It’s been a busy offseason in the AL West. Billy Beane traded pretty much all of the A’s for other baseball players, leading analysts to question Oakland’s process for the first time in many years. The Mariners added meat to the middle of their lineup, and did so without sacrificing their depth on the mound. Texas has been relatively quiet, counting on bounce-back seasons and clean bills of health in 2015. The Astros have added key contributors, and Houston appears to be approaching contention for the first time since joining the American League.
So where does all of this leave the Angels? After dominating in the regular season, the Halos took an early exit in October, largely due to their lack of star power in the rotation. To address this, GM Jerry Dipoto shipped Howie Kendrick to the Dodgers in exchange for southpaw Andrew Heaney. Other key transactions included sending Hank Conger to Houston (netting Nick Tropeano in return) and trading Kevin Jepsen to the Rays for Matt Joyce. Second base is the Angels’ most uncertain position, with a foursome of Taylor Featherston, Johnny Giavotella, Josh Rutledge, and Grant Green competing for at-bats.
Prior to the frenzy that has been this offseason, the Angels were among the favorites to compete for the World Series crown in 2015. Despite (in this humble blogger’s opinion) improving their squad, the Angels aren’t getting much love this off-season. FanGraphs projects them to finish third in the division, one game behind the final Wild Card spot. But why might the Angels take a step backwards after last season’s dominance?
Age Before Beauty
Six of the Angels’ nine lineup spots figure to be occupied by players on the wrong side of 30. While the pitching staff is younger, the offense has been the foundation of this club for the past three years, and we’ve already seen sharp declines from Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton.
The Injury Bug
The Halos have had luck avoiding significant pitching injuries in recent years, but they lost Garrett Richards down the stretch last season, and his timetable for a return is up in the air. Richards tore the patella tendon in his landing foot, so it could take him quite a while to return to the point he was at in 2014, even if he does find his way back to the mound earlier than expected. Josh Hamilton is, unfortunately, a good bet to miss some action with injury, which could quickly thin out the Angels outfield and bench depth.
Keystone Light
As we mentioned earlier, there’s a quartet of twenty-somethings vying for time at second base. Neither player has proven themselves to be a productive offensive player at the Major League level. Josh Rutledge looks like the best option out of the gate, but every candidate makes more sense as a platoon player…and they’re all right-handed. Giavotella has enjoyed a reverse split throughout his time in the minors, but has not proven himself against righties at the highest level.
Life’s A Pitch
While the bullpen looks to be pretty deep, the Angels still have major question marks in the rotation. Jered Weaver will be the guy on Opening Day, but his velocity dips have been noted plenty of times over the years, and any year could be the year where his deception and extension no longer do the trick. Behind Weaver will be Matt Shoemaker, a consensus not-top-prospect who suddenly blossomed into a rotation horse in 2014. A step backwards should be expected for Shoemaker.
The additions of Tropeano and Heaney could be key for this team, but neither has a track record of big league success, and they will vie for innings against Hector Santiago (solid but unspectacular in 2014) and C.J. Wilson, who enters his age-34 season after his ERA inflated to 4.51 last year. And, as mentioned earlier, Richards’s status remains uncertain.
So, after an off-season that looks pretty good on paper, the Angels remain a highly variable squad. It’s certainly possible that they could again run the table in the AL West en route to a playoff berth, but it seems just as likely that the Halos could fall off the map and find themselves sellers come the trade deadline. Another move could change this scenario, but it doesn’t appear that the Angels will make a play for either James Shields or Max Scherzer, and the second base market has dried up quickly, especially now that Ben Zobrist has been moved.