If you’ve flown between John Wayne airport and Salt Lake City at any point this season, your odds of bumping into an Angels player are pretty high. The Angels have been busy burning a path from Anaheim to their Triple-A affiliate, having used 36 batters and 20 pitchers this season — both tied for second in the league.
Sunday might have been the busiest day of them all.
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Angels left-hander Sean Burnett is scheduled to pitch an inning tomorrow for Single-A Inland Empire, his first rehabilitation assignment since going on the disabled list with tightness in his left forearm.
Burnett hasn’t pitched since April 26.
Kevin Jepsen hasn’t been scheduled to pitch a rehab game yet, but “he’s going to be close to a rehab game this weekend too, if not this weekend then early next week,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
Jepsen has been sidelined since April 12 with a strained right shoulder.
Ryan Madson is taking a pause in his rehabilitation schedule. The right-hander threw an inning four days ago for Single-A Inland Empire and was supposed to go to to Triple-A Salt Lake on his next assignment. That might not happen now, though his next outing will be a rehab assignment somewhere.
“He was going really hard for a week,” Scioscia said. Madson is “just trying to catch his breath and recover.”
The Angels deviated from their plan to activate Ryan Madson this weekend, opting instead to send the reliever to Triple-A Salt Lake Thursday for what Madson said could be a couple of weeks.
The move is surprising considering Madson punctuated a productive 10-day stretch with his first rehabilitation appearance on Monday since offseason Tommy John surgery, pitching a perfect inning for Single-A Inland Empire.
“I don’t know if it’s going to take a couple weeks,” Scioscia said. “It might. It might not. But I think that we want to make sure that he is ready to go and this rehab sticks when it goes. He’ll let us know how he feels, but he’s been talking about how close he is.”
Ryan 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.
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
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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Ryan Madson threw 35 pitches without pain in an encouraging bullpen session Thursday, and the rehabbing right-hander said he can see the light at the end of the tunnel of his Tommy John surgery recovery.
“I don’t think I’m that far away, judging by the last week,” he said, asked if he could be back on the mound in a game in six weeks. “If I can get in in April, I’ll be happy.”
Ryan Madson was seen throwing off flat ground today in Tempe, but manager Mike Scioscia told reporters that the Angels’ presumptive closer still has no timetable to get back on a mound.
That’s essentially the status quo. Madson was dealing with soreness and inflammation in his right elbow last week. An MRI came back negative but his throwing program was put on hold. Opening day looked like a longshot for Madson then and still does now.
The 32-year-old missed all of last season following Tommy John surgery.
At least the Angels don’t have to rebuild their bullpen from scratch. They can just go back to what (sometimes) worked for them last year — Ernesto Frieri in the ninth, Kevin Jepsen in the eighth, Scott Downs in the seventh — plus free-agent newcomer Sean Burnett.
Oh, about Burnett: He left camp today with stiffness in his lower back to undergo an MRI.
Stay tuned. The Angels’ bullpen is officially on watch.
Things are heating up in Arizona, literally and figuratively. These links are tepid at best:
An MRI Tuesday on Ryan Madson’s right elbow came back negative, but the man the Angels hoped to be their opening-day closer won’t be their closer on opening day.
That’s the way it appears for now, at least. Madson, who missed all of last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, is still dealing with soreness in the elbow. Opening day is April 1 in Cincinnati and there’s no target date for Madson’s return.
In a way, he sees that as a relief.
“Now, yes, especially because that’s what I was going towards,” he said. “Maybe it got me into a little bit of trouble. Now I don’t have a set date in mind. I want to let my arm guide me. The trainers are good in there, already did a lot of good work this morning. It feels good.”
The Angels added a potential closer in Ryan Madson and a proven lefty specialist in Sean Burnett. How all the bullpen roles shake out, and who will be the seventh reliever, are important questions that need to be resolved in spring training.
Only two teams blew more saves than the Angels’ 22 last year. That and a lousy all-around first month cost them a playoff berth, and the rebuilt bullpen needs to be better in 2013. Here’s the complete list of spring training invitees (non-roster invitees in parentheses):
