Category Archives: JP on the Angels

Garrett Richards is going back to the Angels’ bullpen, Jerome Williams will start Sunday.

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When is a one-way ticket to the bullpen a good thing for a starting pitcher?

When it’s the Angels, of course, where sorting out roles on the pitching staff has been a season-long task — an unenviable one, too, for manager Mike Scioscia and pitching coach Mike Butcher.

Their latest solution? Move Garrett Richards, who went 1-2 with a 5.44 earned-run average in four starts this season, back to the bullpen, where he’s allowed just one run in four appearances this season. Richards was scheduled to start Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles but will be replaced by Jerome Williams. He seemed to take the news well.

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Kevin Jepsen resumes throwing, aims to travel with Angels next week.

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Kevin JepsenKevin Jepsen played catch for the first time since going on the disabled list April 13 with a strained right shoulder. The right-hander said he threw from up to 75 feet for seven minutes and didn’t have to cut the session short.

However, there’s still no timetable for his return.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a very long time,” he said. “The strength is there, as far as shoulder and arm strength. I just have to build it back up.”

As long as he doesn’t experience a setback, Jepsen said he’ll travel with the team to Houston next week.

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Angels pitcher Ryan Madson takes a step forward.

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Ryan MadsonRyan Madson is throwing again.

The Angels pitcher, who’s seen his recovery from Tommy John surgery progress in fits and starts, resumed his long-toss program Thursday. It was the first time he’s thrown since April 23 — eight days ago — when he experienced a recurrence of pain in his surgically repaired right elbow.

“I felt good,” Madson said immediately after coming off the field. “A few more days of long toss, then I’ll try to get back on a mound.”

Madson threw in excess of 100 feet Thursday. How quickly Madson progresses will depend on how he feels in the coming days, and there’s no guarantee that he’ll be able to avoid another setback. But progress is progress, and the injury-depleted Angels will take any good news they can get right now.

It’s been exactly one year and three weeks since Madson had Tommy John surgery on his elbow.

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Daily Distractions: Fishing for answers in Salt Lake.

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Mark Trumbo

Mark Trumbo’s power is unquestioned. Who can save the Angels’ sinking ship remains to be seen. (Keith Birmingham/Staff Photographer)

Many comparisons have been made between the 2013 Angels and the 2012 Angels, with both teams beginning the season with high expectations and underachieving badly in the first month. Here’s another point to consider: The Angels’ answer a year ago didn’t come from their major-league ranks.

Rather, it came from Triple-A Salt Lake in the form of Mike Trout. Trout was batting .403/.467/1.091 when he bid the Pacific Coast League adieu, likely for a long time. The biggest problem facing the Angels now is health, with Ryan Madson, Kevin Jepsen, Mark Lowe, Sean Burnett and Jered Weaver forming a potent disabled list. If the five are healthy, 2013 is a different story already.

Since they’re not, it’s tempting – but disappointing – to peek at who’s waiting in the wings at Triple-A. There is no Mike Trout.

If you’re looking for pitching help, the Bees’ top five starters are 6-12 with a 6.43 earned-run average. That doesn’t include recent signee Kip Wells, who allowed two runs in seven innings in his debut Sunday. And it’s not as if the Angels aren’t already auditioning arms — they’ve used 18 pitchers already this season with a 19th, Ryan Brasier, on the 25-man roster waiting to make his debut. No major-league team has used more than 19 pitchers this season.

As position players go, Luis Jimenez has been a nice lift in the lineup and on the field since being recalled. But a number-nine hitter can only do so much; his three singles in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position (.273, two RBIs) are sadly above average for this team (.225).

Bill Hall and Matt Young, two veterans who vied for major-league jobs in spring training, are hitting .206 and .241, respectively. Brad Hawpe is batting .237 with one home run to show for his first 38 at-bats.

So it’s probably not a question of who is ready to step up from Triple-A. It’s who will start pitching, who will start hitting, and who is available on the trade market?

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Daily Distractions: Caving to the #whiff, like the rest of Major League Baseball.

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There’s an episode of The Simpsons in which Krusty the Clown agreed to give away a free Krusty Burger if the United States won gold at certain events in the 1984 Olympics. When the Soviet Union boycotted the Games, Krusty stood to lose $44 million.

For some reason I was reminded of this episode when this came through my Twitter feed this morning:

CJ Wilson ad

Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson is a pitchman for Head & Shoulders’ hashtag-friendly “Season of the Whiff”.

You see, Procter & Gamble is donating $1 to the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) campaign every time a Major League Baseball player strikes out this season. To raise awareness of its Head & Shoulders shampoo brand, P&G is encouraging fans to tweet the hashtag #whiff along with the hashtag of your favorite team.

According to AdAge.com, Head & Shoulders spent $60 million in measured media last year, so MLB’s record strikeout rate probably won’t leave the company’s executives pulling their hair out like Krusty. Which is good, since bald shampoo executives can’t exactly offer a ringing endorsement of their product.

I’ll be here all week.

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Daily Distractions: The ugly signifiance of 9-15 for the Angels.

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Josh Hamilton

The Angels couldn’t come back from a 9-15 start last year. Will Josh Hamilton make the difference this year? (Associated Press photo)

The Angels are 9-15.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because that was the Angels’ record on May 1 of last year — otherwise known as The Day The Angels Turned It Around A Little Too Late.

The Angels went 80-58 after May 1, 2012. Will that be enough for them to catch at least two of the three teams ahead of them in the American League West standings? (And would a wild-card berth even be a satisfying outcome for this team?)

History says the answer is no.

Sports Illustrated’s Jay Jaffe wrote today about the Toronto Blue Jays’ odds of overcoming their 9-17 start, which leaves them a distant fifth in the American League East. He threw out a series of dire stats, all of which are applicable to the Angels:

• Since 1995, the first year that the postseason included wild card entrants, only six teams have gone 11-15 or worse through their first 26 games and still made the playoffs. That’s six out of 146 (4.0 percent) who either won the division or a wild card spot.

• Only one of the six teams, the 2001 A’s, had a worse record than the Blue Jays [and Angels] at this juncture, yet they still finished with more than 100 wins, offering a sliver of hope that Toronto might still be a juggernaut.

• Three of the six reached the postseason by securing wild card slots (something that’s even easier now given the expanded format that added two playoff teams last year). Two of those teams, the 2005 Astros and 2007 Rockies, went on to win pennants, though they were both swept in the World Series.

Any way you look at it, the Angels’ odds aren’t good. If you desire a dose of optimism, Baseball Prospectus still gives the Angels a 37 percent chance of making the playoffs, and a 3.7 percent chance of winning the World Series. Study the chart, and BP’s simulated seasons also acknowledge that the Angels are in a really tough division.

My Monday bullet points:
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Angels trade Chris Snyder to Baltimore Orioles for Rob Delaney.

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Rob DelaneyThe Angels acquired another relief pitcher Sunday, trading minor-league catcher Chris Snyder to the Baltimore Orioles for right-hander Rob Delaney.

Delaney, 28, has five games of major-league experience with the Twins and Rays, all out of the bullpen. His numbers aren’t impressive: Eight walks, three strikeouts and seven earned runs in six innings — a 10.50 earned-run average. With the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate, the Norfolk Tides, Delaney was 0-1 with nine hits and six earned runs in 5 ⅓ innings (a 10.13 ERA) this season.

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Daily Distractions: Where Hank Conger shines on defense; Yu Darvish gif, etc.

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Hank Conger C.J. Wilson

One aspect of Hank Conger’s defense has been surprisingly pleasant to watch this season. (Getty Images)

One of the Angels’ catchers is among the top five in the league at framing pitches.

Who would have guessed it’s Hank Conger?

Oh, and the Angels’ starter, Chris Iannetta, is among the bottom five.

Treat everything you read in today’s Baseball Prospectus article with the caution due a 21-game sample size — four, if you include only the games Conger has caught. But there was a point in spring training where merely making an late, accurate throw to second base was enough to lift Conger’s spirits, and this article sheds light on another area of his progress defensively.

Conger hasn’t made an error yet this year. That isn’t to say all his throws have been accurate; some have short-hopped an infielder but were caught anyway and didn’t go down as an error. (None have short-hopped the pitcher.)

For all the nuances that go into fielding the catcher’s position, framing pitches is an easy one to miss. It’s dependent on the pitcher (to find the corners of the plate) and the umpire (to be swayed into calling a pitch based on how it’s received), in addition to the catcher.

Some more recommended reading for a Sierra Leone independence day weekend:

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Angels option David Carpenter to Triple-A Salt Lake.

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The Angels optioned right-hander David Carpenter to Triple-A Salt Lake on Wednesday after losing 11-3 to the Texas Rangers.

Making his first appearance of the season, Carpenter was charged with four of the nine runs the Rangers scored in the fourth inning. He retired one of the five batters he faced and left with an ERA of 108 (four earned runs in one-third of an inning).

Angels manager Mike Scioscia said that the team will recall a pitcher tomorrow to take Carpenter’s spot on the 25-man roster. Wednesday’s starter Michael Roth and Jerome Williams, who threw three scoreless relief innings, will both be unavailable out of the bullpen when the Angels visit the Seattle Mariners.

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Kevin Jepsen, Ryan Madson and Erick Aybar give Angels a ‘pretty good team’ at extended spring training.

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Kevin Jepsen, Erick Aybar and Ryan Madson are heading to Tempe, Arizona today to continue their rehab at extended spring training.

“Got a pretty good team there, sure,” manager Mike Scioscia said.

In each case, that’s a good sign for the Angels, but the timetable is different for each player’s recovery.
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