Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – June 8, 2014

USATSI

It is time for The Sunday Request on The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.

@sullybaseball Hey…How did neither the Red Sox nor the Yankees get Kendrys Morales?

— Michael Shure (@michaelshure) June 7, 2014

What kind of a world are we living in? The Red Sox and Yankees used to gobble up all the free agents. Now they are letting ones they need slip away!

 

Shelby Miller, Kyle Gibson, Hunter Pence, Salvador Perez, Ervin Santana, Mark Buehrle, Coco Crisp and Pedro Alvarez  all added to their totals for Who Owns Baseball

I’m standing by my pick of the Angels

Back in March, I picked the California Angels (yes, I still call them that) to win not only the American League West but also make it all the way to the World Series.

I thought they had the best pitching to win the West. I thought the weight of Toronto being taken off Vernon Wells’ shoulders would have led to a resurgence in his bat. And with Kendry Morales due back at mid season, they would get a nice jolt.

And I also figured in a short playoff series, the combination of Jered Weaver, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana would have them win both the Division Series and the ALCS.

Well that pick looks… well… not so good now.
But unlike my out of the blue picking of Oakland in 2009, I am standing by my pick.

Yes their offense is awful. They keep grounding into double plays and they’ve been shutout as many time this year as they had all last year.

Morales isn’t coming back, Wells has been a total bust and here we are in Mid June with the Angels 5 games under .500.

But here’s the thing. There is talent in the lineup. Mark Trumbo has shown some pop, Howie Kendrick is a decent hitter and Torii Hunter, Bobby Abreu and Maicer Izturis all have ability. They are in a funk.

Hitting is easier to fix than pitching, and this Angels team CAN pitch. Weaver and Haren are still pitching well, even if their win loss record doesn’t reflect it. Young Jordan Walden has stepped into the closer role.

The Angels need to make a move and they need to make it sooner rather than later.

If they could bring in a player to give the team an offensive spark, the effect could be felt up and down the line up.

Imagine a player like Carlos Beltran plugged into the lineup. Remove him from the purgatory of Flushing and have him play in an outfield with Torii Hunter and Peter Bourjos (would there be a better defensive outfield in the game?)

And having him go on one last contract run could mean the likes of Abreu and Hunter and Trumbo could see more fastballs.

And also remember the Angels are only 5 games back of the Rangers with about 2/3 of the season to play. AND the Rangers always have a tough time of it in August.

(Even last year, the Rangers had a losing August. They just had such a big lead that none of the other AL West teams could take advantage of it.)

Give this lineup a new spark and the Angels could start scoring more runs and getting on a roll. Just take a look at the Red Sox to see how quickly things can turn around for a talented club.

But Arte Moreno and the management have to make a deal involving some prospects too.

Last year they made the right move, realizing that they got the best of what they could out of Joe Saunders and packaged him off for Dan Haren.

In the past the Angels have held on to players long before they have any worth in the majors or as trade bait.

(Dallas McPherson? Robb Quinlan? Brandon Wood?)

Bring Beltran to Anaheim and see the line up click.
Then see that 5 game deficit crumble.
Then see one of my picks look pretty good.

Yup. I’m standing by my pick.

The steroid era is ending… so hopefully is the excessive celebration era

With pitching dominating and home run totals getting back to normal, we are seeing baseball finally getting out of the steroid era.

And thanks to Kendry Morales and Chris Coghlan we might be saying good bye to an era of stupid celebrations.

Look, I am not against having fun or even a fun spontaneous celebration. But I am glad to see home run celebrations muted a little after Kendry Morales put his career in peril due to a walk off homer leap.

And with the Angels offense sputtering, you think they could use his bat these days?

Not every game ending shot should be treated the same as Joe Carter’s homer.

And I wouldn’t mind seeing people celebrate things like walk off homers a smidge more sincerely.

Wouldn’t it be more interesting to see the players celebrate based on what they would actually do instead of a carefully choreographed dance.

I want to see ball players thrilled at winning on the last swing of the bat, not Riverdance.

The only thing that Morales can take comfort in this year is that Chris Coghlan found a stupider injury in a post game celebration.

He wasn’t even the hero of the game. He was trying to shove a cream pie in the face of Wes Helms. And somehow he busted his knee.

I don’t even know how that is possible.
Did he have the pie on his knee?

But this is a recent tradition that I can do without. The pie in the face may have been funny once or twice, but like the bucket of Gatorade on the winning coach, it has become such a cliche that it is a joyless obligation rather than a fun ritual.

And Heaven forbid a guy be interviewed with a little dignity after getting the game winning hit. I would have love to see these guys pull that on Eddie Murray or Kirk Gibson after a game winning hit.

Or if you are going to do something… be original. The Keystone Cops thought pies in the face were hack.

But something just hit me… the steroid era is ending and dudes are getting hurt celebrating?

Maybe they are getting hurt because they are no longer juiced.

Better not try a forearm bash!