Angels

Like Christmas Dinner, Classic Rock and Old School Hip Hop,  Baseball has long been deeply rooted in tradition. There is a defined order – a blue print – a certain way to do things.  We serve ham or prime rib on December 25th,  rock fans hold their breath in anticipation of the guitar solo and hip hop heads salivate when they hear a scratch chorus like Albert Pujols when he sees a hanging curve ball. Speaking of Pujols… One long standing tradition in baseball is for the teams best pure hitter to bat in the number three position in the [...]

The Angels and division foe Rangers will be prominently featured on baseball’s prime time stage to begin the 2012 season. Don’t worry east-coasters, the Yankees and Red Sox will be there too. But the Angels and Rangers are building a nice rivalry that was fuelded by a winter of cold war. While the Angels signed Albert Pujols and stole C.J. Wilson from Texas, the Rangers countered with Japanese fireballer Yu Darvish and might still be a player for Prince Fielder. ESPN would be wise to highlight these teams and they did just that when they released the early Sunday Night [...]

In 2010, ESPN aired a series of Sunday Night Baseball commercials featuring actor Adam Scott. “Are we having fun yet?” I had completely forgotten how terrific they were until I fell down one of those YouTube rabbit holes. Join me for the ride… When I got home last night, I watched the new episode of New Girl featuring Zooey Deschanel. I keep hoping the sitcom is going to get better or funny but I don’t have high hopes. I support Zooey though. Lizzy Caplan guest starred on Tuesday’s episode. I’m not sure why Lizzy Caplan isn’t more famous. I loved [...]

The Angels came to terms with their last arb-eligible player by signing Erick Aybar to a one-year, $5.075 million deal on Tuesday. While it’s not the multi-year deal some fans were hoping for, GM Jerry Dipoto claims he will continue to work on an extension. Much like double play partner Howie Kendrick, Aybar had his career year in 2011 according to every version of WAR(P). Aybar, 28, set single season bests with 10 home runs and 30 stolen bases to go with a .279/.322/.421 line. He also won his first Gold Glove at shorts stop because Derek Jeter was sick [...]

The Angels don’t seem to care for arbitration. The trend of avoidance continued on Monday when the Halos gave third baseman Alberto Callaspo over a million dollar raise. Keith Law had the news of the $3.15 million deal on Twitter. Perhaps I’m more optimistic about Callaspo’s OBP and defense than some but he is the best option the Angels have. Yes, I realize the six home runs and .375 SLG in 2011 aren’t exactly sexy power numbers (even with a strong set of beer goggles) for a third baseman. However, Callaspo has had an OBP over .355 for three of [...]

I’m just kidding of course. There’s no real reason to think Albert Pujols wasn’t born on January 16, 1980. Before I get to the Pujols love fest, I have some birthday housekeeping to handle. Firstly, a very happy 26th birthday to fellow first-bagger Mark Trumbo. Who knew they shared a birthday? The waitress at Red Lobster is never going to buy that. In the past few days, I missed Erick Aybar’s birthday on the 14th and Bobby Grich’s on the 15th. Plenty of ice cream cake was consumed in their honor. Sorry Mark, Pujols gets the spotlight today. The freshly [...]

Two down, one to go. The Angels avoided arbitration with Howie Kendrick by extending him with a four-year, $33.5 million deal. Well played, Jerry. Morales was the second arb-eligible Angel to avoid arbitration after signing a one-year deal worth the same $2.975 million he made in 2011 leaving only Erick Aybar scheduled for arbitration. Coming off of a .000/.000/.000 line in 2011, Morales could have seen a pay decrease or a DFA’ing but the Angels are hopeful Kendrys will finally recover from his broken leg. Here are the details or something from Lance Pugmire of the LA Times… Details of [...]

Maybe. Probably. I’m inclined to believe GM Jerry Dipoto this time aroung because there isn’t much left on the market. Ryan Madson signed a one-year, $8.5 million deal with the Reds on Tuesday night. That should finally end the speculation that Angels were interested in the former Phillies closer. That leaves a few free agent bullpen arms like Francisco Cordero, Brad Lidge and Kerry Wood hanging around unsigned. But don’t expect the Angels to be in on them according to the Alden Gonzalez article on MLB.com… “You’re never really done,” Dipoto said, “but as it pertains to where we are [...]

On Monday, The BBWAA revealed the voting percentages for the 2012 Hall of Fame class. I wasn’t surprised that the lone inductee was Barry Larkin. The Baseball Bloggers Alliance recommended Larkin and Jeff Bagwell while FanSided would have just enshrined Bagwell. You can view my ballot for both here. I could complain about the irrational Jack Morris love but that’s been beaten worse than Joe Pesci in Casino. At least he was buried alive and it was over. Instead, since I’m an Angels blog, let’s focus on Tim Salmon for a minute. I, through some randomness, started following the Angels [...]

It may seem like I have developed a fascination with baseball players’ birthdays but you don’t know the whole story. I think I’m addicted to ice cream cake. I tried to get a Carvel credit card by creating my own application on a napkin. I’m a couple of Fudgie the Whales away from being a homeless person. I don’t even like Adam Kennedy but if I don’t write about a birthday it’s hard to justify eating an entire Cookie Puss for lunch. Kennedy turns 36-year-old today. The Dodgers signed him this offseason for reason that still aren’t clear. Kennedy debuted [...]