I Can't See Your Halos

I talked about the Pirates yesterday, and now we have the Anaheim Angels. At the time I am writing this (Tuesday), the Angels have the exact same record as the Pirates. 67-71. Under .500 by a few games. And considering what the Angels had in April (Ian Kinsler, Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, a healthy Zack Cozart), it's just a wee bit of a disappointment.

And the sad part is, when the Angels bulk up with a big star in January or so, it usually is. In 2008, the Angels landed Torii Hunter, and lost to the Red Sox in the playoffs. In 2012, the Angels landed Albert Pujols, and the next year they landed Josh Hamilton, both at the top of their respective free agent classes, and both years they ended in third place...and in 2012, it was third of four, since the Astros were still in the NL. And this year, with Ohtani, Upton, Cozart, and a half-season of Ian Kinsler, they're looking to end in fourth. Behind Seattle.

Injuries doomed this Angels team, sad to say. The entire pitching staff, it seems like (or at least the consistent guys, like Garrett Richards, Matt Shoemaker, Tyler Skaggs and Shohei Ohtani) were on the DL for most of the year (which is normal for Richards at this point), leaving Andrew Heaney as the staff's ace, and Jamie Barria as one of the few positive options the rotation had. Heck, the team went through musical closers, as usual, with Blake Parker being the most healthy option after Cam Bedrosian got injured early yet again, and Kenyan Middleton also had a badly timed DL stint.

There's got to be some good news with this team, besides the Trout and Simmons combo which will always be awesome, and said good news is David Fletcher, a multi-position utility player who's been racking up hits and making a case for himself as a 2019 starter, which he'll probably get. He's a smart move at third base, and with Jefry Marte being a solid defensive option at first, hopefully the Angels will figure out how to complete the infield for 2019, or, at the very most, the rest of 2018.

This team is looking kind of dire...but they still, after all, have Mike Trout. Which is more than I can say for a lot of similar 4th place teams.

Coming Tonight: One of the stowaways from the 2018 Twins, now playing for a...well, Wild Card contender now, but they had the division like a week ago.