Los Angeles Angels: A Bleak Preview for the Starting Rotation
By Evan Lovett
Despite having the best player in baseball in Mike Trout, the Los Angeles Angels still need a lot of improvement, stemming from the pitching staff.
The Los Angeles Angels head into the 2017 on the heels of a 74-win season, the lowest in manager Mike Scioscia’s 17 years. After frittering away money on bloated contracts – Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols come to mind – and wasting draft picks, owner Arte Moreno needs more than lower beer prices and a sleight-of-hand name change to provide optimism in any Angels preview this year.
There is always Mike Trout to draw people to Angel Stadium. The how-is-he-only-25-years-old phenomenon is a no doubt first ballot Hall of Famer. There is also the aging Pujols, in case anybody wants to see what a broken down, surly, aging former superstar looks like before his enshrinement in Cooperstown.
The Angels also have a nice piece in Kole Calhoun to complement defensive whiz Andrelton Simmons and newly acquired Danny Espinosa and Cameron Maybin, but those players are all complementary pieces.
On a team without much of an offensive identity, the Angels pitching rotation needs to outperform their numbers, and surpass expectations. With former ace Garrett Richards hopefully returning to form and innings-eater Matt Shoemaker bouncing back from a scary injury, its difficult to see pitching carrying this club.
The projected rotation combined to throw only 442 innings last year, posting an aggregate 4.03 ERA. Each starter is battling or returning from injury problems.
There are a few interesting prospects awaiting their turn in the rotation, but it does not look like there is enough excitement on the mound to prevent Scioscia from turning to the equally uninspiring bullpen repeatedly as the Los Angeles Angels fan base suffers through another long season.