2010 Team Preview: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Dean Chance won the 1964 AL Cy Young Award, leading the league in ERA and innings pitched.
We’ll kick off our 2010 MLB team previews with the squad that eliminated the Red Sox from the ALDS last season. The Angels have formed a solid rivalry with the Sox in the last decade, complete with playoff drama and beanball wars. While they still seem to garner the whole “scrappy/small-ball” image from the media, the Angels won 97 games last year primarily on the strength of their offense, as they were 2nd in the American League in runs scored.
Additions: DH Hideki Matsui, SP Joel Pineiro, RP Fernando Rodney, RP Brian Stokes
Departures: SP John Lackey, 3B Chone Figgins, OF Vlad Guerrero, SP Kelvim Escobar, RP Darren Oliver, OF Gary Matthews Jr.
Obviously, the offseason hasn’t been very kind to these poor scrappy Angels. Their best pitcher, their most valuable position player, and their most popular veteran all left via free agency. Hideki Matsui might be a marginal improvement over Guerrero at the plate, but the losses of Lackey and Figgins will be a little more difficult to fill.
Before I list the projected starters, keep in mind that this batting order is how I’d write it if I were managing the team (in other words, don’t read too much into the batting order).
Starters:
| Name | Offense | Fielding | |
| RF | Bobby Abreu | 7.5 | 2.0 |
| 2B | Howie Kendrick | 8.5 | 7.0 |
| 1B | Kendry Morales | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| DH | Hideki Matsui | 7.0 | |
| CF | Torii Hunter | 8.5 | 5.0 |
| C | Mike Napoli | 8.0 | |
| LF | Juan Rivera | 6.5 | 6.0 |
| 3B | Brandon Wood | 6.0 | 7.0 |
| SS | Erick Aybar | 8.0 | 8.0 |
Bench:
| Name | Offense | Fielding | |
| INF | Macier Izturis | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| C | Jeff Mathis | 6.0 | |
| COF | Reggie Willits | 6.0 | 4.0 |
| CIF | Freddy Sandoval | 5.0 | 7.0 |
One of the assumptions I’m making is a breakthrough year from Howie Kendrick, a guy who has the makings of a batting champion but hasn’t taken the leap yet. I’m expecting slight regressions from Kendry Morales and Juan Rivera. It’s difficult to say this with any certainty before I’ve run the other projections, but I think the Angels’ bench is among the strongest in the American League, with Izturis and Mathis being guys who could start on a lot of MLB teams.
Rotation:
| Name | Pitching | |
| SP1 | Jered Weaver | 7.5 |
| SP2 | Scott Kazmir | 8.0 |
| SP3 | Ervin Santana | 6.5 |
| SP4 | Joe Saunders | 6.0 |
| SP5 | Joel Pineiro | 5.0 |
Bullpen:
| Name | Pitching | |
| MR | Scott Shields | 7.0 |
| MR | Kevin Jepsen | 5.5 |
| MR | Jason Bulger | 7.5 |
| MR | Brian Stokes | 6.5 |
| MR | Rich Thompson | 4.5 |
| MR | Fernando Rodney | 7.5 |
| CL | Brian Fuentes | 7.0 |
I feel that substituting Joel Pineiro for John Lackey is a massive, massive downgrade that will really hurt the Angels’ efforts to prevent runs from scoring. Their bullpen will improve a little with the additions for Rodney and Stokes, but it still lacks depth.
The Angels are enjoying a 3-year streak of winning their division championship. A four-peat will not come easy in 2010.
Team Score: 6.85
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