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Living in a post-Teixeira world
December 22nd, 2008, 9:38 am · 21 Comments · posted by Earl Bloom, staff writer
There is a lot of youth on the Angels’ 40-man roster, which currently has 39 names. A nice chunk of that 
youth now figures to open the season in Anaheim.
Thankfully for the Angels at least, the season doesn’t open tomorrow — it’s too cold to play night games anyway, and outfielders Vladimir Guerrero and Gary Matthews Jr. are coming off surgeries.
Plenty of names are still in play via free agency or trades, and the Angels will likely still make a move or two before reporting to Tempe.
But until another first baseman surfaces, Kendry Morales (at right) is it. He has been the Angels’ fallback position there since the day of the Mark Teixeira acquisition from the Braves. It is pointless for Morales, now tearing up the Dominican winter league, to spend another minute in Triple-A.
The expectation here is, barring a poor spring, Brandon Wood will be across the diamond from Morales at third base. It’s past time for the Angels to run him out there for 150 major-league games and see what they really have. It took the Phillies two full years to figure out Mike Schmidt.
Wood at third would move Chone Figgins to left field. Garret Anderson is a free agent and like Teixeira a Scott Boras client. Juan Rivera, re-signed last week for three years, $12.75 million, figures to be in a right field/DH rotation with Guerrero for the outset. Matthews, who will probably miss the beginning of spring training after knee surgery, figures to get a shot to recapture a fulltime job so Rivera will eventually be shifted to left — making Figgins a supersub again.
Reggie Willits is still around. Maybe Terry Evans gets into the mix at the corner outfield spots.
Torii Hunter is solid in center field. At $17 million, he’s also in the heart of the order for now.
Up the middle defensively, the Angels have the usual cast: Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis catching, Erick Aybar and Maicer Izturis at shortstop, Howie Kendrick at second, and Sean Rodriguez pushing for time at either middle infield spot.
Here’s a first-guess look at the lineup, using only personnel on hand: Figgins, LF; Kendrick 2B; Guerrero, RF/DH; Hunter, CF; Morales, 1B; Rivera, DH/RF; Napoli, C; Wood, 3B; Aybar, SS.
Starting pitchers John Lackey, Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders and Jered Weaver (below right) 
are the crown jewels of the franchise.
There is a 14-victory hole at the back of the rotation with Jon Garland a free agent unlikely to return. Kelvim Escobar is expected back by summer but the expectation is he goes to the bullpen. Worst-case scenario: Dustin Moseley and a slew of Angels prospects compete for the No. 5 spot.
The bullpen is missing its 62-save closer, Francisco Rodriguez. The cast that set him up returns intact, however, with Scot Shields or Jose Arredondo expected to be promoted to closer barring an outside hire. Valuable left-hander Darren Oliver returns after a brief free-agent foray, and the Angels hope Justin Speier can rebound from a tough season. There is organizational depth here, too.
So what we have here is a 100-victory team missing some key components: Rodriguez, Teixeira/Casey Kotchman at first, Anderson in left or DH, Garland in the rotation. It’s shy on left-handed power, and there are a lot of questions that need to be answered.
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Earl, I would rather have a vacant hole at third base than play Brandon Wood every day over Chone Figgins.
Figgins is the third baseman. And a good one at that.
Get over it!
If Brandon Wood plays third, Figgins will be traded, not a “super sub” - afterall, Izturis can play third just as well with Aybar at short. Figgins has proved he deserves a full-time role and will certainly push for that. I cannot see him in left at this point - we already have more outfielders than we need(unless we trade Reggie).
can’t get along on $20mill a year? got have $25. what a shame.
Bow out of the Teixeira negotiation and lower the price of tickets.
Go with what we have. Bring in T. Hoffman for a year to give Arredondo a full year as set up man. Let’s see what these kids can do, our division is not that tough.
Spend the money you were considering for Teixeira on a good hitting outfielder and catcher, and solid relief turn starting pitcher.
Isn’t it time to try and trade Figgins? All I ever hear is how the White Sox like him or some other team does. He’d be a waste as a super sub. Get someone of decent value for him. I want Brandon Wood playing already. We have plenty of outfield/DH players. If Figgins is a super sub it won’t be like he plays every day so he can’t be the leadoff hiter. Besides, he kind of dropped off this year on his hitting. If he could hit like in 2007 I’d say keep him. Now I say get what we can get. Brandon Wood and Kendry Morales playing every day could add a lot of power to this lineup. But give them a chance. No attacks because it takes Brandon two weeks to get his swing going. I can guarantee that will happen. But then he’ll come around.
“Spend the money you were considering for Teixeira on a good hitting outfielder and catcher, and solid relief turn starting pitcher.”
We have plenty of outfielders already. The Angels might have blown it re-signing Juan Rivera last week. Did they think Teix was theirs? I like Juan but that means the Angels really don’t have the room for another outfielder. Remember, it’s a 25 man roster.
“Spend the money you were considering for Teixeira on a good hitting outfielder and catcher, and solid relief turn starting pitcher.”
I agree with you about the outfield Brian that we do not need one like Stephen pointed out but lest we forget we also do NOT need a catcher. I know that No-Hit Mathis plays quite a bit but it’s kind of hard to say we need a good hitting catcher when Napoli hit 20 homeruns in limited time.
I still think that the trade for Teixeira was worth it. Morales has a chance to be better than Kotchman with the everyday job. Not saying he will be, but the fact that it is worthy of a debate shows that a player was tradeable last season.
The fact of the matter is that Kotchman would’ve left in a few years anyway because he wasn’t happy in Anaheim with Scioscia. This was apparent when he got traded and said he “looked for forward to playing for Bobby Cox”……..not the Braves, but Bobby Cox. That was a shot over the bow.
Anyway, I still would’ve done the trade - Morales is going to be better offensively than Kotch and will improve defensively.
I expect Napoli to get 400 - 500 AB’s this year, mostly from the catcher position. He distanced himself from Mathis in the last month of the season and in the playoffs. Mathis started in game 2 because he caught Santana better this last year and look what happened - a four spot in the first! Napoli is the starting catcher for sure and as long as he performs, Mathis is a backup at best.
The only way I’d introduce another outfielder is if it was someone like Jermaine Dye. Additionally, you can always trade Willits if getting another outfielder makes sense. Matthews will ride the pine if he doesn’t perform this year and traded before 2010, with us eating a big chunk of his HGH-induced contract.
Teix quietly puts up good numbers, but he doesn’t impact a game the way the elite hitters do. The numbers support this, and I’m glad they didn’t over pay for him. The real problem with the team is Scoscia’s inability to put his best team on the field, a slap hitting 3rd baseman, and impatient hitters up and down the lineup.
Dump Willits and Quinlan, use Speier in blowouts only, and if Matthews goes 2 months and is still hitting .220, release him.
those of you who want Chone FIggins as the starting third baseman over Brandon Wood are probably the same people who think there’s nothing wrong with the Angels offensive philosophy and that they don’t need anymore home run hitters.
trade Figgins while is value is semi-high, get a starting pitcher, and let Brandon Wood get his 500-600 ABs this year. Guaranteed, he’ll hit 25+ HRs and be a leader for RoY.
Wood needs to play every day and Figgins needs o be traded. The team has no power and Figgins’ one home run and 22 rbi’s last year was a big reason. Also, at this point in his career, Figgins’ speed numbers have been declining. His stolen bases have been down for the third year in a row and his caught stealing % is getting worse. Time for a change
Mark Teixeira must like losing? Going from the Rangers as a losing team then having a chance to play for the Angels in the Playoffs then wanting to go the Nationals??
Teixeira can go to the Nationals and loss a 100 games a year!!!!
Then he can watch the Angels in the World Series!!!!!
Go Angels - we do not need Teixeira to win we have shown that already!!!
Wait a minute…who will leadoff if Figgins is traded or sent to the bench??? No one has addressed that in any of these comments. Believe me, I’d love to put Wood at 3B and see what he can do, but that would mean that:
a) Figgins is moved to 2B and Kendrick is traded,
b) Figgins is moved to LF, or
c) Figgins is moved to the bench and relagated to the super-sub role again
Option a) is unthinkable to a lot of Angels fans, although Kendrick would fetch a lot in a trade. 2B is Figgins most natural position. I prefer this option.
Option b) would work, but Figgins lacks that power that you want to see in a LF. This has been the same concern with Figgins playing 3B. You need some power out of these 2 spots and Figgins doesn’t provide it.
Option c) sounds good, but who bats lead off for us? Aybar cannot do it. His OBP has never been good.
Brandon Wood has to be worked into the lineup, but doing so has ramifications. I trust that Reagins will figure out the best option for the team.
Angles don’t make the playoffs and it all started when they threw GA to the curb. For this stupid move, the deserve what they get.
I’d tell Brandon Wood you are my 3rd baseman. You will play every game this year. Don’t worry about anything. Give this kid his chance. Howie Kedrick is not going anywhere. He is a stud.
The Sox always seem to out pitch us in post season. Go get Peave. Pitching should always be # 1. Hittting is timming, it can come and go. You have to be hot at the right time with hitting. Look at 2002. The Yank’s have bought all the best hitter and they haven’t bought a ring yet ? But Manny sure would be a fun ride for 3 years, good or bad ! Can you imagine Angels against Sox post season with Manny or Angels and Manny against Yank’s and Tex, A-Rod, Jetter and Co. What a ride !!!
The Angels should trade Figgins NOW while he still has value. We should look to get a power hitting third baseman who produces RBI’s (G.Atkins maybe?). Then we could use a combination of Aybar/Wood at short and absorb mediocre numbers from Kendry Morales at first until he hits his stride. Figgins is fun to watch but he is overrated! He makes too many errors, has a terrible OBP for a leadoff hitter, and his speed is diminishing. Trade some of our young prospects for Peavy or someone of his calibre now before mid season when the asking price will only go up!
Possible Line-up:
Aybar/Izturis SS
Kendrick 2B
Vlad RF/DH
Atkins 3B
Hunter CF
Rivera DH/LF
Morales 1B
Napoli/Mathis C
Willits LF/RF
Starting Pitchers:
Lackey
Peavy
Santana
Saunders
Weaver
Bullpen:
Arredondo Closer
Shields
Escobar (When Healthy)
Fuentes (When we sign him)
Oliver