If you talk to someone about the AL West this offseason, chances are they won’t mention the reigning division champs. There’s plenty of talk about the Mariners being a breakout team and a sexy World Series pick after just missing the playoffs in 2014. There’s a substantial bit of discussion about the Athletics following their drastic rebuild this offseason. Even the two Texas teams, the Rangers and Astros, are getting press attention. But the Angels? They seem to be flying under the radar after a pretty quiet winter.
Think about it – the Angels didn’t do much this offseason. They traded Howie Kendrick to the Dodgers for Andrew Heaney. They dealt reliever Kevin Jepsen to the Rays for Matt Joyce. They uh…sent backup catcher Hank Conger to the Astros. That’s it. There was no Pujols/Wilson level signing. There was no jaw-dropping Trumbo/Freese style trade. The Angels just sort of stood pat this winter, and most of the talk about them surrounded a player that won’t be with the team for at least the start of the season, Josh Hamilton.
So, *are* we ignoring the reigning AL West champions a little too much? Maybe. Seven of their nine offensive regulars return from a year ago – the lone new faces are Joyce and whoever ends up winning the second base competition (which is being led by ex-Royal Johnny Giavotella right now), though C.J. Cron will get more playing time at DH with Hamilton in the wind. Four of the Angels top five starting pitchers from a year ago will begin the season in the rotation, and the team’s lack of a need for a fifth starter for the season’s first week will give ace Garrett Richards a little extra rehab time. Jepsen and Jason Grilli are gone, but the Angels bullpen will have a full year of Huston Street in 2015, along with holdovers Joe Smith, Fernando Salas, and Mike Morin.
This is a 98-win team bringing back almost all of its key players, and they’re not getting any love! What the hell? Well, I think the reason for the lack of love is simple – what else is there on this team aside from Mike Trout?
Trout was the AL MVP in 2014, and is the best player in baseball. The next best offensive player on the team was catcher Chris Iannetta, who only played in 108 games and doesn’t exactly have a great defensive reputation. Kole Calhoun was stellar alongside Trout in the outfield, but at 27, he doesn’t get a lot of love for whatever reason. Albert Pujols had a solid year for the Angels in 2014, but was a disaster in 2013 and is already 35. David Freese is perennially average and overrated for his October heroics with the Cardinals in 2011. Erick Aybar is a roughly average hitter with a fantastic glove. It’s really not all that attractive of an offense aside from Trout, full of average hitters and solid second and third bananas.
ARLINGTON, TX – AUGUST 15: Garrett Richards #43 of the Los Angeles Angels pitches against the Texas Rangers in the bottom of the first inning at Globe Life Park in Arlington on August 15, 2014 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
As for the starting rotation, Richards was far and away the best member of the staff, pitching to a 2.61 ERA in 168 2/3 innings. The team’s next best starter was rookie Matt Shoemaker, who turned 28 in September and thrived by posting strikeout and walk rates the likes of which he’s never seen before. Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson were both underwhelming, and didn’t look like pitchers worth the $162.5 million the Angels invested into them.
In a nutshell, that’s where we are. The Angels have a good, but underwhelming, offense past Mike Trout. They have a solid bullpen, but a middling rotation (past the rehabbing Garrett Richards) to get them there. The team is fine defensively – not great, not bad, but fine.
The question remains – are we overlooking the Angels this winter?
There’s not an easy answer to that. In 2013, when the Angels lost 84 games, they didn’t have Calhoun in the lineup, and Richards was bouncing between the bullpen and the rotation. Alberto Callaspo, J.B. Shuck, Mark Trumbo, and Hamilton got way too many plate appearances. But is David Freese all that much better than Callaspo? Will C.J. Cron hit much more than Trumbo? I don’t think you can definitively say yes or no either way. Granted, the rotation is much better in 2015 than the 2013 horror show, but that 2013 rotation was carried by Wilson and Weaver – can they carry the starting five again? Based on their recent performances, I wouldn’t be so sure of that.
I don’t think the Angels are a great team like they were last season. The AL West is also much tougher this year than it was a year ago, with Houston and Seattle looking like much more formidable threats than in 2014 (which is shocking, considering the Mariners won 87 games). Los Angeles is part of a massive pack of teams vying for playoff spots in the American League. The only teams I’d really expect not to at least flirt with .500 are the Twins and Rangers, and there’s no team in the league that’s a playoff lock.
It’s less about the Angels being overlooked and more about the Angels coming back to the pack. They’re not going to run away with the AL West title this year. There are simply too many questions about this team, and too much to be optimistic about with the other teams across the league.
