Early Baseball Observations
- Thread starter AC Transit
- Start date
That's an example. They are not CLEARLY the favorite in the AL West.
They have horrible pitching, and the bad D in the outfield is only going to make the number of runs they allow go up even more. They have a strong offense, but whether or not it's strong enough to make up for the bad pitching and defensive problems remains to be seen.
The Rangers also have bad pitching and a strong offense, and the A's have decent pitching, the best bullpen in the West and capable hitters up and down the lineup. The Mariners have bad pitching but their offense has upgraded... There is no CLEAR favorite.
They have horrible pitching, and the bad D in the outfield is only going to make the number of runs they allow go up even more. They have a strong offense, but whether or not it's strong enough to make up for the bad pitching and defensive problems remains to be seen.
The Rangers also have bad pitching and a strong offense, and the A's have decent pitching, the best bullpen in the West and capable hitters up and down the lineup. The Mariners have bad pitching but their offense has upgraded... There is no CLEAR favorite.
I guess you haven't been paying attention to the Angels for the last 7 years or so. Our formula is horrible starting pitching, but with a good offense and one of the best bullpens. Nothing's changed this season. Texas' starting pitching and bullpen will be worse than ours, Seattle's starting pitching and bullpen will be worse than ours, and although Oakland's bullpen and starting pitching will be about even with ours, their offense will be much worse. We beat approximately the same Texas team by 3 games last season, and beat a much better Oakland team by 1. How are the Angels not the favorite?
Edit - Smashed on Texas 9-3. 5-3 and still on top.
Edit #2 - Spoke too soon. That was only after 6. Now it's 11-3 :devious:
Edit - Smashed on Texas 9-3. 5-3 and still on top.
Edit #2 - Spoke too soon. That was only after 6. Now it's 11-3 :devious:
hahaha @ calling that a formula.
Look at the Angels bullpen:
F. Rodriguez
B. Donnelly
S. Shields
E. Yan
J. Woods
C. Bootcheck
You call that one of the best bullpens? That bullpen is fucking terrible. K-Rod is the only good pitcher there, everyone else is garbage. (By the way, you did speak too soon. The Angels gave up 8 runs.)
The Angels have given up more runs than the A's and the Mariners.
A's Bullpen: 1.30 ERA (2nd in MLB)
Angels Bullpen: 3.86
The A's bullpen was HORRIBLE last year. They blew 28 games. 28. A couple less and they would have won the West. This year, it is 100% improved. As far as offense, they've replaced Damian Miller with Jason Kendall, Mark McLemore with Keith Ginter/Mark Ellis, Crosby is coming off a ROY season and will only improve, Charles Thomas can platoon w/Byrnes when he's struggling, and Dye was so bad last year that Swisher would have a hard time being worse, even as a rookie. Their offense has improved. Yeah, Hudson is gone, and so is Mulder but he sucked anyway. His win/loss record is an illusion, he had a huge amount of run support, he was completely garbage in the second half... So you're telling me that with improvements offensively, and a HUGE improvement in the bullpen, the A's are worse this year? You're kidding.
The division is too close for there to be a "clear favorite." The only people who think the Angels are a "clear favorite" are the ones too ignorant to see past The Big 3 being broken up and to see what's really happened in Oakland.
Look at the Angels bullpen:
F. Rodriguez
B. Donnelly
S. Shields
E. Yan
J. Woods
C. Bootcheck
You call that one of the best bullpens? That bullpen is fucking terrible. K-Rod is the only good pitcher there, everyone else is garbage. (By the way, you did speak too soon. The Angels gave up 8 runs.)
The Angels have given up more runs than the A's and the Mariners.
A's Bullpen: 1.30 ERA (2nd in MLB)
Angels Bullpen: 3.86
The A's bullpen was HORRIBLE last year. They blew 28 games. 28. A couple less and they would have won the West. This year, it is 100% improved. As far as offense, they've replaced Damian Miller with Jason Kendall, Mark McLemore with Keith Ginter/Mark Ellis, Crosby is coming off a ROY season and will only improve, Charles Thomas can platoon w/Byrnes when he's struggling, and Dye was so bad last year that Swisher would have a hard time being worse, even as a rookie. Their offense has improved. Yeah, Hudson is gone, and so is Mulder but he sucked anyway. His win/loss record is an illusion, he had a huge amount of run support, he was completely garbage in the second half... So you're telling me that with improvements offensively, and a HUGE improvement in the bullpen, the A's are worse this year? You're kidding.
The division is too close for there to be a "clear favorite." The only people who think the Angels are a "clear favorite" are the ones too ignorant to see past The Big 3 being broken up and to see what's really happened in Oakland.
I said they've given up the fewest in the AL West, and that's still the case, however they're tied with Seattle. Anaheim has given up more runs than both teams but less than Texas.
Pretty soon no GM is gonna agree to any trade with Billy Beane...
Mark Mulder
11IP 20H 10ER 4BB 7K's 8.18ERA
Danny Haren
13IP 8H 4ER 6BB 9K's 2.77ERA
Kiko Calero
4IP 2H 0ER 1BB 6K's 0.00ERA
(Plus the A's got Daric Barton, the best hitting prospect the Cards had)
Pretty soon no GM is gonna agree to any trade with Billy Beane...
Mark Mulder
11IP 20H 10ER 4BB 7K's 8.18ERA
Danny Haren
13IP 8H 4ER 6BB 9K's 2.77ERA
Kiko Calero
4IP 2H 0ER 1BB 6K's 0.00ERA
(Plus the A's got Daric Barton, the best hitting prospect the Cards had)
Uhm...what? Besides the best relieve in baseball K-Rod...
Brendan Donnelly: '02 ERA - 2.17, '03 ERA - 1.58, and '04 ERA - 3.00.
Scot Shields: '02 ERA - 2.20, '03 ERA - 2.85, and '04 ERA - 3.33.
Both have been very good and consistent.
How can you call the Angels pen horrible when you claim Oakland has one of the best? Dotel's ERA has gone up a half run or more every year since 2002, and he had an awful ERA of 4.09 last season. That pretty much says he's done. Juan Cruz is trash. And everyone's raving over Street, but until he as AT LEAST 1 year under his belt I gives a fuck about him. It's crazy how much people are greatly overrating Oakland's pen this season just because of Calero. Yeah, he's sick as fuck, but he's only 1 man. As for the starting rotation there's nothing at all to show it'll be an improvement over the "Big 3". Period. And finally, I never said anything negative about Oakland's offense. It's very solid top to bottom, and Chavez might finally have an MVP-type season.
But this is all really useless anyway. We're on top, Oakland's not, and we'll just have to wait til season's end to see what happens. I'ma stick with my prediction that Oakland goes 80-82.
Brendan Donnelly: '02 ERA - 2.17, '03 ERA - 1.58, and '04 ERA - 3.00.
Scot Shields: '02 ERA - 2.20, '03 ERA - 2.85, and '04 ERA - 3.33.
Both have been very good and consistent.
How can you call the Angels pen horrible when you claim Oakland has one of the best? Dotel's ERA has gone up a half run or more every year since 2002, and he had an awful ERA of 4.09 last season. That pretty much says he's done. Juan Cruz is trash. And everyone's raving over Street, but until he as AT LEAST 1 year under his belt I gives a fuck about him. It's crazy how much people are greatly overrating Oakland's pen this season just because of Calero. Yeah, he's sick as fuck, but he's only 1 man. As for the starting rotation there's nothing at all to show it'll be an improvement over the "Big 3". Period. And finally, I never said anything negative about Oakland's offense. It's very solid top to bottom, and Chavez might finally have an MVP-type season.
But this is all really useless anyway. We're on top, Oakland's not, and we'll just have to wait til season's end to see what happens. I'ma stick with my prediction that Oakland goes 80-82.
K-Rod the best reliever in the league? Not even the best in the AL. I think he does have the potential to be the best in the game but he still struggles with his control too often. He's also going into a new role and won't have Percival there to bail him out if he gets into a jam. I'm not saying he'll do bad but in a division that's going to be as close as this one, a few blown saves that Percival would have bailed him out of can make a huge difference.
Dotel was adjusting to a new team/new role/new park last year, and also played a couple months hurt. It's pretty much a given that he will be better than last year. I wouldn't say that his ERA trend would say he's "done," unless that means Scot Shields is done too because his trends are looking similar.
As far as Cruz goes, I think he's overrated, he's doing worse than anyone in Oakland's pen. They can use him for mop-ups. He's the weakest link in their pen. I will not count out Street, I've seen him pitch, he's sick (he's also doing better than most of the Angels relievers.) He is ready for the MLB, Beane wouldn't have started his arbitration clock otherwise. But really, come on, an Angels fan can't count out a rookie just cuz he's a rookie... If K-Rod wasn't called up in 2002 the Angels would not have won the World Series, and may not have even made it there.
As far as an improvement over the Big 3, in these "Early Baseball Observations," EVERYTHING has said they've improved. Zito is Zito and he sucks so far, but Haren and Blanton are doing much better than a combination of Hudson and Mulder in these first couple weeks. Harden WILL be better this year than last year, Zito will probably be pretty mediocre, and I don't doubt that Haren/Blanton/Saarloos will be better than Hudson/Mulder/Redman. Hudson will have a great year, but I think Mulder is pretty much done. He hasn't had a good outing since early 2004 and the A's were lucky they could get rid of him and get so much back.
...And for the Angels being on top, they're tied for first with two teams 1 game back. Expect to see standings like that all season.
Dotel was adjusting to a new team/new role/new park last year, and also played a couple months hurt. It's pretty much a given that he will be better than last year. I wouldn't say that his ERA trend would say he's "done," unless that means Scot Shields is done too because his trends are looking similar.
As far as Cruz goes, I think he's overrated, he's doing worse than anyone in Oakland's pen. They can use him for mop-ups. He's the weakest link in their pen. I will not count out Street, I've seen him pitch, he's sick (he's also doing better than most of the Angels relievers.) He is ready for the MLB, Beane wouldn't have started his arbitration clock otherwise. But really, come on, an Angels fan can't count out a rookie just cuz he's a rookie... If K-Rod wasn't called up in 2002 the Angels would not have won the World Series, and may not have even made it there.
As far as an improvement over the Big 3, in these "Early Baseball Observations," EVERYTHING has said they've improved. Zito is Zito and he sucks so far, but Haren and Blanton are doing much better than a combination of Hudson and Mulder in these first couple weeks. Harden WILL be better this year than last year, Zito will probably be pretty mediocre, and I don't doubt that Haren/Blanton/Saarloos will be better than Hudson/Mulder/Redman. Hudson will have a great year, but I think Mulder is pretty much done. He hasn't had a good outing since early 2004 and the A's were lucky they could get rid of him and get so much back.
...And for the Angels being on top, they're tied for first with two teams 1 game back. Expect to see standings like that all season.
If Byrnes and Chavez didn't make bad plays last night there's a very VERY good chance the game would have been 1-0 A's going into the 9th. Bad D by Byrnes, Chavez and Thomas (even though it didn't matter by that time.) Chavez has been looking real bad all year, offensively and defensively. He needs to pick it up.