Are the Angels Heating Up?

This was originally an article that I was going to write after the Angels bested the Nationals last week.  But not having the time to finish it, might have made for a more interesting article.  The Angels offense has finally started to match the pitching efforts of Weaver, Haren, Santana, Piñeiro, and Chatwood.  However,  lets strip away some of the hyberbole, these wins have come at the expense of the Nationals a .500 team at Best, The Dodgers, who are in last place in the NL, and the Detroit Tigers, who are four games above .500.

Sure the Halos are tied for 1st Place with the Texas Rangers in the American League West.  The question I have been pondering for the past few days is this a new Angel team, or is this merely the benefit of feasting on a beleaguered set of opponents.  Hopefully the old cliche winning breeds winning, but this isn't the Red Sox, Yankees, or the Rangers.  There is still a lot that needs to be proved.  But the question is, our the Halos Heating up?

Obviously Vernon Wells has been on fire, so much so I picked him up in my fantasy league and he has just been tearing the cover off the ball.  Is he worth what he's being paid... no.  But he certainly has made this Halo Team better. Torii Hunter moved to the second spot in the batting order makes the team better.  The entire team has been benefiting from Wells' hot bat.  You look at a guy like Borjous who is back to hitting .266. 

To be frank, it really doesn't matter if this is a product of weaker opponents or if the Halos have found "it."  As long as the hit parade keeps coming and the pitchers keeps putting up strikeouts, who cares?

Let's go Halos!

Life after "The Dirtbag".

Jered Weaver

Shortly after the 2010 Major League Baseball season ended, talk spread like wild fire that Jered Weaver's management were already in talks with the Angel Front Office about a new contract.  Prior to the Opening Day 2011 festivities at Angel Stadium, Arte Moreno expressed that the Angels have intent on re-signing Weaver and didn't expect a home town discount.  

But does that fit with the current Angels Front Office operating model?  The Angels over the year haven't exactly been known to pay the big bucks on their own players who reach free agency.  They were outbid by the Mariners and the Red Sox for Figgins and Lackey (although both were probably for the best,) and didn't even attempt to re-sign Vladimir Guerrero or Darren Oliver.  And lets not forget after the 2008 season, Arte was very vocal about re-signing Mark Teixera and was outbid by the Yankees.

The Red Sox and Yankees both have the money and the need of a pitcher the caliber of Jered Weaver.  Could you imagine a one two pitch of Sabathia and Weaver or rotation of Lester, Beckett, Buchholz, and Weaver?  I hope that Jeff Weaver's years in New York left a bad enough taste in the mouth of the Yankees that they won't consider his little bro.  As seen by Cliff Lee, money isn't always the determining factor of where a player ends up, but not everyone is Cliff Lee.  

Weaver had emerged as the ace of this team even before Lackey fled to Fenway.  Weaver became a leader on the pitching staff after the passing of Nick Adenhart.  Jered was elected to the All Star Game last year, but could not pitch.  Weaver led all of Major League in strikes outs in 2010 with 233, just edging out the Cy Yong Award winner, Felix Hernadez.

Deciphering Weaver's next move is a lot like listening to the Clash.  "Should I stay or should I go now."  The Angels have a great relationship with the Angels but not so great with his agent.  The Owners has said he wants Weaver to stay, Weaver has said he wanted to stay, but he even alluded to on the Petros and Money Show interview from Fox Sports Radio, that he wasn't sure he'd be back in 2012.  

Replacing Weaver isn't going to be easy.  When you look at the young bucks of the Halos Rotation, you realize Chatwood baring any injury will be a real good pitcher for the this team.  Haren and Santana are both locked up for the 2012 seasons and have options for 2013.  Piñeiro will more than likely reach free agency after this season, although he is having a pretty good year and miracle withstanding, Kazmir will not return to the Halos in 2012. 

The team traded away a couple of potential starters last year in Sean O'Sullivan and Tyler Skaggs.  Trevor Bell is currently in the bullpen, but hasn't been all that impressive.  Two top pitching prospects currently in AA are Garret Richards and Trevor Reckling.  But jumping from AA to the Majors is a big leap.  I'd like to tell you life after the Dirtbag will be fine.  But I'd rather make a final plea to the Halos Front Office to re-sign Weaver.  

Go Halos 

Tyler Chatwood looked good, in defeat.

Cleveland Rocks.  No doubt about it, that Cleveland Indians are off to a hot start.  And when they get a a shut out from Talbot for nearly a complete came it makes a lot of sense.

Tyler Chatwood started the the first inning struggling with command and gave up a home run.  And later in the night Chatwood got taken for a three run blast.  His ERA went as high as 27.00 during the game and gradually came down to a 7.20 at the end of the night.  Chatwood gave up four hits, four walks, and four earned runs.  

Over hearing Scioscia on the radio, he mentioned something to the extent of Chatwood was aggressive and had good velocity.  What I saw was a kid, who looked pretty solid, despite the two home run balls.  But he battled back in a couple of innings, when he looked like he'd be pulled.

Walking in to Anaheim last night I had visions of Nick Adenhart dealing against Oakland and being near perfect for almost six innings.  Although Chatwood didn't have his best stuff, I think his first outing was a positive one, even in defeat.  I for one, hope to see him get a second start before Kazmir or Piñeiro comes off the DL. 

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.