replacement players

Yesterday, Doc Halladay threw a perfect game - something any baseball fan can appreciate. Yesterday, the Lakers closed out the Suns and are making their third consecutive trip to the Finals - something all Los Angelenos are aware of. But to this Halo fan, the only thing that mattered yesterday was the walk-off broken leg of Kendry Morales.

Now its a new day, with some perspective and a level head.
Well at least for most the halosphere.

In the wake of Kendry's unbelievable injury, there has been a flurry of trade proposals and evaluations on the halosphere, the interwebs, and the media. I was thinking about this myself, since there is no clear-cut heir apparent. (And why would there be? After last year, KMo was sure to be entrenched there). There's two main things to consider: Worse case, Kendry is only going to be out for the rest of the season, and the Angels farm system is woefully barren (hence the excitement of those great prospects in Cedar Rapids and the 5 first round picks next next week). I can't see the FO making a blockbuster trade (Konerko, Berkman) just to fill in 1B for 3/4ths a season and deplete the farm even more. There is no way that the Angels could (or would) get AGon, Pena or Fielder. I wondered a bit about Mike Lowell, but I'm wary that the Red Sox will try to gouge Reagins, despite their desire to move him. The only out-of-house options I could see happening would be cheap free-agent types (Ryan Garko, Jermaine Dye). Halosheaven has got it right - the Angels won't be doing anything drastic, it's going to be in-house.

I wouldn't be surprised if 1B is a revolving door. I wouldn't expect BWood, Wilson, Q, or Naps to be there everyday, but I think all can handle the position at around replacement level. Apparently, Sosh sees the obvious least-sucky option - Naps is at 1B today. I'm surprised, to say the least. Firstly, that Sosh would throw Naps in there so suddenly (he hasn't played there since 2006 in the minors) and that he would do so with Mathis still on the DL. Well we'll see how this evolves - at least Naps can swing the bat.

They say that baseball is a game of adjustments and really, this is just another challenge for the Angels. Kendry was the best young player in the lineup, but now its up to the underperforming veterans (Matsui, Abreu, Rivera, and to some extent Torii) to start pull their weight.