Sunday, December 30, 2007

Offseason Week In Review - December 30

Another predictably slow week for the Angels and in all of Major League Baseball. Former Angel Darin Erstad was signed to a one-year deal with the Houston Astros. MLB.com has a nice article on the Angels year in review.

Happy New Year!

Previous Off-Season Weeks In Review:

December 23, 2007
December 16, 2007
December 9 , 2007
December 2, 2007
November 25, 2007
November 18, 2007
November 11, 2007
November 4, 2007
October 28, 2007
October 21, 2007

Friday, December 28, 2007

Chuck set to go on ballot






For 14 seasons, with good, average and bad teams, Chuck Finley took the ball for the Angels and made good things happen. In terms of giving customers their money's worth, he was as dependable as they came.

Finley, a 6-foot-6 lefty with a mid-90s fastball and lethal split-fingered fastball, threw 2,675 innings in an Angels uniform, winning 165 games. Right behind him, with 2,181 1/3 innings and 138 wins, is Nolan Ryan.

Retiring in 2002, Finley is making his first appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot dispensed to voting members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Finley's career lasted 17 seasons, and he ranks 23rd all-time in strikeouts with 2,610.

At his five-year peak -- from 1989 through 1993 -- he was among the elite pitchers in the game. In his 1992 edition of The Baseball Book, Bill James ranked Finley second among all American League starters, behind Roger Clemens. Finley was 16-9 with a 2.57 ERA in 1989, 18-9 with a 2.40 ERA in 1990. He went 18-9 again in 1991, meaning he was 36-18 over a two-year period with teams that finished two games below .500.

Finley made it to the postseason as a 23-year-old rookie with the Angels in 1986, appearing in three games of the American League Championship Series against Boston and holding the Red Sox scoreless with one hit in two innings. He didn't return to the postseason until 2001, after moving to Cleveland as a free agent in 2000. Dealt to St. Louis in July 2002, Finley finished his career in style, beating the Giants in Game 3 of the NLCS that year in San Francisco in his final Major League appearance.

The big man from the Bayou with that big smile and easy going manner finished his career with a 200-173 record. He notched his 2,610 strikeouts in 3,197 1/3 innings, fashioning a 3.85 ERA. Those overall numbers are comparable to those of Hall of Famer Jesse Hanes, who was 210-158 with a 3.64 career ERA.

Five times Finley finished in the top 10 in the AL in ERA, and three times he was in the top five. Reflecting a consistency that made him a leader on any staff he graced, Finley won at least 15 games seven times, reaching double figures 12 times across 14 seasons starting in 1989. The Angels struggled through the '90s, but in 1997 they put it together and appeared capable of challenging Seattle in the AL West. But Finley broke his left wrist backing up home plate on a routine play, his season-ending injury a critical blow for the Angels as they finished second. He struck out a career-high 215 batters in 238 innings in 1996, yet his record was 15-16. Two years later, he racked up 212 strikeouts with a 3.39 ERA -- and finished 11-9 in 34 starts.

After the Angels released Finley, he was signed by the Indians to play for the 2000 season. He went 16-11 with a 4.17 ERA. He went 8-7 with a 5.54 era for the Indians in 2001, and then in 2002 went 4-11 with a 4.44 ERA in 18 games before being traded to the Cardinals for former Indians and now Red Sox player Covelli "Coco" Crisp.

He is the only pitcher to strike out four hitters in the same inning more than once, something he accomplished three times in the span of one year -- May 12, 1999 to April 16, 2000.

Finley was selected by the Angels in the 15th round of the 1984 Draft out of Northeast Louisiana University, but he did not sign. The Angels chose him again in the 1st round of the secondary phase of the 1985 Draft.

Filmography
Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit '99 (1999) (TV) .... Himself

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Darin Erstad signs with Houston

Former Halo Hero Darin Erstad signed a one-year, $1 million deal with the Houston Astros today.

Erstad spent last season with the Chicago White Sox and hit .248 in 87 games. In 12 seasons (11 with the Angels), he had a .284 career batting average.

He will be used as a left-handed pinch hitter for Houston. Erstad replaces former Angels teammate, Orlando Palmeiro who was not offered a contract by Houston.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Offseason Week In Review - December 23

Every week this off-season, I've compiled the top stories of the week on Sunday. However, nothing, and I mean, nothing, happened this week. With the holidays, I doubt that anything will happen next week either.

Happy Holidays.

Previous Off-Season Weeks In Review:

December 16, 2007
December 9 , 2007
December 2, 2007
November 25, 2007
November 18, 2007
November 11, 2007
November 4, 2007
October 28, 2007
October 21, 2007

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Offseason Week In Review - December 16

The Mitchell Investigation was the big baseball news of this past week. Despite naming many players, there seemed to be a lack of current stars included in the report.

Headlines for the past week (December 10, 2007 - December 16, 2007)
Mitchell Investigation Released

The long awaited Mitchell Investigation on steroid and HGH use in MLB was released. The list contained several players who spent some time with the Angels. They included: Mo Vaughn, Glenallen Hill, Adam Riggs, Randy Velarde, Troy Glaus, Gary Matthews Jr, Jose Guillen, Wally Joyner, Paul Byrd, Scott Schoeneweis, Ismael Valdez, Brendan Donnelly, Kent Mercker, Bart Miadich, Derrick Turnbow, Jason Christiansen and Jason Grimsley.

Tejada's not coming to Anaheim

Third Baseman Miguel Tejada was traded by the Baltimore Orioles to the Houston Astros for five players. Tejada was often rumored to come to Anaheim, but the Angels were not foolish enough to give up five players for him.

Former Halo favorites changing teams

David Eckstein was signed as a free agent by the Toronto Blue Jays to a one-year $4.5 million contract. Outfielder Jim Edmonds was traded by the St Louis Cardinals to the San Diego Padres for 3rd baseman prospect David Freese.

Angels do not re-sign McPherson

The Angels did not offer a contract to oft-injured 3rd baseman Dallas McPherson. He will now become a free agent with the San Francisco Giants currently listed as a team that is interested in him.

Previous Off-Season Weeks In Review:

December 9 , 2007
December 2, 2007
November 25, 2007
November 18, 2007
November 11, 2007
November 4, 2007
October 28, 2007
October 21, 2007

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Mo Vaughn, Miguel Tejada, etc Linked To Steroids and HGH

The Mitchell Report came out today with a list of 78 names of major league baseball players who were accused of using steroids and/or HGH.

The highest profile players have all been rumored to be on the list. They include Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Miguel Tejada, Jason Giambi and Eric Gagne.

My favorite name so far is Mo Vaughn.

Other players with Halo connections are Glenallen Hill, Adam Riggs, Randy Velarde, Troy Glaus, Gary Matthews Jr, Jose Guillen, Wally Joyner, Paul Byrd, Scott Schoeneweis, Ismael Valdez, Brendan Donnelly, Kent Mercker, Bart Miadich, Derrick Turnbow, Jason Christiansen and Jason Grimsley.

That's all the names that pop up while searching the Mitchell Report for "Angels."

What I find most interesting is that of the 17 current and former Angels mentioned in the report, 9 of them are pitchers. I'm sure there will be a comprehensive list coming out shortly, but it is interesting that there are so many pitchers considering that public opinion has always been that the hitters benefit the most.

How is Brad Fullmer not on this list?

Angels let Dallas McPherson go to free agency

The Angels have announced that they will not offer a contract to 3rd baseman Dallas McPherson.

By not offering the 27 year old McPherson a contract, he becomes a free agent and can be signed by any team without compensation to the Angels.

McPherson was a top prospect for the Angels following the 2004 season in which he hit 40 home runs for AA-Arkansas and AAA-Salt Lake. He was then basically handed the 3rd Baseman job as the Angels let Troy Glaus go via free agency. Then began his string of injuries started as he never played in more than 61 games in a season.

In 2007, he was out the whole year with back surgery.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Miguel Tejada Traded To Houston

Whew. It seemed like the Angels were going to overpay for this guy. Instead, the Houston Astros did, sending five players to Baltimore for Tejada.

The Orioles receive pitchers Matt Albers, Troy Patton and Dennis Sarfate, outfielder Luke Scott and third baseman Michael Costanzo. Patton is rated the 3rd best Houston prospect and Costanzo the 5th.

The Angels have always been interested in Tejada, but the price was always too steep. Fortunately, the Angels missed again. Personal reasons for not wanting Tejada are his diminishing power numbers and career .228 batting average in Angel Stadium.


Mike Costanzo

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Offseason Week In Review - December 9

The Winter Meetings came and went without the Angels making a deal. The Detroit Tigers stole the headlines as they acquired Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from Florida for six prospects.

Headlines for the past week (December 3, 2007 - December 9, 2007)
Miguel Cabrera traded to the Tigers

The Detroit Tigers joined the elite teams of the American League this week by trading for 3rd baseman Miguel Cabrera and sp Dontrelle Willis. The Tigers sent of Cameron Maybin, sp Andrew Miller, c Mike Rabelo, rp Eulogio De La Cruz, sp Dallas Trahern and sp Blake Badenhop in the deal. The Tigers will now have a Yankee-esque batting order with Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez and Gary Sheffield hitting together in the lineup.

Jose Guillen signs with the Royals and gets suspended

Malcontent outfielder Jose Guillen signed a 3-year $36 million contract with the Kansas City Royals. At 31 years old, Guillen will be a mature, good role model for the young Royals. Or, he will continue to be a whiny jackass who is suspended for the first 15 games of next year for admitted HGH use. Baltimore's Jay Gibbons was the only other player suspended.

Gary Matthews Jr and former Halos Glaus and Schoeneweis not suspended

While Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons were given 15 day suspensions for HGH use, four other players with drug allegations were not given suspensions. Amazingly, three of the four are connected to the Angels. Current Angel Gary Matthews Jr was not suspended. Troy Glaus, Scott Schoeneweis and Cardinals' of Rick Ankiel were also not suspended.

Previous Off-Season Weeks In Review

December 2, 2007
November 25, 2007
November 18, 2007
November 11, 2007
November 4, 2007
October 28, 2007
October 21, 2007

Friday, December 7, 2007

Dallas v. Troy

Dallas McPherson. Remember him?

The murmurs started even before the end of the 2004 season: The Halo’s had given up on one of their foundations, third baseman Troy Glaus. They were going to replace him with a young, talented prospect named Dallas McPherson. Even though Glaus averaged 36 home runs a season between 1999 and 2002 (the year the Angels won the World Series and Glaus was named Most Valuable Player), and even though he was an outstanding defensive player (he played shortstop at UCLA), and even though he was only 28 years old, he kept getting injured.

Glaus played in only 149 games combined during the 2003 and 2004 seasons, the same seasons he is now accused of using steroids. He insisted he would return to form with rest and rehab but the Angels were uncertain and then—luck of all luck—they found a Glaus clone in their minor league system.

Dallas McPherson was big like Glaus—6’4”/ 230 pounds to Glaus’ 6’5”/ 240 pounds—plus he hit for power and they wouldn’t have to pay him nearly as much. So while Glaus lingered on the disabled list, we got swift daily reports of McPherson’s exploits in the minors. When he was called up to the Angels for the final month in 2004, McPherson had driven in 57 runs in 67 games in Salt Lake City. By the end of that season the Angels were won over by the fact that it was time for a change; they let Glaus go to the Arizona Diamondbacks and installed McPherson at third base.

Almost instantaneously the hope that they had found another, younger Glaus in McPherson was confirmed. Regrettably the Glaus that McPherson reincarnate was the one who missed a crap load of games. And he missed a lot more than Glaus, actually. McPherson played in 101 games during the next two seasons, missing 223. His playing time was limited by a whole host of injuries: bone spur in his left hip, herniated disk in his lower back, back spasms, oblique strain and, yes, skin rash.

In his limited service McPherson has hit a total of 15 home runs. And Glaus? Well, after playing just 149 games the previous two seasons he played 149 in 2005 for Arizona, hitting 37 homers with 97 RBIs. The Diamondbacks then traded Glaus to the Toronto Blue Jays for the 2006 season. All he did there was drive in 104 runs and rank sixth in the American League with 38 homers. Meanwhile, back in Anaheim the Angels’ once-mighty offense was reduced to Vladimir Guerrero and a bunch of guys making the sign of the cross. Manager Mike Scioscia has had a trial with a parade of players at third base before he settled on Maicer Izturis and Chone Figgins.

Once touted as a 40-homer threat, McPherson was limited by injuries to 40 games in 2006 and missed all of 2007 after undergoing surgery to repair a herniated disk in his lower back. McPherson took his first steps in a comeback from back surgery when he played in the Arizona Instructional League this fall. But McPherson, 27, played in just 11 games in the Arizona instructional league this fall, hitting .240 in 25 at-bats with two home runs. He feels better about his chances of playing in 2008 . . . somewhere. "I don't care if I'm in A ball -- I just want to get back on the field," McPherson said. "I'm so far down the list right now, and rightfully so. I've had so many injuries; I was out for a year. I don't expect to be the starting third baseman, for sure, but I would like another opportunity."

The report is that McPherson is doing yoga in hopes of improving his range of motion, and said his instructional league stint went a lot better than he expected."My biggest fear was running the bases, and I was able to do that," McPherson said. "I was able to play third, a little first. I was able to bend down, move to my left and right, get out of the batter's box. I felt like my power was fine. I hit some good shots, drove the ball to the gap a few times. It was definitely something to build on."

But can we count on Dallas finally to produce like we thought he would back in 2004? Time will tell and the fear I have is that he will but it will be for a team that surprises everyone and makes it to the playoffs and Dallas comes back to bite us like a certain White Sox closer did.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

The other Miguel and .228

With Miguel Cabrera headed to Detroit, the Angels are supposedly interested in Miguel Tejada. While Tejada might help to improve the Angels lineup, he is definitely not a "Big Bat".

Tejada has been rumored to be a player who has benefited from steroids and his numbers might support that rumor. In the past four years, Tejada's home runs have decreased each season - 34, 26, 24, 18. Granted, with the 18 home runs, he would have been second on the Halos home run list in a tie with Gary Matthews Jr.

In those same four seasons, his batting average has remained steady - .311, .304, .330, .296 - but the Angels don't need another hitter with "gap-power".

The most staggering reason not to acquire Miguel Tejada is .228. That is Tejada's career batting average at Angel Stadium. There is no park in the American League where he has a lower average.

His career ops at Angel Stadium is .663 which is more than 140 points lower than the Angels' team ops at home last year which was .812. Reggie Willits had the lowest ops of any Angels regular last year and his ops was .735.

Angels fans, don't fall for the media hype. We do need a big bat, but Tejada is not that bat.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Tigers land Miguel Cabrera

The Big Apple of many Halo fans eyes, Miguel Cabrera, has been traded to the Detroit Tigers.

Along with Cabrera, the Marlins are sending All-Star pitcher Dontrelle Willis in exchange for six players.

The Tigers sent of Cameron Maybin, sp Andrew Miller, c Mike Rabelo, rp Eulogio De La Cruz, sp Dallas Trahern and sp Blake Badenhop in the deal.

Maybin and Miller were both in Baseball America's Top 10 prospects last season. The Angels' two highest prospects were Brandon Wood (#8) and Nick Adenhart (#34), so the Marlins were able to get more from Detroit.

Also today, Angels GM Tony Reagins stated that the club never inquired about Twins starting pitcher Johan Santana.


Cameron Maybin

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Offseason Week In Review - December 2

Last week, the Angels traded Orlando Cabrera and signed free agent Torii Hunter. This week, nothing. With the winter meetings being held this upcoming week in Nashville, the Angels may again make some big moves.

Headlines for the past week (November 26, 2007 - December 2, 2007)
  • Arte Moreno speaks on Cabrera and the Mitchell Investigation
  • Angels lose minor league prospect Warner Madrgial
  • Troy Percival signs with Tampa Bay
  • Winter Meetings coming up this week
Arte Moreno speaks on Cabrera and the Mitchell Investigation

At last week's press conference to introduce Torii Hunter and Jon Garland, Arte Moreno made some interesting comments. First, regarding Marlins third baseman Miguel Cabrera, Moreno said that he thought the Angels had a deal done for him twice, but nothing was ever official due to the Marlins asking for even more players. Secondly, Moreno became the first MLB owner to say that the Mitchell Investigation (Steroid use in MLB) will list plenty of familiar names. The Mitchell Investigation report is due out sometime this month.

Angels lose minor league prospect Warner Madrgial

Through some procedural wrongdoings, the Angels have lost pitching prospect Warner Madrigal to the Texas Rangers. Madrigal was originally signed by the Angels in 2001 as an outfielder, but was converted to a pitcher two seasons ago. This past season, the 23-year old closer made 54 appearances at Low-A Cedar Rapids compiling a 5-4 record with 20 saves and a 2.07 era.
For the Angels to retain Madrigal's rights they had to place him on the 40-man roster before he could become a minor league free agent. They placed him on the 40-man roster on November 6th, not knowing that he was eligible for (and applied for) free agency on October 28th.

Troy Percival signs with Tampa Bay

Former Angel closer Troy Percival signed a 2-year $8 million contract to pitch for the Bay Rays. Percival retired last April as an Angel only to come back in June with the St. Louis Cardinals. His comeback was a success as he had a 1.80 era in 34 appearances. He is expected to be the closer for Tampa Bay whose bullpen era last year of 6.16 was the highest in the majors in over 50 years. Percival is reunited with manager Joe Maddon who was the Angels' bench coach while Percival was with the Angels. His contract also includes $4 million in potential bonuses.

Winter Meetings coming up this week

Tony Reagins will be in Nashville this week along with all of the other general managers to wheel and deal. The big names look to be Miguel Cabrera and Johan Santana. With an excess of starting pitchers, outfielders and middle infield prospects, the Angels have the potential to make some deals.

Previous Off-Season Weeks In Review

November 25, 2007
November 18, 2007
November 11, 2007
November 4, 2007
October 28, 2007
October 21, 2007