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Tuesday, March 07, 2006 |
Love In A Jaffe
After apparently a week's delay compared to some folks, my copy of the Baseball Prospectus 2006 finally arrived, and as usual I'm devouring it in short order. Because Jay Jaffe let slip that he was the author behind the Angels' (aka Los Angeles de Los Angeles) section, those following the offseason street theater called "Everybody Else Says The Angels Suck But They Don't So Nyaah" ought to be interested in this excerpt:
In the ideologically-shaded scrum of the AL West, the Angels don't get nearly the love that the Moneyball A's command among the stathead set, mainly because they don't send a lineup chockfull of sluggers with .375 OBP's. Then again, neither do the A's. Reality is always more complicated than theoretical ideals. Stoneman and Scioscia's emphasis on pitching, defense, and flexible roster management allows the Angels to get away with playing their faux-deadball era offense. It may not be ideal, but it's sufficient for their needs. They're able to make money, willing to spend it, and no longer afraid to let some of the overpriced veterans of 2002 drift away, epecially with homegrown talent on the horizon. With Kotchman, Kendrick, Wood and McPherson, the Angels have a full infield's worth of top prospects, and while they may not turn out to be the Garvey, Lopes, Russell, and Cey of the Dodgers of the 70's, they're a promising foundation to build upon. They'll be adding that talent to a team that already has Vlad the Impaler, one of the game's natural wonders, at the center of their offense. Moreno's Angels want more than the division title -- they also want to dominate the second-largest media market in baseball. Both are very much within their grasp, in 2006 and beyond.In passing, I find it interesting that few commenters have mentioned that not only did the Angels swipe the Dodgers' next manager-in-waiting when they signed Mike Scioscia, they grabbed a large chunk of that team's past glory by signing Mickey Hatcher and Alfredo Griffin. The idea that Scioscia is simply carrying success's torch from one organization to the other, while too easy and maybe a little melodramatic, is at the same time resonating. If in Kotchman, Kendrick, Wood, and McPherson the Angels have also got their Great Infield, how much greater the echo of glories past, and yet to come.
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