salad himself - Mike Napoli. See, I always assumed that the reason Mike loves Jeff is because his inner catchers instinct told him that Jeff is a defensive genius. Turns out that's only partly true. It's because Jeff is a genius compared to Mike Napoli. According to this measure of catcher's defense* produced over at Driveline Mechanics, Jeff ranked 90th out of 114 catchers in the Majors (you could probably strip a fair few of these out due to the small sample size), his defence having cost us about 2 runs. Nipples on the other hand, came dead last and in his limited time behind the plate cost us about 10 runs, or roughly a win. Perhaps our search for a full-time DH has now run its course?

* - I'm not sure I buy these metrics completely. According to this measurement, Mathis was in the black for throwing out runners, something I wouldn't have credited, and in the red for agility behind the plate - blocking pitches and so on - something I think he's pretty damn good at and there is no measurement of the catcher's ability to call a game for Mr CERA. Having said that, most of the good guys are at or near the top of the list.

3. The Mr Clutch award for making it happen when it counts goes to a certain Gary Matthews Jr. According to the Fangraphs 'clutch' score, which is a measurement of how much better or worse a player does in high leverage situations than he would have done in a context neutral environment (?!), Gary Matthews scored 2.11 whatchamacallits which was twice what our next highest batter scored (Jeff Mathis since you're asking) and in marked contrast to Messrs Anti-Clutch, Guerrero and Aybar (which may explain where the 'Failbar' moniker came from. Only 2 everyday players, Ryan Howard and Franklin Gutierrez, scored higher than HGH. Now, while I'd certainly appreciate it if he took his award home with him and buggered off to another ball-club, you do have to ask yourself what qualities you want in a pinch-hitter above and beyond making it happen when it counts and when called to. Perhaps there is some value in our most pharmacologically enhanced substitute fielder?

4. The Jobu award for mashing the curveball* is this year awarded to Kendry Morales. According to Fangraphs there was no player in baseball who did a better job of hitting the curveball this year. As measured by something exotic that I don't really understand, Kendry gives us a +11.3 thingamajigs (if you can tell me what unit this shit is measured in, you're a better man than I) worth of value for hitting the curveball, no-one else in baseball scored higher than an 8*. 2nd place for your LAAofA, was Aybar with a 5.3 which was good for a top 20 finish.

* - sort on wCB

5. The Choose-your-next-pitch-carefully-Mr Santana-it-could-be-your-last award goes to Ervin Santana. Following on from Kendry's ability to mash certain types of pitches, I thought it might be interesting to look at which of our pitchers had the most* and least valuable pitches. Turns out it was the same guy - Mr Voodoo himself, Ervin Santana. On the credit side of the ledger, Ervin's slider is filthy to the tune of +14.8, on the debit side, his fastball is a disgrace -17.4. Clearly magic comes at a price.

* - The best offerings by pitch type - Curveball, take a bow Jason Bulger +12.8, Changeup, Jered Weaver +10.3, Fastball Scott Kazmir +7.0.

Feel free to dive in with your own alternative awards (preferably with a better explanation of what these numbers are supposed to mean than I have provided).

Plenty of reasons to love the Angels - SI

The Limey — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:07:24 -0000

Plenty of reasons to love the Angels - SI

Enjoy - a little love at last from the mainstream media...

Scoscia lines up the play-off rotation

The Limey — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:32:06 -0000

Scoscia lines up the play-off rotation

Looks like he's squared away his play-off rotation.

No surprises - the last 4 starts of the season (and presumably the first 4 of the play-offs) will be in order:
1. Lackey
2. Weaver
3. Kazmir
4. Saunders
...with presumably Santana beefing up the 'pen.

Works for me.

Torii tells 'em Where to stick their East Coast Bias

The Limey — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:27:03 -0000

Torii tells 'em Where to stick their East Coast Bias

The eminently quotable all-starslugging centre fielder turns analyst to explain why the AL west is far and away the best division in baseball...

Postcard to Anaheim from Camden Via England

The Limey — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:08:27 -0000

The latest installment of my somewhat intermittent postcards from various places where the Halos have dropped by comes to you from Camden – no, not the slightly pox-ridden corner of North London that those of you who have visited my fair home city will remember as crawling with students, pot-dealers and general ne’er-do-wells, but the slightly more tranquil surroundings of Camden Yards on the edge of Chesapeake bay.

1. First of all some Camden Yards mythbusting – it ain’t all that. Granted, it’s a pretty setting and the way they’ve incorporated that wonderful old building into the right-field area for bars and places to eat is both interesting and effective, but a stadium is 1st and foremost the product of the people that go there to worship, and this place is half-empty. I don’t mean that as a slight on the fans of Baltimore – those that were at the game were passionate and knowledgeable – but they deserve better* than the team currently on the field in order to bring back the fans and the passion to that place. The Kiwi rated it a clear 3rd amongst the 3 ball parks she’s visited on the East Coast after the Phillies’ gaff and Old Yankee stadium. She's not been to Anaheim yet, which gets my vote (unsurprisingly).

* - as an aside, we saw three fans leaving the stadium arm in arm patting each other disconsolately on the back. They can see the potential, but for now they’re just helping each other grind through it – reminded me of being an England Cricket fan in the early 90s.

2. Also, Boog’s BBQ is rubbish – after all I’d heard about that place I was expecting more than a meat bun and about 6 baked beans. The beer wasn't great at the stadium either.

3. The Expos summer tour began yesterday with a pilgrimage to see their last great hero… and look how their faith has been rewarded with Big Daddy Vladdy doing what they saw so often. Twice. Our hotel was overrun with Quebecois – the genuine we’re-relying-on-your-French-cos-I’ll-be-damned-if-I’m-speaking-English variety. They’re off to see the Nationals play tomorrow so that should bring them back down to earth with a bump.

4. On that particular topic, it was awesome to see the Big Fella putting on a show and bringing to an end the Izturis and Izturis show that had dominated the night up to that point.

5. Good also to see plenty of red on display last night amidst the sea of orange (even if the clash of colours did hurt the eyes somewhat).

6. Where I come from, if you are going to invade the field of play and disrupt the game, you should at least have the common courtesy to take your clothes off first in order to entertain the crowd. Last night’s numbskull failed on this and one other significant count: at the end of your jaunt around the outfield don’t run into the loving arms of the biggest, angriest waiting copper – he may wish to do you harm. The guy got absolutely levelled and was still recovering his wits as they led him off to his cosy state-appointed accommodation for the evening.

7. This is as close as I will probably ever get to claiming a baseball at a stadium, however there is at least one Orioles fan* who will grow up with a fondness for Chone Figgins and his ability to pop a foul ball into the cheap seats.

* - that autograph on top of her cap is Boog the BBQ crook, so it’s not all good news

8. They had a screened vote among the Baltimore players on screen between innings as to who was better, James Bond or Austin Powers. Whilst the result was ultimately the right one, 6 of those morons voted Austin Powers. No wonder they’re bottom of their division.

9. I know that as a heterosexual man, I’m not meant to get a warm, fuzzy feeling about the way other men are dressed, in particular men I’ve never met before. Nevertheless, it is something I felt twice last night:

Laugh, I nearly shat... Just goes to show, that when you’re picking your named team jersey / t-shirt you do far better picking a fan-adored legend than picking an over-rated national league half-wit who will be traded after 4 months further confirming the decline of your overrated GM into premature senescence.

10. There is nothing in baseball under greater and more consistent pressure than the 5th button on Mike Scoscia’s game jersey.

11. Mickey Hatcher knows what we’ve been saying about him over the years, and he’s angry. He didn’t like it the last couple of years when it wasn’t working out so well, he especially doesn’t like it now that Abreu’s getting all the credit, so stop it, or he’s coming to get you, and he’ll put you straight, goddamit.

Don't fuck with Mickey

12. For some major league players, the fans baying at you for attention at the end of the game are a minor irritation that can be easily ignored. For others, those still delighted to be getting time in the show after years of minor league grinding, having someone shout your name (even when you didn’t play) is still a delight. I salute you Mr Loux – the force is strong with you.

The force is strong with this one

Just another Halo victory

Your overseas correspondent & Kiwi

Looking forward to the next update sometime in 2010?

Hicks on the hook for another $50m - no upgrades in Texas

The Limey — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:27:51 -0000

Hicks on the hook for another $50m - no upgrades in Texas

As you may be aware, Tom Hicks, owner of the Texas Rangers, is also co-owner of Liverpool FC in the English Premier League.

This duplicitous turd bought his share in the club by mortgaging it up to the hilt with his co-conspriator George Gillett and the terms of that loan were due today. Fortunately for Angels fans (less fortunately for Liverpool fans, who were hoping that the loan would be foreclosed on and the club sold to someone with the team's best interests at heart), the terms of the loan were renegotiated on the condition that Hicks and Gillett stump up a further £60 million ($100 million) this year - 2/3 now, 1/3 later.

The up-shot of this all being that Hicks, who has had more difficulty raising the cash, is unlikely to be a buyer between now and the trade deadline unless the Rangers can unload payroll.

Postcard From... well, Just Around the Corner, Really

The Limey — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:18:25 -0000

So, after a brief interlude (the last game I attended at the Big A was August 1990), I finally stepped foot on hallowed ground again last night. Some thoughts...

The Big A is an entirely different beast to the one I remember. The food and beer were both excellent (especially the enormous bottles of Mexican stuff they were serving upstairs) and the view of the game was superb.
I'm developing an unnatural fondness for Mike Napoli - If I was a girl, I'd probably be stalking him (at least until my flight next week)
Failbar and the trap - Erick Aybar is lulling us into a false sense of security about his perceived inadequacies. His arm is something to behold - he's wielding a bona fide howitzer. The trap will be sprung one of two ways - either he'll be traded or we'll be snared into loving him through his excellent play. The first trap is worth avoiding.
Red Sox fans - at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I really don't like them. They're like herpes - they're unsightly, they spread, they prevent you from having a good time and worst of all they're hidden until the time you least want to see then. I had this hugely irritating woman behind me who just wouldn't STFU the whole game. Papi - WOOOOO!, Jason - WOOOOO!, I love you Wakefield - WOOOO!. Sometime in the bottom of the 6th I got this exchange: Boston Trollette no.1 - Who the hell is this guy pitching? Boston Trollette no.2 - No idea... Boston Trollette no.1 - RED SOX PITCHING GUY - WOOOOO! They went home in the middle of the 8th, to everyone's great relief.
Back home in Blighty, away fans are quarantined into one area of the stadium (if they buy tickets in any other part of the ground they're thrown out by the stewards) usually in a bit with a terrible view - I'd like to see that rule implemented here for Boston and New York games.
Speaking of fans in general, there's an entirely different feel about the fanbase now to 1990 - everyone is wearing red (or a majority seem to be) and people seem genuinely energized by the team. I seem to remember 13,000 fans and a general sense of "whatever...". How times change.
Very funny moment when the kiss-cam came on and this somewhat tubby fella just mauled his girlfriend. Repeatedly. And then the cameraman went back for seconds. If he'd gone back for thirds they'd have been half-dressed.
Matt Palmer - tremendous display of wily pitching. He's got skills. I like him.
I've probably visited 20 different countries since last I was in Anaheim and I have to say nowhere (without exception) does breakfast as well as you guys. If you're ever in the neighbourhood at that time of day, the Filling Station in Orange is worth a visit (and it's near a roundabout, so I felt right at home) - their Ham and Eggs cut the legs out from under a potentially life-threatening hangover.
Mannygate - the single most annoying thing that has happened since I arrived in the US happened about an hour after I got off the plane. I got this message on my phone asking me to accept an image (which I did in a travel-weary moment of foolishness), upon which a large picture of Manny Ramirez in 'Mannywood' deposited itself as the background on the phone, with some banal strapline - This Is My Town - and refused to leave, which enraged me (though in retrospect, bearing in mind the ban, it's actually quite funny). I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure Manny jinxed my phone because the following day I left it on the Amtrak from LA to Anaheim - it is now lurking with some ``bloke called John in La Jolla.
If the organization wants to do something about drink-driving around game time, they really need to look at some public transport solutions and lobby Orange County to help. It's tricky getting to the game without a car...
The red jerseys are no longer unlucky (even if they remain a little ugly).

And on that note, I'll sign off. Was going to head to San Diego today rather than tomorrow, but since a certain young man called Ervin is making his season debut today, I might just wander down to the ballpark...

Ramblings on the AL West, Kendry Morales

The Limey — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:04:27 -0000

Some rambling early season thoughts on the AL West / Kendry:

As I grind out the last couple of jet-lagged hours until dawn, I thought I might ramble a bit at you lot on some things I've liked / disliked so far. That's what a blog is for, right?

The rest of the AL West - I have to say that whenever I read a report banging on about how incredibly inept out division is, it does cause me to twitch - I see it as an unwarranted criticism of the Angel's success, particularly with respect to last year when we were an equal opportunity distributor of mayhem to ball clubs up and down the league. This year however, they may well be right:

Oakland GM Beane's much vaunted off-season manoeuverings have been exposed as the desperate fumblings that they so patently appeared to be to those of us without our heads duct-taped, mouths agape, to his inner thighs - the preferred position of most lazy baseball journalists. Holliday and Giambi are slugging .383 and .343 respectively, OC (gawd bless 'im) has jumped the shark and their new young dynamite rotation looks like it is populated by 14 year olds (which it pretty much is). The Emperor is running around naked. Everybody point and laugh.

Seattle, for all that their strong start promised, are reverting to type - they still can't hit for toffee and once Wash remembers it's 2009 not 2002, their rotation will be 60% Emmental. Defense alone won't help (no matter how good it is) if you can't hit or pitch. Quite like their new manager though.

The Texas Rangers are as bi-polar as ever. A wrecking ball with the bat, the condemned building on the mound. Having said that, this team is clearly on the up and the only team likely to run us close in the AL west this year. If they can ever find a pitching staff that keeps the ball on the ground, they'll be a very good team indeed. We should offer their hitting coach a King's ransom to more to Southern California for what he's done with Andruw Jones. We could use him.

I truly believe that despite our awful first month (and what Fangraphs have to say on the matter), we'll win this by 6-10 games, going away from the field - we're hitting better than expected, the starting pitching is strong and likely to improve and the 'pen cannot get any worse. Now if someone could just drag the defense back into the 21st century (or even the 20th would be an improvement), then everything will be hunky-dory.

Kendry Morales - I have to say he is growing before our eyes as a genuine major league ball player (and we should all give a quick pat on the back to his one man booster club, Acuda - there's at least one more in the club now).

His current batting average of .280 is about what was expected by most projections, as is his OBP, but he's certainly hitting for more power than most gave him credit for - and we need a 1B who can drive the ball. Hopefully that will translate into a bit more respect from pitchers and help his OBP as the season progresses. His OPS+ is 115. I'm pretty positive about his future, particularly now he's getting proper playing time. And despite the more positive spin from his metrics, I think he has plenty of upside, not just for this season but for years to come

On the down side, his glove is still a little ugly and having watched Kotchman playing for Atlanta last night in a bar after I got in (which I have to say, is far superior to watching baseball on my crappy laptop in London), I did feel a brief pang of regret.

I'll sign off here, before this turns into an unreadable wall of text, but I'm quietly confident about this team (in this division) for 2009 - we'll be there or thereabouts.

Very much looking forward to my trip to the Big A on Wednesday. It's been a while…