Inside Pitch

Ben Francisco as the DH.... Just crazy....

After all the laughing at the Rangers poor showing, I'm expecting am embarrassing loss..

Nobody said it was.. I did however point to the numbers put up by HOF players to show how unlikely it is that Andrus is able to perform at that level for such an extended period of time much less 8 years in a row.. It's not a horrible contract, but it's hard to argue it's not an overpay. Would anyone have been keen on the Angels signing Callaspo to a 2 year 20 Mil contract?

It's certainly a giant vote of confidence for Andrus. They clearly hold him in high regard.

While I agree that 8/75 wouldn't be enough... it's not that far off either IMO. A contract in the area of 8/85-88 seems more in line for what he's done and whatever projected improvement may come. Aybar has been worth 3.8 WAR in each of the last two season's to Andrus' 4.0, he's slated to make 8.5 mil the next four years. Even if you consider that Andrus is younger and likely to improve, is he going to improve to where he's likely to be more than 75% better than Aybar? To be honest, for me, it's the years more than the per anum... not many guys in MLB history that have played at that level for a period as long as 8 years. The Rangers are basically targeting him as a HOF type talent.

As an Angels fan i'd be estatic if they do this. The per year figure is more than fair tot he Rangers providing he continues to be a 3+ WAR player per year (which seems possuble), but 8 years is more years than I would want to go. Also, consider this, if he were to match his career high WAR of 4.1 for each of the next 8 years he would have 45.8 WAR for his career at age 31. He's young and has room to get better, but I 'm not sure a guy with a career OPS+ of 84 is really en route to the HOF. Sorry but, I see more Rafael Furcal, Edgar Renteria, or Dave Concepcion, than I do Arky Vaughan, Luke Appling, or even Barry Larkin, to leave out the more impressive names. Also since you have five more years of Ian Kinsler's decline to pay for, I guess this means you'll move him (Kinsler), to another position where he will be even less valuable to make room for Profar? Or does this mean the team is now willing to move him?

Yup, he's a nice fot as a 6th-7th inning guy.

I'm pretty sure he's been lit up pretty regularly in Anaheim by our offenses.

You're going to love Jason Frasor then. He's been exactly that the last two years.

I recently got suckered into watching the chick flick, The Red Violin, with Samuel Jackson. Was actually a pretty solid movie.

Happy Birthday and grats on pulling off the admirable feat of raising a child to adulthood. I remember the day I became my Dad. I was standing in front of the microwave yelling "C'mon already" because obviously, cooking something in 3 minutes is entirely too long... stood there laughing for a good ten seconds. My Dad was the most patient man in the world for everything except microwaves.

I was really big on Haren last winter and really disappointed he was allowed to move on, so much so I made an effort to catch a few of his ST games. It's ST and all that but... he's looked awful, at least when compared to the pitcher I had grown accustomed to seeing. The one pitch he did throw well was his cutter, but it seemed like everything else was getting torched.

Agree.. Calhoun needs regular at bats not spot duty once a week. If the team needs an Orlando Palmiero I'd rather it be Shuck.

I may be wrong but I think they want to win.

Look at the bright side -- the pitching is back to being awesome

Saw him and Haren both pitch twice this spring.. Young was hitting 84-85, Never saw Haren over 86, well maybe on balls being hit over the fence. but otherwise... Not once. Young was the same exact pitcher he always was, a big dude who looked like he should be throwing hard and didn't. He was throwing 64-65 MPH changes and i don't think he topped 76 mph with his slider, looked like a slider anyway. Where was it stated he was only touching 80-82? BTW, he's pitched each of the last two seasons at 84-85.

So he's an older Tommy Hanson. Chris Young is the perfect sort of low risk guy to pick up IMO. I had hoped they might consider him in a previous post, nice to see they are at least kicking the tires.

That's the rub, the 2002 team didn't break camp with that shutdown pen.. not even close,. Among the pitchers on the opening day roster that year... Mark Lukasiewicz who had put up an ERA over 6.00 the previous year as a 28 year old rookie. Ben Weber had likewise managed an ERA over 6.00 for his career as a 30 year old rookie. Al Levine was 31 years old and a proud owner of 5.30 ERA (made debut at 28) Lou Pote had been picked off the scrap pile, made his debut at age 27, and was coming off a 4.26 ERA season entering 2002. Dennis Cook was 39 years old and coming off a 5.54 ERA in the NL... Donne Wall, 34 years old and fresh off a 4.84 ERA in Shea Stadium of all places. Percy. That was the bullpen. ONE sure thing, and a guy in Pote that had proven himself a pretty reliable middle reliever. Scot Shields was called up in June. Brendan Donnelly I think opened with the Angels was sent down and then recalled in June. Didn't establish himself until July. Schoeneweis was demoted to the pen. KRod didn't get called up until September. People here have just grown accustomed to shut down pens -- as a whole we have been very good in that area for a very long time. But if you compare the people in place this year to the guys that were on that 2002 roster to start the season it's hard to argue we aren't in much better shape.

Eck, Donnelley, Weber, Levine, Pote,.... all were serviceable players -- all acquired via dumpster diving either off waivers or as minor league FAs. Bobby Jenks, Derrick Turnbow -- dumpster dive casualties that Angels fans lost their minds over... With reliever volatility being what it is, going the waiver wire route is NOT a bad way of filling out the fringes.

Chris Young was recently released by the Nats... He's oft injured and will be 34 this season, but he seems like a good, low risk option as rotation depth.. Historically he's had a mediocre K/W rate, but the rest of his periphs have tended to be decent.

Downing, is a true renaissance man. We should all strive to be more like him.

I got a chuckle out of the non clutch bunt thing. Because lord knows he wouldn't get called stupid for trying to bunt in a situation like that -- right?

I was getting my info from John Dewan and Billjamesonline.com Pretty solid source I'm pretty sure. 2012 - http://www.billjamesonline.com/the_flat_bat_award_2012_/ 2011 - http://www.billjamesonline.com/flat_bat_award_2011/ I'm not a fan of wasting outs, ever -- but I am a fan of the ability to bunt for a base hit -- something Aybar is pretty good at actually. I've never actually seen any data tracking the "clutchiness" of a bunter, and youll have to forgive me if I'd like to see something more than a random guy's recollection of events, but I get it. You don't think his bunts mean much because they aren't clutch.... Well, apparently Aybar gets A LOT of meaningless bunts because he's got a pretty long run of success BUNTING for hits. 2010 - http://www.foxsportsnext.com/mlb/los-angeles-dodgers/stories/kershaw-wins--flat-bat-award-2010-.20110201.html 2009 - http://viewfromthebleachers.com/blog/2010/06/04/flat-bat-award-2009/ Sorry, but IMO, Aybar's "stupidity" gets overstated on this board.

I'm a bit torn on the Jimenez situation too. As much as I'm in favor of Callaspo at 3B, I really do hope he breaks came with the team and that they use him a lot. No reason he couldn't start a couple times a week or be brought in later in games to get time i... If his bat is working there really isn't a reason not to use him at DH occasionally either. Not saying sending him down is a bad idea but, he's had a full 500+ at bats in AAA and that park can lead to some bad habits. Worse thing that could happen is he establishes himself as a MLB player and creates some much needed depth at a position where the Angels could improve at.

I don't think English could handle the load... The language would break.