Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The title of this post is something Los Angeles Angels fans might be asking themselves in 2013. They hope they don’t. However, as the current starting rotation stands, there are still a lot of question marks that won’t be answered until well into next season.

Until then we have projections!

Over at Fangraphs, they have begun to release Dan Szymborski’s ZiPS projections. Today they dropped projections for the Washington Nationals where Dan Haren was projected to have a 2.9 WAR in 2013. A nice improvement from his disappointing 2012 campaign.

ZiPS also projected an ERA+ of 102 and a FIP of 3.50 for Haren during his 2013 campaign. All improvements from 2012 as well.

If these projections come to fruition, the Nationals would have a nice deal in Haren paying $4.4 million per win from him. Not bad considering the Angels are dropping $7.5 million in 2013 on Joe Blanton who, according to Fangraphs, has averaged 1.7 WAR the past four seasons.

Should we ask the question now or later?

Of course, ZiPS doesn’t take into consideration everything. For example, it doesn’t calculate Dan Haren’s bad back that has plagued him for two years now and landed him on the “day to day” list a couple times since 2011 as well as a 15-day DL stint in 2012.

This is also, interestingly, the second time Jerry Dipoto has rid Dan Haren from a team as a general manager. The first time being the trade that originally brought Haren to the Angels in the first place when Dipoto was filling in as GM for the Diamondbacks.

Which leads one to wonder if there is something about Dan Haren that Dipoto knows or sees that we aren’t catching.

Or maybe Haren is just a mean, mean man. Probably not. But maybe.

When the Los Angeles Angels ZiPS projections are released we’ll return to see how they stack up against players that left the Angels this off-season.

Best game of 2012

The thing about Callaspo is that he is quietly solid and as a result, rarely grabs the headlines. However, on May 26th, Callaspo smacked a pinch-hit grand-slam against Felix Hernandez to put the Angels ahead for good. Not what you would expect from a light hitting third-basemen.

2013 Outlook

Alberto Callaspo isn’t going anywhere. There’s nothing that would indicate Alberto won’t continue to be who he always has been: a solid, cheap infielder who plays good defense and puts the ball in play. For the casual baseball fan, Callaspo may not be the most exciting player on the field. However, when looking past the basic counting stats, Callaspo proves to be a bit of a sabermetric gem that is exactly what the Angels need with their bloated payroll.

Don’t look so mad Trout, it’s just the Bieb’s

Preliminary Top 50 Pitching Prospects List for 2013

Nick Maronde cracking the top 50 is a pretty cool deal considering how thin our system is these days. Of course, Tyler Skaggs coming in ninth makes you wonder where he would slot in next year, assuming he is ready by then for a full time slot in the Diamondbacks rotation. I’m going to cut myself off here because if I don’t, I’ll go on for hours about how awesome Nick Maronde is.

Preliminary Top 50 Hitting Prospects for 2013

Kaleb Cowart comes in at 31 on this list which is great for him and his fans. What is surprising is that, with the year that C.J. Cron had, I expected him to hit this list too. Apparently, Minor League ball hates his OBP too. Cowart is the future at third base for the Halos (So please stop asking for Chase Headley). He’s also my Nick Maronde of hitters, so I’m going to stop now before I write a novel.

Los Angeles Angels Top Minor League Performances

Look who that is up top, oh, it’s Nick Maronde. I have a problem, and I’ve accepted that. Scott Stedman over at AngelsWin.com knows his minor leaguers. If you need your minor league fix on a regular basis like I do, follow him on twitter at @Scott34NA. The big surprise on this list for me is Randal Grichuk. I haven’t necessarily lost faith in him, I just see a Brandon Wood type when he gets to the big leagues.

Angels in the Arizona Fall League

A lot of kids and then….Bobby Cassevah? Bobby is taking Maronde’s place on the Scorpions roster. The exciting part about the AFL this year will be to see what Cowart and Grichuk can do going up against some of the best prospects in all of the Minor Leagues. Fingers are crossed that they don’t keel over like Mike Trout did last year in the Fall League.

LET’S TALK ABOUT WAR, BABY

Tired of trying to convince people that sabermetrics are not the devil? Need a new and inventive way to make WAR more fun? You’re welcome.

Memorize this swing, because in 2014, you’re going to be seeing it, a lot.