Angels Baseball Talk

Today in an article printed in the The Los Angeles Times, Angels baseball owner Arte Moreno basically said that if the Anaheim Angels cannot pick up free agent Mark Teixera that he would be interested in signing Manny Ramirez...

Personally this is where I think Manny Ramirez will end up... playing for the Anaheim Angels. It's estimated that whoever ends up signing Mark Teixera will end up paying somewhere in the $200 million dollar range over several years and as committed as the Angels are to winning i think team like the Yankees, Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles will all be willing to throw a little more money at him.

Arte Moreno is a good, smart owner and I don't think he's looking to sign someone to an Arod like contract and that's what Mark Teixera is going to get with Scott Boras working for him. Mark Teixera is one of the great young hitters in the game but I saw himtaking too many walks in the post-season for someone who's asking for a $20 mil a year contract. At 20 Mil a year you better be hitting the ball out of the park come playoff time and not looking for walks and basehits. That's what the other guys do so that they can get you to the plate!

By contrast Manny Ramirez was driving the ball over the park for the Dodgers this past season and he would only cost the Anaheim Angels about $100 million or half of what Teixera is probably looking for. And we already know that Manny Ramirez likes it here in Southern California.

Can you imagine Vlad Guerrero and Manny Ramirez hitting back to back?

Despite all of that the Angels have openly stated that their primary goals this off-season were to resign Mark Teixera and sign pitcher C.C. Sabathia... and that's why it's nice being an Anaheim Angels baseball fan.

Frankie Rodriguez Not Coming Back?

Frankie Rodriguez who is looking for a 4-5 year contract at $15 million a year probably won't be coming back to Angels baseball if the numbers on the contract he's looking for don't change.

That's a good decision. You don't pay a closer that much money especially one that pitched as much as Rodriguez did last season and one that couldn't win the big games in the playoffs when it counted.

Anaheim Angels Player Option

The Angels picked up the club options of John Lackey and Vlad Guerrero but did not pick up the option of Garret Anderson. The Angels said they were open to resigning Garret Anderson but not at his current salary and with their cluttered outfield. Right now the Angels have signed through next year: Vlad Guerrero, Torii Hunter, Gary Matthews and Reggie Willits in the outfield and with Vladdy probably needing more and more time in the DH spot.

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It took the Anaheim Angels Baseball Team only a few hours to waste what they had literally worked 162 games for. The home field advantage is gone for Angels Baseball and now they're throwing a guy who's never I think started a game in the playoffs in Ervin Santana but who is also lights out at home.

It's gut check time for this Angels offense tonight because you're going up against a good pitcher who is in fact good but he is hittable. I'm talking about Daisuke Matsuzaka of course. Yeah you have to beat this guy tonight because game 3 is in Boston and you'll be going against Josh Beckett who's literally been pitching in playoff and world series games since he was like 20...

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The Anaheim Angels were 1 for 9 with men in scoring position in game one and frankly that can't continue and it seemed like the only guys hitting on Wednesday night were Angels newcomers like Torii Hunter and Mark Teixera. Angel vets like Garret Anderson and particularly Vlad Guerrero have to come through and I think they will.

The Angels will have to be patient tonight because Matsuzaka throws a lot of bad pitches and the Angels have a tendency to lose their patience and start swinging at pitches. I think that's where Mark Teixera has had the biggest impact on the team... this guys always patient and he's always waiting for the right pitch to drive. Vlad Guerrero needs to take advantage of that and start working counts himself.

The Anaheim Angels are on the verge of becoming just another team that was lights out during the regular season only to flop in the payoffs... Game starts at 6:30 tonight.

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LA Angels Starting Pitcher Ervin Santana is returning to the form that has made him an enigma of the LA Angels starting rotation the past few seasons...

Ervin Santana started the first 7 games of the season going 6-0 with a 2.02 ERA but has fallen off track lately going 0-2 with a 6.62 ERA in his last 3 games!

It's no secret that Ervin Santana has absolutely electric stuff but he seems to be lacking the mental strength to bounce back from bad outings and bad innings and even more important is the fact that he's incredibly inconsistent!

Ervin Santana goes tonight and if anybody needs a good, quality start it's him.

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Kelvim Escobar hasn't pitched all season due to shoulder problems and he stated this weekend that surgery is out of the question and that he plans on returning this season probably after the All-Star break in any facet the Los Angeles Angels would need him in.

Kelvim Escobar shared the role of staff ace with John Lackey last year but I think this year he could probably help the La Angels much more in the bullpen...

The LA Angels need some quality and depth in the bullpen and Kelvim Escobar has experience as a closer and actually pitched out of the pen a couple of seasons ago...

Los Angeles Angels Ace John Lackey who finished third in Cy Young voting last year will make his 2008 season debut tonight... John Lackey missed the first 6 weeks of the season recovering from a triceps strain.

John Lackey returns to an already strong rotation that is being led by young starters that are off to hot starts in Joe Saunders who is 6-1 with a 2.48 ERA and Ervin Santana who is 6-0 and has a 2.63 ERA.

Rounding out the rotation is off-season acquisition Jon Garland (4-3 with a 4.30 ERA) and Jered Weaver who's off to a bit of a slow start this season with a 2-5 record and a 5.59 ERA.

I don't know what's up with Kelvim Escobar who won 18 games last season... Kelvim Escobar has a tear in his labrum and is strengthening his shoulder with workouts... surgery to repair the tear would require 10 months of recovery time and it's unknown if he would be able to come back from it... so like I said he's strengthening his shoulder with workouts.

Nick Adenhart, the Los Angeles Angels top pitching prospect, got his first win the other night and then the Angels sent him back down to Triple-A.

Nick Adenhart may have gotten his first win but he's not ready for the big leagues yet as exhibited by his 9.00 ERA. You may as well credit the Angels offense with that win...

Prior to his start today, Joe Saunders had gone 8 innings in 3 of his last 4 starts and today he went 6 innings and gave up 3 earned runs against the Boston Red Sox to earn his 4th victory (4-0) of the year and he also has a stellar era of 2.55!

What you may not know is that Joe Saunders is now 3-0 against the Boston Red Sox!

Prior to today he was 2-0 with a 3.46 era against the Red Sox BUT have the Los Angeles Angels found a pitcher they can rely on against the Red Sox in the post-season?

Remember what happened to John Lackey last year against the Red Sox in the playoffs? In case you forgot he fell apart...

Is this the year Joe Saunders takes it to the next level?

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And don't look now but Ervin Santana is 3-0 with a 2.67 era and here's the best part: he has 22 strike outs versus 6 walks in 27 innings pitched...

Will this be Ervin Santana's breakout year?

Ervin Santana goes tomorrow against the Detroit Tiger's Nate Roberson...