DH HA! WHO NEEDS ONE...

So today is an off-day for the Angels, And I feel compelled to address the issues that have been completely dominating my baseball-oriented thoughts. So here's how I'm going to do this- I've been reading a lot of things on the Angels' site, as well as ESPN, so I'm going to pull from them and respond...


So here's some background on the issue. The Angels have been scrutinized since last trade deadline LAST season (as far as I know... could be even longer than that) for not being more aggressive in trade talks. That followed them into the off-season, where they were also "quiet" on the trading fronts. I remember reading an article on espn.com regarding the clubs and where they stood for the season by the trades they made. The article separated the teams into "winners" and "losers" in terms of trades. The Angels were, of course, placed on the "loser" list and criticized for being passive in acquiring a "big bat."

The media, and the baseball world in general it seems these days, are OBSESSED with this idea of the "big bat." Every team has to have as many A-Rod caliber hitters as they can possibly get. Teams will trade and run up huge payrolls just to get their team stocked up with as many power hitters as possible. It seems in these days with Bonds breaking the home-run record and so much emphasis on each player's batting averages and slugging percentages and home-run counts, that this era of baseball is surrounded around "hitting it out of the park." And for some teams, especially in the AL with the DH position, this is all there is to scoring. Teams like the As and the Yankees and even the Red Sox to some extent, just don't find it necessary to run the bases. It's a station-to-station situation, relying on A-Rod, Jeter, Piazza, Frank Thomas, David Ortiz, etc etc etc on and on and on, to make the offense happen. And if it doesn't happen, blame goes to them for having an off-night, as if they themselves carry the offensive load alone, not the team. And to ensure that doesn't happen, more power hitters have to be added to the lineup as a safety net for those players.

And this has been the criticism of the Angels team for at least the last two years I've been personally watching. The Angels have what every team considers the "DH" in their power bat Vlad Guerrero. However, Guerrero RARELY fills the spot in the lineup actually labelled "DH." Vlad plays. A lot. He pretty much only DHs when they give him a break, ie. last night. However, MOST critics and baseball analysts, the media, and a lot of current baseball fans, claim that the Angels are making a mistake by not having another Guerrero in the lineup. They say that it will be hard for the Angels to be successful without someone to bat behind Guerrero in the lineup - someone who will be reliably hitting balls out of the park.

Here are some examples of what people have been saying. Keep in mind, these first few, came straight from the keyboards of people who claim to be fans of the Angels:

"How could the Angels not make a move at the trade deadline? I know general manager Bill Stoneman is all about the future, but when is that future? I think it's now. We have Vladimir Guerrero, with probably three really great years left in him. We have some young stars and some aging veterans. It is not fair to Vlad to make him carry the power load for the offense, and almost the entire offense, yet again." (angelsbaseball.com, "mailbag: why were no deals made")

First of all, who's to say how many "great years" Guerrero has left in him? That's like me predicting A-Rod breaking Bonds' home run record in 7 years, ha! Only I think mine is even a little more justified than that prediction! Second of all, I don't think it's even remotely fair to say that Vlad is "carrying" the offense. In fact, that's completely absurd. Sure, he has the most RBIs and home runs of anyone on the team. But Matthews Jr. isn't far behind in home runs, and Cabrera really isn't far off in RBIs. In fact, what I find so completely compelling about the Angels is that there is no one person who carries the team. Yeah, Guerrero is deemed by every other person in baseball as the Angels' power hitter. But let's not forget that Guerrero went through a 103 some odd at-bat home run drought, the most in his career. And he doesn't have the best batting average on the team, and there are about six other guys in the everyday lineup that hit at .300 or above. And when he was on that drought, the team STILL made it work. The depth in the lineup is so unique. They have enough runners, enough situational hitters, enough moving about the bases on small ball, that I don't think it fair at all to say Vlad alone carries anything offensively. And it really irritates me to read a comment like that from a "fan" of the team.

"OK, maybe Teixeira was too costly. But why didn't they go get one of those other power hitters who were available? Troy Glaus coming home would have been perfect." (angelsbaseball.com, "mailbag: why were no deals made")

Teixeira was too costly. They expected us to give them Saunders and Kotchman, and another minor league top prospect, just for him. Saunders, as of this point with Santana and Colon out of the starting rotation, is completely INDISPENSIBLE. Without him, no starting rotation. He's 6-0 right now. They need him. End of discussion. And Kotchman, well, just look at the numbers. Both he and Teixeira are first basemen. They have roughly the same hitting stats this season. Had Kotchman not been hit by the throw from the plate by Russel Martin while stealing second against the Dodgers in inter-league play, I believe Kotchman's numbers would've been better than Teixeira's. And Kotchman is 24, incredible defensively, and has many years left to prove himself and continue to improve and season. Troy Glaus is actually a name that I've been reading about in post-waiver things. Espn.com has listed him under one of their "Starting 9" top prospects for post-deadline trade deals. But in reality, with all his injuries and age, Glaus would only be a short term solution to what baseball has labeled a "long-term" problem for the Angel's need for a big bat.

It just intrigues me the attitude of "fans" of the Angels these days. The website has a poll up right now asking about the Angels' decision to not make any moves prior to the deadline. As of right now, 31% feel it was "the right course of action." And that's good that the majority believe in the team they claim to follow, which I think is critical for the success of the team- SUPPORT. But what bothers me is that 20% of voters say it was "definitely a mistake." I really don't see HOW that is a possibility. The Angels are still in first place, and have been seriously a wonder to watch this season. To say it's "definitely" a mistake that the Angels didn't disrupt the chemistry of their team to bring someone in to "save" them, doesn't make sense. I don't think the Angels need "saving" at all. Even when Guerrero's not power hitting, they are STILL running the bases, scoring runs, and winning games. To say that they need saving means that fans don't have faith in the lineup as it is. What does that tell the players? Hey, you guys can't do it on your own, go out and find someone to fill your gaps? The team isn't important because you just need someone to hit it out for you? It's ridiculous, as far as I'm concerned.

Scioscia has made it clear how he intends to manage the team. Scioscia came from the era of small-ball, with a team that did the small-ball thing incredibly well. Focus is put on pitching and defense, and to ensure those things, offense puts a lot of pressure on the other team. The Angels steal bases, they make the pitchers leery of their runners, the force errors. The game is so much more interesting to watch, so much more like an NL team with a DH that never gets really utilized anyway. It seriously really pisses me off that people don't respect this kind of baseball anymore. I blame this on the media for hyping up the home run so much that the actual strategy of the game gets lost as a frivolity.

In Other News:

I found this today, and was quite amused, almost disgusted:


"Mike Piazza, Athletics Piazza has had a tough year -- missing six weeks with a shoulder injury, then getting bonked in the head with a water bottle thrown from the stands in Anaheim. His DH predecessor, Frank Thomas, had a lot more positive experience by the Bay.
But Piazza's bat is heating up, and the Athletics, 13 games out in the American League West, have no compelling reason to keep him as his one-year contract nears completion.
The Angels have been mentioned as a possibility for Piazza, and they make sense given that their designated hitters rank 13th in the league with a .664 on base-slugging percentage. General manager Bill Stoneman might be waiting to see how Juan Rivera's comeback progresses before he nibbles on Piazza.
Chance of moving: 90 percent " (espn.com, "Conine, among others, could be involved in waiver deals")

After getting "bonked" in the head at the Big A, why the hell would Piazza want to be there???

Not to mention, we don't need him, and not just for Juan Rivera. Because he's old, he's only hit 3 home runs this season, and his numbers aren't that great in general.

My favorite part of this stupid argument is that they actually pulled in the stats for the Angel's designated hitter. Do they not realize the Angels don't have one??? I mean, for God's sake, REGGIE WILLITS has been in the DH as much as anyone. YEAH, REAL POWER HITTER. The only thing they've used the DH for this season is to cycle in players because they can't have GA and Reggie and Matthews and Guerrero and every other player on the field at the same time every game. It's used as a space filler. Point being, those stats are so ridiculously irrelevant that they really aren't even worth using. And the fact that they threw that in there just shows how little they get the Angels game.

DH, pshh....