| AL West Midseason Report |
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| by Sam Merten | Mon, Jul 30, 2007, 11:07 PM |
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Kelvim Escobar and John Lackey are both in the top 10 in wins, ERA and quality starts in the
What has gone right: The Angels’ pitching has been the key to their success as John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar are having career years and emerged as aces. Lackey is 12-6 with a 3.27 ERA and 113 strikeouts and Escobar is 11-4 with 102 strikeouts and a 2.91 ERA, which is third-best in the AL. L.A. is also getting a solid sophomore season from Jered Weaver (7-5, 3.68 ERA) and Joe Saunders, a young lefty offered to the Rangers in a deal for Mark Teixeira, has been impressive in seven starts, going 4-0 with a 3.16 ERA. It helps to have one of the best closers in the game and Francisco Rodriguez (2.68 ERA, 25 saves) is having another great season as he’s on pace for his third consecutive 40-save season. When Chone Figgins started the season on the DL, missed the month of April and then hit under .200 for the month of May, no one could have guessed he’d be fourth in the Vladimir Guerrero’s power numbers might be down (14 homers), but Vladdy showed he could still hit the long ball, winning the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game. He also is hitting .324 with 81 RBI, which ranks fourth in the Orlando Cabrera (.310-6-58-12 SB) continues to be a good signing for the Angels and rookie Reggie Willits (.302-0-29-21 SB) has been an unexpected surprise in the outfield. What has gone wrong: Vladdy isn’t the only one with a power outage as the team is tied for 28th in MLB in homers with only 68 for the season. The Angels needed to add a bat in the offseason and the solution was Shea Hillenbrand, who hit .254-3-22 in 197 at-bats and then signed with San Diego after being released by L.A. Garrett Anderson (.302-5-28 in 205 AB) has missed time with a hip injury and has been a major bust since signing a four-year, $48 million contract extension in April 2004. When he signed that deal, he was coming off four seasons where he hit at least 28 home runs with 116 RBI and Anderson hasn’t come close to that production. He also hasn’t played in 145 games since the 2003 season. The offensive problems are of greatest concern, but the Angels have been disappointed by Bartolo Colon and Ervin Santana on the mound. Colon has been awful, going 6-6 with a 6.72 ERA in 16 starts and Santana was 5-11 with a 6.22 ERA in 19 starts before being sent down to Triple-A. Things haven’t been much better for him there as he gave up six runs and 11 hits in his last minor-league start for What to expect: The Angels weren’t willing to meet the Rangers demands for Teixeira and talks seem to be going nowhere with the White Sox for Paul Konerko. There was some talk about bringing back Troy Glaus, but the Blue Jays haven’t expressed much interest in moving their third baseman. The Angels also spoke to the White Sox about Jermaine Dye, but their outfield is already full with Guerrero, Matthews and Willits. Outfielder Juan Rivera also is expected to return from a broken leg sometime soon. If Rivera can return healthy and regain his form (.310-23-85 in 124 games last year), his bat will be enough to fend off the Mariners for the division title.
What has gone right: GM Bill Bavasi, who is working on a year-to-year contract, may have bought himself another year after signing Ichiro Suzuki to a five-year, $90 million contract extension. Suzuki is having another great season (.343-5-43-29 SB) and is trying to capture a third batting title in his seven-year career. He currently ranks second in the Felix Hernandez came into the league with high expectations and while he’s yet to become the next Dwight Gooden, at just 21, he’s having a very good year (7-6, 3.85 ERA, 105 K). J.J. Putz entered this season with some injury concerns and no one knew if he could duplicate his breakout season from last year. Not only has Putz stayed healthy, but he’s bettered his ’06 season as he’s tied for the In the offseason, What has gone wrong: Just when it seemed like Mike Hargrove was going to save his job as manager, he quit out of the blue and bench coach John McLaren took over on July 2. Despite the Mariners winning eight games in a row, Hargrove said his passion for the game began to fade. Richie Sexson (.204-17-54) has been a disaster since signing a four-year, $50 million contract in the winter of 2004. Mariners’ fans will be glad to know ’08 marks the end of his current contract. One of the biggest surprises last season in Even though he was fresh off a World Series Championship, Jeff Weaver wasn’t exactly in high demand in the offseason. The Mariners were the ones to give him a chance, signing him to a one-year deal for $8.3 million. Weaver is showing why nobody wanted him as he’s gone 2-9 with a 5.96 ERA. Imagine how bad his stats would look if he hadn’t gone 2-0 with a 1.82 ERA in four June starts. What to expect: The Mariners are a lot like the Diamondbacks. It’s hard to see how they’ve done so well when you sort through the stats. They don’t have an ace starter and no one in their offense really scares you. Sure, Felix Hernandez is developing into an ace and Ichiro is a great leadoff hitter, but I just don’t see how this team makes it to the playoffs with the roster they have now. With that said, they are only four games back of the Angels and two games back of Cleveland in the wild card, so a couple of moves at the deadline could make the difference. The Mariners have shown interest in upgrading their bullpen with someone like Royals’ closer Octavio Dotel or Devil Rays’ closer Al Reyes. They’ve also had talks with the White Sox about Jon Garland, the Marlins about Dontrelle Willis and the Astros about adding Jason Jennings to upgrade the rotation. I feel like they would need to add both a starter and a reliever to either win the division or the wild card, but even then, they’re not going to be strong enough to do anything in October. It’s been an interesting season for
What has gone right: When you look at the top eight teams in MLB ERA, all but one are in playoff contention. Right there at number four are the Dan Haren, admittedly a personal favorite player of mine, wasn’t supposed to be the ace of the staff. That was going to be Rich Harden, whom I’ll mention below. Yet it was Haren who took the job of staff ace from Barry Zito, and while Zito is struggling across the bay in Also deserving credit for the A’s pitching success is Joe Blanton, who despite winning 16 games last season, had a 4.82 ERA and 1.54 WHIP. His record isn’t that impressive this year (8-7), but his ERA (3.69) and WHIP (1.17) are much better. After spending time as a reliever with the Devil Rays, Blue Jays and A’s, Chad Gaudin was turned into a starter and he’s been very good so far, winning eight games and posting a 3.71 ERA. GM Billy Beane was able to find a couple guys that no one else seemed to want in Shannon Stewart and Jack Cust, and both players have been big parts of an otherwise unsuccessful offense. Stewart is hitting .305-8-32 and Cust has 17 homers and 48 RBI in just 222 at-bats. Finally, rookie Travis Buck (.274-7-26 in 226 at-bats) has battled injuries, but when healthy, he’s looked like a solid player. What has gone wrong: The A’s season last year was riddled with injuries, but somehow they were able to overcome it to win the division. This year, they had more injuries and it has been way too much to conquer. As I said before, Rich Harden was expected to be the new ace of the A’s staff. However, he has made just four starts and pitched in seven games because of a shoulder injury. Another key to the rotation was Esteban Loaiza, who hasn’t pitched an inning this year because of neck problems and then had knee surgery. Mike Piazza (.312-3-19) was supposed to be this year’s version of Frank Thomas, but he has played in just 34 games because of shoulder problems. Closer Want more? Outfielder Mark Kotsay (.227-1-18) has played in only 46 games because of back surgery and Milton Bradley (.292-2-7) played in only 19 games before he was traded to Throw in a down year from Nick Swisher (.258-14-55), who hit 35 home runs last year, and you have an offense that ranks 24th in MLB runs (449) and 25th in batting average (.252). Jason Kendall’s (.226-2-22) struggling bat was shipped off to the Cubs and Bobby Crosby (.226-8-31) doesn’t look anywhere close to the MVP-caliber player ESPN’s Peter Gammons claimed he’d be. Kiko Calero has struggled in the bullpen with a 1-4 record and 5.97 ERA in 38 games. What to expect: The A’s are shopping Mike Piazza, young first baseman Dan Johnson and veteran lefty Joe Kennedy. Piazza is the most likely to be dealt, but finding a match is proving to be a little difficult. The Padres have shown interest, but they have two capable catchers and a solid first baseman. The Angels are also interested, but they may have a hard time finding a place to play him too. Johnson is intriguing. He’s unhappy with his playing time and the A’s may move him to make room for prospect Daric Barton. Barton, by the way, was received along with Dan Haren from the Cardinals for Mark Mulder. Ya think
What has gone right: I made it clear that Mark Teixeira needed to go and Jon Daniels got a great deal in return. I like the package of prospects and I’ve liked Jarrod Saltalamacchia for a while. Daniels also got a solid prospect in return for Kenny Lofton (.303-7-23-21 SB) named Max Ramirez. Other players on the trading block, Eric Gagne and Sammy Sosa, have been good offseason signings. Gagne has 16 saves and a 2.16 ERA and Sosa is hitting .242 with 16 home runs and 70 RBI. Ian Kinsler (.241-14-35-11 SB) had a hot start and was having a solid season until he fractured his foot and Marlon Byrd (.332-3-34) has been a surprise in center field. Young lefty C.J. Wilson is finally putting it all together, posting a 2.54 ERA in 44 games and while Kevin Millwood’s season stats (7-9, 5.95 ERA) aren’t impressive, he has been good in the month of July (3-2, 3.86 ERA). What has gone wrong: The pitching. The pitching. The pitching. Last in the majors in quality starts with 35, 29th in with a 5.00 ERA and 26th in strikeouts with 617. Vicente Padilla, a guy I endorsed re-signing in the offseason is 3-8 with a 6.69 ERA. Jon Daniels’ big offseason move was trading for Brandon McCarthy and he’s 4-7 with a 5.52 ERA. Robinson Tejeda was supposed to make progress, yet he’s 5-9 with a 6.61 ERA. Then there’s good old Kameron Loe who always reels off a few good starts to give you hope, but then goes back to sucking. He’s 5-9 with a 5.80 ERA. If it wasn’t for the terrible pitching, there might be time to focus on the struggling offense. Hank Blalock (.285-5-16) played in just 39 games before having surgery to remove a rib to correct a nerve problem. With Nelson Cruz, the gem of the Francisco Cordero deal, was hitting .188 with three homers and 12 RBI before being sent to Triple-A Oklahoma on June 5. Gerald Laird finally got his chance to be the full-time catcher and has responded by hitting just .241-6-33 and now appears to have lost his job to Saltalamacchia. What to expect: Nelson Cruz went on a tear in It will also be interesting to see if Marlon Byrd, once a highly-touted prospect in the Phillies’ organization, is able to stay hot and show he can be a long-term solution in center field. Plus, getting to see Salty play every day will be tons of fun. The trade for Saltalamacchia may lead to the Rangers trading Gerald Laird. The Cubs just traded for Jason Kendall, but figured out he’s had it. There has been some discussion about a deal involving top center field prospect Felix Pie, but the Rangers would have to include a reliever in the deal and even then, the Cubs would be hesitant to trade Pie with a need in center of their own. Cubs GM Jim Hendry was recently quoted in the Chicago Tribune saying, “There will be no trade of Felix Pie to anyone." The other main trade chip for the Rangers is closer Eric Gagne, who is drawing significant interest from the Red Sox and Yankees. Each team has been reluctant to meet Jon Daniels’ asking price, especially since both teams already have a closer, but having One guy who will be gone is Sammy Sosa. Sosa not only has decent overall stats, but his numbers against lefties (.321-4-25-10 2B in 81 AB) should interest anyone who wants to use him as a platoon player or pinch hitter. Finally, Joaquin Benoit (4-3, 3.11 ERA, 56 K in 55 IP) is also getting interest from clubs not willing to pay the price of a Gagne or other closers on the market. The Dodgers have expressed interest, but so far it’s unclear if any offers have been made. The trade deadline is tomorrow at 3 p.m. Stay tuned to Dallas Blog for the latest news and analysis. *stats and records are current prior to games played for July 30 In case you missed them, here are the other midseason reports:
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