Are the LA Angels legitimate contenders for AL West

With injuries taking away 2 of their top starters the Angels staff has hung tough.

Just like in 2017 the Angels starting rotation has been decimated by injuries losing ace Garrett Richards and their only lefty starter in Tyler Skaggs in the first month of the season. However, unlike last year the players inserted into their place have pitched quite well.

So far this season the team ERA is 4.11 with a 26-27 record which is good enough for 13th in the majors. Not bad for a staff of pitchers that has two pitchers in their first year of starting (Alex Meyer and J.C. Ramirez) and two journeymen in Ricky Nolasco and Jesse Chavez who have pitched for a combined 10 teams in their careers. Finally you add in Matt Shoemaker who has been inconsistent at best in his four-year major league career with the exception of his rookie year in 2014 when he went 16-4.

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While their win-loss record is not stellar they as a collective whole have done well producing numerous quality starts over the past month.   Shoemaker and Ramirez have the best numbers overall going 4-3 and 5-3 respectively.  Shoemaker’s ERA is 4.26 and Ramirez is at 3.38 Nolasco’s ERA is not bad either at 4.37 ERA.  Chavez has done well except for two bad starts going 4-6 with a 5.09 ERA, but except for two poor outings he has a 3.61 ERA.  Alex Meyer went 2-2 with a 5.79 ERA in five starts since replacing Skaggs.

Meyer however is on the disabled list at the moment with back spasms so he will be out a minimum of two starts.  If the Angels can get him  back quickly and the rest of the staff can continue to pitch decently until Tyler Skaggs and hopefully Garrett Richards return sometime after the All-Star break things could get interesting down the stretch. Otherwise the Angels may be no more than a .500 team this season.