Just some (long) tidbits:
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Which Rodney are we gonna get - the one that was dominating on Saturday (no hits, two strikeouts) or the one that was wild today (4ER, 3BB)? Ah yeah, the inconsistancy is his trademark - but it's also been fitting considering the Halo's play this spring.
Other notables this past weekend was Matsui making his first put-out (surprisingly, didn't hear more about that), hitting his first HR and taking a (seemingly) bajillion walks. Torii and Howie seem to be getting into a groove and it was interesting to see Aybar take five straight pitches for a walk today. Abreu hit some homers recently, which was a pleasant surprise. The offense is scoring in bunches, so I guess we'll all see if that translates this season to the "offensive chemistry" that Sosh is looking for in the lineup.
On the pitching side, things are much the same. Some causes for optimism, some for worry. Saundo struck out SIX batters yesterday, which is a crapload for a pitch-to-contact guy. Don't really know what to make of that - he still allowed three ER over 4 1/3IP. Ervin was scratched last Tuesday but pitched four really good innings today before becoming unravelled in the 5th. I'm kinda curious why Sosh had Weav pitch in a minor league game in Tempe on Friday rather vs. the Giants. I know that the stated excuse was that the Halos wanted a more controlled environment where he wouldn't have to bat. But Weav has already "batted" this spring, and it's not like he'd be allowed to swing anyways. Reports said he felt good (the generic report from every pitcher in the spring!) and gave up some HRs. Maybe he's still working on those new pitches Pineiro taught him? Whatever it is, the Halos used the opportunity to showcase Reckling. It's seriously hard to wrap my mind around the fact that he's only 20 years-old. Ironically, the best performance from the rotation this past week goes to Pineiro (0ER, 5IP), though he was facing the Royals. And of course, the biggest news for me was missing the chance to see Kaz pitch after he was scratched with shoulder stiffness. He says he's fine, Sosh says he's fine, so I guess it won't do me much good to worry about it. We'll see when the regular season comes around.
And really, it couldn't come fast enough. I'm tired to having to temper my enthusiasm or concern with the required "Well, it's only spring training." I'm ready to start cheering on the thumping of the AL West and those teams from the East.
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Fangraphs has been ranking the organizations in baseball and the Angels came out at #11. It's accompanied with a very good summarization of the Halo's current and future talent. Though I'd argue with the overall ranking - I always think of the Angels as top 10 in talent, top 5 as an organization overall (Arte/Sosh!)- it's an interesting and poignant take.
While I think it's amusing that the language of the article slyly slides in some doom-and-gloom ("But like all good things do, it may be coming to an end"), it is clear that this season is transition season. I can't imagine the organization going the full-scale rebuilding route and cease to pursue the division title. I think this is a transition year in the terms of we're finally going to see what the young infield is. One commentor noted
"What [the team] doesn’t have, though, is a lot of guys with clearly defined true talent levels. The 4 20-something infielders could feature a batting champion, two guys who hit 30 home runs apiece, and a 3.5-win shortstop, or it could be four guys who barely play above replacement level if Wood still can’t hit in the majors, Kendrick battles injuries, Aybar can’t maintain the high batting average he needs to be an offensive asset, and Morales regresses."While, yeah, the Halo's strength is obviously its young, cheap infield and its weakness is the old, expensive outfield, I think this team has a few more years before the FO even thinks about rebuilding.
The review of the current talent is more optimistic, even if they failed to mention Saunders (by omission, I guess the author doesn't consider him a "good starting pitcher") and Jepsen (I'm gonna give the author the benefit of the doubt and say that he missed Jepsen on the roster. Or something like that.). The best excerpt is the conclusion, where he notes
"The starting lineup has no holes. There are depth concerns, and the bullpen isn’t what it was, but many teams have those problems. The main problem the Angels have is that the other three teams in their division are no longer floundering. As will probably continue to be said ad nauseum, the AL West projects as the most closely matched division in baseball. It would be foolish to count a good team like the Angels out, but for the first time in years, they aren’t the obvious favorite."It's game on! in the AL West!
My favorite part is the piece on the future talent. Their assessment of the void in the talent pipeline from the current major league talent to the fantastic 2009 draft class is something I never quite identified. It's a pessimistic take on the Angels's farm system, but it's good to know what those from the outside think. Of course, I've learned from reading futureangels.com that farm systems go into cycles, and hence that void could be followed by a tremendous upswing from the 2009 and upcoming 2010 draft classes. The author notes as such, opening the article with
"The Angels future is in question for the same reason that I have confidence in it. At first, we might wonder just what the team’s plan is after the 2012 season, given the sheer quantity of players slated for free agency: Mike Napoli, Ervin Santana, Jered Weaver, Joe Saunders, Maicer Izturis, Howie Kendrick, Erick Aybar. Those are just the homegrown players. Surely, the rich Angels will re-sign some of these guys, but I can’t imagine that all of them will stay in Anaheim. So, while the loss of any of these players will represent a hit to their post-2012 future, the fact that this Angels scouting department could produce so many big league talents at once gives me faith in their ability to have replacements ready."
It's an interesting time to be an Angels fan.
UPDATE: Amusingly, while writing this up, a poster at Halosheaven beat me to it. Like me, he's, uh, skeptical of the Angels's need to rebuild, and rebukes it point-by-point.
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The other pre-regular-season-team-review to come out this past week was over at HardballTalk. It's a surprisingly balanced (with slight pro-Angels leanings) piece for a national writer/blogger (another reason to like Craig Calcaterra!). He even admitted the dreaded east-coast-bias:
"I'll admit, I don't know [how the Angels outperform their Pythag], mostly because I've probably seen fewer Angels games these past few years than I have seen games for any other contender. Now that I'm actually writing for a living I'm going to be (a) staying up later; and (b) watching a lot more games, so that will remedied. I'm really looking forward to it."
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