MVN - Most Valuable Network

Grading the Angels’ first half of the season - Part 2 - The pitchers

Continuing where we left off on Monday, we are now giving letter grades to the Angels’ pitching staff for the first half of the season, with the two fill-in guys leading the letter grades:

Starters:

Joe Saunders - A - Thrust into the rotation because of injuries to Kelvim Escobar and John Lackey, Saunders has been one of two starters who has saved the Angels’ season so far. Not blessed with overpowering stuff, Saunders has mixed enough of his pitches and induced enough contact to the fielders behind him to go to 12-5 on the season. There are causes for concern for the rest of Saunders’ season though. His ERA has inched up a bit since he started the season so well and I have some concerns about how he will fare the rest of the season; he has now thrown more big league innings this year than in past years and I wonder if some batters will start to catch up with him.

Ervin Santana - A - Thrust into the rotation because of injuries to Kelvim Escobar and John Lackey, Ervin Santana has shown this year that he possesses the kind of stuff that made the Angels so high on him in 2005 and 2006. While Angels coaches will point to Santana’s mechanics as part of the reason he struggled so much last year, his body language and head also did not seem to be too focused in 2007.
But 2008 Santana seems like a different pitcher - in part because of his poise and coolness on the mound. He is not melting down in road games and point of fact is actually 8-1 on the road compared with 3-2 at home this year.

John Lackey - B+ - After missing the first month of the season due to injury, John Lackey has resumed his place as the ace of the Angels’ rotation. Since returning from his triceps injury, Lackey has gone 6-2 and gave up three earned runs or less in his first nine starts before bombing in his last two starts before the All-Star break. Those last two starts and the month missed due to injury are the only things limiting us giving Lackey an A grade.

Jon Garland - B- - Garland has been pretty much what we expected; a solid innings eater, solid, unspectacular and inconsistent. Garland relies on getting batters to hit the ball on the ground except this year far too many are hitting it over his head. He is like Joe Saunders in that he relies on contact, too - so far Saunders is doing a better job. Still at 8-6 and an ERA a little over 4 is not bad for Garland who is probably the Angels’ fifth starter - which isn’t too bad.

Jered Weaver - C+ - Speaking of inconsistent, leave it to Weaver. Emulating his brothers’ 2006 pitching performance for the first two months of the season, Jered Weaver has begun to step it up. In the first two months of the season, Weaver was 4-6 with a 1.32 WHIP; in June and July he has gone 4-2 with a 1.18 WHIP. The Ks per inning have increased as well. If Weaver keeps this up, I will soon forget that he ever had a brother.

Bullpen:

Francisco Rodriguez - A - I have to give him an A here; no other recourse. As much as I don’t care for his contract demands, nor his victory dance after every save but he has earned his A grade here. With 38 saves and only three blown saves all year, he is on pace to break the all-time saves record. Still, is his success in saving games a product of his talent or is he just lucky that the Angels’ offense is so woefully stagnant that he has to come into so many 1-and 2-run games? I think it’s the latter.

Scot Shields - B+ - Frankie would not be nearly as successful without a reinvigorated bullpen. A non-melting down Scot Shields is a large part of that. Shields has been solid and dependable and continues to strike out about a batter per game; if he can avoid any second-half meltdowns like last year, he could potentially get an A grade for the season.

Jose Arredondo - B+ - Meet the new Frankie. Since being called up in May and giving up a home run in his first appearance, Arredondo has been lights out. Striking out nearly a batter per inning, Arredondo is providing a lift to an Angels bullpen that has not had this kind of an impact arm since Frankie came up in late 2002. If Francisco Rodriguez does not stay with the Angels after this season, Arredondo may be ready for the role in two or three years.

Darren Oliver - B- - Just call him Mr. Mop-Up. Never thrown into any kind of serious bullpen role, Oliver is your guy if the starter does not last into the sixth inning or if the Angels trail or are up by several runs. He has been serviceable and not had too many meltdowns and is doing what we expected.

Justin Speier - C- - Sadly, Speier has been about the only weak link in a bullpen that has been pretty solid and above average this year. After three straight years of sub 3 ERAs and a very good 2007, Speier’s ERA has ballooned above 5 and has given up nine home runs - about one home run every four innings. He has worked himself into a backend of the bullpen role and let Arredondo have the seventh inning role. It remains to be seen if he will work his way out of this funk.

So there you go, a breakdown of the first half for all Angels pitchers and hitters. We did not include guys who have come up from the minors and have not made significant impacts like Nick Adenhart or Brandon Wood. Dustin Moseley almost cracked this list and so did Darren O’Day but both of those guys are not expected to make significant impacts as the season continues.

So, anyway, that’s it; let’s get going on the second half of the season and give a little payback to the Red Sox this weekend!!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 2:04 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.