MVN: Most Valuable Network

The team here at Big A Baseball is gearing up for the 2008 season and we plan to bring you an in depth look at the Halos and their prospects for not only winning their fourth AL West Division crown in the past five years but advancing all the way to the World Series. Twice in the past three years the Angels have been thwarted by the Boston Red Sox with extreme prejudice as they were bounced in three-game sweeps. In addition, the Seattle Mariners rose from the walking dead last season to give the Angels a fight for the division right up until the final month of the season. What do the Angels need to do to get past Seattle, Boston and the suddenly powerful Detroit Tigers this season? Find out in our 10-part Preview Spectacular that begins right now!

Angels 2008 Preview: Part I - Off-Season Review

In order to understand where we are going we need to first take a look at how the Angels ended the 2007 season and how they then approached changes to the team this off-season.  2007 was, by almost every indicator available to us, a successful season.  The one indicator that says otherwise is 'success in the post-season'.  The Angels have now reached the lofty heights where a good regular season and a visit to the playoffs is not good enough anymore.  Angel fans have been to the party, purchased the t-shirt and taken a commemorative photograph.  Now our collective lust has grown for jewelery and more specifically rings.  With exactly one championship under their belts the Angels are far from being a dynasty but with their collection of young talent they have the opportunity to be one of the elite teams in Major League Baseball for a long time.

The 2007 campaign ended bitterly with the hated Boston Red Sox (a subsidiary of the newest Evil Empire:  Boston, Inc.) in a three-game sweep.  The Angels had finally pulled away from the Seattle Mariners in September and ended-up winning the AL West by a relatively comfortable six-game margin.  But the long campaign had taken it's toll on the Halos with several playing nursing nagging injuries.  Garrett Anderson, the Angels' clean-up hitter, was battling (of all things) conjunctivitis.  Vladimir Guerrero, the heart of the Angels' offense, played with a sore triceps that limited him to DH duty during the post-season.  The Angels only other legitimate long-ball threat, Gary Matthews, Jr. missed the entire Divisional Series (all three games of it) after he hurt his ankle in the last week of the regular season.  The Angels offensively were, essentially, gutted.  Throw in the fact that they were playing a healthy Boston team with perhaps the most powerful offense in the league and, oh yeah, the Sox also had Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling just in case some Angel offense did decide to try an manifest itself in some small way.  Completely healthy the Angels would have had their hands full with the Red Sox.  Without their #3 - 5 hitters ready to play the Angels were boys among men and rightfully found themselves broomed from the playoffs.

So the Angels entered the 2007-08 post-season still looking for that elusive big-bat to protect Guerrero.  Former GM Bill Stoneman tried but ultimately never could find that bat (though he was the one that help bring Guerrero to Anaheim in the first-place so we can not be too hard on the Stone man).  If any fault should befall Stoneman it may be that he over-compensated for Angel GM's in the past who would deal Halo prospects for any past-his-prime former All-Star and a bag of balls.  Stoneman guarded his precious prospects, nurturing them and fiercely protective against anyone who tried to take his gold and give him silver in return.  That approach has given us the gifts of Frankie Rodriguez, John Lackey, Jered Weaver and Howie Kendrick.  But at what cost?  We will never really know (unless Stoneman decides to write his memoirs one day but I think you will sooner see him produce a cook book) but we can't help but wonder what a Dallas McPherson/Ervin Santana package might have brought the team a few years ago.  Now in 2007 the Angels have experienced an ultra smooth transition from Stoneman to his heir-apparent Tony Reagins.  As his first off-season moves into Spring Training we now have the opportunity to see if Reagins is truly his own man or simply a younger version of Stoneman.

One thing does remain the same, The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim failed to bring-in the "big bat" during the  off-season.  It was not for lack of trying.  Target one was Alex Rodriguez but after dipping his toes into the free-agent pool found the waters too cold for his liking.  He ran back to the Steinbrenners, tail-between-his-legs, and basically begged them to re-open talks.  They did and he secured a huge payday but in doing so showed he lacked a lot of character.  As far as the Angels are concerned that was a bullet dodged.  Target two was Miguel Cabrera who the Angels chased with gusto.  Owner Arte Moreno twice thought they had a deal done with the Florida Marlins but twice the Miami Mackerel backed out of the deal asking for more.  Apparently they wanted second-baseman Howie Kendrick plus prospects.  This was too much for the Angels and eventually Cabrera was traded to Detroit along with Dontrelle Willis for a basket of prospects.  I tend to side with Reagins and the Angels on this one.  Losing Kendrick would have been a big pill to swallow and ultimately Cabrera was going to cost a ton of money.  I can see paying the money and I can see giving up the prospects & Kendrick but I can not see both.  There was just too much downside risk for the Angels particularly with stories of Cabrera's ballooning weight and negative clubhouse demeanor.  But the Angels did make some significant moves that will alter the look of the team as they look to get over-the-hump in the American League playoffs.

Traded:   SS Orlando Cabrera for SP Jon Garland

The Angels traded shortstop Orlando Cabrera to the Chicago White Sox for starter Jon Garland.  At first glance it seems like both teams simply exchanged somewhat over-rated players they had an excess of.  Organizationally the Angels are filled-the-brim with shortstops while the White Sox were strong in pitching but weak offensively.  Yes, the Angels have two players who could start at short but is either a long-term solution?  Not really.   The Angels will have Erick Aybar and Maicer Izturis fight it out in Spring Training for the starting job but it seems highly unlikely that either will hold it very long.  Ultimately the Angels are hoping that Brandon Wood emerges as their shortstop of the future.  Wood can handle the defensive duties immediately but his plate discipline remains his biggest problem (120 strikeouts in 437 Triple A at-bats).  Wood got some extended time in Anaheim last season but he likely starts the year in Salt Lake with a quick promotion to Anaheim if he can display better instincts at the plate.  I don't like that the Angels lost a quality shortstop who was a good influence in the clubhouse.  But Jon Garland will be an important piece of the puzzle this season.  Garland is a horse, pitching more than 200 innings in each of the past four seasons.   This season he moves to a better pitcher's park and also gets a big boost from an Angels offense that averaged better than 5 runs per game last season.  Add in that Garland is in the walk year of his contract and you have a formula for a 20-win season from Gar.  He is not always pretty but he gets the job done and will find a way to win.  With Kelvim Escobar showing up with a sore shoulder to camp the importance of having a solid #3 type starter added to the mix becomes clear.  With his ability to eat innings Garland is going to help keep the Angels' bullpen fresh which in turn is going to help them be ready when needed by the entire starting staff.

But have the Angels just created a gaping hole at shortstop?  Well that depends on how you look at it.  Anyone of Erick Aybar, Maicer Izturis and Brandon Wood is good enough defensively to play short for the Halos right now.  None of the three however, (in my opinion) is good enough offensively to take the job.  But the Angels seem willing to wait on offense particularly if whoever hits 9th is able to do the little things right like getting down a bunt, moving runners and working counts.  Going into Spring Training the job is Aybar's to lose which will has to be worrisome to Mike Scioscia who right now is looking down the barrel at a National-League-pitcher type offense from his 9-hole this season.  Aybar did not play well this winter, committing 17 errors and striking out 10 times in his last eight Dominican playoff games.  He eventually lost the starting job for Licey to the Mets' Anderson Hernandez who took over as starting shortstop for the Caribbean World Series (which Licey eventually won).  So what happens if between Aybar, Izturis and Wood the answer is "None of the Above" for the Angels at shortstop in 2008?  The Angels can not really trade for a short-stop at this point with organizational depth at the position so strong.  Someone will have to stand up and take the job and if no one plays well look for the Angels to hand it to Wood.  If we are not going to get productivity out of the #9 spot in the batting order than Wood might as well get some experience.

Angels Sign Torii Hunter

The Angels other important move this off-season was the acquisition of free-agent center fielder Torii Hunter.  There were two things that made this a strange move:

1. The Angels just signed Gary Mathews, Jr. to a 5-year big money contract in 2006; and

2. The biggest offer for Torii out there was believed to be 5-years $60 - 70 million.  The Angels inked him to a                            5-year $90 million deal.

But the Angels were thinking more along the lines of adding talent rather than filling a hole.  Hunter is better defensively than Mathews, hit more home-runs than Guerrero last season (by one) and may be one of the all-time great clubhouse characters.  He charms the media and fans alike while making circus catches and delivering big hits.  Why would the Angels not want this guy on the roster?  His added offense definitely takes a lot of pressure off of whoever plays shortstop for the Angels this season.  So Reagins inks Hunter and now will leave it up to Scioscia to decide how he wants to utilize his assets.  Hunter and Guerrero and locked-in at center and right fields respectively.  Mathews and Anderson figure to rotate between left field and DH though Mathews will be used in center to spell Hunter and either Anderson or Mathews could do the same for Guerrero.  Some want to see Guerrero preserved by having him play more DH but Vlad is not the same hitter when he is not playing the field.  Guerrero his .345 as a right-fielder and just .270 as a DH.  Some of that may be due to the fact that when Guerrero DH'd it was usually because he was hurt.  But still, that is a huge drop in production and many hitters have had trouble acclimating to the DH role.  Another question is what will the Angels do with break-out rookie Reggie Willits?  Getting him at-bats will be difficult and Scioscia loves to use the kids speed (though Hunter is no sloth on the bases himself).  Beyond that Juan Rivera will be looking for at-bats as well.  The depth in outfield would seem to indicate the Angels will look for some help at third or short.  The Angels could trade either Willits or Mathews for an established third baseman (it is unlikely Anderson would garner much trade talk at this stage of his career).   Ultimately for the Angels 0ff-season to be a success they would need to make another move to bolster the left-side of the infield or one of the youngsters will need to step-up big time.

The biggest problem the Angels faced at the end of last season was a lack of depth.  They have addressed that with Torii Hunter who should allow the Angels to keep their elder statesmen rested and ready for October.  They also have helped their pitching staff by adding Garland who will take loads of pressure off of Lackey, Escobar and Weaver who do not need to make starts while injured knowing there are quality arms ready to take the hill.  Garland also helps out an Angels' bullpen that was already strong but now will be called upon less and therefore be that much better when needed.  The Angels could have sat pat and said, hey if we are healthy we are a match for anyone.  Instead they made themselves better offensively and defensively and hopefully will keep an eye out for that one last piece to the puzzle that catapults them to the World Series this season.