Random Angels Thoughts and Rumblings

[Providence A's]

ugh, 2 more games until that final 4 game series...2 more wins, 2 more losses, or 1 win and 1 loss and that series will be meaningless.

[DirtyKash]

What's the deal with Vladimir Guerrero being so good when he plays the Rangers? I mean, Guerrero is very good, that's clear, but he's at another level when he plays Texas. In like close to 60 career games against them, he has at least a hit in all but 2 of those games, and is hitting like .435 lifetime vs. Texas with 20 HR. In 60 games!!! Just ridiculous.

[DirtyKash]

Mmm...3 games left in Tim Salmon's career and he's at 299 homeruns.

[riverdunesrat]

Mmm...3 games left in Tim Salmon's career and he's at 299 homeruns.

Yeah been hoping he'd hit the milestone before he retires.....

[realmofotalk]

The Rangers are not exactly the model for good pitching.

[redsrbetter]

Yeah been hoping he'd hit the milestone before he retires.....

I am not sure, did he get to 300? That would be a tough break to miss out on just one HR. I could see him sitting at home as a retired ballplayer cursing the likes of a Torri Hunter or Gary Mathews Jr. for robbing a HR from him. Man, that would suck.

[riverdunesrat]

Yeah he hit 299, one shy. Reminds me of Andres Galarraga, the Big Cat, was also one shy with 399, or the flick Mr.3000.

[riverdunesrat]

Angels Notes

[DravenX]

Free agent Darin Erstad is receiving interest from the Rockies, the Orioles and Devil Rays.
Erstad would play center in Colorado and first in Baltimore or Tampa Bay. He'd prefer to stay with the Angels, but it doesn't look like they're interested in making an offer until he proves he's recovered from ankle surgery.

Source: FOXSports.com

The Red Sox have expressed some interest in Brendan Donnelly, who is due somewhere around $2 million in arbitration.
The Angels are open to moving Donnelly for a solid prospect. If they end up trading him, they could use the money freed up by the deal to bring in left-hander Arthur Rhodes.

The Angels aren't willing to give up Joe Saunders in return for Arizona's Chad Tracy, according to the Los Angeles Times.
If GM Bill Stoneman is going to be that stingy, it seems unlikely he'll get the bat owner Arte Moreno is said to want. Saunders doesn't have much more than No. 4-starter potential, so Tracy would be a perfectly fair return.

The Braves are holding out for Scot Shields in an Adam LaRoche trade, likely killing the potential for a deal.
The Angels may have been willing to deal both Chone Figgins and Casey Kotchamn for LaRoche, but they're not parting with Shields for anything less than a star in return. If LaRoche isn't an option, the Angels could move on to free agent Shea Hillenbrand.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Latest from 5 December.

[riverdunesrat]

Angels notes

Thank God the Angels have finally put this trading our pitchers nonsense to rest. But, can they stick to their word?

"The one thing the teams that came after us, they wanted pitching; we have quality pitching," Stoneman said. "The No. 1 thing a club has to protect is pitching to win consistently."

The names Scot Shields and Ervin Santana were tossed around so much it was if the Angels had posted billboards in the hotel lobby. But the truth in advertising is the success they have generated on the field and the Angels didn't have to tell anybody.

They weren't shopping these guys. Nor had they any realistic intentions of moving Francisco Rodriguez, Jered Weaver or Joe Saunders, but any discussion that involved one of their pitchers didn't get very far and the Angels had difficulty generating interest in their position players.

[DravenX]

Vladimir Guerrero said the aching right knee that bothered him last season feels better and won't require surgery.
"They were going to operate on me, but it wasn't necessary because I had a good recovery," he said. Both knees bothered Guerrero at times last season, and he's probably going to have many more day-to-day injuries in his future. That both he and Garret Anderson will need rest on occasion is a big reason the Angels have displayed little interest in bringing in a full-time DH these last two offseasons.

Source: RotoWorld

[DravenX]

Angels designated RHP Chris Bootcheck for assignment.
The Angels dumped Bobby Jenks, Derrick Turnbow, Matt Wise and Joel Peralta, among others, yet somehow Bootcheck had remained on the 40-man since 2003. His ERA at Triple-A Salt Lake got worse every year, peaking at 6.72 ERA last season, and he was 0-3 with a 6.86 ERA in three starts and 13 relief appearances in the majors. We'd be stunned if some team claimed him off waivers.

Angels invited OF Curtis Pride, RHP Nick Adenhart, RHP Ryan Aldridge, RHP Nick Green, RHP Marcus Gwyn, RHP Matt Hensley, RHP Tommy Mendoza, RHP Robert Mosebach, RHP Casey Olenberger, RHP Alex Serrano, RHP Matt Wilhite, C Tim Duff, C Brent Del Chiaro, C Ben Johnson, C Flint Wipke, INF Mike Eylward, SS Sean Rodriguez, INF Casey Smith, INF Hanley Statia, SS Brandon Wood, OF Nathan Haynes and OF Aaron Peel to spring training.
Pride, 38, has spend parts of the last three seasons with the Angels and went 6-for-27 with a homer last season. With Juan Rivera expected to miss the beginning of the season, there's a slight chance Pride will land a bench spot. No one else here has a chance of making the team, though Adenhart and Wood are two of the game's better prospects.

Source: RotoWorld

[DravenX]

The Rockies moved on to Alexis Gomez after being led to believe that free agent Darin Erstad would sign elsewhere.
No word yet on where, but the Rays were interested and Anaheim remains an option for the 32-year-old. It remains uncertain just how much Erstad's ankle will allow him to play this season.

Free agent Darin Erstad began running on flat ground three weeks ago and will resume taking batting practice on Monday.
Erstad is confident that he'll be able to play fairly regularly this year following surgery to repair a torn ligament in his ankle. "I believe in my heart I can do that," Erstad said of a potential return to center. "I'm cautiously optimistic. There's still some stuff I need to do to get back to full strength, but I'm happy with the way it's going. It's nice to know this isn't a career-threatening thing." Erstad's best chance at regular playing time appeared to be with the Rockies before Willy Taveras was acquired. There's still interest in him from teams like Oakland, Seattle and Tampa Bay, but he'll have to battle for at-bats.

Source: RotoWorld

[DravenX]

Angels sent RHP Chris Bootcheck outright to Triple-A Salt Lake.
Even with all of the success relievers have had after being cut by the Angels, no one opted to claim Bootcheck off waivers. He'll report to camp as a non-roster player.

Kendry Morales will have X-rays on Thursday after experiencing a sore left knee while taking part in the DWL playoffs.
Morales sat out Wednesday's game for Cibao, but he hopes to be back before the end of the postseason. "For the moment we think that he has a small tear in the left lateral ligament, which is a day-to-day injury," said Rosario Antomarchi, Cibao's team doctor.

Source: RotoWorld

[DravenX]

Angels GM Bill Stoneman said he has begun negotiations with the agents for Francisco Rodriguez and Scot Shields in hopes of signing them to multiyear deals.
Both relievers have two years of arbitration left and are then eligible for free agency after 2008. Rodriguez will, of course, be the more costly of the two to lock up. However, Shields doesn't figure to settle cheap just because he's a setup man. There would be several teams out there willing to pay him big bucks to close.

The broken bone Juan Rivera suffered in his left leg on Dec. 22 could sideline him "anywhere from three to eight months," GM Bill Stoneman said.
"With these sorts of things, they have to X-ray the bone every few weeks and see how he's feeling before they can get a better read on it," Stoneman said of Rivera, who underwent Dec. 27 surgery to have a rod and screws inserted in his tibia. "The process is just beginning." The Angels would probably consider themselves pretty fortunate if Rivera returned in June. It's highly unlikely that he'll be available to DH on Opening Day.

Bartolo Colon has successfully completed the first two phases of his rehabilitation from a rotator cuff tear and is scheduled to begin throwing in Arizona this week.
USA TODAY reported that Colon could be sidelined until August, but there's no indication what they were basing that on. The Angels haven't ruled out having him on Opening Day. We're guessing that he'll be back at some point during May, but that he'll still be well short of 100 percent. He might not be an above average starter at any time during 2007.

Source: RotoWorld