.jpg&w=244&h=193&zc=1 "Mike Trout and the sophomore slump that wasn't")
The Angel Offense is Terrible, So the Suggestion Box is Now Open
Talk about a buzzkill. One day we are celebrating the Angels as the new AL West division leader. A few days later the Angels are wallowing in their own misery and trying to figure out how their offense got so bad so fast.
Granted, it wasn't like the lineup was putting up big numbers to begin with, but after getting shutout by the likes of Dice-K and Big John Lackey in the span of 24 hours, some thigns clearly need to change. The question is what changes will make any kind of difference?
Oh, sorry, did you think that was a rhetorical question? No, I'm literally asking. I have no idea how to fix this offense and, sadly, I'm not sure that Mike Scioscia does either. Ladies and gentlemen, the suggestion box is now officially open.
I can already predict several of the suggestions people will, let's just run through them real quick if only to shoot holes in the ideas:
- Shake up the batting order! As if Mike Scioscia hasn't already thought of this. He has actually been fairly stable with his lineup thus far, but the changes are starting to become more drastic now. i don't think this will do any good though because too many guys aren't hitting, so you can't really "hide" the underperformers becauser there are just too many.
- Bench Player X! Another good idea, but totally impractical because the Angels have nobody on the bench worth promoting. Wells, Trumbo and Hunter are all struggling mightily, but who would replace them? Callaspo is already getting mixed in pretty regularly. Hank Conger is starting a majority of games at catcher. Bobby Wilson isn't an improvement over anyone and Reggie Willits has no business playing more than once a week at best.
- Trade for someone! A nice idea, but totally impractical. First off, no team is trading away an impact player in late-April, just doesn't happen. Second, and most importantly, who would the Angels even bench to make room for a new big shot player? The guys struggling the most for them are big salary, big name guys and Halo management isn't about to send any of them to the pine when it is really in their best interest to let them play their way out of their slump.
That takes care of all the standard ideas. What I want now is some suggestions that are a little more outside the box.
The only thing I can come up with actually isn't all that original because it is what the Angels said they were going to do before the season: get back to small ball and running the bases. I know that seems simple, but I think it is really their best option. Right now, the Angels have been living and dying by the homer, which is scary because they are probably overachieving in the power department right now, so things could get even uglier once they regress to the mean. In fact, I think that is what pretty much happened in the Boston series.
The beauty of my plan is that it is pretty easy to implement and requires few drastic changes. The most glarin alteration is to move Howie Kendrick to first, Izturis to second and have Alberto Callaspo play third most days. Trumbo can still be mixed in against lefties now and again, but he shouldn't play much right now until either he heats up or Callaspo cools down. What I would also like to see is Vernon Wells dropping down to six or seventh in the lineup and Kendrick get moved into the middle of the order. Ideally, this would be my lineup: Izturis-Abreu-Hunter-Kendrick-Callaspo-Wells-Conger-Bourjos-Aybar. Now, I know that looks kind of crazy, but I don't envision it as a long-term solution, just one that plays to the current strengths of the lineup and minimizes the current struggling players. Of course, this only works if Scioscia commits to having his speedsters steal and hit-and-run at almost every single opportunity.
Does the idea blow my skirt up? No, not really, but it is the best I can come up with given the team's current limitations and it is at least a little more interesting than the standard approach the Angels appear to be using which is sticking with the status quo until the big bats heat up and Morales returns.
OK, I've said my piece, now it is your turn to use those big brains of yours. I'll be sure to pass all suggestions along to Mike Scioscia... once I figure out how to actually get him to pay attention to me.
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Right now, the best ideas involve unsexy platoons, bolstering the defense, getting healthy and finally using the bullpen the way it was meant to be used. If we do these little things, we'll win lots of games. If we can't score runs, we need to learn to limit them better and as you already said, get back to the small ball mentality. Start winning ball games 2-1. So how do we do this?
1. Get Bourjos into leadoff. He's the only one outside of Maicer who is currently hurt that we can depend on getting on base and getting into scoring position without luck or the #2 hitter being 'Clutch'. Even when Maicer gets back, we need to move him to a spot where he can use that high BA to drive runs in, especially since the middle of the order certainly won't help. As it stands right now, our lineup without Maicer healthy against RHP should be...
CF Bourjos
1B Kendrick
DH Abreu
RF Hunter
LF Wells
3B Callaspo
C Conger
SS Aybar
2B Amarista
Lefties
CF Bourjos
DH Kendrick
3B Callaspo
RF Hunter
LF Wells
C Conger
SS Aybar
1B Trumbo
2B Amarista
Once Maicer is back against RHP
CF Bourjos
1B Kendrick
2B Izturis
RF Hunter
DH Abreu
LF Wells
3B Callaspo
C Conger
SS Aybar
Against LHP
CF Bourjos
DH Kendrick
2B Izturis
RF Hunter
LF Wells
3B Callaspo
C Conger
1B Trumbo
SS Aybar
2. Use the right defensive scheme. Obviously use Bourjos in CF, but the time has come for some serious platooning. Kendrick isn't a problem at 2B, but we can definitely upgrade by putting Maicer there or when he's not healthy, like he isn't right now, promote Alexi Amarista and put him there. At 1B, it will be Kendrick against RHP and Trumbo against LHP, because Kendrick will be DHing with a lefty on the mound. That means against RHP, Abreu is our DH and Trumbo sits, against lefties, Kendrick becomes the DH, Abreu sits. Then obviously we need a catcher who can throw runners out at 2B or 3B, so Conger and Wilson will need to play and Mathis will need to sit. This presents the best defense and will more than likely result in less runs.
3. Wait for guys to get healthy. Morales will help, but that'll be another month probably. We definitely need Downs in the bullpen, he handles the 8th inning and gives us a solid 7th inning man in Rodney. This is assuming Scioscia decides to stop being stupid and use the bullpen properly. Finally, Pineiro coming back will be a huge upgrade over Palmer. When Kaz coimes back I give him a 2-3 start leash and put Chatwood down in AAA. If Kaz looks like he can become a LHP with an ERA 4.50 or below, he stays in the 5th spot, otherwise it's Chatwood. I do this because I want to keep Chatwood in AAA as long as this team can afford. It can only them in the long run.
