The Los Angeles Angels always fall somewhere in the middle. The same old song and dance that happens year after year. Their records from last year and this year are about the same. Every season in the past few years feels like Groundhog Day. Except, this year, things might be different. While they are a tricky team to figure out, they have a reasonable shot at the postseason. The stars have been the stars, but the Angels need better contributions from others on the roster.
The Angels Make Zero Sense
It’s Always the Pitching
It could be the years of seeing the Angels send out pitchers who are bottom-of-barrel guys. 2019 was the tipping point on the dumpster diving for starting pitchers. General manager Billy Eppler got Matt Harvey and Trevor Cahill that year. This failed experiment was a combined 20 million dollar loss. The exclamation mark on this season was the abysmal 72-90 record. Something had to change if the team wanted to contend.
Changes were plenty over the last few seasons following the failure of 2019. The Angels chose to draft quality starters in 2020 and 2021. Reid Detmers and Sam Bachman look to be making strides in the big leagues, on top of Shohei Ohtani becoming one of the best pitchers in the game over the last two full seasons. This is excellent progress for a team who wants and needs to contend. So why does it feel like the Angels’ pitching is still awful?
Diving into the pitching stats for both the rotation and bullpen tells an exciting story. The rotation is unique in an odd sense. They are 15th in starter’s ERA at 4.23 and tied for 10th in opponents’ batting average at .245. The issue is they, as a rotation, are tied for 20th in OBP at a .325. Opponents are getting on base and scoring, which could be better, but being 23rd in walks allowed at 200 will do that.
In contrast, the bullpen is solid. As a unit, the Angels are eighth in both walks and ERA. They also rank 10th in walks. Our eyes are telling us a lie, and the pitching is adequate.
Offensive Struggles
Ohtani, Mike Trout, and Anthony Rendon, this sounds like an offense that will do damage. However, Trout has missed many games over the last couple of seasons. Rendon is getting hurt regularly and has been playing fewer games year after year for the Angels. The only consistent bat in that span has been Ohtani. How can a top team do anything with an offense held together with AAA players?
Similar to how the pitching bottomed out in 2019, 2021 was the worst year for the offense. Both Trout and Rendon were out all season, and Ohtani had to be almost all of the production on the offensive side of the ball. Ohtani was the leader in every offensive category. The next closet was the breakout player Jared Walsh, an All-Star who clubbed 30 home runs for the team. Everything wasn’t doom and gloom but close. Last year was slightly better, but similar injury issues plagued the team. That led to players that usually wouldn’t be starting to be in a more significant role than expected.
2023 seems different thus far. Despite some saying the team needs to be more consistent in the batter’s box. The average of the offense from last to this year has increased from .233 to .258. That is good for 9th in the league. The team is 5th in home runs with 78, 4th in RBI with 276. So what in the world is going on to put this perception of a bad offense? It makes no sense to say they are bad. It may come down to the oddities of seeing them play daily. The maco vs the micro, the flaws show more daily. Could the stats be lying? Sure, but they paint a picture that the offense is good.
Everything Else
Based on the stats, the Angels are a good team. Offensively they’re above average. Starting pitching is adequate. Improvements are ideal as the trade deadline comes. Finally, the bullpen is better than what our eyes see. Then where is it going wrong?
An answer might lie in the revolving door of coaching and managers over the past few years. Ohtani, in the 6 years in Anaheim, has had 4 managers. The only one that returned for a second season was Joe Maddon, who was fired last year during a 14-game skid. After a skid like that makes sense to go in another direction. New manager Phil Nevin has had mixed results. He had a 46-60 in 2022 and has a record of 30-27. They are in a position to get into the postseason via the wildcard, but why does everything seem bad around the team?
The Angels unique position. Ohtani is something baseball hasn’t seen in this sport since Babe Ruth. Ohtani will likely hit the free agent market at the end of the year. This has led some to entertain the idea of a massive trade to ‘save’ him. Though these are relatively harmless, it does paint things negatively. Are the Angels perfect? Not. They have flaws but are not in dire straights as many will make them out to be. Every at-bat, every pitch leads to a complete picture, but it leads to a fake impression. Advanced metrics don’t tell the whole story, but the eyes can and will lead you a stray.
Photo Credit: Brandon Vallance/Getty Images
Players/managers mentioned:
Billy Eppler , Matt Harvey , Trevor Cahill, Reid Detmers, Sam Bachman, Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, Jared Walsh, Joe Maddon, Phil Nevin, Babe Ruth
