Friday, June 16, 2006 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
Jonathan Broxton LAN b. 1984, played 2005. He's gone from a thrower to a trustworthy middle reliever and even mentions as a possible Gagné replacement should it come to that. Good job, kid.
Pete Coscarart BRO b. 1913, played 1938-1941, All-Star: 1940, d. 2002-07-24. Well, the Dodgers had to send somebody. Look at this team and tell me who you'd pick. Uh huh, it's time to draw lots. Less than a decade later, the crowds at Brooklyn would get to see what a Hall of Fame second baseman looked like, up close, in black-and-white.
Wally Joyner CAL,ANA b. 1962, played 1986-1991, 2001, All-Star: 1986. A Top 100 Angel whose career never quite lived up to his first couple turns through the league; he held on through age 39, when he returned to the Angels one last time, hoping to replace the perennially injured Mo Vaughn. It didn't quite work that way, and he retired first.
Jose Nieves ANA b. 1975, played 2001-2002
Joe Saunders LAA b. 1981, played 2005. He hasn't really had much success at the major league level, but he's suddenly gone through a stretch in the minors where he's keeping the ball down and shutting down opponents in a tough, tough league for pitchers. He could still be an interesting option for the Angels.
Stan Wall LAN b. 1951, played 1975-1977
Roster Notes
- Brendan Donnelly has requested a trade following the team's unwillingness to allow him to pitch to the Royals, but Bill Stoneman has refused to shop him.
- An interesting bit of time-shifting going on in the article above: Bartolo Colón is now expected to start "Sunday or Monday" rather than "this weekend" as had been reported on Wednesday. More bet-hedging going on, and I don't think any Angel fan will like what they see on Colón's next start, no matter what day it's on.
Update: Looking at the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday probables, we find, in order, Ervin Santana, Jered Weaver, and Kelvim Escobar. Of course, the Angels could move around guys' starts all day and all night, but realistically if they're going to pull Little Weaver from the rotation, they're going to do it on Sunday. Sunday's game has several things going for it: first, a matchup against a weak Padres offense, but also opposing a resurgent Chan Ho Park. It's a good place to be for the Angels, who do, in fact, need to figure out what part Colón will play in their plans for this season.
The other option would be to start at San Francisco against Matt Cain. Cain was 2-1 in seven starts with a brilliant 2.33 ERA last year, but a less-than-stellar 5.83 K/9 made you scratch your head some in anticipation of a sophomore rollback. Sure enough, he's got a 5.35 ERA this year with a 5-5 record, though he has managed to increase his strikeout rate almost a full point, to 6.78. Even though he had a one-hit complete-game shutout of Oakland back on May 21, he hasn't had a quality start since.
As for scoring, the Giants this year are surprisingly middle of the pack, while the Padres' offense is near the bottom of the league. If you're the Angels, you're pushing hard for a Sunday start for Colón, at home.
- Grady Little, on Matt Kemp: "It's really hard for me to write a lineup without his name in there." I laughed and laughed yesterday when the kid, who hasn't had an at-bat at AAA, got an intentional pass. Good on him.
- Rich Harden laughed at the recent UTK stories indicating that Rich Harden may have to have Tommy John surgery. Sure, he's going to try for rehab, but as Carroll put it, "sources indicate that the team acknowledges this is, at best, a coin flip."
Administrivia: Blogroll Cleanup
Some antique stuff, I've also pulled the plug on a few links I just haven't visited personally in a dog's age, and a few sites that have gone dormant (LA Blogs being the most prominent one).
Wally is probably the best player who I share a birthday with so I'm really, really hoping Broxton attains superstar status.
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