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The five good things and five bad things about the Angels’ spring

Opening Day is officially one week away. I wanted to list the Angels’ five best issues/situations this spring and the Angels’ five worst issues/situations:

Here are the good things:

1) The resurgence of Garret Anderson. While it may not mean much because it is preseason but Garret Anderson is smoking the ball. In his first two at-bats on Monday he had a double and home run and is batting more than .400. Let’s see if he can stay healthy.

2) Howie Kendrick’s phenomenal hitting. The new second baseman is showing that he really can hit and even field a little as media reports signal he is fielding his position well. We will still miss Adam Kennedy, though.

3) Most of the starting pitching. With the occasional hiccup, the Angels’ starters are doing their best to keep their team in the game this spring. Of course as I write this Joe Saunders has given up six runs through five and John Lackey got torched by his old friend Anakin Skywalker Jose Guillen and the Mariners on Friday. But for the most part the pitching has been effective this spring with Ervin Santana proving exceptional.

4)  The youngsters are contributing. Casey Kotchman, Mike Napoli, Kendrick and some of the Angels’ irregulars like Tommy Murphy and Nick Gorneault have made significant contributions this spring, increasing their chances of making the club when someone goes down with injury…. like Chone Figgins.

5) The Angels organization as a whole. The team received positive press for Arte Moreno’s desire to seek answers from Gary Matthews, Jr. about HGH. Meanwhile, the team continues to blanket the Southland with tons of Angels billboards all with the simple message of the Angels “A” To top it off, many baseball pundits are picking the Angels to win the AL West and the baseball preview issue of Sports Illustrated picks the Angels to win the World Series - over the Dodgers, no less.

Ok, now for the bad stuff:

1) Gary Matthews, Jr., Gary Matthews, Jr., Gary Matthews, Jr. Fortunately, the Angels’ organization has somehow managed to turn the bad press about Matthews, Jr. into mostly positive press for the club. Still, the distraction and tension from the Matthews situation cannot translate into a jovial clubhouse. And Matthews has not exactly been a hitting sensation but I still say he is more important for defense than offense.

2) Injuries. I suppose every team deals with injuries but it always seems like the Angels are hit with the injury bug a little more than other clubs, doesn’t it?! From losing Juan Rivera in winter ball to Bartolo Colon and Jered Weaver being sidelined to Chone Figgins fracturing two of his fingers, this preseason has not been kind to the Halos.

3) I was going to list defense as one of the Angels’ strengths but there have been too many errors this spring for me to conclude that that problem is fixed. And if there was one aggravating aspect to last year it was that if the Angels had committed far less errors, there was a good chance that they could have taken the division. That, and if the Seattle “We lost 17 out of 19 to Oakland” Mariners didn’t exist, would have wrapped up the division for the Angels.

4) I know he will hit. I know he will. But when I see Vladimir Guerrero batting below .300 in spring it makes me wonder if he will ever slow down or have an off year. I know I shouldn’t worry about this. But I do.

5) No Darin Erstad. Yeah, it hasn’t been a huge issue really but the Angels will miss his leadership in the clubhouse. Who will speak up and lead this team onto the field? Guerrero, Kendrick, Anderson? When you think of the Angels now, there doesn’t seem to be anyone with the fire and passion of Erstad, someone who leads by example. Perhaps Shea Hillenbrand can fill this hole or maybe someone like Kotchman or Napoli will grow into it. Let’s hope.

So there you go. Five good and five bad situations facing the Halos - what does it mean? Almost certainly nothing. Last year Casey Kotchman had a tremendous spring but a bout with mononucleosis knocked him out so the promise of spring almost never means anything. And no matter the season Vladimir Guerrero always hits.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 26th, 2007 at 2:21 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.