Every year around the deadline the Angels are rumored to do something of note but year in and year out they never do. This year, however, they finally make some noise as they just sent Kotchman and minor league pitcher Stephen Marek to the Braves for Mark Teixera. This deal makes tons of sense for both sides and really gives the Angels a bat in the middle of their order to make them actually scary. The Braves get a young budding 1b who they can keep within the means of their financial situation and a potential closer of the future in Marek. Meanwhile, the Angels get an impact bat who is still just 28 years old with plenty of dongs left in his bat. The Braves still suck and are very annoying, but the Angels just got a WHOLE lot better and now can boast a very capable lineup to go with a studly pitching staff. Even though the Angels have the best record in baseball and 11.5 games up in the AL West, I love the fact that they addressed a glaring need. Their lineup situation was less than ideal and they did something about it. World series odds in Vegas will shift accordingly.
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Pitching: Coming into the season, the Angels had huuugeeeee question marks at starting pitcher. Ace John Lackey was scheduled to miss about 6 weeks with forearm soreness on his pitching arm. Sounds bad, but it wasn't really so and he has been owning since his return. Kelvim Escobar, who was amazing last year, was projected to miss the entire year. And he has, but his spot was filled with equal production. That left them without their 1 and 2 starters coming into the year and it looked like the Angels would not be an elite team in the AL this year. That turned out to be a joke and their staff has been coasting all year. Joe Saunders steps in and makes the all star team sporting a 3.10 era out of nowhere. Garland and Weaver are GREAT as 4th and 5th starters. Though inconsistent, each have the stuff capable of shutting down any lineup in the bigs, something that very few teams can boast of their back end. And then there is Big Erv who finally figured out how to pitch on the road and has a 3.57/1.15 this year. Lackey came back in mid-May and steps right back into the front of the rotation to be the guy on this team. He has a 3.02 era and has been a gemfest as he continues to prove that he is one of the best pitchers in the league. A front three of Lackey-Saunders-Erv is serious. Throw in Weaver/Garland at the 4 there and in a playoff series and they have starting pitching as good as anyone in the MLB. Their all righty middle relief has also been pretty decent in handing over their leads to K-Rod who leads the world in saves. Their staff is sick, but enough about this, that was already known fact. The one thing that has been plaguing the Angels is their lack of run production. Nobody doubted their pitching ability, but their lineup could really have used some more power. Enter Teixxexexeixiexixix.
The Lineup, before: OKaaayyyyy Angels. The Angels did not dong very much. With Kotchman at first, their infield had little to no power. Out of Figgins, Aybar/Izturis, and Kendrick none have even really 15 hr power. Kotchman does not have legitimate first base power yet, though he looks like he will bop about 20 out of the park this year. He had 11 dongs last year and 12 this year so far. His power is developing very well, but the Angels have a serious shot at winning this year and he is still not an impact middle of the order bat...yet. Vlad is still Vlad, sort of. His batting average has shown an alarming drop as he sits at .287 with a career average well above .300, but his hr and rbi (17, 54) totals are ok. His skill set is clearly declining but he is still a scary guy to face and the one true big bat in the lineup sans Teixera. Hunter, their big offseason acquisition, has been a hitting well for the Angels also and is the only other real power threat for them. He has 16 dingers batting .280 and has probably been right around where expectations are for him. Garret Anderson and Gary Matthews have 9 and 7 homers, respectively, and they neither are hitting for great average. Anderson no longer has the capability to bat 5th in a big rbi spot, which is where he has been hitting. Besides the 3-4 of Vlad and Hunter, there were really no other power threats; they rank in the bottom half of the American League in virtually all hitting categories. But, the addition of Teixera transforms their entire lineup into a powerhouse.
Teixera: Teix is 28. He is also in the last year of his contract. The Braves were not going to be able to resign him, but now that the Angels traded a valuable asset for him, you can bet that they will retain his services for the longterm. He will deserve every last dollar the new deal the Angels give him this off season. He is young enough and he is good enough to dong into his 30s. He is one of the best slugging first baseman in the game and he is a force in the middle of any lineup. He has 20 dongs and 78 rbis for the Braves and he will move back into the AL West where he should have no trouble whatsoever adjusting. He will provide a tremendous offensive boost for this club as they look towards the playoffs, since they have already clinched...
The lineup, after: Your 1b should not bat second. Kotchman was doing this. Kendrick needs to bat second in this lineup, instead of 6th or 7th or wherever he was before, and he now will. His skill set is as such with good batting average and good speed. Figgins will continue to lead off and these two give the Angels speed on the bases before their now 3 big sluggers come up. Vlad will probably continue to bat third and Teixera will slide in the cleanup spot. Protection is a worthless thing, when it comes to Vlad, because he swings at anything and doesn't need it. But sliding Hunter down to 5 will make this lineup soo much better. They now have serious rbi guys at the 3-4-5 positions in their lineup. Hunter, I believe, will benefit a great deal as he is now being relied upon a lot less batting 5th and I'm sure will feel a considerable amount of pressure taken off his shoulders. At this stage in his career, 5th is a great spot for him. Also sliding further down the lineup, Garret Anderson is a much better fit batting 6th. While his power is a bit lacking to be a 5 hitter, he can still deliver. Batting 6th is a great spot for him and he will still get plenty of rbi chances with such good bats in the meat of this order right in front of him. At the backend of the lineup they can stick in Izturis or Matthews or whatever they're fine. 7-8-9 eoh. They all kinda suck, but who cares, at least they are all pretty quick so if they do get on by accident they won't clog the base path when the top comes up again.
The Angels could not have addressed a need in a bigger or more significant way. They needed a big bat and they got just that. While I do believe Kotchman will develop into a very good first baseman, Teixera is already one of the best in the bigs. He gives them a 40 dong bat which they needed in the worst way. It is nice to see the Angels finally go after it and address a need as they are typically so painfully inactive right around the deadline. Always in contention but seemingly always one piece short of being a real contender, they finally made an aggressive move to give themselves a legitimateshot at advancing far in the post season. The Angels have just as good a shot as any team to come out of the AL with this addition, by my estimation.
More...
Pitching: Coming into the season, the Angels had huuugeeeee question marks at starting pitcher. Ace John Lackey was scheduled to miss about 6 weeks with forearm soreness on his pitching arm. Sounds bad, but it wasn't really so and he has been owning since his return. Kelvim Escobar, who was amazing last year, was projected to miss the entire year. And he has, but his spot was filled with equal production. That left them without their 1 and 2 starters coming into the year and it looked like the Angels would not be an elite team in the AL this year. That turned out to be a joke and their staff has been coasting all year. Joe Saunders steps in and makes the all star team sporting a 3.10 era out of nowhere. Garland and Weaver are GREAT as 4th and 5th starters. Though inconsistent, each have the stuff capable of shutting down any lineup in the bigs, something that very few teams can boast of their back end. And then there is Big Erv who finally figured out how to pitch on the road and has a 3.57/1.15 this year. Lackey came back in mid-May and steps right back into the front of the rotation to be the guy on this team. He has a 3.02 era and has been a gemfest as he continues to prove that he is one of the best pitchers in the league. A front three of Lackey-Saunders-Erv is serious. Throw in Weaver/Garland at the 4 there and in a playoff series and they have starting pitching as good as anyone in the MLB. Their all righty middle relief has also been pretty decent in handing over their leads to K-Rod who leads the world in saves. Their staff is sick, but enough about this, that was already known fact. The one thing that has been plaguing the Angels is their lack of run production. Nobody doubted their pitching ability, but their lineup could really have used some more power. Enter Teixxexexeixiexixix.
The Lineup, before: OKaaayyyyy Angels. The Angels did not dong very much. With Kotchman at first, their infield had little to no power. Out of Figgins, Aybar/Izturis, and Kendrick none have even really 15 hr power. Kotchman does not have legitimate first base power yet, though he looks like he will bop about 20 out of the park this year. He had 11 dongs last year and 12 this year so far. His power is developing very well, but the Angels have a serious shot at winning this year and he is still not an impact middle of the order bat...yet. Vlad is still Vlad, sort of. His batting average has shown an alarming drop as he sits at .287 with a career average well above .300, but his hr and rbi (17, 54) totals are ok. His skill set is clearly declining but he is still a scary guy to face and the one true big bat in the lineup sans Teixera. Hunter, their big offseason acquisition, has been a hitting well for the Angels also and is the only other real power threat for them. He has 16 dingers batting .280 and has probably been right around where expectations are for him. Garret Anderson and Gary Matthews have 9 and 7 homers, respectively, and they neither are hitting for great average. Anderson no longer has the capability to bat 5th in a big rbi spot, which is where he has been hitting. Besides the 3-4 of Vlad and Hunter, there were really no other power threats; they rank in the bottom half of the American League in virtually all hitting categories. But, the addition of Teixera transforms their entire lineup into a powerhouse.
Teixera: Teix is 28. He is also in the last year of his contract. The Braves were not going to be able to resign him, but now that the Angels traded a valuable asset for him, you can bet that they will retain his services for the longterm. He will deserve every last dollar the new deal the Angels give him this off season. He is young enough and he is good enough to dong into his 30s. He is one of the best slugging first baseman in the game and he is a force in the middle of any lineup. He has 20 dongs and 78 rbis for the Braves and he will move back into the AL West where he should have no trouble whatsoever adjusting. He will provide a tremendous offensive boost for this club as they look towards the playoffs, since they have already clinched...
The lineup, after: Your 1b should not bat second. Kotchman was doing this. Kendrick needs to bat second in this lineup, instead of 6th or 7th or wherever he was before, and he now will. His skill set is as such with good batting average and good speed. Figgins will continue to lead off and these two give the Angels speed on the bases before their now 3 big sluggers come up. Vlad will probably continue to bat third and Teixera will slide in the cleanup spot. Protection is a worthless thing, when it comes to Vlad, because he swings at anything and doesn't need it. But sliding Hunter down to 5 will make this lineup soo much better. They now have serious rbi guys at the 3-4-5 positions in their lineup. Hunter, I believe, will benefit a great deal as he is now being relied upon a lot less batting 5th and I'm sure will feel a considerable amount of pressure taken off his shoulders. At this stage in his career, 5th is a great spot for him. Also sliding further down the lineup, Garret Anderson is a much better fit batting 6th. While his power is a bit lacking to be a 5 hitter, he can still deliver. Batting 6th is a great spot for him and he will still get plenty of rbi chances with such good bats in the meat of this order right in front of him. At the backend of the lineup they can stick in Izturis or Matthews or whatever they're fine. 7-8-9 eoh. They all kinda suck, but who cares, at least they are all pretty quick so if they do get on by accident they won't clog the base path when the top comes up again.
The Angels could not have addressed a need in a bigger or more significant way. They needed a big bat and they got just that. While I do believe Kotchman will develop into a very good first baseman, Teixera is already one of the best in the bigs. He gives them a 40 dong bat which they needed in the worst way. It is nice to see the Angels finally go after it and address a need as they are typically so painfully inactive right around the deadline. Always in contention but seemingly always one piece short of being a real contender, they finally made an aggressive move to give themselves a legitimateshot at advancing far in the post season. The Angels have just as good a shot as any team to come out of the AL with this addition, by my estimation.
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