The Angels didn’t pitch well today. Jerome Williams (5-6) was tagged for six runs, four earned, and eight hits in five innings and has given up 21 earned runs and 26 hits in 13 innings of his last four starts, according to the Los Angeles Times.
My son and I went to the game today – we had free tickets courtesy of the O.C. Register. They were nosebleed seats but we were prepared to have a good time.
But the Angels were beyond awful. They couldn’t hit anything offered up by their former pitcher, Bartolo Colon, who got busted for steroid use last year and then signed a cheap, one-year deal with the Oakland A’s. He is now one of the top pitchers in baseball, but in my opinion he ought to be banned.
But what about the Angels? Not only could they not hit, they also were terrible in the field. Their non-power hitting third baseman, Alberto Callaspo, had at least two errors before we finally left early, disgusted with what we were watching.
The Angels are so far behind the division-leading A’s that you have to wonder now if it is time to give up and start selling off whatever pieces they can.
They can’t turn to their Minor League teams for the most part as they already traded most of their young starts. They traded Jean Segura in the miserable deal that landed them Zack Greinke. Segura is now a top shortstop – in Milwaukee. They traded young pitcher Patrick Corbin in the deal that landed them Dan Haren. Well Haren is now in Washington while Corbin is a rising star in Arizona.
The Angels have 13 minor league players who were named All Starts this year, according to a fan blog. Well it is time to start calling them up.
Do the Angels have any tradeable assets? Howard Kendrick has had a good year at second base. Sell him! Get some young guys in return. Erick Aybar signed a big deal, but if we can move them we should.
The Angels have a lot of good middle relief pitchers who need to go too.
What about their management? I don’t care how good Mike Scioscia is. He is not getting through to the players. Adios Mike. As for General Manager Jerry Dipoto, his moves have screwed this team for decades. We are stuck with an aging Albert Pujols for ten years! And we should have resigned Greinke, instead Dipoto let him go to the Dodgers and now we are stuck with Josh Hamilton, who any day now could start getting high again – and while his bat has heated up of late he is not worthy of the huge contract Dipoto signed him to. Adios Dipoto!
What is the solution for the Angels? Ask my ten-year old son Jacob. He asked me today why the Angels have not tried the Moneyball tactic that has been such a benefit to the A’s. Good question. Why not? Nothing else has worked in Anaheim.
The clock is ticking. Why should start player Mike Trout, who got dealt with badly by the Angels this year when they gave him a tiny bump in salary, stick around for this when his contract comes up and he becomes a free agent? Imagine if the Dodgers get him too! With the lame Dipoto in charge that could definitely happen.