Jered Weaver threw a simulated game Friday, his first since going on the disabled list April 8. (Associated Press)
Jered Weaver couldn’t sleep last night. He had a big game today.
It was a simulated game with no fans, and only a few players and media and coaches, in attendance. But Weaver was psyched up.
“That’s how excited I was,” he said. “I haven’t been able to do it (pitch) in five weeks.”
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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?
It bothers me that I don’t think this is ridiculous. :- RT @mikedigiovanna: Can #Angels have Vernon Wells back? Please?
— Anti Glib (@AntiGlib) April 30, 2013
Angels pitcher Jered Weaver is using a bone stimulator, which is not nearly as dirty as it sounds. (Still frame of video shot by ESPN)
Jered Weaver mentioned last week that he was using a non-intrusive device called a “bone stimulator” on his broken elbow.
Albert Pujols used one in 2011 to heal from a wrist fracture. That injury was supposed to knock him out 4-6 weeks. The recovery time was cut in half.
Dr. David Geier, an orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist in Charleston, South Carolina, told me the device has been in use for about 10 years and “there’s not a lot of great data for those.”
The mechanics are fairly simple, Geier said: It’s a black box that delivers a pulse to the affected area, either electronically or via ultrasound.
“The thought is, it stimulates bones to heal faster,” he said. “It won’t make you heal in two days when it could be three months, but if it gets you back a week faster, it’s worth the cost when you’re paying kids all this money. There’s not a lot of data, but there’s no downside to it at all. They tweak the ways energy is delivered, but the idea has been around for a while.”
A couple notes for a Tuesday morning:
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.
Angels pitcher Jered Weaver grabs his left elbow after falling awkwardly to avoid a line drive in the sixth inning Sunday night. (Photo by Brandon Wade/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Los Angeles Angels starter Jered Weaver left his start at Texas with a strained left elbow after diving to get out of the way of a line drive Sunday night.
Weaver avoided being hit by the ball, but landed awkwardly on his left arm while going down. The pitcher immediately grabbed his left arm near his elbow and was clearly in some discomfort.X-rays were negative.
The play happened when Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland led off the bottom of the sixth with a liner back through the middle right over Weaver’s head.
Manager Mike Scioscia and a trainer immediately came to the mound, and Weaver almost as quickly was walking off the field.
Mark Lowe replaced Weaver on the mound. He surrendered a walk and a two-run home run to Ian Kinsler in the Angels’ 7-3 loss to Texas.
“I didn’t feel anything pop or crack, so that’s a good sign,” Weaver told reporters after the game. “It’s like when you jam your thumb pretty bad. That’s what I’m feeling in my elbow.”
Jered Weaver had already left the ballpark as the Angels’ bullpen was busy ruining his handiwork. He won’t have that luxury of leaving early next week.
In most other ways Tuesday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a 7-1 Angels loss at Salt River Fields, had to feel like a regular-season game for Weaver. The Angels’ Opening Day starter allowed two hits, no runs, walked one and struck out three in his final start of spring training. Weaver needed only 87 pitches to get through seven innings.
“It was nice to get under the lights and go out the way you would in the regular season,” Weaver said. “I always try to treat the last game of spring training like a regular season game.”
That he did, against a Diamondbacks lineup that featured at least seven of eight Opening Day position players. (Though it should be noted that three — Jason Kubel, Willie Bloomquist and Aaron Hill, who was hit in the pinkie finger by a Weaver pitch — left with injuries).
I started toying with this mental exercise last night: What if the state of California had a team in the World Baseball Classic?
Forget about how many players would decline invitations. Forget about generational eligibility — if you were born in California, you’re eligible (which is fine, since I had a better chance of making Team Wisconsin anyways). What would that team look like? Could it contend?
The answer is yes.
C: John Jaso, Mariners/Rod Barajas, Diamondbacks
1B: Adrian Gonzalez, Dodgers
2B: Aaron Hill, Diamondbacks
SS: Jimmy Rollins, Phillies
3B: Ty Wigginton, Cardinals
LF: Ryan Braun, Brewers
CF: Coco Crisp, A’s
RF: Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins
DH: Prince Fielder, Tigers
UT: Skip Schumaker, Dodgers
SP: Jered Weaver, Angels
SP: CC Sabathia, Yankees
SP: James Shields, Royals
SP: Cole Hamels, Phillies
SP: Stephen Strasburg, Nationals
RP: Sergio Romo, Giants
RP: Brandon League, Dodgers
RP: Addison Reed, White Sox
RP: Dale Thayer, Padres
RP: J.P. Howell, Dodgers
RP: Bryan Shaw, Diamondbacks
RP: Kris Medlen, Braves
Manager: Dusty Baker, Reds
Hitting coach: Mark McGwire, Dodgers
Pitching coach: Chris Bosio, Cubs
Apologies to C.J. Wilson, Mark Trumbo, Michael Young, Will Venable, Brandon McCarthy, Kyle Lohse, Mike Moustakas and Carlos Quentin. Perhaps you can dig into your family tree and find another state to play for.
On to some bullet points:
The Angels brought in three players for a tryout Sunday. Each was an athlete with experience at the highest level of professional sports. As of Monday morning, they were still waiting for a call back.
Cam Fowler, Viktor Fasth and Nick Bonino (pictured above, left to right) weren’t exactly waiting. The three Anaheim Ducks were getting ready for tonight’s game against the Phoenix Coyotes in Glendale. Sunday was a rare off-day in between road games in the same city, so the Ducks took advantage of their invitation to join their Anaheim brethren for a day at the ballpark.
“It was very cool for them to allow us to come in,” Fowler said. “It’s always cool for one professional athlete to see another, how they go about their business.”
Angels right fielder Josh Hamilton watches his two-run home run in the first inning of a spring baseball game against the Dodgers at Tempe Diablo Stadium on Friday, March 1, 2013 in Tempe, Arizona. The Angels won 16-8. (Keith Birmingham Pasadena Star-News)
It took three and a half hours, but it happened: The Angels won a game.
They scored in mind-numbing fashion, piling on former Angel Matt Palmer (two-thirds of an inning, seven runs) and former Mariner Sean White (two-thirds of an inning, five runs) for 11 unearned runs on four Dodger errors.
The quality of play didn’t make the game come alive, but a standing-room only crowd of 6,744 did. They got their money’s worth. Jered Weaver made his long-awaited debut and a patient Josh Hamilton belted his first home run. And the Angels won.
The bullet points:
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.”