There's nothing quite like a baseball post in the middle of January to hook readers. My sister-in-law's (and mine, per the comments I left in Brandon's post) Auburn Tigers beat the Oregon Ducks in a stadium built to resemble a barrel cactus, rumors are swirling that 'Sheed may come out of retirement to play for the C's again (although, I think he's the one starting the rumors), and the Canucks are putting together one of their greatest runs in franchise history. And yet, I'm going to spend a post talking about the Angels. I just love baseball way too much.
I would, however, like to point out how stupid I think the ESPN.com headline of "Lights, Cam, Action," is. Is that the best you guys could come up with? How about, "¡S-E-Sí!"
So, after reading headline after headline about the Angels offseason, I've started to get a little angry. Actually, I'm more blown away at the ideas that "real" media members come up with to "fix" this team. MLB.com's Lyle Spencer, who has been the Angels beat writer since we were in college, wrote a story with the headline "Why not bring back Figgy and Vlad?" He argues that Figgins would only cost $26 million over the next three years (only!), and we could probably trade Juan Rivera and Alberto Callaspo to get him. If you read the blog, you know that A) I've always considered Figgins to be overrated as a leadoff hitter, outside of 2009 (which was his Beltre-esque contract year performance) and B) I've always been and continue to be high on Juan Rivera. So, this one isn't flying with me. Meanwhile, he's pretty sure we could "lure" Vlad away from Arlington with a two year deal at about $20 million. Now, I know it's early, but I hope you didn't just spit out your coffee. Chone Figgins is 32, hit .259 last season, was a -0.7 in defensive WAR, and seems a little pricey for his production, don't you think? Meanwhile, Vlad may have hit .300 last year, but he hasn't been able to play in over 150 games since 2006, and his decline (which unexpectedly reversed last year for Texas) has been well documented on this blog (an average WAR of 1.5 over the last three years doesn't seem like $10 mil per season kind of material).
Why would Lyle Spencer think that just bringing back ex-Angels from the "glory days" would turn this ship around? Hey, I have an idea! Let's sign Ramon Ortiz, Kevin Appier (I think we're still paying him, anyways), David Eckstein, and Alex Ochoa! I mean, we won the World Series with those guys, so why not? What do you think, Spence? We could offer them each $5 million a piece, and a bonus of $5 million more when (not if) they bring us another ring. What could Brad Fullmer or Shawn Wooten possibly be doing right now, anyway? I'm sure Scottie 2 Hottie would walk away from Sand Frog to help out!
Surprisingly, ESPN.com has stepped in to be the voice of reason. Mark Saxon, a writer who I often rip to pieces during the season on this very blog, has decided to be an actual smart fan! Kind of. First, he declares that Vlad is not on the Angels radar. Thank you. Second, he suggests that the Halos might look at Scott Podsednik. Now look, I'm going to be honest. I have a lot of love for Pods because of video game baseball. To me, he's the ultimate EA Sports leadoff hitter. But what about in real life? Well, even before I look at the stats, I'll point out that Baseball Reference notes that his nickname is "The Podfather." Man, it's going to be really hard for me not to like this guy. Last year, splitting time between the Royals and Doyers, Pods hit .297 with 51 RBI, 35 SB, and 63 runs scored. His 1.23/season WAR may not bring tons of glory, but I'd sure rather see the aging speedster in the one hole than Erick Aybar (no offense, EA). If we can get him cheap-ish, I'd be very, very happy with our offseason
As if Mark Saxon has seen the light (light being a metaphor for this blog, in this case) his most recent article is titled, "These guys might be good," and he explores the reasons why the Angels may be looking at a great (or at least, good) season in 2011. There is the obvious "Kendy Morales is back" argument, as having him back will completely change this lineup. There is the "we can't all be bad at the same time again" argument. Nine Halo hitters had a below career average OPS years in 2010, and it seems almost impossible that it could happen again (unless we're talking about Wood and Mathis). There's the "pitching wins titles" argument. Our rotation of Weaver, Haren, Santana, Piñero, and hopefully someone other than Scott Kazmir is a pretty good rotation. If we can fill in an okay #5 guy, I could easily argue that we have the best top to bottom rotation in the American League. And, if they stay healthy, they can (and will need to) carry this team. Don't forget about our bullpen. Adding Takahashi and Downs to the pen gave us the two best available lefties (lefties on the Halos?), and we all remember how our bullpen blew tons of games for us last year (is Fernando Rodney still here? Nuts!) This upgrade has been completely overlooked and underrated.
It is really weird for me to type it, but I agree with an entire Saxon article. I just got the chills.
Here's to the "real" media continuing their silly offseason baseball posts, so I can continue mine.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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