6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

An Unusual Scene

Unusual: Paul DePodesta attending an Angels game where the opponent is not the Dodgers.
Not-so-unusual: the point was a meeting with Scott Boras to discuss the disposition of one Luke Hochevar, the Dodgers top draft pick who may end up returning to class today. The Dodgers have upped their ante to $3M.

Confidence

Soon as he hit it, I knew it was in the park.

-- Francisco Rodriguez, on the ball Eric Chavez hit in Wednesday's game

Chris Kahrl On Angels, Dodgers

The weekly Christina Kahrl trade wrap is out at BP, and she's actually pretty jazzed about the Christiansen trade, if you can believe it:

As orthodox as it might be for the Angels to have finally gone out and gotten themselves a lefty reliever, I see this as a pretty reasonable move. And as much as Christiansen may not be a primo situational godling in the world of lefty specialists, he has kept lefties to a clip of .250/.308/.313 this year, and he's only allowed them to slug .317 over the last four seasons ('05 inclusive) and hit .234. It might not be completely dominating, but it's still somebody you won't mind using to go after Eric Chavez or Hank Blalock, let alone whatever matchups the Angels may want in October, should they get there. As much as I do believe you can get by without a situational lefty over the full season, in the postseason, when every little advantage is the difference between getting to play tomorrow or not, it's worth having one from here on out. The price might seem steep, since it's two bodies for a rental (although one with an '06 option), but neither Bergman nor Ray were close to the top of the organization's shelf of live-armed young pitchers.

You might be a little surprised that it's Peralta who loses out, and not Kevin Gregg. However, Peralta did seem to have become the last man in the pen. Before pitching horribly in his last two outings, Gregg hadn't allowed a run in his previous 13 innings pitched in August, with a dozen strikeouts against a single walk. It doesn't seem too unlikely that Gregg might be back to being a useful long reliever, if still short of being the asset he was last year. And considering that the Angels just added a situational lefty, balancing that out on your postseason roster with a reliever you know can throw multiple innings in an outing makes all sorts of sense.

I stumbled upon a commenter in the FutureAngels bulletin board who had this to say about Bergman:

I will say this, and this is the only thing I can think of. He is NOT the hardest working guy in the organization. I think that's plagued him. He doesn't go to the gym, he doesn't spend the offseason getting ready for the next year. He just floats along on talent. Him and I have had many heated discussions about this, and it kills me to see him throwing this away. Granted, he has a lot of talent, and is having a good year. I'm proud of him. I just want to see him work harder. I don't want to sit in a bar with him 10 years down the road, and hear him complaining about how he could have made it if he'd only worked harder. He's my best buddy, and I want the best for him.

Sometimes there are things that you miss in the stats.

Anyway -- to the Dodgers, Chris has this to say:

Much as I like him as a prospect, I don't really see Aybar getting that much of an opportunity at the moment. Oscar Robles will get to play short now instead of third, while this might also create playing time for a possibly regruntled Jose Valentin, or perhaps Antonio Perez now that the experiment with moving him to the outfield seems to have failed. Meanwhile, although overshadowed by playing in Joel Guzman's farm system, Aybar has climbed up the next rung after having had a nifty initial season in Triple-A, hitting .297/.356/.419. Good numbers, but not great, not for the PCL, and not for Las Vegas, but considering he's only 22, that's still very promising. He's no longer playing second every day, having gotten in a lot of time at third base. That's sort of a pity, because his defensive performances at second before this year were consistently outstanding. Regardless, he'll have to hit to fit in, especially with Guzman coming up behind (and hitting .280/.343/.467 at Double-A Jacksonville), and with the club's long-term commitment to Izturis up above. However, since Jeff Kent is only under contract for one more season, it isn't like the Dodgers should be in a rush to deal him.