Anaheim Angels
For the last several years, the adjective most used when describing the Angels is "scrappy". Their offense has been one of the weakest in the AL and their pitching has largely been comprised of retreads and journeymen. And while they haven't been competitive since 1998, they performed better than expected last season.
Hitting
Last year, the Angels were racked by off years. OF Darin Erstad had his worst year in the majors, suffering through back and knee injuries on the field and a painful divorce off it. OF Tim Salmon was nicked up with neck and shoulder injuries. 1B Mo Vaughn was lost with an arm injury before the season began.
Vaughn is gone this year and replaced by a platoon of Scott Spiezio and newly acquired Brad Fullmer. Shawn Wooten was supposed to help there, but was lost for four months due to an injury he suffered in spring training. Fullmer is a perfect candidate for a platoon, as he crushes right-handers but struggles mightily against lefties. Unfortunately, Spiezio isn't a particularly good candidate to be the other half of the platoon; even though he's a switch-hitter, he hits right handers much better than lefties, just like Fullmer, only not as well. Wooten, on the other hand, is a perfect complement, so the Angels will just have to get by until he returns.
Salmon looks healthy this spring and looks primed for a return to All-Star form. Before back and foot injuries waylaid him in 1999, he averaged 30 homers and 98 RBI a season for his career. Erstad also look healthy and ready to return to All-Star form. Batting at the top of the order, he is capable of hitting 20 homers, stealing 30 bases and scoring 120 runs.
3B Troy Glaus is the other big run producer for the Halos. In fact, he's their biggest run producer. In each of the past 2 years, Glaus has hit at least 40 homers, walked 100+ times, and scored and driven in at least 100 runs. He's arguably the best third baseman in baseball and, at just 25 years old, is likely to get better.
OF Garrett Anderson is a great player to have on your roto-team, but nearly as good in real life. He has good power, decent speed, drives in lots of runs and posts a good batting average every year. But he's never drawn more than 35 walks in any season, which leaves him with a pretty dreadful on base percentage. The below average on base percentage is a problem that is endemic on this team, one that hitting coach Mickey Hatcher, quite the hacker in his day, is unlikely to address.
The middle infield features two players that scouts took rather lightly - SS David Eckstein and 2B Adam Kennedy. neither player is blessed with any great talent, although both possess decent speed. Yet each has clawed and scratched his way to a big league career. This never-say-die attitude is also endemic on this team, which may explain why they have been able to win as many games as they have, despite the overall weak team numbers. One thing that can be said of Eckstein is that he possesses a terrific eye for balls and strikes at the plate. For all the things that Erstad can do, it is Eckstein who makes the better lead-off hitter because of his on base skills.
Behind the plate is Bengie Molina, who makes contact with probably more pitches than he should. If he gets something he can handle, he can drive it to the gaps or occasionally for a homer. However, he swings at way too many pitches he can't handle.
The Angels have some talented hitters, but this team does not have the power to mash with the slugging teams and needs to be more selective if they hope to move up from the second division offenses.
Rating: 50
Pitching
The Angels finished 4th in team ERA but 12th in runs scored last year, so of course, their big offseason acquisitions were pitchers. sigh. The Halos brought two "aces" to head up their staff with hopes of allowing their promising young starters and easier road to develop. RHSP Aaron Sele was brought in from the Mariners, so his arrival was both a plus for this team and a minus for their division rival. Sele has won at least 15 games in each of the last 4 years, but part of that success has been due to playing on teams that have given him tremendous run support. Last year, he was the beneficiary of the AL's 3rd best run support. If he hopes to continue his streak of 15-win seasons, he'll have to bear much more of the load.
RHSP Kevin Appier was brought over from the National League after posting career bests in strikeouts and walks allowed. One thing to keep in mind is that pitchers switching from the NL to the AL often struggle because they no longer get to face the opposing pitcher at the plate. Facing a pitcher 100 times a season will inflate strikeout totals considerably because not only do the pitchers get to face a poor hitter (the opposing pitcher), but they don't have to make hittable pitches to the guy who hits before him, simply because they can pitch to the pitcher next. So unless the number 8 hitter is especially disciplined (grin), then he's likely to swing at pitches he probably can't handle. Why did I grin? Well, generally speaking, if a guy is an especially disciplined hitter, he ain't hitting 8th. So is it a coincidence that Appier posted his career best in strikeouts and walks allowed in his only year in the NL? You be the judge.
The Angels have 3 promising young pitchers... well, they're not exactly young any more. RHSP Ramon Ortiz was supposed to become the best of them, but after the mass age revelations this offseason, it was learned that he wasn't 26 years old, but 29. So his upside is a bit more limited. However, he does possess an above average fastball and change-up and while he'll never become the next Pedro as many predicted, he has the talent to become a pretty good strikeout pitcher. If he gains more confidence with his slider, he could be very good. Lefties Jarrod Washburn and Scott Schoenweis are control pitchers with different approaches. Both control an decent fastball and mix in a variety of pitches, but Washburn pitches up in the zone, getting mostly flyball outs, whereas Schoenweis pitches down in the zone getting mostly grounders.
Troy Percival is the Angels' closer. He dominates hitters with a fastball that touches 100 mph and a nice curve. His delivery is unorthodox, which leaves him vulnerable to bouts of wildness, but when he's on, the guy in the batter's box is mostly decoration. His set-up crew - lefty Dennis Cook and right-handers Ben Weber, Lou Pote and Al Levine - is quietly effective. None of them blow hitters away. Instead they offer a steady diet of breaking pitches and sinking fastballs.
The starting staff at worst is five innings eaters and at best a solid rotation with 2 potential star pitchers - Washburn and Ortiz. The bullpen is decent with a dominating close to finish the 9th. They're not quite as deep as the M's and A's, but they're not too far behind.
Rating: 60
Defense
The defense for Anaheim is a mixed bag. Glaus is a terrific fielding third baseman. Across the diamond, both Spiezio and Fullmer are better suited to life without the glove. Kennedy and Eckstein are sure handed but only have average range. Anderson and Erstad are amongst the top outfielders when it comes to range and both have decent arms. Tim Salmon also has very good range and possesses a strong accurate arm. Molina blocks the plate well and has a decent arm, but poor mechanics hamper his ability to throw out runners.
Rating: 55
Management
You've heard someone call an ineffective business a "Mickey Mouse organization"? Well, this literally is a Mickey Mouse organization; Disney owns the Mighty Ducks, er, the Angels. So it's hard to imagine that a multi-billion corporation with as much power and influence as Disney and headquartered in the 2nd largest city in America is actually attempting to portray it's baseball team as "small market", but there it is. They haven't passed off a fantasy that far-fetched since Bedknobs and Broomsticks. GM Bill Stoneman tries to play the part of small market GM by signing mid-level free agents and trading his "high dollar" players for prospects, but so far hasn't been particularly successful. His best move so far, actually, was signing Mike Scioscia to be the team's manager. Always upbeat, Scioscia's intelligence behind the plate as a player has translated well to the manager's office. He keeps a level head regardless of how things are going and is particularly savvy in his handling of his pitching staff..
Rating: 50