It's All-Opinions day

They're only opinions, but at least they're all mine:

Tony, don't lose that number. As a matter of fact, don't lose anyone's number. If Angels GM Tony Reagins isn't spending every waking minute of every day on the phone now that Kelvim Escobar's shoulder injury has regressed again, he never will . . .

The Angels need another starter AND another reliever, not to mention a big bat in the middle of the order. Other than that, they appear all set for the second half . . .

The amazing thing is, with all their problems, Mike Scioscia's guys are tied for first place in the AL West today. Says a lot about the way Texas has been playing of late, huh? . . .

The Rangers haven't been the same since Josh Hamilton went on the DL a few weeks ago . . .

Whatever happens the rest of the season, Sean O'Sullivan, with a little improvement on his breaking ball, has shown he can be a major candidate for a fulltime rotation spot in 2010 . . .

Earth to Vlad: Sorry, but it's not as easy as just cutting your hair . . .

Scioscia's loyalty to a guy who has been his best player for a long time is about to be tested. He can't go much longer with a struggling Guerrero batting cleanup . . .

Let's give Brian Fuentes some credit. Except for a couple of blown saves early, the guy has been nails in the ninth inning . . .

The next big decision is with Howie Kendrick. If he has snapped out of his funk in triple A, get him back up to play second base. If not, move Chone Figgins to second and -- ahem -- call up Brandon Wood to play third and maybe provide the additional power bat the team needs . . .

Is it just me, or are the umpires having a terrible time differentiating balls from strikes this season? I simply don't remember seeing so many bad calls game to game . . . 

Before Jim Tracy took over and the Rockies got hot, there were rumors of Brad Hawpe getting traded to the Angels. It's not likely to happen now, though. Too bad . . .

By the way, I'm happy for Tracy. I happen to believe the guy was a lot better manager with the Dodgers than most people think . . .

-- Steve Bisheff

 

Comments

[aztronut]

The ump tonight, Runge I believe, had about the biggest strike zone I've ever seen. Even so, Angels pitchers walked 5 guys and much too often it was the leadoff hitter. Fuentes saved time and pitches by just hitting the first batter he faced.

It's getting to be quite frustrating to watch the pitchers hand out these gifts to the opposition. Walks, hit batters, wild pitches, damn! I don't know if they're afraid to throw strikes or just incapable, and since teams seem to steal on us at will a free pass is almost like a double. You're not going to win consistently when you constantly pitching into hitter's counts. Throw strikes dammit!

[Greg]

I LOVE your column Steve. Of course that's easy to say since I agree with you completely. Starter, reliever, and a big bat. I think you have to settle for two out of three. Reagins needs to step up RIGHT NOW and show he's worth his salary.

C'mon Tony. You have a surplus of infielders. Trade your surplus for your needs. Go get Huff or Scott or Okajima or Saito or Delcarmen and Penny.

Boston has tons of pitching but no impact hitters at Triple A, and they are weak at shortstop. And Mike Lowell is at the end of a very good career at 3B. Use Scioscia's complete disdain for Rodriguez and Wood and trade them - Boston WILL (after all it's all-opinions day) trade some pitching back for either one of them.

Be bold, Tony. Trade Figgins to Minnesota and get Nick Blackburn in return. Minnesota has 6 good starting pitchers (it's called a surplus Tony, you trade your surplus for their surplus - you don't just corner the market on 1 home run infielders and say "hey look what I've got, pretty cool, huh?"). Minnesota needs a shortstop in the worst way and they are contending for the AL Central. Plug Wood in at 3B after you move Figgins (you're going to lose Figgy at the end of the year any way).

Geez - I just can't figure out who frustrates me more, Scioscia or Reagins. Yes, I realize the Angels are contending but I don't believe it's Reagins doing. As a matter of fact, how about if a Reagins supporter out there tells me in what way Reagins has distinguished himself from the other GM's in baseball. Scioscia is overly loyal to his players but I guess there are worse things than that. It is frustrating to see him continue to put Vlad in the 4 spot - maybe he'll be rewarded some day. But his handling of Sean Rodriguez is abysmal.

[J in Vegas]

I laways thought Jim Tracy got a bum deal from the Dodgers as well. It's good to see him doing well with a solid team.

I would certainly agree about Fuentes. So many people were ready kick him out of town early on, but he's leading the AL (tied for MLB lead) in saves, has a 3:1 K/BB ratio, and is looking like he's pretty dialed in now.

I don't agree that the Angels need to trade for anything that would only be a stopgap measure for this season. They need to be looking beyond this season. The toll that the injuries and underperforming veterans has taken clearly indicates that. So any deals Reagins can make should be with an eye towards the future, not merely this season. There doesn't seem to anything available that will get them deep into the playoffs anyway.

What they need more than anything is to improve the offense coming from the middle INF/C area (AKA the bottom third of the lineup). That's an easy fix. Insert Wood into the 3B spot, play Napoli every day at DH or C (Sorry, Vlad, but you need the occasional day off), play Izturis at SS (He's a better all around hitter than Aybar), and move Figgy to 2B (Please re-sign him. You have no other leadoff options).

Then, if they still need to make a trade, Mathis and Aybar are very available, along with a couple of prospects if the Angels can get something in return that will help them long-term.

[shaun]

Sign Paul Byrd, get a reliever from the Independent Leagues and see if there is anything out there in terms of bats.

Wood will be up in 2010 as he must have crossed Scioscia somehow.

Why not play Sean Rodriguez more also?

[Fred Fredrix]

Trade Aybar and Kendrick for a good reliever (Heath Bell?), Wood at SS, SRod backup. We wouldn't lose anything over what we have now, and we need to fix the pitching. Our offense is no worse than last year.

[Ben]

Which reliever is Reagins going to sign? Any rumors out there? They could offer up Brandon Wood--at least then the Halos would get something out of him other than a minor league championship...

No seriously, please don't trade Wood.

[J in Vegas]

Here's the thing about trading Figgins to Minnesota for SP Nick Blackburn: Why does MIN even want to trade away a quality arm they have four more years of salary control over for a rental like Figgins? MIN has bigger problems than Punto at SS. Besides, if you're the Angels, once you trade Figgins, who's the leadoff hitter? He's been outstanding in that spot this season. They have no other options for that spot this season or next. They need to re-sign him.

Picking up Luke Scott, who seems to be a fine hitter, doesn't help much either because he plays corner OF/INF and DH. The Angels have too many of those guys as well. The Same goes for Aubrey Huff.

I disagree that BOS has no impact hitters in the minors. Their top hitting prospect is Lars Anderson, a 1B. I assume they will shift Youk to 3B next season and allow Anderson to play 1B. Plus Jed Lowrie should be healthy next season to shore up SS. As for 2B, they have the reigning AL MVP manning that position now. They really don't need anything the Angels could offer.

That's not to say they'd refuse B. Wood in a trade. If the Angels do that however, they risk strengthening one of their playoff rivals for years to come in exchange for a couple of months of Brad Penny and/or a mediocre middle reliever. That doesn't help the Angels in the long term.

[Tom S]

I can not believe Manager Mike says Vladdy's problems are not a bat speed issue. Everyone knows that it is a bat speed issue. The opposing pitchers, the post game show, and everyone in the stands. Pitchers have been jamming him on his hands now for a year and a half.
Hence your week ground balls to short.
I called the double play ball last night from the field level.
Come on Mike-get him out of cleanup.
Also Figgins base running the last week has been atrocious.

[Brian]

The umps really do stink. The one Saturday night seemed to have one strikezone for Jered and one for Jeffy. Jered couldn't get anything called in the bottom of the strikezone. Is that ump a Dodger fan or something?

As for the Angels offense, I don't know if they really need another big bat. We saw how much Teix helped last year. Right now they need Vlad moved down and Juan Rivera batting 4th. I'd move Vlad to at least 7th. I'm sure he'll come around eventually but right now he's hurting Torii Hunter.

And speaking of Vlad, he needs to just back off and stop trying. I don't know why the Angels can't get him to understand this. It happens every year. The more his at-bats stink the harder he tries and the problem continues. If he lays off the garbage and stays back he'll walk a lot. The more he walks the more they'll have to pitch to him. Then he'll get more pitches he can hit. Come on Scioscia and Hatcher, do your jobs. Explain that to Vlad. And show him video of how silly he looks.