LA Angels: 5 former players that fit the current Halos roster

Nolan Ryan – SP (1973)

Record: 21-16
ERA: 2.87
FIP:  2.49
WHIP: 1.23
K/9: 10.57
BB/9:  4.47
HR/9: 0.50
bWAR: 7.7

Every year it seems to be the same predicament in the offseason; when will the Angels acquire a big-time pitcher? It was less than ten years ago when the Angels marched out four former All-Stars in their starting rotation (2012; Weaver, Haren, Santana, Wilson), and it was seen as a strength of the team. Since then, the team has seen continuous turnover from the position. While the offense has built into the obvious strength, the starting group has continued to struggle to keep up.

What the Angels have been longing for is an ace of the rotation. A guy they can send out to the mound every fifth day gives the team a chance to compete and take the stress off the bullpen. While the team had that ace many times in their history, few did as well as Nolan Ryan did back in 1973.

After being acquired from the Mets in a package for Halos great Jim Fregosi prior to 1972, Ryan went from young stud pitcher flashing with potential to elite ace as soon as he arrived in California. Ryan’s debut in 1972 saw the right-hander break out, as he led the league with 329 strikeouts, a huge uptick from the 137 he had the year before. Ryan also threw nine shut-outs to go along with a 2.28 ERA and 6.3 WAR. However, his best work was yet to come.

Nolan Ryan is the type of ace the Angels have been searching for.

In 1973 he increased his strikeouts with 383 along with a 2.87 ERA and 2.49 FIP. It’s mind-boggling to think that Nolan Ryan never won a Cy Young award in his career. This was the closest he got after finishing second behind Jim Palmer. Looking back with the advanced stats that we have nowadays, Ryan’s strikeout numbers would likely give him the advantage in the voting as his 7.7 bWAR was better than Palmer’s 6.3. However, with the Orioles winning their division with a 97-65 record compared to the Angels 79-83, the Baltimore ace came out on top with the voting.

The eye test of Ryan’s intimidating presence while throwing 100mph on the mound, while being a workhorse, the Angels would love to have a pitcher like this anchoring their rotation right now. While times have changed since back then and Ryan’s 39 starts and 26 complete games are numbers that likely won’t be seen again, this would solve the Angels recent desperation for an ace of their rotation.

Chuck Finley – SP (1990)

Record: 18-9
ERA: 2.40
FIP: 3.30
WHIP: 1.23
K/9: 6.75
BB/9: 3.09
HR/9: 0.65
bWAR: 7.7

Every rotation needs a steady balance of right and left-handers to be effective. This helps keep teams off balance when playing multiple game series against one another to give the opponent a different look. While the Angels currently have Andrew Heaney and the newly signed Jose Quintana as locks for the current rotation, adding a solid lefty along with the right-handed presence of Ryan would help this Angels team. Enter Halos legend, Chuck Finley.

Some fans may not know this, but Finley is currently second on the Angels all-time leader board in the WAR category, behind only Mike Trout. Based on how the current roster, I don’t think that will change for a long time. Drafted fourth overall by the Halos back in 1985, the 6’6″ lefty debuted a year later with the club and primarily was used as a reliever for his first two years. Once moved to the rotation, Finley broke out in a big way for the team in 1989 when he compiled a 16-9 record with a 2.57 ERA, making his first All-Star team. Like Ryan, Finley approved on his best season, making this season the focal point for this team.

Chuck Finley is 2nd All-Time on the Angels WAR list.

In 1990 Finley went 18-9 for the 80-82 Angels, putting up some of the best numbers of his career. Also similar to the great Nolan Ryan, this season, Finley gathered Cy Young votes for the only time in his career and finished 7th. The winner that year, Bob Welch, won the award while putting up a 2.9 bWAR with the first-place Oakland Athletics while winning 29 games for the eventual World Series runner-up.

Finley was one of the most underrated pitchers of his time, and Angels fans were lucky to watch him for the 14 years he called Anaheim home. While he had a lot of success with his longevity, his only playoff appearance with the team was three games out of the bullpen as a rookie with the 1986 team. However, adding Finley to today’s team would bring the Angels a stud in the rotation and help get them back to the playoffs.

Troy Percival – CP (2002)

Saves: 42
ERA: 1.92
FIP: 3.03
WHIP: 1.12
K/9: 10.86
BB/9: 3.99
HR/9: 0.80

bWAR: 2.4

So we have addressed the starting rotation with a great righty-lefty punch to lead the team. While adding two horses to the rotation would drastically improve the team and ease the workload on a bullpen that has been fairly overworked in recent years. So far, GM Perry Minasian has improved the pen this offseason by bringing in former Reds closer Raisial Iglesias and lefty Alex Claudio. Whether or not the Halos will add to their bullpen remains to be seen, but you can never have too many relievers, especially guys who battle Troy Percival.

One of baseball’s greatest closers, Troy Percival would solidify the current Angels bullpen.

I thought it would be fitting to have a campaign from the championship season make an appearance on this team, and out of Percival’s career, it stood out. Playing ten seasons with the Angels and being the primary closer for 9 of them, Percival had many great seasons with the team, such as 1995, 1996, and 2001. But 2002 was the year that he put it all together statistically while receiving MVP votes along the way.

The biggest compliment that you can give Percival was when he threw the last pitch of the MLB season. Most Angels fans have seen the clip where he gets the Giants Kenny Lofton to fly out to centerfield and the celebration that followed it. The staredown, the leg kick, and the power out of the pen would help this Angels team strengthen their bullpen, improving from a team that last year blew the most save opportunities in all of baseball.

Scott Downs – RP (2011)

BAA vs Lefties: .179
ERA: 1.34
FIP: 3.29
WHIP: 1.01
Soft Contact: 25%
GB: 63%
bWAR: 2.0

So I decided to go a little bit off the board here but hear me out. I said you could never have too many effective relievers in the bullpen. While the aforementioned Claudio does bring in a solid lefty who generates soft contact, it makes the bullpen more unique and difficult on the opponents when multiple players fit into this role. When looking at one year only of former players, one that really stands out to me was the season that long-time reliever Scott Downs had in his debut season with the Angels in 2011.

Angels: Scott Downs is a left-handed specialist every team is looking for.

Downs joined the Angels after nine successful years as primarily lefty specialist reliever. Once arriving, the 35-year old pitcher took on more of an expanded role facing both left-handed and right-handed hitters consistently. His splits show that Downs faced 92 lefties and 126 righties while putting up a solid 1.34 ERA throughout the season. However, once you look closer into the numbers, Downs was far more dominant against lefties, averaging 8.25 strikeouts per nine innings over 3.94 against righties.

Though the rules have changed where the lefty specialist has come close to obsolete, Downs proved that he was effective in all situations in 2011, which would make him another solid option coming out of the ‘pen. Additionally, there are still many situations in a game that would make a soft contact pitcher such as Downs valuable throughout the game.

Darin Erstad – 1B/OF (2000)

AVG/OBP/OPS: .355/.409/ .951
wRC+: 140
Hits: 240
Runs: 121
Home Runs: 25
Stolen Bases: 28
bWAR: 8.3

While my additions to this Angels team have focused on the pitching side the team can use some extra help offensively as well. Here at Halo Hangout, we have talked about the questions that the Angels have in the outfield currently. Mike Trout will continue to patrol centerfield excellently, we all know this. However, we don’t know what the team will get from Justin Upton, Jo Adell, Brandon Marsh, and Taylor Ward. While the hope is that Upton will bounce back and produce around 25-30 homers while playing serviceable defense in left field, right field is a bigger question mark.

Another storyline that probably is not being talked about enough is the situation at first base. While Jared Walsh had a breakout season slashing .293/.324/.971 along with nine homers, the 108 plate appearances is a sample size still brings out a lot of question marks. Former Angel great Darin Erstad could easily solve these issues.

Erstad is known as one of the Angel greats, most notably making the final out of the 2002 World Series run. He was also known for being a Mike Scioscia-type player, somebody that plays hard and grinds out every at-bat. While he had a fantastic career with the Halos, Erstad took his game to a totally different level in 2000. He led the league in hits with 240, while it was helped by also leading in both plate-apperances (747) and at-bats (676). His .409 OBP showed the efficiency that helped gather MVP votes that season.

An All-Time Angels great, Darin Erstad is the type of super utility player who would add to the current Angels offense.

That terrific season earned Erstad both a Silver Slugger and one of his three career Gold Gloves. While the production itself stands out as one of the Angels great individual seasons, Erstad’s versatility supports his spot on this team. As mentioned, the Angels great’s career earned him three Gold Gloves, and they were all at different positions (2000 in left field, 2002 in center field, and 2004 at first base). While none of them were in right field, where arguably the team’s biggest offensive weakness is, Erstad still has proven his flexibility in his defensive craft.

Additionally, having another player with a Batting Average over .300 who has good speed would slot perfectly in front of Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon. For many years it has been said that Trout would take great advantage of having more products in front of him, and having Erstad and David Fletcher would set the Angels slugger up for many more RBI opportunities.

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It is clear that the Angels still have a handful of needs going into the upcoming 2021 season. While the lack of moves has been somewhat frustrating, it is fun to look back on some of the teams’ great seasons and see how well they would fit into the current team.