Clips (October 7, 2015)

Transcription

1 October 7, 2015 Page 1 of 8 Clips (October 7, 2015)

2 October 7, 2015 Page 2 of 8 Today s Clips Contents FROM THE OC REGISTER (Page 3) Here are the Angels' needs - and options - entering the offseason Fryer: Angels' Mike Scioscia should be praised for a job well done in 2015 FROM YAHOO SPORTS (Page 7) End of the Road 2015: Los Angeles Angels

3 October 7, 2015 Page 3 of 8 FROM THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Here are the Angels' needs - and options - entering the offseason BY JEFF FLETCHER ANAHEIM Last winter Jerry Dipoto had a short shopping list. The former Angels general manager had a club that had just won 98 games and was not losing any significant free agents. Dipoto, in fact, did not sign a single major league free agent, and the most established major leaguer he acquired in a trade was Matt Joyce. Billy Eppler s first winter as the Angels GM is likely to be much different. After an 85-victory season that came up a game short of the playoffs, the Angels figure to have a busy winter trying to retool the roster. They don t need an overhaul, but they do have several key issues to address. A look at the state of the Angels roster, and what could happen this winter: Signed: Pos. Player Salary 1B Albert Pujols $25M LHP C.J. Wilson $20.5M RHP Jered Weaver $20.2M OF Mike Trout $16.083M SS Erick Aybar $8.75M RHP Huston Street $8M RHP Joe Smith $5.25M Team options: Pos. OF OF Player Salary David Murphy $7M or $500K buyout David DeJesus $5M or $1M buyout Free agents: Pos. 3B C OF RHP LHP Player David Freese Chris Iannetta Matt Joyce Mat Latos Wesley Wright

4 October 7, 2015 Page 4 of 8 OF Shane Victorino Arbitration eligible (salaries estimated): Pos. Player Salary RHP Garrett Richards $6M LHP Hector Santiago $4.5M RHP Fernando Salas $2M LHP Cesar Ramos $2M OF Collin Cowgill $1.3M OF Kole Calhoun $2.5M WHAT THEY NEED The Angels desperately need a middle-of-the-order hitter to slide in with Mike Trout and Albert Pujols. A left-handed hitter would be preferable for balance, but the Angels aren t in position to be too picky. They have some options for what position that player plays, but left field would seem to be the most likely to fill with a big bat. They also don t have an apparent answer at third base. They could re-sign David Freese or let Kyle Kubitza and Kaleb Cowart fight it out. The Angels also have room for improvement at second base and catcher, which were manned by Johnny Giavotella and Carlos Perez at the end of the season. The Angels also could certainly stand to get a top-of-the-rotation starter, as they have lots of depth of major league starters, but no ace. WHO THEY CAN TRADE The Angels have eight major league starters: Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney, Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson, Hector Santiago, Matt Shoemaker, Nick Tropeano and Tyler Skaggs, who will be coming back from Tommy John surgery. They also could have Sean Newcomb on the horizon for midseason. Don t expect all of those pitchers to be around next year, as the Angels will probably have to use one or two of them in trades to add to their offense. Wilson, Santiago, Shoemaker and Tropeano are the ones who could be dealt. WHO THEY COULD SIGN This winter s free agent class is one of the deepest in years. The top offensive players include: Infielders: Daniel Murphy, Ben Zobrist. Outfielders: Jason Heyward, Justin Upton, Alex Gordon, Yoenis Cespedes Starting pitchers: David Price, Jordan Zimmerman, Johnny Cueto, Doug Fister, Yovanni Gallardo.

5 October 7, 2015 Page 5 of 8 TRADE TARGETS Players such as Josh Reddick, Adam Lind and Jay Bruce all interested the Angels at the trade deadline. They could make a run at any of them, but each has just one year left before free agency. Andre Ethier might also be an option. OTHER BUSINESS Erick Aybar is signed for only one more season. The Angels had hoped Roberto Baldoquin would be ready to take over in 2017, but if they decide he s not, they could try to extend Aybar for a year or two. The Angels could also try to lock up Kole Calhoun or Andrew Heaney to multiyear deals, avoiding arbitration. Calhoun is eligible this year, while Heaney has two more years to go. Fryer: Angels' Mike Scioscia should be praised for a job well done in 2015 BY STEVE FRYER What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here The 2015 season was Mike Scioscia s best as Angels manager. Calm down. Examine the evidence. This team was not eliminated until the final day of the season despite a mountain of challenges. Starting pitching is the most important part of baseball. The Angels began the 15 season without 2014 s best starter, Garrett Richards, still rehabbing from knee surgery; opening-day starter Jered Weaver missed more than a month with a hip issue; Tyler Skaggs missed the entire season; C.J. Wilson missed all of August and September; Matt Shoemaker was sent to the minors to fix himself; and Hector Santiago had a poor second half. Second baseman Johnny Giavotella missed a month. So did third baseman David Freese. Left fielder Matt Joyce was close to useless, and catcher Chris Iannetta batted.188. And how is it that a reserve infielder like Taylor Featherston, batting.162, is a poor bunter? There also was the whole Josh Hamilton junk. The departure of General Manager Jerry Dipoto, well, that sort of thing doesn t happen often during the season to teams headed for the World Series. When you re dealing with all of these issues and subpar performances, the manager has to out-chess match the other manager to help keep the team in contention. Scioscia did that. Anticipating the we could have had Joe Maddon talk sure, he s a terrific manager. But Maddon s Chicago Cubs roster is far superior to Scioscia s Angels roster.

6 October 7, 2015 Page 6 of 8 Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant, age 23, hit 26 home runs with 99 RBI. First baseman Anthony Rizzo drove in 101 runs, and catcher Miguel Montero hit 15 home runs. Jake Arrieta was 22-6 with a 1.77 ERA, pitcher Jon Lester gave them 205 innings and 207 strikeouts, and their pitchers outside of their five-man rotation were If Scioscia has those guys, he s still managing in a game this weekend. By the way, talking about out-chess matching seven of the Angels final eight wins were by one run. That s clutch stuff, and not just from the manager but from a bunch of resolute players. Angels first baseman/designated hitter Albert Pujols drove in 95 runs, making this the 14th time in his 15-year career he had has 90 or more RBI. The only others with at least 14 seasons with 90 or more RBI: Hank Aaron (16 seasons), Babe Ruth (14) and Alex Rodriguez (14). Mike Trout made zero errors in 156 games in the outfield. Only two other outfielders in Angels history played 120 or more errorless games in a season: Torii Hunter (2008) and Brian Downing (1982 and 84). Trout was named team MVP for the fourth time. Two others have won it four times: Bobby Knoop and Garret Anderson. Trout, who just completed his fifth season, already is No. 7 in Angels history in games played as an outfielder with 627. A healthy 2016 would move him to third, ahead of Downing (722), Darin Erstad (708), Hunter (666) and Jim Edmonds (654). Anderson is first at 1,755, followed by Tim Salmon at 1,267. The Angels had 52 stolen bases this season, led by Erick Aybar s 15. Trout had 11, since you re wondering. Generally, Scioscia s Angels teams have more than 100 steals, but this was not a swift roster. Next season is the 50th anniversary of Angel Stadium. Expect promotions offering gold caps, gold coffee mugs, gold rally monkeys etc. For the 50th anniversary, bring back the CA caps with the halos for the home opener and maybe for select dates like Sundays. But make the halos gold instead of the silver they used to be. The Dodgers are tough at home. They went at Dodger Stadium for a winning percentage of.679, their highest at Chavez Ravine and their best home winning percentage since the Brooklyn Dodgers were (.718) at Ebbets Field in Clayton Kershaw is tough at home. In 127 regular-season career starts at Dodger Stadium, Kershaw is with a 2.07 ERA and opposing teams are batting.200 against him there. He gets the start in Friday s NLDS opener against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium. Ticketmaster still had plenty of seats available Tuesday afternoon for the Ducks home opener Monday against Vancouver. NFL quarterbacks sacked the most times so far this season: Alex Smith, Kansas City, 18; Russell Wilson, Seattle, 16. The Miami Dolphins had one coach from , Don Shula. They have had nine coaches since then.

7 October 7, 2015 Page 7 of 8 UCLA linebacker Myles Jack should have stayed in school. His current résumé is too light on achievements if he wants to be taken seriously by NFL teams. Ohio State s football team is undefeated, although the Buckeyes team quarterback rating is a dismal Golden West College s win over Fullerton on Saturday pushed the Rustlers up from No. 4 to No. 3 in the community college state football rankings. The Rustlers are 5-0. Also in the state top 25 are Saddleback (3-2) at No. 17 and Fullerton (2-3) at No. 24. Golden West s Quest Truxton was named Southern California Football Association all-purpose player of the week. He had 132 yards receiving, 54 yards rushing and 19 return yards in the Rustlers win over Fullerton. For the first time since July of 2009, the NFL in September went a full month without a player getting arrested. Finally, something that we can hold on just a minute Nope. Tennessee Titans receiver Dorial Green-Beckham was arrested on the final day of September for not paying a speeding ticket. Dang. So close. FROM YAHOO SPORTS End of the Road 2015: Los Angeles Angels BY MARK TOWNEND The Los Angeles Angels made it to the final day of the regular season, but After losing to the Texas Rangers, were officially eliminated from the MLB postseason. That means they've effectively come to the end of the road in their 2015 season. As we'll do with each eliminated team this season, let's give them a send-off that would make Boyz II Men proud. We'll look at the highs and lows of their season, what bright spots their future might hold and what questions need answering as they prepare for HIGH POINT: The Angels fell short in the end, which is a disappointment considering the high expectations coming into the season. But they really did look the part of a contender going into and coming out of the All-Star break. After trailing the Houston Astros the entire first half, they finally caught and passed them on July 12 while in the midst of a 14-3 stretch. That stretch included a three-game sweep in Texas the eventual AL West champions where they outscored the Rangers Unfortunately, the good times didn't last much longer. LOW POINT: Having your season officially end on the final day of the regular season is painful. That probably felt like the lowest point. However, it all started unraveling on July 28 when they visited Houston and were swept out of first place by the Astros. That set the tone for a August, which saw

8 October 7, 2015 Page 8 of 8 them fall to third place in the division and ultimately pushed them too far back to recover in the wild card. BEST HIGHLIGHT: All things Mike Trout, really. As he's done in each of his five MLB seasons, Trout provided several clutch hits, crushed numerous monster home runs, and added again and again to his remarkable defensive highlight reel. If we had to pick one highlight that stood out though, it would to be his most recent home run robbery, where he literally climbed the wall to take away Jesus Montero's would-be three-run homer. HOPE FOR THE FUTURE: As long as Mike Trout's around, there's always hope. The Angels have baseball's ultimate centerpiece under team control through 2020, which will make new general manager Billy Eppler's task a little bit easier. The Angels don't have much in the way of prospects, and according to owner Arte Moreno have no intentions to rebuild. But they do have a solid veteran core with Albert Pujols rebounding and Garrett Richards pitching like an ace. If guys like Kole Calhoun, C.J. Cron and David Freese stay healthy and steady, and Eppler finds another starter or two, they'll be fine. QUESTION THAT NEEDS ANSWERING: We've already learned that Mike Scioscia is coming back as manager. That's one step toward stability. But will Eppler be able to mend the relationship between ownership, the front office and the clubhouse? Even before the Josh Hamilton fallout, the different levels within the organizations all seemed to be on different pages. That strained relationships, caused distractions and ultimately led to Jerry Dipoto's departure. Now that there's a new middle man in place, maybe that will slowly improve.