Brandon Wood

Casey Kotchman is heading to the Indians, according to Jon Heyman, after putting together a pretty good season in Tampa. The last time Kotchman sported an Angels jersey was on July 28, 2008 before getting dealt to Atlanta for Mark Teixeira. Then the first baseman moved on to Boston, Seattle, the aforementioned Tampa and now Cleveland for 2012. Once upon a time, Kotchman was the Angels top prospect. The Halos selected him with the 13th pick in the 2001 draft. Long time Angels scout Tom Kotchman probably had some decent inside information on his son. According to Baseball America, Kotchman [...]

Ryan Doumit – rumored to be an Angels target as an alternative at catcher signed with the Twins on Friday. This is probably a blow to those (myself included) who hold out hope that the Angels will non tender Jeff Mathis. The free agent market after Doumit now consists of Ramon Hernandez as the only viable option. So if the Angels do not acquire a catcher via trade this likely means Mathis will be back in the fold. Onto better things as we kick off  the weekend with the Friday links.

Looks like some Angel fans went out and got creative the other night and started tossing dollar bills at  Carl Crawford while he was in the on deck circle.  All in all a funny yet bitter response to Crawford taking the $142 million smackers from the Sox. Sometimes “making it rain on them hoes” just eases stress. Onto the weekend links:

The Angels went out and pounded the Rangers 15 -4 Tuesday night led by former top prospects Mark Trumbo ( 3 hits 4 RBI’s, 2 Runs) Peter Bourjos ( 4 hits ,3 RBI’S , 3 Runs) and Hank Conger ( 2 hits, 2 RBI’s and 2 Runs). After the game word quickly spread that another former top prospect Brandon Wood had been designated for assignment to make room for the return of shortstop Erick Aybar. Since Wood is out of options this designation would mean the Angels have 10-days to either trade, release or place Wood on waivers for another team to [...]

The Angels fell 11-8 to the Brewers Thursday as Scott Kazmir had another forgettable outing. Privately Mike Scioscia and Mike Butcher have to start forming a contingency plan for the Angels 5th starter as Kazmir does not appear to be capable of keeping the team in games or even giving them a chance to win.  I know its only Spring Training but Kazmir spent the entire 2010 season getting lit up , so some positive reinforcement is whats needed not the reaffirmation of a career lost.  5 innings pitched 8 hits , 10 Runs (8 earned) and 3 walks is just [...]

The Angels dropped a wild one to the Cubs today that saw the two teams combine for 27 runs and 37 hits! Of note, Mark Trumbo hit his 3rd home run of the spring and went 4-4 with 2 RBi’s and 3 runs scored. The more I see this kid swing the more I become impressed. It’s just too bad he no longer plays third base as he did as a prep star. Trumbo’s bat would potentially fill the power void that will be 3rd base for the Halos this season. Maybe Brandon Wood will have something to say about that? [...]

Brandon Wood admitted earlier this week that he sought out hitting tips from Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long.  He also as you would expect said the fact that he reached out to Long was not an indication of any displeasure with Angels hitting coach Mickey Hatcher. Really Brandon? That’ s almost like the married man  cheating on his wife but professing his love for her and the marriage the next morning. If  Wood was happy with the Micks tutelage there would be no reason to cheat , which is in essence what he did by even speaking with Long.  So what [...]

If you missed the first three “Angels Burning Questions”, click below! Part I – Johnny Damon/Scott Posednik Part II – Manny Ramirez Part III – The Catching Situation The next question in our “Burning Questions” series could be the biggest concern of all. Lyle Spencer recently addressed this in his mailbag. Lets take a look at Lyle’s thoughts and then we’ll give you the Hangout take after the jump.

It’s kind of strange to me that the question is even asked, but I know there are some out there that thing the additions he would bring to this team would be minimal, at best, and not worth the amount of money the Angels would be paying to them were they to sign him. The short answer is that Beltre would significantly improve the Angels at 3B over the production they saw last season, on both sides of the ball. But of course, no one that disagrees will take the short answer, so let’s look at things a little more [...]

When I started at Halo Hangout last off-season, my “dream” was to do a full projection on every player that would have a significant impact on our team during the 2010 season. As you can tell by checking the 2010 Projections Page, I didn’t quite make it. I was able to get seven of them done, however, and now that the 2010 season is in the books it seems like a good time to take a look back and see how I did. First up, the hitters: