Why You Should Think About Brandon Wood Every Time You Watch the Phillies

Do you feel like Brandon Wood has never been given his shot, that Mike Scioscia has kept him down far longer than any good prospect should rot in the minors? Conversely, do you think that the mere fact that Wood is going into his age-25 year without having earned a spot is telling in itself, and/or are you of the mind that unproven players of that age (or even slightly older) are "too old to be a prospect"?

Well, let me introduce you to Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, Shane Victorino, and Jayson Werth. You may have heard of them. A combined 9 All-Star selections, 5 seasons (and soon to be more) in the Top 10 of MVP voting; 9 seasons in the Top 25. Ten seasons scoring 100 runs, 12 seasons driving in 100, 10 seasons hitting 30 homers. Some good baserunning & defense for extra spice. Back-to-back World Series appearances.

Continue reading this post »

So, has Chone Figgins gone through a four-game stretch this year remotely as brutal as this postseason's 0-fer-16 w/ just one walk? Why yes, he did, from May 8-12, when he was 0-fer-14 w/ just one walk. What did he do in, oh, the 12 games immediately following? This:

That's 22 hits, 5 walks, 7 runs, 7 stolen bases, and a batting line of .396/.448/.491.

Yes, I realize that looking at him now he seems lost, bewildered, scared, weird. But then he always looks terrible when going through an offensive rut. It's strange for Figgins & most other good big league players to maintain such a low level of suckitude for much longer than he already has.

By now, most people on this site are probably at least dimly aware that the go-to site for a certain sector of the stat-head crowd, Baseball Prospectus, picked the Angels to finish with just 84 wins this year (as least as far as I'm able to ascertain). This is, of course, nothing new for PECOTA and the Halos.

But what you probably didn't know was just how much abuse the B-Pro gang hurled at the Angels right before the season, in their annual guide. I only found out a couple of weeks back, when flipping through the book at a Baltimore Barnes & Noble. Such was the level of vitriol that I went home and immediately bought a used copy for the price of shipping. It arrived yesterday. Some highlights, interspersed with my reactions:

[T]he Angels were arguably the worst 100-win team of all time. [...] [T]he Angels' winding up a major-league-record 16 games better than their opponents-adjusted projected finish suggests that getting Teixeira might have represented more than just the cherry on top. His acquisition might have been a modest start to addressing a roster that simply still wasn't good enough to contend with the beasts from the AL East. Losing another season in the same fashion leaves us with the question of whether the Angels' brand of baseball is no more a formula for postseason success than, say, Billy Beane's poopadoodle. Making good contact and running the bases effectively is all well and good, but is it really an operating philosophy, or is it instead a matter of fetishizing tactics in the absence of actual strategy? [...]

[T]he Halos [were] not only history's weakest 100-win team, but also the going-away victors in a relatively pathetic division[.]

I will address the issue of the best and worst 100-win teams in a different post, because there's a lot of rabbits down them thar holes, but for now let's just address the Billy Beane playoff comparison: Oakland's record in post-season series under Beane is 1-5. The Angels under Scioscia? 4-4. Poop-a-doodle-doo!

For more fun, keep reading after the jump!

Continue reading this post »

Was looking at ESPN.com's preseason baseball picks, to see toward whom I can soon direct my gloating (answer: only 3 of 21 pickers didn't have the Angels winning the AL West, but among them were perennial Scioscia-underraters Keith Law and Rob Neyer) ... and along the way I noticed something remarkable: All 21 prognosticators had an AL East team winning the American League pennant. Check it out.

Now, before you start damning them all with Bristol-coast bias, note that A) it's certainly not a bad bet, B) the Rays got a lot of votes, and C) among those getting votes for potential "breakout" season, at or near the top of the list was Howie Kendrick. Still, 21 for 21.... I have a strong feeling that no one will be giving us a chance in the playoffs this year, including members of the Red Sox. Within that may lie some underdoggy hope....

It's reverse jinx time! Here's how bad everyone's been sucking on offense, and for how long:

GMJ, since May 23
.227/.333/.343
Rivera, since Aug. 4
.236/.286/.376
Abreu, since Aug. 8
.222/.333/.340
Napoli, since Aug. 23
.107/.180/.196
Torii, since Aug. 27
.250/.298/.393
Kendry, since Sept. 1
.230/.280/.333
Vlad, since Sept. 2
.270/.316/.392
Maicer, since Sept. 2
.263/.328/.351
Figgy, since Sept. 5
.250/.360/.368
Mathis, since Sept. 5
.188/.188/.219
Aybar, since Sept. 17
.214/.267/.286
Howie, since Sept. 21 (the day after he cracked .300)
.091/.167/.182

Note: This is, of course, designed to make everyone look as bad as possible; in fact, Howie's been hotter than hot until just a few days ago, and GMJ has been swinging a good bat lately, etc. Also, offense tends to peak in the hot summer months. But STILL.

OK, so, the other day I pointed out that the Angels, with their 89th win this year, became 1 of only 8 franchises in ML history to chalk up 89 wins in 6 consecutive seasons. As commenters rightly pointed out, this wasn't exactly a fair fight for those quality teams who played less than 162 games in a season (everyone before '61, and then also '72, '81, '94, and '95). So, I decided to take our baseline winning percentage, and see how many teams since 1901 have, like the Angels, strung together at least 6 consecutive seasons with a .549 or higher record.

Continue reading this post »

With yesterday's victory in Texas the Angels reached the 89-win mark for the 6th consecutive year. This, despite being picked to win about 84 each year by the PECOTAs of the world.

Anyhoo, how rare is that? Consider this -- only 8 other franchises have ever done it in baseball HISTORY. Here's a list, ordered by most recent to least:

Continue reading this post »