Los Angeles Angels closing situtation gets some closure.

“I don’t know. It was funny – I felt like I was pitching on the road  quite a bit,” he said. “I came in to a lot of boos. Fans come out here  in droves and they come out to be entertained. They’re going to be  entertained one way or the other – either by my frustration or by my  success. I felt like I gave them a lot more success than failure. … I  put it on the line every time.”

Much to my surprise, Angels General Manager Tony Reagins made another move that would not get too much national attention.  Reagins dealt the Angels closer Brian Fuentes to the Twins.  The Halos will not know what they will get in return from the Twins until October 15th.  This was ultimately a win win move.  When you look at the Twins bullpen, which was plagued with injury this season, this move makes them immediately deeper in the bullpen.  And it is being said that Fuentes will be used mostly as a Lefty Specialist and will close on some occasion.  The Twins currently have the 3rd Best Record in the American League and hold the lead in the American League Central by 4.5 games.  Especially in the playoffs, the more depth you have, the better your team will do.  And although Fuentes wasn't lights out in the Playoffs last year, he did lead the league in saves last year and his more recent stuff was looking good.

I'm glad to see Fuentes get an opportunity to play for a winner and perhaps make another post-season appearance.  I think had the Angels attempted to make Fuentes a Lefty Specialist, the Angels might have won a handful more of games.  He didn't have the caliber pitches of Percivial or K-Rod, but he did lead the league in saves last season.  The Angels promote Fernando Rodney, who looked lights out prior to Fuentes' return from his early stint on the DL.  Unfortunately, the damage has been done to the Angels in 2010.  The struggles finding consistency has plagued every aspect of the Angels this year.  The good news is that with Fuentes now in another uniform there is no chance his option vests (not that it was likely to vest as a Halo), the Angels save a little money and perhaps get a nice piece from Minnesota.  And if the prospect isn't so nice, at least this will allow the Angels to move forward and piece next years bullpen together now. With Rodney closing; Stokes, Bulger, Jepsen, K-Rod2.0, and Thompson seems to set up next years bullpen.  With more defined roles, perhaps the Angels bullpen can return to form of their dominant selves.  

Go Halos

The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse or The Angels put 4 players on the Waiver Wire.

Much to the surprise of no one, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim put four players on the Waiver Wire according to Ken Rosenthal. Nevermind that the players that are put on waivers are supposed to remain confidential, Angels closer: Brian Fuentes, Odd man out of the Outfield: Juan Rivera, the De Facto 1st Baseman: Mike Napoli and lead-off hitter: Bobby Abreu.  Talking heads like Roger Lodge of AM 830's Sports Lodge, attempted to mass up a media frenzy with Angel fans with this report.  And a few callers called in rallying behind Napoli and making statements like trade Fuentes and Rivera, with slightly less articulation.  Its kind of funny when you hear all of these armchair GMs demand that the Angels go after this player or that player.  And get rid of this guy or that guy. 

But the Waiver Wires are simply a way to test the interest of players to those teams looking to make a surge into the post-season.  There is no guarantee that any of the 4 horsemen will be bringing the Apocalypse after the waiver wire deadline, which is Tuesday.  I also don't see this as Reagins throwing in the towel either.  And in reality, most of these guys will probably stay right here in the Halosphere.  But looking closer at a few of the players you can measure the goods they could bring to a team.

Brian Fuentes certainly has to be on many teams radar.  Fuentes has already save 23 games, last year he led the league with 48 and the year before he had 30.  His ERA is down from last year.  He's been able to get a hanful of wins and seemingly has pitched a lot better recently.  There doesn't seem much of a chance for Fuentes' Option to vest, which means he'll be a free agent at the end of the year.  Teams who are currently struggling with Bullpen Issues could find the lefty invaluable.  The Yankees, Phillies, Giants, Cardinals, all could use more depth in the bullpen.  And even if he comes out of the bullpen as a lefty specialist, instead of a closer, he would be a great asset.

Mike Napoli's versatility at the very least has to make some GMs take notice.  Napoli's defense at catcher is passable and he has looked surprisingly well at 1st base.  Napoli has a pretty good pop already having hit 21 Home Runs, which is one more this year then he has hit in the last two years with a couple of more weeks left to play ball,  and that was spending the first half of the season in a platoon at catcher.  Any team in need of a catcher would certainly be tempted to pick up a claim on Napoli.  And for a team like Boston, New York, or the Rangers, his power would shine a little brighter and could help those teams in the long stretch.  Napoli is expendable for the Angels because of the young core of catchers already in the team.  Mathis and Wilson have shared most of the catching duties this year, with Budde and Conger waiting in the wings.  And after this season the Angels will bring back Kendry Morales at 1st.  This would also save the Angels some money when it comes to his arbitration hearing this year, where surely he expects to see a raise.

 Bobby Abreu has recently got hot.  His mixture of speed, 17 bags and power, 15 home runs could help some teams.  His bat also affords him the ability to hit just about anywhere in the line up.  The drawbacks to Abreu are slightly steeper than Napoli or Fuentes.  Abreu has one more year on his contract, so any team making a move for Abreu is going to have to over pay him for next year as well as this year.  And finding playing time is becoming more difficult in Anaheim already, with Abreu shifting from Right to Left and working some nights as a DH.  The biggest obstacle in Abreu will be that salary and I'm all but sure the Angels would choose not to eat any of his salary if he is moved. 

And lastly Juan Rivera, the poor guy just hasn't performed up to his normal standards this year.  And who knows if it is a mental thing or if his skills have just started to diminish.  Notorious for being a later starter, all of his measurable numbers are down.  His defense has looked down right terrible.  And he hasn't earned enough consistency at any position to keep regularly at bats.  Rivera's contract isn't gigantic by any stretch, but there comes a point when a GM just won't pay for what Rivera is providing.  Sure a change of scene might do Rivera a great deal.  And maybe a team like the Reds or Giants could use Rivera.  I thought Rivera would have been moved prior to the trade deadline, but since then he's looked worse and worse in the outfield. 

Ultimately I feel that none of these players will be moved.  It is just Tony Reagins looking to see if he can move some payroll in hopes of landing a Real Big Fish in the offseason.  Although if some of these players are not moved, it is hard to see the Angels making any acquisitions in the off season.  Only Arte, Scioscia and Reagins know what the Angels next move is. 

Go Halos.

5 Game winning streak ends with a blown save in the 9th!

On a night to commemorate the ever improving Erick Aybar with a Bobble Head, the Angels lose and it was a bit of a heart breaker.  Jered Weaver carried a one run lead into the eight inning.  Smart base running with Aybar and a timely hit Abreu gave the Halos a 1 run lead which was followed up with Morales Home Run driving in Matsui.  The night was looking great.  Even Jason Bulger looked good in the eight, holding the advancing Tigers.  But with the Ninth inning came chaos!

It was well documented that Mike Scioscia was going to put Fuentes out there.  It was no surprise to anyone, well at least not to me.  I even added Fuentes to my fantasy baseball team, because I expected him to be plopped right back into his closer role.  Scioscia is well known for his loyalty to his guys.  Fuentes who was the league saves leader was expected to close out this one run game.  However, Fuentes also blew a lot of saves last year.  And he did it again.  I feel for the guy.  He is coming back from an injury and just didn't look like he was right.  Maybe a few more bullpen session in Rancho could have helped.  It doesn't the fans frustration with Fuentes, when Rodney has just had 5 scoreless 9th Innings in a row.  I kept thinking that although Fuentes blew the save, maybe he'd set himself up for a relief win, by getting out the inning.  And a case of a bad swing at a bad pitch just so happened to work out in the favor of the Tigers.  Fuentes job at closer is secure for now, but I think the Angel faithful believe Rodney would have closed it out. 

The Wild Ride with the Angels Bullpen -- Or how Fernando Rodney saved the day!

The Angels rotation took a lot of abuse before the season even started.  The media was doubting the intestinal fortitude of the Halo Starters.  It was like Lackey was the straw that stirred the drink of the Angel's slingers.  But now that Lackey is gone, the Halos are done, no number one, etc. etc. etc.  Weaver has gracefully accepted the role of leader coming out of the rotation.  But a big surprise has been  Piñeiro .  But in the last couple of starts each pitcher has looked dominant.  Its very early in the season, but the Angels are looking like a Diamond full of Aces.  Weaver had a good start in Toronto, followed by Saunders and Santana.   Piñeiro starts it off against Detroit and Kazmir comes out looking pretty good through six.  Perhaps the rotation isn't as much of a concern as the media all lead us to believe.

However Kazmir win last night was nearly tainted at the hands of the bullpen.  Kazmir was charged the runs that Shields allowed.  Palmer didn't look much better.  And Jepsen had me worried.  But when Rodney stepped in the ninth it was all business.

Speaking of Rodney, it was Tim Dierkes of MLB TradeRumors who said that The Angels signing Fernado Rodney was one of the 10 Worst Free Agent Signings Of The Offseason. At the time many of the Angel faithful, myself include, understood this to be an insurance policy in case Brian Fuentes fell back into his familiar funk from last year. Spring opened up and Fuentes looked great. Opening Day, Fuentes looked great. And since his injury, Rodney has covered the closer spot and successfully closed 5 of 5 games. Not only the 5/5 closes, but each one of them were shut outs. Rodney even has a hold, from Opening Day and a win against Oakland. The only bad outing Rodney had was against the blow out against the Twins, where he was charged with the loss.  I am beginning to think that the closer position might be a shared spot between Fuentes and Rodney.  And that could save the Angels big cash, from Fuentes option investing.  Only a month or so into the season, but that Rodney signing is looking as impressive as the Piñeiro and Matsui signings this past off season.

The STREAK begins 1/162

On April 6th there would only be 13 Teams with a perfect record, Baltimore and Tampa Bay have yet to play.  I was only pretty sure the Angels would be one of them.  The Angels sit atop the Western Division mountain in an all too familiar fashion.  However the Angels are not a lone, The Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners are still right there with them.  I hope the Oakland As get comfortable in their spot in the cellar, now to get the Rangers and Mariners used to looking up at the Angels in 1st.

The Halo offense came pretty much from the Hansen Brothers... you now MMM-POP, Mathis, Morales, and Matsui all hit homeruns.  Morales scored a couple of RBI and I was really impressed with Aybar leading off.  If Mathis keeps up his offense numbers like that, we might be saying good-bye to Mr. Napoli.  Not to mention Weaver was dealing.  It was far from a perfect pitching, but it was good enough for the win.  And not to mention all the Ks. And Brian Fuentes got save number 1.  Will he surpass last years numbers? 

I wasn't happy with the performance of one Brandon Wood.  Surely he has a 161 games to prove that he's the real deal, but last night he looked a little loss.

You have got to be excited about what the Angels are doing and if you aren't... you aren't an Angel fan.

Rodney, Rodney, say that you Rodney!

This post took me a while to write, because I have mixed emotions on Fernando Rodney.  On one hand, you look at the guy who had 37 saves out of 38 attempts.  It has to be considered that Rodney will be in Anaheim to move into that closer role.  If Scott Shields is healthy, he should slot right back into the 8th inning, as a setup man.  And although Brian Fuentes as a closer had a league leading 48 saves, he also blew 7 regular season save attempts with one big blown save in the post season.  Even if they decide to close by committee, if gives Mike Scioscia options on finishing games.  Plus with Fuentes making less appearances will keep his contract from investing the 3rd year option. 

But any Detroit fan will tell you that Rodney in non-save situtations has been shakey at best.  Fortunately for the Angels he probably won't be put into that position. His ERA is also in the 4.00.  But to counter point that, Rodney playing in Anaheim could be a different story.  However, if the idea is to put Rodney in a set up position, I definitely question the motives of the Angels Front Office.  Allowing lefty Oliver to sign with the Rangers didn't enhance the bullpen.  But if Fuentes tries to fill out Oliver's spot, the Angels might have something very special in that bullpen.  With Jepsen, Bulger, and probably Rich Thompson, the bullpen could be lights out.

What do you think of Rodney as the Angels closer.

Long Time coming, but the Red Sox finally get their comeuppance

It had seem that up until late afternoon, the Red Sox has unceremoniously owned the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Not even the lore of Dave Henderson could affect this bound and determined Halo Staff. In a no class move, the Red Sox looked to its storied tradition of whoopin on the Angels in Post-Season to one of the guys who had ripped the heart out of the franchise in years past. Henderson's homerun off of Donnie Moore killed the Angels momentum in 1986. The Angels would go on to lose two more games in Boston that year and wouldn't make it to another ALCS game until 2002.

You get the feeling that the Angels know they are about to accomplish something special. I was lucky enough to be at Game 2 of the best of 5 series and Boston's pending demise was palpable. It is without a doubt one of the greatest come from behind wins for the Angels, down to their last strike, last out, in Fenway, and manage to come up 3 runs giving them not only the lead, but the victory.

Red Sox reliever Billy Wagner worked into a second-and-third, two-out jam in the eighth, prompting manager Terry Francona to summon Jonathan Papelbon from the bullpen for a four-out save. Juan Rivera greeted Papelbon by lining his first pitch to right center for a two-run single, momentarily making it a 5–4 game, but Boston added an insurance run in the bottom of the inning. Papelbon retired the first two batters in the top of the ninth, but Erick Aybar kept the inning alive with a two-strike single. After Chone Figgins worked a walk, Bobby Abreu, also down to his final strike, doubled off the Green Monster to score Aybar from second. Torii Hunter then received an intentional walk, loading the bases for Vladimir Guerrero. Guerrero ripped Papelbon's first pitch for a two-run single to center, putting the Angels ahead 7–6. Closer Brian Fuentes retired the Red Sox in order in the bottom of the inning for the save.

Now that's what I call a Page Turner.

For those of you who are reading this, you might think the term "Page Turner" refers to the latest John Grisham novel. But I have another idea. Last night the Angels were literally rocked out of Oriole Park at Camden Field. The Angels who've won their 69th game this season looked much worse last night. However in a series of unfortunate walks for the Orioles, the Angels walked away with a 5-1 Victory. This game would be ACE, John Lackey's 8th win, with Brian Fuentes earning his 33rd Save.

Turning the page has been the moniker of Mike Scioscia since taking over the franchise. And that typically sticks with the team. A blow out the night before doesn't necessarily mean the Angels will struggle the next. And although the Angels didn't drive in a exorbitant amount of runs, they were patient with the bats and benefited from a handful of walks that turned into runs in the 3rd Inning.

Light up the Halo.