Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Here's Your Local Forecast
I spent the weekend traveling in the van of a scuba diving center that played only Weather Channel-type music, so forgive me for my silly weather headlines (As an aside, scuba diving is very cool). The Angels, in the only day of the year between Opening Day and the end of September that has no MLB event scheduled, can sit back and look at the remainder of their season. 75 games left, 32 in division. 14 against Seattle, 12 vs. Texas, 6 vs. Oakland. Records? 5-1 vs. SEA, 2-5 vs. TEX, 6-7 vs. OAK. 12 of those games are coming up before August. I still don't like the Angels/Rangers matchup. But first, Boston and Cleveland. Bad pitching (i.e. recent starts by Colon, Escobar, Sele), won't work against those two. Only 2.5 back, but the rest of July doesn't provide any breathers.
Barometer Reads 1 Big Unit Shy of Title
Whether or not adding Randy Johnson would actually make the Angels the AL favorite (I would say no), it doesn't appear as if any baseballologist will ever get to test that theory. Arte Moreno basically ruled out that the Angels would provide anything close in value to attain The Unit. The Orange County Register and LA Times both report that Moreno won't force GM Stoneman to make a trade and the latter of the papers says the D-Backs wanted 2 of 3 between Casey Kotchman, Jeff Mathis, and Dallas McPherson. Moreno doesn't want to sacrifice building a championship team through the farm system to "rent" Johnson for a year and a half, meaning they wouldn't look to resign him. With Anaheim out, it looks more and more like Randy could just wear pinstripes in August. We'll see.
Long Term Outlook is Sunny
Speaking of those guys everyone seems to want when talking Angel trades, let's check in. A big deal was made about McPherson's earlier tear in AA that eventually got him promoted to AAA. Now, in his first 16 games at Salt Lake, he's hitting .355 with 8 HR and 20 RBI. I'd say that'll work--alhtough he recently went 0-6 with 6 K. That's dropped his average about 40 points. He also has 6 errors in that short span as well. That's awful. Casey Kotchman, who saw time in Anaheim earlier this year, is hitting .314 with 15 RBI in 18 games. Mathis (AA) has 11 HR and 41 RBI, but is only hitting .262. With ages of 24, 21, and 21, it's no wonder the Angels don't wanna deal. With holes to fill at 3B and 1B (Erstad is a hole, okay?) and Bengie playing only half the time, it all looks good.
Cold Front of Ortiz Moving Out?
I sure hope not. If I knew in March I would've typed that, I would've laughed out loud. But Ortiz against Sele is an easy choice for me. Ortiz still wants to start or else, but unless he's in the deal for Johnson, I don’t see what the Angels could get that would make them any better. The Mets wanted him, and so do the White Sox and Orioles. I say wanted because the talk has lessened over the last two weeks and I think Ortiz is finally getting the picture that he's not gonna get a trade just because he wants one. He's not Nomar, and he's certainly not Shaq. Anyway, the likelihood of him leaving seems small. That said, we can only hope that he'll be back in the rotation soon, because now that he has something to prove, he may just pitch very well with a chip on his shoulder.
Severe Mondesi Watch Has Been Cancelled
Whew. That's a relief. I mean, all of two people were keeping an eye on that one and one of them's Raul. The other is probably that guy that sued him for all his money. The rest of us could care less that the investigation into his move to Anaheim revealed nothing wrong with the situation. Now that means he can get back to, well, just being injured. Signing Mondesi was a panic move that basically cost the Angels 1.1 million and netted them a guy who has the same first name as the guy who played Gomez Addams in the The Addams Family movie. They could've signed Raul Rekow, who plays the congas for Santana, and gotten the same production. Mondesi should've sang like the little piggy and just stayed wee-wee-wee all the way home in the Dominican Republic.
It's a Bird! It's a Tornado! No! It's a Fantasy Halo!
John Lackey gets the Halo for Week 14. Check this out: 2-0, 2.84 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 10 K. That's pretty solid on a team with a starter ERA of 4.92 that gives up 1.3 HR per 9 innings. Other than Washburn, he's the only Halo starter with an ERA under 4 over the last month. It's his first fantasy halo of the year. How does he stack up halowise with the rest of the team? The totals are at Inside the Halo (insidethehalo.blogspot.com). As far as June goes, Vlad gets the Golden Halo for the month with this line: .336, 7 HR, 30 RBI (!), 21 R, and 5 SB. Is it any wonder he's right in the running for the Triple Crown? 3rd in AVG (.345), 6th in HR (6 back of Manny's 26), 2nd in RBI (one back of Ortiz's 78).
QTR: The Climate Report
The Quarterly Ticker Report is up at Inside the Halo in case you haven't checked it out yet (and if you haven't, what in the world have you been doing?). It's more of a climate report, looking at broader trends of the direction your fantasy Halo players have been going and what you can expect in the future. Hope you find it helpful. Second half starts tomorrow and I'll be spanning the nation of games with my newly installed toy. Thank you, God, for satellite television. Four against the BoSox next. Being my least favorite team in all of baseball, I'd love to see nothing less than a Halo sweep. Lowe seems like a good Sock to start whitewashing. Happy 2nd half to all, especially us Halo fans. For the Angels, Matt Allen--ESPN.
Barometer Reads 1 Big Unit Shy of Title
Whether or not adding Randy Johnson would actually make the Angels the AL favorite (I would say no), it doesn't appear as if any baseballologist will ever get to test that theory. Arte Moreno basically ruled out that the Angels would provide anything close in value to attain The Unit. The Orange County Register and LA Times both report that Moreno won't force GM Stoneman to make a trade and the latter of the papers says the D-Backs wanted 2 of 3 between Casey Kotchman, Jeff Mathis, and Dallas McPherson. Moreno doesn't want to sacrifice building a championship team through the farm system to "rent" Johnson for a year and a half, meaning they wouldn't look to resign him. With Anaheim out, it looks more and more like Randy could just wear pinstripes in August. We'll see.
Long Term Outlook is Sunny
Speaking of those guys everyone seems to want when talking Angel trades, let's check in. A big deal was made about McPherson's earlier tear in AA that eventually got him promoted to AAA. Now, in his first 16 games at Salt Lake, he's hitting .355 with 8 HR and 20 RBI. I'd say that'll work--alhtough he recently went 0-6 with 6 K. That's dropped his average about 40 points. He also has 6 errors in that short span as well. That's awful. Casey Kotchman, who saw time in Anaheim earlier this year, is hitting .314 with 15 RBI in 18 games. Mathis (AA) has 11 HR and 41 RBI, but is only hitting .262. With ages of 24, 21, and 21, it's no wonder the Angels don't wanna deal. With holes to fill at 3B and 1B (Erstad is a hole, okay?) and Bengie playing only half the time, it all looks good.
Cold Front of Ortiz Moving Out?
I sure hope not. If I knew in March I would've typed that, I would've laughed out loud. But Ortiz against Sele is an easy choice for me. Ortiz still wants to start or else, but unless he's in the deal for Johnson, I don’t see what the Angels could get that would make them any better. The Mets wanted him, and so do the White Sox and Orioles. I say wanted because the talk has lessened over the last two weeks and I think Ortiz is finally getting the picture that he's not gonna get a trade just because he wants one. He's not Nomar, and he's certainly not Shaq. Anyway, the likelihood of him leaving seems small. That said, we can only hope that he'll be back in the rotation soon, because now that he has something to prove, he may just pitch very well with a chip on his shoulder.
Severe Mondesi Watch Has Been Cancelled
Whew. That's a relief. I mean, all of two people were keeping an eye on that one and one of them's Raul. The other is probably that guy that sued him for all his money. The rest of us could care less that the investigation into his move to Anaheim revealed nothing wrong with the situation. Now that means he can get back to, well, just being injured. Signing Mondesi was a panic move that basically cost the Angels 1.1 million and netted them a guy who has the same first name as the guy who played Gomez Addams in the The Addams Family movie. They could've signed Raul Rekow, who plays the congas for Santana, and gotten the same production. Mondesi should've sang like the little piggy and just stayed wee-wee-wee all the way home in the Dominican Republic.
It's a Bird! It's a Tornado! No! It's a Fantasy Halo!
John Lackey gets the Halo for Week 14. Check this out: 2-0, 2.84 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 10 K. That's pretty solid on a team with a starter ERA of 4.92 that gives up 1.3 HR per 9 innings. Other than Washburn, he's the only Halo starter with an ERA under 4 over the last month. It's his first fantasy halo of the year. How does he stack up halowise with the rest of the team? The totals are at Inside the Halo (insidethehalo.blogspot.com). As far as June goes, Vlad gets the Golden Halo for the month with this line: .336, 7 HR, 30 RBI (!), 21 R, and 5 SB. Is it any wonder he's right in the running for the Triple Crown? 3rd in AVG (.345), 6th in HR (6 back of Manny's 26), 2nd in RBI (one back of Ortiz's 78).
QTR: The Climate Report
The Quarterly Ticker Report is up at Inside the Halo in case you haven't checked it out yet (and if you haven't, what in the world have you been doing?). It's more of a climate report, looking at broader trends of the direction your fantasy Halo players have been going and what you can expect in the future. Hope you find it helpful. Second half starts tomorrow and I'll be spanning the nation of games with my newly installed toy. Thank you, God, for satellite television. Four against the BoSox next. Being my least favorite team in all of baseball, I'd love to see nothing less than a Halo sweep. Lowe seems like a good Sock to start whitewashing. Happy 2nd half to all, especially us Halo fans. For the Angels, Matt Allen--ESPN.
