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

Posted on May 3, 2013 by J.P. Hoornstra

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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Angels’ ace Jered Weaver diagnosed with broken elbow, will miss a minimum of four weeks.

Posted on April 9, 2013 by J.P. Hoornstra

Jered Weaver ducks out of the way of Mitch Moreland’s line drive Sunday in Arlington, Texas. Weaver suffered a non-displaced radial head fracture of his left elbow while bracing his fall. (Still frame of video shot by ESPN)

The Angels will be without their best pitcher for the next month and maybe beyond.

The team announced Tuesday that right-hander Jered Weaver broke his left elbow while trying to get out of the way of a line drive in Sunday’s game against the Texas Rangers. Weaver was placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to Sunday and right-hander Dane De La Rosa was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake.

The non-displaced radial head fracture will cost Weaver at least four weeks.

According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons website, the injury can occur when, in trying to break one’s fall, the force of the fall travels up the lower forearm bones and fractures the smaller bone (radius) in the forearm.

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What will the Angels’ bullpen look like April 1?

Posted on March 25, 2013 by J.P. Hoornstra

David Carpenter could be on the bubble for one of the Angels’ final bullpen jobs … or not. (Getty Images)

Angels manager Mike Scioscia said his pitching staff “will have a more situational look in the bullpen” when the regular season begins. It’s not hard to figure out what that means, as there are 15 pitchers currently in camp and 12 will start the season on the active roster.

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Postgame thoughts: Rangers 10, Angels 9.

Posted on March 21, 2013 by J.P. Hoornstra

If it were a regular-season game, you’d be talking about it tomorrow. Josh Hamilton’s first game against the Rangers was overshadowed by a lot of things: a walkoff hit, a four-homer inning, a complete implosion by Jerome Williams and — stop the presses — three damn fine throws from behind home plate by Hank Conger.

But since it’s only spring training (checking my watch, yup, one more week…) it’s getting the postgame bullet-point treatment for posterity.

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Cubs 11, Angels (SS) 2: Postgame thoughts.

Posted on February 23, 2013 by J.P. Hoornstra

Associated Press

TEMPE, Ariz. — Jerome Williams knows his place on the Los Angeles Angels’ pitching staff. His job is to be ready for any role necessary.

Making his first spring training start since 2007, Williams allowed a home run to Luis Valbuena but little else Saturday as an Angels split squad was beaten 11-2 by the Chicago Cubs.

“I got the first homer out of the way,” Williams said. “It was a curve. (Valbuena) had to go down to get it and he did.”

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Daily Distractions: Angels set tentative spring rotation.

Posted on February 22, 2013 by J.P. Hoornstra

In today’s notebook, I mused about the possible pitchers for the Angels this weekend, since Mike Scioscia is holding his projected starting rotation out of games until March.

Today the manager revealed his starters for Saturday’s split-squad games. Jerome Williams will start at Tempe Diablo Stadium against the Chicago Cubs, while Brad Mills will start against the San Francisco Giants in Scottsdale.

Barry Enright (Sunday vs. Oakland), Garrett Richards (Monday at Seattle in Peoria), A.J. Schugel (Tuesday vs. Arizona in Tempe) and Nick Maronde (vs. San Francisco in Tempe) will start the following games.

Some links to get you through the weekend:

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Scioscia: Angels’ best starters won’t pitch until March.

Posted on February 21, 2013 by J.P. Hoornstra

Get ready for a steady dose of Billy Buckner, A.J. Schugel and Brad Mills this weekend.

Mike Scioscia didn’t single out those starters by name, but the Angels’ manager did rule out his projected five starters from pitching in games for at least another week. The Angels open Cactus League play with split-squad games Saturday against the Cubs and Giants.

“The guys that we’re looking at, especially Weave [Jered Weaver], he doesn’t need to get started until somewhere around the first” of March, Scioscia said. “It would just be too long for him. He wouldn’t need it.”

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Angels spring training preview: Starting pitchers.

Posted on February 9, 2013 by J.P. Hoornstra

Jered Weaver

The Angels’ five-man rotation is all but set. Two familiar faces, Garrett Richards and Jerome Williams (whom I included with the relievers), are vying for “sixth starter” status. Of course, just because a rotation is set doesn’t mean it’s good, and many see this group as the Angels’ Achilles heel beyond ace Jered Weaver.

The other four starters — Tommy Hanson, Joe Blanton, Jason Vargas and C.J. Wilson – were flat-out bad for stretches last season. Will Wilson snap back to his old self following elbow surgery? Can Hansen, Blanton and Vargas benefit from a change of scenery and a star-studded defense?

Those are the biggest questions facing the rotation, and maybe the team, going into camp. Unless there’s an injury, don’t expect the Angels’ five-man rotation to change in spring training.

(Non-roster invitees listed in parentheses)

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Inside the Angels

J.P. Hoornstra and the Los Angeles News Group write about baseball's Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Tag Archives: Garrett Richards

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

Angels’ ace Jered Weaver diagnosed with broken elbow, will miss a minimum of four weeks.

What will the Angels’ bullpen look like April 1?

Postgame thoughts: Rangers 10, Angels 9.

Cubs 11, Angels (SS) 2: Postgame thoughts.

Daily Distractions: Angels set tentative spring rotation.

Scioscia: Angels’ best starters won’t pitch until March.

Angels spring training preview: Starting pitchers.