Blog Archives
Ichiro Suzuki Is Closer To Setting The ALL-Time Professional Hits Record: Provided He Keeps Playing
Ichiro Suzuki fashioned 10 straight 200 hit campaigns to start his career (2001 – 2010), tying Pete Rose for the most 200 Hit seasons ALL-Time, and setting the most consecutive years with the feat. He may only be a .270 – .280 hitter now as a 4th OF, but he still plays decent defense, and makes nice contact. Suzuki is about a full season of AB’s away from setting the professional hits record. He is a Free Agent after this year, and at 40, he may have a few campaigns left to offer a club. His 2841 Career Hits come during what will end in 2014, as his 14th year only in the MLB.
Chuck Booth (Owner/Lead Analyst) Follow @chuckbooth3024
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He is not receiving the kind of fanfare that Derek Jeter is this year, (although maybe he would if he was retiring too and had announced it), by Ichiro Suzuki has put forth a decent year in 2014.
His .284/.323/.338 Slash Line is not something to write home about, but he is a nice 3A Outfielder on a club that has seen its fair share of injuries.
Heading into the last 4 games of the year, the 10 time 200 hit man, has 99 hits on the season, thus giving him 2841 Hits in his MLB Lifetime.
After Derek Jeter retires this year. Ichiro will be 2nd in active total hits to Alex Rodriguez. Read the rest of this entry
Jeter Passes Yaz, Maybe Ties Wagner for 7th On ALL Time Hits List?: Plus #2’s Historical #’s
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
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Derek Jeter had 3 base hits in last night’s 4 – 2 loss to the Texas Rangers. In doing so, the man now has 3420 hits for his career.
Carl Yastrzemski had 3419 to hold onto the 8th spot previously, but Jeter’s 3420th hit seems to be confusing when you look at the websites of both http://www.mlb.com and http://www.baseballreference.com
BBREF has Honus Wagner listed at 3420, which would have El Capitan tying that mark for 7th last night, while MLB has Wagner listed at 3430 Career Hits.
All will be a moot point when Jeter passes the 3431 hits plateau in a few weeks, and shortly after that he should nestle into the 6th slot for good, when he passes Cap Anson. (3435)
For those that still don’t give Derek Jeter the respect he deserves, the man also is the Career Hits leader ever for an Infielder.
Of his 3420 base knocks. 3337 have come as a SS and 81 at the DH position, which is ahead of Wagner, Anson, and Eddie Collins.
The other 2 hits come via pinch hitting.
Wagner and Anson both saw some time in the Outfield during their time. Read the rest of this entry
Cespedes Wins The 2014 MLB HR Derby With An Awesome Power Display: Stop Complaining About The Contest Experts!
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
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I have had enough with the experts flogging on the HR Derby last night.
Yes, it took long, but not as long as last year. I believe the actual event was under 3 hours. What every one was feeling had a lot to do with the hour plus rain delay.
I loved the new format of 7 outs, and AL vs NL. If there is anything I think the MLB could do away with – is having 5 players in each league participant.
I firmly believe that Jose Bautista and Giancarlo Stanton suffered because of an inactive round caused by them both winning a bye. Read the rest of this entry
Odds To Win The 2014 Home Run Derby + ALL – Time Derby Winners + Cespedes Wins 2014 Title
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
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I said yesterday that I believed Todd Frazier would be an underdog darkhorse to win the HR derby at Target Field.
Little did I know he is tied for the 8th favorite out of 10 hitters.
The ALL – Star longball competition has changed formats. There are 3 players from the AL and NL that survive the 1st RD (7 outs each hitter).
The top players in each league (during the 1st round) win a bye into the semi-final round automatically, while the 2nd and 3rd seeds in each league square off in the 2nd round in a matchup each.
Once the winners are established in that round (7 Outs), the remaining 4 contestants will be duking it out in their respective leagues to find who owns the National League and American league big fly bragging rights.
It is all players within their own league until the final.
The winners of the AL/NL will face off for the championship. Again, all rounds contain 7 outs. Maybe this will ease some of the time constraints. Read the rest of this entry
How All Of The Mets Hitters Were Acquired: 2014 Roster Tree
The Mets brass has kept a patient roster approach in a not so tolerant market for too long. So how have they done? This is part 1 of a 2 part blog series to find out. The waiting still continues. The team has grown a lot of their own talent. Whether or not the guys are good enough for a competitive club remains to be seen.
How All Of The Mets Hitters Were Acquired:
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
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The success of most franchises usually occurs when a huge core is built up through a drafting system, and then the club can piece the rest of the club together.
The 2nd best way to create a winning squad is to trade for players with the organizational pieces you have supplanted in the Minors or Majors.
The Mets method of acquiring players is all based on the team’s finances of late.
Citi Field has not been a banner home ballpark to the club since it opened its doors for the 1st time in 2009.
The Wilpons inability to not spend money on payroll has hurt, and also a lot of the money was tied up in paying for players not with the team anymore over the last several years.. ie..Jason Bay, Oliver Perez, Bobby Bonilla and Johan Santana.
For the most part, the current hitters were all brought up via the draft, or by Free Agency.
Travis d’Arnaud highlights one of the players that was brought in by way of trade in the R.A. Dickey deal. Read the rest of this entry
Philadelphia Phillies State Of The Union For 2014
The club was one of the premiere franchises from 2007 – 2011, with 5 straight NL East Titles, 2 World Series Appearances, and taking home the big prize in 2008. The Phightins have been battling old age, the injury bug, plus the management not knowing whether to pull the plug on the core talent of this squad – or to give it one more go at it. Charlie Manuel was finally the fall guy last year when he was let go from his managerial duties. Ryne Sandberg had the team playing better to end the year, but has had issues already with Veteran players. Will it be enough for the organization to back him beyond this season. Will the franchise play good enough for another kick at the can in 2014? .
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
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Last year was the 1st losing campaign for the Fightins in over a decade. It was a mediocre season to be sure, and followed the 3rd straight year of regression.
Since Ryan Howard went down in a heap of pain during the 2011 playoffs, it has ravaged through the fans perception of the club.
2013 wasn’t going to end nicely, however the aging veteran Chase Utley gave the brass and fanbase a nice exiting thought by inking a 2 YR deal.
Ryan Howard has not recovered to his former status, and now makes $25 MIL year. Read the rest of this entry
Master List Of All Free Agents Signed In 2013 Winter – Heading Into 2014 MLB Year
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
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It has been a record setting year for contract $ doled out for players. When you factor in the player extensions, we are talking about 7 contracts registering in the top 50 Player contracts in the history of the game.
Robinson Cano, Clayton Kershaw, Masahiro Tanaka, Jacoby Ellsbury, Freddie Freeman, Shin-Soo Choo and Homer Bailey have inked deal for between $105 MIL to $240 MIL.
Now there is word the Angels are working on an extension with Mike Trout, to the tune of 6 YRs/$150 MIL, from 2015 – 2020. This would be the 22nd highest contract in MLB History.
For the record, Trout’s deal for 2014 is already set at $510 K, and any extension wouldn’t have Luxury Tax Ramifications until his new deal would start in 2015. Read the rest of this entry
30 MLB Team Power Rankings FEB 2014
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
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Not withstanding the last few signings in the MLB, noteworthy is Bronson Arroyo to the Diamondbacks, and Paul Maholm to the Los Angeles Dodgers, these will not effect the grand scheme for the rankings of all clubs.
Nelson Cruz is still available, and I would be very surprised if he doesn’t ink a deal with the Mariners. This would put them slightly ahead of the Angels if done, as oppose to a dead heat right now.
There are no real surprises to be had here.
The Orioles, Blue Jays and Pirates have had the worst offseasons, while the Rangers, Royals, Rays, Giants, Yankees, Cardinals and Dodgers have helped out their causes for the upcoming campaign.
The Rest Of The Best Free Agents Are Now Up For Auction: Some Deals Already Done
Grant Balfour has recently been throwing verbal jabs to the Orioles on XM Radio concerning the club bowing out of his 2 YRs/$15 MIL deal – and justifiably so. The Orioles lost credibility around the league for this bow out maneuver. Now Balfour will look to administer some payback to the O’s 19 times a year for the 2014 and 2015 campaings. The Aussie just signed a 2 Year Deal – to return to the Rays for $12 MIL.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
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It was a tough time being an MLB fan the last 3 or 4 weeks – waiting for the Masahiro Tanaka deal to get done.
As of today, we are about 18 days away from Pitchers and Catchers to report.
With the logjam now being freed up with the Japanese superstar being inked to a deal with New York, a bevy of transactions have already occurred.
Grant Balfour is all set to sign a 2 YR deal worth $12 MIL, and will be ready to stick it to the Baltimore Orioles 19 times a year for the next 2 campaigns. Read the rest of this entry
There is A Major Problem At MLB.com With Their Active Players List: Part 1
Bobby Abreu was traded from the Rays to the Phillies for Kevin Stocker and had 7 straight 20 HR/20 SB seasons for the ‘Fightins from 1999 – 2005. After playing for both of the LA clubs in 2012, he did not play for any other club in 2013, but has since said he plans to make a comeback in 2014. If he does, he would become the active ALL – Time Leader for Doubles in the MLB. After seeing that the website mlb.com called him active, I investigated a massive flaw.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
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When starting to compile a list at http://www.mlb.com of current Extra Base Hits Leaders – I was unimpressed about the slowness of the webmasters.
I love the MLB, and the coverage/video highlights is fantastic at the site. Their updating the stat leaders for active players needs to be seriously addressed. so the top 10 list will be posted tomorrow instead.
Manny Ramirez, Ivan Rodriguez and Todd Helton are on this list.
Okay, I can give them a slight pass on Helton, however he has filed his retirement papers already, but Pudge and Man-Ram – c’mon.
The LA Dodgers Player Roster In 2013: State Of The Union Mar.28
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The Dodgers are putting the other National League teams to shame with payroll – and have assembled an ALL – Star Squad with 8 Starting Pitchers, with perhaps the best athletic Outfield in the Major Leagues. The Dodgers spent most of the 1st half of the 2012 campaign in the NL West before injuries crippled the product on the field. A blockbuster trade late in August saw the club win 8 of the last 10 games after struggling to gel early. Skipper Don Mattingly is in the last year of his contract, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez will try to put their 2012 fiasco behind them. Home grown talent, Kemp and Ethier will be in the best opening lineup since they came up to the Majors. Could all of this equal a World Series Berth?
By Enrique Rivera (Dodgers Correspondent): Follow @eriqwiththeq
The Los Angeles Dodgers franchise had an exciting 2012. From March, when Magic Johnson was announced as part of a group that had bought the Dodgers, to June, when Los Angeles gave Yasiel Puig $42 Million, this has been a wild year for the Dodgers.
After all of the hype surrounding the new Dodgers seemingly died down, they committed $147 Million to Zack Greinke. The N.L. West has been dominated by the Giants in the last couple years, but one has to wonder if the Dodgers recent moves make them the favorite to win the N.L. West in 2013?
Clayton Kershaw 2012 Highlights – Mature Lyrics So Parental Guidance Advised:
The Most Underrated Statistic: Extra Base Hits (XBH)
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Alex Rodriguez is the Active Leader for XBH with 1190, however who knows when he will have a chance to resume his career again with injuries + allegations of PED use perhaps sparking an investigation/suspension for the MLB and is still owed 114 Million Dollars over the next 5 years.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
I have nothing against sabermetrics in baseball. Yes I know they are not going away and I will probably learn them one day as someone who can comprehend Math pretty good. However, I understand the frustration of the casual fan who will not set a foot near them – although they know what Home Runs and Runs Batted In are. I have thrown the topic out for discussion on Twitter – and am extremely curious to see what percentage of fans actually follow the new numbers formats. This site totally allows our writers to convey any form of statistical analysis they want. The only thing that I request, is that if they use sabermetrics, to also add some regular stats with them.
One of the stats that can gauge any era since the beginning of baseball is Extra Base Hits. Before the fences were brought in (or even put up), Doubles and Triples could be hit at any time. Singles are great in the game too. There have been several great baseball players that are singles hitters, that also compiled a bunch of Doubles and Triples. That is why this statistic is fairest to all of the hitters in the history of the game and the most comparable. Like the old saying, (hit’em where they ain’t), players that can hit the baseball into the open areas of the outfield are special. Babe Ruth re-coined the phrase later when he said “Well they ain’t over the fence, so that’s where I hit them!” The Bambino was right. In the course of this article, we will list the top active list for this category – and some underrated hitters that may stack up nicely against historical hitters.
(Pete Rose Highlights):
The Tampa Bay Rays: The Franchise 1998-2012: Part 1 Of A 5 Part Article Series
Thursday, December.20, 2012
Note from Chuck Booth: I am attempting to bring the history for each of the 30 MLB Franchises into a 5 part series that will focus on 1. The teams history. 2. The hitters 3. The pitchers. 4. The Teams Payroll going into 2013 and 5. The Ball Park that they play in. (The stadium articles will all be done next summer when I go to all of the parks in under a month again.) Be sure to check my author page with a list of all of my archived articles section here.
The many Rays Logo’s over the years. Is the best of this franchise yet to come?
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
The Tampa Bay Rays Franchise can be summarized into two different categories: “The Devil Rays Days” and the “Rays Days.” The Devil Rays endured 10 straight losing seasons to start the club’s history. From 1998-2007, was a complete gong show (645-972) and last place finishes in a tough AL East every year, except for 2004, when they finished 4th, although they did stockpile several top Draft Picks based on their horrid regular seasons. In 2008, all of that changed when the ‘Devil’ was literally and figuratively knocked away from the Tampa Bay team. Their young stars finally saw their potential realized and they appeared in the 2008 World Series versus the Philadelphia Phillies. The Franchise would lose in 5 hard-fought, weather fulfilled games, however the team was now one of the model clubs in baseball. From 2008-2012, the club has gone 458-352.
The Rays have made the playoffs in 2010 and 2011 since, plus featured two other over .500 records in 2009 and 2012. The club has now had 5 winning seasons in a row. There is still a long way to go as they feature the worst winning percentage in MLB History, with a 1103-1327 Franchise Record (.454). The next worst team is the Padres at .463. The Arizona DiamondBacks were the NL Expansion cousins of the Rays and they feature a Win Percentage of (.498), which is second overall for the Expansion teams. The Arizona DiamondBacks also have made the playoffs 5 times and won the World Series in 2001. Still if you asked anyone right now, the Rays would gladly be the team everyone picked.
Franchise Series Links:
The Hitters: The Tampa Bay Rays: The Hitters 1998-2012: Part 2 Of A 5 Part Article Series
The Pitchers: The Tampa Bay Rays: The Pitchers 1998-2012: Part 3 Of A 5 Part Article Series
2013 Team Payroll: Tampa Bay Rays Payroll 2013 And Contracts Going Forward: Updated for Myers Trade Dec.11/2012
Tropicana Field Expert: An Interview with Tropicana Field Expert Kurt Smith
The Philadelphia Phillies Franchise Part 2 of 4: The Hitters
Friday August.24/2012
Note from Chuck Booth: I am attempting to bring the history for each of the 30 MLB Franchises into a 5 part series that will focus on 1. The teams history. 2. The hitters 3. The pitchers. 4. The Teams Payroll going into 2013 and 5.The Ball Park that they play in. (The stadium articles will all be done next summer when I go to all of the parks in under a month again.) Be sure to check my author page with a list of all of my archived articles here.
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer): Follow @chuckbooth3024–The Phillies have had an incredible run in the last decade of baseball. Most of that time has been spent at Citizens Bank Ball Park which is a very hitter-friendly park. The management was smart enough to draft a whole bunch of offensive talent like Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Pat Burrell, Scott Rolen, Jimmy Rollins and even J.D Drew(who never signed in 1997 with the Phillies and went back into the 1998 draft.) They also traded Scott Rolen for Placido Polanco. These guys have all taken advantage of the new baseball cathedral. Ryan Howard leads all active players in HRs per AB in the Major Leagues with hitting a HR per just a little over 13 AB. There is still a long way to go to chase down Michael Jack Schmidt. His 548 Career HRs and 1595 RBI lead the ALL-Time totals on the Phillies by quite a big margin.
Criteria for being put on this list was quite simple. You had to be a player of significance on the Franchise. Great watermarks are: 1000 hits, 100 HRs, 1000 games, if you led the league in any category for a few seasons or batted .285 or higher for the duration of your time. This is what I was looking for to include the players on the list. It has taken me a lengthy period of time to siphon through 130 years of baseball to bring you this list. From Ed Delahanty and Billy Hamilton, to Richie Ashburn and Dick Allen, to Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinki, to Von Hayes, to John Kruk and Lenny Dykstra, to Bobby Abreu and Scott Rolen-to finally get us to the gentlemen aforementioned in the first paragraph. I want this study to be as interactive as I can with the readers. If you feel that there is someone worthy of being included in the list for hitters, please feel free to comment or send me an email to booth7629@gmail.com. I would be glad to edit this post and add to it. After all, if you are reading this, chances are you are a Phillies fan, I am just a baseball historian.
For Part 1 of The 4 Part Phillies Article Series: The Franchise- click here
For Part 3 of The 4 Part Phillies Article Series: The Pitchers- click here
For Part 4 of the Phillies Article Series: Team Payroll and Contractual Statuses click here
Ryan Howard Highlight reel
Top Ten Stat Of The Week: Active Career Stolen Base Leaders
Wednesday August.8/2012
Juan Pierre was one of the most prolific hitters in terms of base hits in the last 12 years along with being the Active Leader for Career Stolen Bases. Pierre has 4-200 hit seasons in his resume.
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on Twitter)- The game has been moving back towards speed, offense and athleticism since the adaptation of the steroid testing in the MLB. I think we will see a big emphasis on the Stolen Base in the coming years. We have Billy Hamilton coming in the near future and he could actually challenge a 100 Stolen Base in one season. 30 years ago there were several guys challenge or eventually succeed in stealing 100 bases. Rickey Henderson and Vince Coleman both hit the century mark 3 times, while Ron LeFlore and Tim Raines cracked the 90 SB plateau. Teams used to have several speedsters in their lineup. Jose Reyes has the most stolen bases in one year for the active players with 78 swipes in 2007.
I omitted Luis Castillo from the list because he has not played since 2010, (much to the delight of the New York Mets fans I am sure.) I am sure that Boston Red Sox fans are hopeful that he can regain his stolen base prowess very soon with him being only in the second year of a 7 YR/140 Million Dollar Contract. Johnny Damon also has foraged a great career to be on this list from sheer determination. Out of this top ten , Jose Reyes has the most steals per games played, while Omar Vizquel (who has played 2947 games) has the least amount of steals per game played. I was most surprised by Derek Jeter cracking this list because he has never stolen more than 34 bags in one year. I wonder how many bags Ichiro would have stolen had he arrived in North America earlier? Johnny Damon and Omar Vizquel making this top ten is a test to their long-playing careers. I figured Jimmy Rollins had more steals than what his totals came in as. Bobby Abreu has the most HRs on this list with 286 and Juan Pierre has the least. with 17.
Stat of the Week: Will Extra Base Hits Help Punch Tickets to BBHOF?
Monday June.18/2012
Alex Rodriguez leads the list of active players and is already 10th All-time for XBH. If Rodriguez can hit 308 XBH before he retires, he will pass Hank Aaron for 1st overall. –Photo courtesy of nytimes.com
Chuck Booth (Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)- Extra base hits kind of go hand in hand with slugging percentage to an extent. I have often used this category every season as a gauge on how good a player does. Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances why a player hits more doubles and triples rather than home runs but they are all considered extra base hits. Adrian Beltre is a perfect example of this. During his Seattle Mariner days, he would blast about 15-20 baseballs off the fences at Safeco Field every year (for a double or triple) that would have been an HR if he did not play in such a pitcher friendly park. This list represents great careers. If a player can reach the magic 1000 extra base hits, they will be hard to ignore for consideration towards Cooperstown. I have omitted Manny Ramirez from an active player. It is my firm belief that the man served a 50 game suspension for a team like Oakland, only to quit on them and maybe land on another club. If he is able to catch on with another job with a club, I will gladly put his name back as #2 player on this active list.
TOP 10 as of June.17/2012
Player Extra Base Hits Leaders Active (Rank All-Time)
1. Alex Rodriguez NYY 1169 (10)
2. Jim Thome PHI 1079 (20)
3. Chipper Jones ATL 1026 (26)
4. Vladimir Guerrero (FA) 972 (39)
5. Todd Helton COL 956 (45)
6. Albert Pujols LAA 941 (50)
7. Bobby Abreu LAD 908 (60)
8. David Ortiz BOS 886 (64)
9. Johnny Damon CLE 859 (73)
10. Scott Rolen CIN 857 (75)
I fully think that Vladimir Guerrero will sign with someone soon. At 972 extra base hits, he is 28 extra base hits away from that 1000 marker. If a team signs him in the next few weeks, he may have a chance to get there before the end of the season. Below is a 5 minute highlight package of his career thus far. There is not many Expos highlights, you can always search Youtube for more.
Mike Trout vs. Bryce Harper: Who is the Biggest Prospect in Baseball?
Thursday May 3rd, 2012
Bernie Olshansky: For prospect watchers, last Saturday was one of the most exciting baseball days in a long time. Not only was Angels prospect Mike Trout (20) making his season debut against Cleveland, but Bryce Harper, the Nationals prospect and teen-wonder at only nineteen also made his highly anticipated major league debut against the Dodgers. Amazingly, two of Baseball America’s top three prospects debuted on the same day. Harper’s first and second at-bats were a couple to forget, but his third was one to remember. He roped a hard line drive over Matt Kemp’s head in center for a stand-up double. Trout’s debut was nothing special, but after hitting .408 in the minors this year he’s bound to get it going. Read the rest of this entry
Ask the Reports: ATR Answers Your Baseball Questions – April 29th, 2012
Sunday April 29th, 2012
Let’s get to your top questions of the week (LOTS of Expansion talk this week):
Q: Where will the WBC games be played in March Chris
Q: Does anyone know what the dates are for the 2013 World Baseball Classic and how it will affect the schedule for Spring Training? Steve
JH: Hello Chris and Steve. Yes, we love talking WBC on MLB reports. So much so, that we have a page dedicated exclusively to the greatest international baseball tournament of all time! Please click on wbcreports.com to find out all the latest World Baseball Classic news and reports. With the WBC qualifiers still coming up, we are still far away from the tournament itself- coming up in March 2013. The qualifiers will be played in Florida, Panama, Germany and Taiwan. Each site will host 4 countries- with 1 winner advancing to the WBC tournament from each pool. For the 1st two tournaments, the finals were held in Los Angeles (Dodger Stadium). As to which cities will be lucky to host the 2013 WBC- stay tuned. I expect the announcement to come sometime between the end of the World Series and New Years. But as soon as we have the info- we will announce it! The WBC will have the effect of extending the spring schedule to some degree. It is a never-ending battle for Major League Baseball, to accommodate spring training while still keeping the WBC schedule on track. It’s not a perfect system, so certainly expect baseball officials to continue to tweak the schedule every tournament until they find the best possible schedule. Read the rest of this entry
Overcrowded Angels in the Outfield
Saturday December 24th, 2011
Sam Evans: Heading into the 2012 season, the Los Angeles Angels of U.S.A. of California of Anaheim have six outfielders that will be vying for playing time in the majors. Three of their outfielders have been selected to at least two all-star games, one is the best prospect in baseball, and the forgotten one was their best player last year. Let’s go through these players and decide who will be the starters for the Angels this coming year.
Mike Trout, CF, LF, RF: Trout has been the best prospect in baseball for the last two years, and looks like a sure superstar in the making. He is a true five-tool prospect, and he has been clocked from home to first in a startling 3.75 seconds. This summer, a scout told Angels AA manager Bill Mosiello, “Maybe this is what Mickey Mantle looked like when he was 18.”
With the Halos in 2011, the 20-year-old Trout hit .220 with five home runs in forty games. He was probably rushed to the majors a little too early, but he impressed players and coaches with his physical abilities.
In 2012, Trout needs consistent playing time at the major league level. If Trout is on the roster, the Angels have no other choice but to play him. If Trout fails in the majors, then they can send him back to the minors. But he needs a fair shot first. That’s why heading into this season, the Angels should have Trout penciled in as their starting right-fielder.
Ryan Langerhans, LF, RF: The Angels signed Langerhans to a minor league contract on Friday. Langerhans has played for the Mariners, Nationals, and Braves in his career. He has never posted great numbers at the major league level and he’s always struggled against right-handed pitchers. However, Langerhans has established a reputation for being a clutch player. He has 26 go ahead hits in his career.
Langerhans should definitely start in AAA. If any of the other outfielders get injured, he is a solid option to call up to the majors temporarily. For right now, he is just simplynot talented enough to compete with the other Angels outfielders for a full-time gig.
Bobby Abreu, LF,RF,DH: Abreu is a solid, consistent player. Still, he is 37-years-old and his level of play has dropped off drastically in the last couple of seasons. In 2012 (his contract year), Abreu is set to make nine million dollars. That is a lot of coin to pay someone to sit on the bench.
Last year, Abreu hit .253 with 8 homers, 21 stolen bases, and a .353 OBP. Despite his age, Abreu can get on base and is a solid base runner. He can read the pitcher better than anyone else in baseball. Abreu started 108 games as the Angels DH last year, and he played the outfield for only 28 games.
For the upcoming season, Abreu should split time with Mark Trumbo at DH. The Angels might trade Trumbo, who has drawn interest from other clubs. Another scenario that I could see happening is the Angels trading Abreu at the trade deadline. To a team seeking a productive veteran outfielder, Abreu would be the perfect acquisition.
Peter Bourjos, CF: Last year, Bourjos was the Angels most valuable outfielder. Borjous was an above-average hitter who posted a 115 OPS+, and hit 11 triples to lead the American League. However, most of Bourjos’ value is found is his defense. Bourjos was one of the best defensive outfielder in all of baseball last year. He had a 7.5 Ultimate Zone Rating in 2011.
Bourjos should split time in center field with Trout. Even though both Bourjos and Trout are outstanding defensive center-fielders, Bourjos covers more ground and is slightly more valuable. Bourjos needs to play everyday in 2012, and I’d be shocked if Mike Scioscia didn’t have Bourjos as his opening day center fielder.
Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells, RF and LF: Torii Hunter is one of the more fun to watch players in baseball. He is also extremely respected amongst his teammates. Over his career, Hunter has hit .274 with an average of twenty-four homers a year. Hunter is signed through this year, and is set to make $18.5 million dollars.
Vernon Wells is probably the reason why former Angels GM Tony Reagins quit his position (insiders say he was set to be fired but was allowed to resign instead to save face). The Angels traded Mike Napoli for Vernon Wells and the worst contract in baseball last offseason. Vernon Wells is signed through 2014 and due $21.5 million in 2012. That’s only about four million less than Albert Pujols salary in 2012. Blown away? I certainly am.
To put it bluntly, Wells is not a very good baseball player anymore. In 2012, Wells hit .218 with 25 homers, but only a .248 OBP. Compared to Hunter’s .281 AVG with 21 homers and a .354 OBP, Wells looks pretty awful.
Hunter and Wells will probably end up seeing the field about the same number of times. That’s not because of their abilities, it’s just because of Well’s contract. Defensively, Wells actually has a slight advantage over the nine-time gold glover Torii Hunter (although most baseball people would choose Hunter).
Overall, the Angels outfield situation is a mess. The Halos have some very talented players, and a trio of overpaid veterans. The Angels outfield logjam gives the team flexibility, with backup solutions in case of injuries or poor play. I would be mildly surprised if the Angels didn’t make a trade before the season. They need to find some bullpen arms and maybe another starter for their rotation. With their plethora of outfielders, they can and should definitely make a trade. It will be more based around what they can get in return. Happy Holidays!
***Today’s feature was prepared by our Baseball Writer, Sam Evans. We highly encourage you to leave your comments and feedback at the bottom of the page and share in the discussion with our readers. You can also follow Sam on Twitter***
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