Richards hopes his previous call-up helps him make a smooth transition this time (Image: Rick Scuteri-US PRESSWIRE)

Richards almost made the big league roster this spring, vying for the number five starter position with the injured Jerome Williams. He was impressive this spring, and certainly gave the team something to think about while they finalized the rotation, but the club wanted to give Richards a little more seasoning in the Pacific Coast League at Triple-A Salt Lake and patiently wait for Williams to recover from his hamstring injury. That sure looks like a good call now, doesn’t it?

Richards has used the extra time in Triple-A to work on tightening up his pitching, working to consistently hit his spots down in the zone. Predominantly using a three-pitch repertoire last year, Richards has been working on refining his curveball, throwing it for strikes and using it as an out pitch. He’s also made concerted efforts to slow the game down and not allow the pace to dictate how he pitches.

The results have been mixed for Richards this season. In 10 starts at Triple-A, the righty is 5-2 with a 4.31 ERA, striking out 48 and walking 29. Things have gotten a bit more difficult for Richards lately after a solid start to the season, posing a 7.06 ERA over his last six starts with 23 walks. Big league competition is usually the place to work that out, though, right?

The Angels will use Richards out of the bullpen over the next few days as they weigh their options at the fifth starter spot. Dan Haren, who pitched a gem on Tuesday, could pitch Sunday’s series finale against Texas, but the club will need a fifth starter by Tuesday. Whether that fifth guy is Richards or not remains to be seen.

This is not the first call-up for Richards, who is banking on that experience to make a smoother transition to the majors. Last season, Richards was a late-season call-up, appearing in seven games, starting three, and posted a record of 0-2 with a 5.79 ERA. Richards hopes to improve on those numbers and help the Angels continue their hot streak, currently up to eight straight wins. He won’t be trying (or able) to get Halos fans to say “Jered who?” but as long as he proves to be an adequate stop-gap until Weaver returns, Richards will count this trip up as a success.

Can the Angels keep their winning streak alive without their ace? (Image: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE)

Weaver took to the hill on Monday facing off with the New York Yankees. He would give up a pair of singles and another hit off an Erick Aybar error before landing awkwardly off the mound on a pitch to Yankees clean-up hitter Robinson Cano. Weaver doubled over in pain as the trainers checked him out. He tried a warm up pitch, but was barely able to get it to the plate before limping off the field, leaving the game before recording an out. Bobby Cassevah came in to replace him.

Initial reports speculated that it was a leg injury that knocked Weaver from the game, but the team later confirmed that Weaver had actually tweaked his back. Initial tests did not reveal anything and an MRI will be done in the next day or so. It’s unclear what kind of damage the lanky Weaver did to his back, or if it will result in time on the DL.

If Weaver is forced to miss significant time, it could be a major blow to the Angels turnaround. Weaver has been the one dominant starter in a rotation that has been underwhelming to start the season. Dan Haren has been up and down, Ervin Santana can’t keep opponents in the yard, C.J. Wilson has been excellent, but not really dominant, and Jerome Williams has been a pleasant surprise just being pretty good. Losing the ace at the head of the rotation would be a major blow to the hottest team in baseball.

What will the Angels do if they lose Weaver? Garrett Richards, one of the Angels top prospects, is waiting in the wings at Triple-A Salt Lake. He was vying for the fifth starter spot before the team decided to wait on Jerome Williams to return from his hamstring injury and sent Richards down to get a bit more seasoning. As we pointed out on his birthday, though, he hasn’t exactly been dominating the minors this season with a 4.31 ERA, 43 strikeouts and 29 walks, including 23 in his last six starts, in 56.1 innings of work.

Other options for the team to call up include Brad Mills, who saw some starts last season with Toronto and is 3-3 with a 3.76 ERA this season with Salt Lake. They could recall David Pauley who has plenty of experience as a starter, making 20 starts over his five-year career. If the team calls up a bullpen arm instead, the team has long relievers Bobby Cassevah (who got the look last night) and Hisanori Takahashi, but neither of them could be considered a viable option beyond the occasional spot start.

But if the injury proves to be serious, could the Angels jump into the running for Roy Oswalt? Rumors are circulating that Oswalt will sign with a team this week, with the front runners including Texas, Boston, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Could a Weaver injury be the push that Arte Moreno needs to enter the race for Oswalt in the 11th hour and make him an offer he simply can’t refuse? It worked when courting Albert Pujols, why not Oswalt?

Bourjos will get another chance to start every day. Will he capitalize? (Image: Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE)

Funny how things change in a couple of months. After the sluggish offensive start, the Angels released Abreu and called up Trout to try and give the lineup a spark. Then Torii Hunter was placed on the restricted list when he left the team to deal with his son’s arrest back in Texas. Now, Wells and Ryan Langerhans, who was called up to take Hunter’s roster spot, are both out for extended periods with injuries, and the Angels greatest strength in April is now their thinnest spot in May.

But perhaps this will be a blessing in disguise for the Angels. With the aged veterans out of the way, the Angels and manager Mike Scioscia will now be forced to go with the “outfield of the future” lineup that got fans so excited during Spring Training: Trout in left, Bourjos in center, and Trumbo in right. It isn’t so far-fetched to think that this younger lineup could improve the team’s chances going forward.

In left, Vernon Wells has been a massive disappointment for the money he’s owed. Even so, he’s given some moderate power to the lineup, hitting six home runs this season, and still plays a pretty good defensive left field. Not enough to justify owing hims $63 million over the next three seasons, but at least it’s something. In 640 at-bats as an Angel, Wells is batting .223 with a .255 on-base percentage with 78 RBI. With him now being out 8-10 weeks as he recovers from thumb surgery, Mike Trout will move to left. In the three weeks he’s been with the big league club, he’s hit .350 with a .413 on-base percentage and .600 slugging percentage. He’s stolen six bases and hit four home runs, so he’s got just as much, but probably quite a bit more, offensive pop as Wells. He’s also going to be just as good in left as he has been in center, so the team won’t have to worry about a defensive downgrade.

In right field, the upgrade is a little less obvious. Hunter is still a gold-glove caliber fielder and has been productive at the plate this season. However, before leaving the team to deal with his family crisis, Hunter was in the midst of a pretty prolonged slump. He had also volunteered his spot in right a couple of times per week in order to make sure that Mark Trumbo was still getting in the lineup, and with good reason. Trumbo is putting on quite an encore performance to his breakout rookie season of 2011. He’s still hitting for power, tied for the team lead in home runs with six, and posting a .586 slugging percentage, but the most impressive part about Trumbo this season is his patience at the plate. Notorious for swinging at junk last year, Trumbo leads the active roster in walks (12) and has the second highest on-base percentage (.403) on the team behind only Mike Trout (.413). He’s bought into Jerry Dipoto’s OBP-philosophy and has transformed his approach at the plate. He’s an upgrade in terms of power and brings adequate defense in right with an arm just as strong as Hunter’s.

The center-field transition is a little harder to get excited about. When Trout got called up, he displaced Peter Bourjos, who has started just six of the 22 games since Trout joined the Angels. Bourjos was struggling to produce offense at the plate, as he’s hitting just .194 with an OPS of .545. However, over the same sample-size as Wells, Bourjos is producing better offensive numbers across the board except for power, and he’s considered the best defensive outfielder in the entire Angels organization. He can make roughly the same defensive impact as Erick Aybar does from the shortstop position.

While the old guard of the outfield is away from the team, the “young guns” of the Angels will have a chance to shine. Scioscia has said he expects Hunter to return from Texas possibly by the end of the weekend, but there’s no guarantees, and Wells will likely be out until at least August. Ryan Langerhans was in a sling the day after his injury, so there’s really no timetable yet for when he’ll be ready to return or if he might spend time on the DL. At any rate, Trout-Bourjos-Trumbo are now going to get their shot. What they do with it will go a long way in determining if this team can climb out of the early hole they’ve dug for themselves and give fans some reason to be excited about the future stars of the Halos.