Breaking down each team in the AL West heading into the offseason. Teams are listed in order of 2009 finish. Check out the other division previews here:
1. Let's be honest: The Angels didn't show well in New York. In three games at Yankee Stadium, Los Angeles went 0-3, committed seven errors, walked 17 batters and looked jittery. I am starting to believe that there really is something to my East Coast Baseball theory. West Coast teams went 1-6 this postseason in New York, Philadelphia and Boston. That makes West Coast teams 3-19 (.136) when they come to the Northeast for postseason baseball since 2003, and 10-38 (.208) in the wild-card era. The advantage may be that Northeast teams play in postseason-type environments all year long, where baseball means so much to the fan base that every 0-for-12 streak is a two-hour talk radio rant.
It was 12:01 a.m. when the clock struck midnight for the Los Angeles Angels. It is, of course, somewhat ridiculous to cast a club with the game's seventh-highest payroll ($116.7M), and one that won the second-most games (97), in a Cinderella role. But there was a sense that if the Angels somehow won two in a row and took the series, it would be a shocking accomplishment. Not the equivalent of the Red Sox' recovery from a 3-0 deficit to win the 2004 ALCS, perhaps, but something close to it.
A despondent Torii Hunter sat in front of his locker at Yankee Stadium with his shoes off and a blank look on his face. His Angels had just lost Game 6 of the American League Championship Series to the Yankees, which in and of itself was not a particularly surprising development. What was surprising was that the Angels had once again bumbled their way to yet another loss in yet another game they could have -- perhaps even should have -- won. After groping through the usual run of clichés to describe the feeling of emptiness that accompanied his seventh title-less trip to the postseason in his career, he finally settled for this: "It sucks, actually. We should've played better defensively. We didn't play Angels-style baseball."
NEW YORK -- The pitching line could have been from nearly any of the past dozen Yankees' postseasons: Win, Andy Pettitte; Save, Mariano Rivera.
In the minutes after the Angels' stunning 7-6 Game 5 victory over the Yankees Thursday night in Anaheim, the Yankees' clubhouse attendants were busy resealing with thick gray duct tape the several large cardboard boxes filled with hats and T-shirts that advertised an ALCS title. The boxes had been cut open, perhaps, after the top of the seventh, in which the Yankees all at once stormed back from a 4-0 deficit to take a 6-4 lead.
ANAHEIM -- It was overshadowed by all the drama that followed: the six runs the Yankees scored in the top of the seventh, all of which came after Angels starter John Lackey had unsuccessfully pleaded with manager Mike Scioscia to leave him in the game ("This is mine! This is mine!" Lackey insisted); the three runs the Angels produced in the bottom of the seventh; and, especially, a ninth inning in which Angels closer Brian Fuentes, inserted with a one-run lead, allowed the Yankees to load the bases and Nick Swisher to work a full count before he induced Swisher to pop out. But the key to the Angels' 7-6 Game 5 victory, and the reason why they'll fly to New York on Friday with a chance to win two in a row to advance to the World Series, came hours before any of those events occurred, way back in the first inning.
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- You could see it in the faces of the Yankees and Angels players and managers in those moments after this game ended: They didn't know. Whatever people had to ask, they didn't know. What were they thinking? Didn't know. What did this mean? Didn't know. What were they feeling out there? Didn't know.
ANAHEIM -- CC Sabathia's 89th pitch on Tuesday night came on an 0-2 count against Angels catcher Mike Napoli, with one out in the top of the seventh inning and Sabathia's Yankees leading 5-1. The pitch was significant not only because of its result -- Sabathia struck out Napoli on a foul tip to Jorge Posada -- but because it put Sabathia's transcendent performance into stark relief against that of the Angels' starter, Scott Kazmir, who threw 89 pitches of his own. Whereas Sabathia's first 89 pitches resulted in 20 Angels outs, Kazmir's 89 pitches produced just 12 Yankees outs, and manager Mike Scioscia pulled him after he allowed a single to the first batter he faced in the top of the fifth.
1. Tonight for Game 3 of the NLCS the Dodgers' Hiroki Kuroda becomes the third pitcher in as many days to start a championship series game after not starting in the division series. The Phillies' Pedro Martinez, of course, was masterful on Friday, throwing seven shutout innings and allowing only two hits and no walks (though Philadelphia's bullpen blew the lead and the game). The Angels' Joe Saunders tossed seven innings of two-run ball last night, exiting in a 2-2 tie, a game that the Yankees won 4-3 in the 13th inning.
Breaking down each team in the AL West heading into the offseason. Teams are listed in order of 2009 finish. Check out the other division previews here:
1. Let's be honest: The Angels didn't show well in New York. In three games at Yankee Stadium, Los Angeles went 0-3, committed seven errors, walked 17 batters and looked jittery. I am starting to believe that there really is something to my East Coast Baseball theory. West Coast teams went 1-6 this postseason in New York, Philadelphia and Boston. That makes West Coast teams 3-19 (.136) when they come to the Northeast for postseason baseball since 2003, and 10-38 (.208) in the wild-card era. The advantage may be that Northeast teams play in postseason-type environments all year long, where baseball means so much to the fan base that every 0-for-12 streak is a two-hour talk radio rant.
It was 12:01 a.m. when the clock struck midnight for the Los Angeles Angels. It is, of course, somewhat ridiculous to cast a club with the game's seventh-highest payroll ($116.7M), and one that won the second-most games (97), in a Cinderella role. But there was a sense that if the Angels somehow won two in a row and took the series, it would be a shocking accomplishment. Not the equivalent of the Red Sox' recovery from a 3-0 deficit to win the 2004 ALCS, perhaps, but something close to it.
A despondent Torii Hunter sat in front of his locker at Yankee Stadium with his shoes off and a blank look on his face. His Angels had just lost Game 6 of the American League Championship Series to the Yankees, which in and of itself was not a particularly surprising development. What was surprising was that the Angels had once again bumbled their way to yet another loss in yet another game they could have -- perhaps even should have -- won. After groping through the usual run of clichés to describe the feeling of emptiness that accompanied his seventh title-less trip to the postseason in his career, he finally settled for this: "It sucks, actually. We should've played better defensively. We didn't play Angels-style baseball."
NEW YORK -- The pitching line could have been from nearly any of the past dozen Yankees' postseasons: Win, Andy Pettitte; Save, Mariano Rivera.
In the minutes after the Angels' stunning 7-6 Game 5 victory over the Yankees Thursday night in Anaheim, the Yankees' clubhouse attendants were busy resealing with thick gray duct tape the several large cardboard boxes filled with hats and T-shirts that advertised an ALCS title. The boxes had been cut open, perhaps, after the top of the seventh, in which the Yankees all at once stormed back from a 4-0 deficit to take a 6-4 lead.
ANAHEIM -- It was overshadowed by all the drama that followed: the six runs the Yankees scored in the top of the seventh, all of which came after Angels starter John Lackey had unsuccessfully pleaded with manager Mike Scioscia to leave him in the game ("This is mine! This is mine!" Lackey insisted); the three runs the Angels produced in the bottom of the seventh; and, especially, a ninth inning in which Angels closer Brian Fuentes, inserted with a one-run lead, allowed the Yankees to load the bases and Nick Swisher to work a full count before he induced Swisher to pop out. But the key to the Angels' 7-6 Game 5 victory, and the reason why they'll fly to New York on Friday with a chance to win two in a row to advance to the World Series, came hours before any of those events occurred, way back in the first inning.
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- You could see it in the faces of the Yankees and Angels players and managers in those moments after this game ended: They didn't know. Whatever people had to ask, they didn't know. What were they thinking? Didn't know. What did this mean? Didn't know. What were they feeling out there? Didn't know.
ANAHEIM -- CC Sabathia's 89th pitch on Tuesday night came on an 0-2 count against Angels catcher Mike Napoli, with one out in the top of the seventh inning and Sabathia's Yankees leading 5-1. The pitch was significant not only because of its result -- Sabathia struck out Napoli on a foul tip to Jorge Posada -- but because it put Sabathia's transcendent performance into stark relief against that of the Angels' starter, Scott Kazmir, who threw 89 pitches of his own. Whereas Sabathia's first 89 pitches resulted in 20 Angels outs, Kazmir's 89 pitches produced just 12 Yankees outs, and manager Mike Scioscia pulled him after he allowed a single to the first batter he faced in the top of the fifth.
1. Tonight for Game 3 of the NLCS the Dodgers' Hiroki Kuroda becomes the third pitcher in as many days to start a championship series game after not starting in the division series. The Phillies' Pedro Martinez, of course, was masterful on Friday, throwing seven shutout innings and allowing only two hits and no walks (though Philadelphia's bullpen blew the lead and the game). The Angels' Joe Saunders tossed seven innings of two-run ball last night, exiting in a 2-2 tie, a game that the Yankees won 4-3 in the 13th inning.
NEW YORK -- As clubhouse post mortems go, the Angels' atmosphere after Game 2 here wasn't nearly as deadly as many. Even after they blew a second straight game in the ALCS that left them in the very unenviable position of being two games down to this vaunted Yankees team, the Angels don't seem defeated.
The ball soared high into the misty air, reached its apex and, with two outs in the bottom of the first inning on Friday night, began to fall back to the earth where the infield at Yankee Stadium ends and leftfield begins. Angels third baseman Chone Figgins was certain that shortstop Erick Aybar would catch this routine pop-up off the bat of Hideki Matsui. The ball kept falling. Aybar was certain that Figgins would catch it. The ball kept falling. Figgins looked at Aybar. Aybar looked at Figgins. The ball kept falling. A moment after a look of panic registered on each of their faces, the ball was on the ground and Johnny Damon crossed home plate for the Yankees' second run of the inning, which would prove to be all the runs they would require to win this first game of the ALCS by the ultimate score of 4-1.
1. The Angels didn't show up for Game 1 of the ALCS Friday, looking more like they'd rather be curled up by a fireplace than fighting through the New York autumnal cold for the American League pennant. Both their task and the weather could take a turn for the worse in Game 2.
NEW YORK -- It was cold, but not freezing, and it rained, but only a little and never hard.
The Yankees' on-field celebration after sweeping away the Twins last Sunday night in Minnesota was among the more stilted in recent memory. In the seconds after Brendan Harris' groundout to Derek Jeter ended both the game and the series, most of the Yankees jogged to the area behind the pitchers' mound and more or less stood there, before someone decided that they should probably jump up and down for awhile. So they did that in a huddle for perhaps 30 seconds. Then they stopped and shook hands and gradually retreated into the visitors' clubhouse.
NEW YORK -- Texan John Lackey, the Angels' ace and Game 1 starter on Friday night here, was spotted at the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium for their inaugural game earlier this month and is known to possess a suite there as well as a strong love of his home state, increasing speculation that he might consider jumping to the rival Rangers if given the chance.
The Angels, classy organization that they are, voted to give late pitcher Nick Adenhart a full postseason share, clubhouse sources confirmed. So Adenhart's former teammates are honoring the Adenharts with both their pay and their play.
1. When the Phillies attempt to close out Colorado tonight and put in place a rematch of the 2008 NLCS against Los Angeles, they might feel a little better about the last three outs than they did when the regular season ended. Well, a little better, anyway.
BOSTON -- Those closest to Vladimir Guerrero call him Mula, a nickname that dates back to his childhood tending mules on the family farm in the Dominican Republic, but might as well refer to his legendary stubbornness. Legions of hitting coaches have tried to make him more selective at the plate and he has refused. Hordes of reporters have pestered him for interviews and he has declined. He might be baseball's most mysterious superstar, with the uncanny ability to hit pitches up at his eyes and down at his shoe-tops, but no inclination to explain how or why he does it.
They teach it in Salt Lake City, Little Rock, Cedar Rapids and 40 miles down the road in Rancho Cucamonga, a breakneck brand of baseball known as the Angel Way. It is highly entertaining -- stolen bases, hit-and-runs, speed merchants rushing from first to third in a blur -- but come playoff time it has been highly suspect.
ANAHEIM -- Torii Hunter has one of the most gregarious personalities in baseball, an unstoppable grin that stretches from the start of spring training through the end of September, but even Hunter's upbeat nature has its limits. When he came to the plate in the fifth inning of Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Thursday night, he looked uncharacteristically angry, sick and tired of hearing that the Angels never get past the Red Sox in the playoffs and never will.
The Angels and Red Sox are not traditional rivals, but their playoff meetings are becoming an annual occurrence, with the Red Sox prevailing and the Angels wondering why they can't ever draw someone else. The Angels, traditionally built on speed, pitching and defense, have changed their approach this season, becoming more patient and powerful at the plate. In other words, they have become more like the Red Sox, in the hope of finally outlasting them. The matchup between L.A.'s rejuvenated offense and Boston's stellar starting pitchers -- particularly Jon Lester and Josh Beckett -- will determine if the Angels have caught up to their October rivals or if nothing has really changed.
More than a few Los Angeles Angels were glued to the TV in the visiting clubhouse at Oakland Coliseum on Sunday morning as Minnesota was pummeling Kansas City to force a one-game playoff with Detroit for the American League Central crown. But one was more clearly interested than the others.
I have no idea who's going to win the World Series. To end the year dancing on the field, all a team has to do is win 11 of 19 games, and no team in baseball is so bad that it can't do that. The Kansas City Royals, a miserable club, won 12 of 19 earlier this month during a run that included two series with the Detroit Tigers and one each with the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels, playoff teams all. Enter the Royals in the postseason tournament and their chances of walking off with gaudy jewelry wouldn't be all that worse than those of the mighty Yankees.
By now you are familiar with the popular narrative of the Angels' season: The organization formerly known for pitching, defense and small ball has been wearing down opponents with a deep, relentless offense. The pitching you know as mediocre, but hey, that's OK when everyone in the lineup is hitting around .300.
For most teams, it is time to turn the page on this season. In a few cases, it has been that way for months. But one major advantage to being eliminated early is that there is plenty of extra time to assess one's needs, and several also-ran teams already have begun that process. (Of course on the flip side, more time is likely needed.)
Thank goodness for the wild card.
Bobby Abreu spends part of every offseason in Asia, hop-scotching from China to Japan, Hong Kong to Vietnam, Taiwan to Taipei. The annual trip allows him to check on real estate he owns in the Far East and escape the hot-stove hubbub back in the U.S. But last winter he could not get away from that hubbub, no matter how far he strayed.
The Los Angeles Angels international supervisor of scouting fired on Monday is a subject of an ongoing Major League Baseball Department of Investigations probe into the skimming of signing bonuses given to prospects from Latin America, SI.com has learned.
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Angels returned home Tuesday and found the shrine still sitting at the front of the stadium, the T-shirts still hanging untouched in the locker, all the painful reminders right where they had left them. When starting pitcher Nick Adenhart died in a car accident April 9, centerfielder Torii Hunter said that the field would serve as a sanctuary, the one place where the Angels could put aside their grief. Then the Angels went 1-5 on the road, falling to the bottom of the American League West, and it became clear that there was no easy escape.
The man police say was driving drunk when he ran a red light and struck a car, killing a Major League Baseball pitcher and two others has been charged with murder.
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart was among three people killed in a crash in Fullerton, California, early Thursday, according to the team and a hospital spokesman.
The thing everyone keeps saying about Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart was how far he had come, and how fast.
By now it has been drilled into our heads so many times that baseball is going to feel the brunt of the slow economy that it almost makes you want to shove your Thunderstix and foam tomahawks under your mattress, right next to your beer money.
Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart was among three people killed in a crash in Fullerton, California, early Thursday, according to the team and a hospital spokesman.
Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart was among three people killed in a crash in Fullerton, California, early Thursday, according to media reports.
Like anyone else who writes about baseball, I like to think I know what I'm most accurate about, which makes it a good thing for my self-esteem that I don't spend much time going over old predictions. A quick review shows that over the last two years I've called just six of 16 playoff teams correctly. There are likely circus animals who did better.
1) Their second-string outfield is better than some starting outfields. Seriously. They have Torii Hunter in center, Vladimir Guerrero in right and Bobby Abreu, Juan Rivera, Gary Matthews Jr. and Reggie Willits all scrapping for whatever is left over. Would you rather have the Angels backup outfield (Rivera, Matthews Jr. and Willits) or the Padres starting outfield (Jody Gerut, Chase Headley and Brian Giles)? This is no accident, either. The Angels signed Abreu in February, after re-upping Rivera and picking up the option on Guerrero. To think, the Angels could have had even more depth in their outfield, but let Garret Anderson go after 14 years with the team. In order to find at-bats for all these guys, everyone except Hunter figures to DH. Rivera could see some time at first base. And Willits, a Rookie of the Year candidate two years ago, will likely be relegated to pinch running.
CLICK HERE FOR: Los Angeles | Oakland | Seattle | Texas
For much of the winter, the biggest news out of the free-agent market was how little news there was. As the days passed with enough big names to fill an All-Star team of unsigned free agents, it became increasingly difficult to gauge the impact those stars would have on the 2009 season when it wasn't yet known where they'd be playing. With spring training camps opening this week, there are still some impact players (Manny Ramirez, Orlando Hudson) who remain homeless, but those that have signed have created a domino effect for both their old teams and their new ones. In fact, for all the talk of the difference a newly acquired free agent can have on their new club, the impact on the club that has just lost a marquee player can have just as big an impact on the standings.
When the Angels declined to participate in the K-Rod sweepstakes, they had their reasons. Some of them had to do with Francisco Rodriguez himself. First and foremost, his price tag was expected to be sky-high after breaking the single-season record for saves. And then there were the usual concerns about Rodriguez's awkward mechanics, which make him appear to be one pitch away from a major arm injury. Still, one imagines the Angels might still have made a play for Rodriguez had they not had his replacement on hand in 24-year-old fireballer Jose Arredondo, who posted a 1.62 ERA in 61 relief innings during the regular season last season and added 3 2/3 scoreless innings in the playoffs for good measure. It's thus a bit puzzling that the Halos decided to bring in the second-best free agent closer on the market by signing former Rockies reliver Brian Fuentes to a two-year deal worth $17.5 million with a $9 million option for 2011.
On the night of September 27, as Mark Teixeira stood at home plate in Anaheim, Manny Ramirez stood at home plate in San Francisco. Scott Boras, seated in the second row at Angel Stadium, was watching Teixeira when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the Dodgers game was being broadcast on the flat screen in his box. "Look," he said. "It's Manny." Boras, the agent to both players, was torn -- to watch Teixeira or Ramirez? For the next several minutes, his head spun as if on a swivel, from Teixeira to Ramirez and back again.
Scott Boras watches every game at Angel Stadium from a subterranean luxury box behind home plate, close enough to the action that when Garret Anderson bats, Boras playfully signals to him what pitch he thinks is coming next, and Anderson signals back. Boras follows all major-league teams, but none more closely than the Angels.
The Angels exercised the options on the contracts of ace pitcher John Lackey for $10 million and star outfielder Vladimir Guerrero for $15 million, SI.com has learned.
Sue: Hey man, you're not from here, alright. You don't know how it is. I grew up in L.A.
The leather furniture was shoved neatly to the side. Huge sheets of plastic covered the couches and chairs and big screen TVs and everything else that needed covering. The cans of Budweiser were plentiful, the Brut icy cold, the music pumped to a volume that would make the surgeon general consider slapping warning labels on the whole ear-assaulting circus.
A breakdown of today's American League Division Series games. All games are on TBS; all times are Eastern.
BOSTON -- It took everything the Angels had, a couple of things that they'd never had before, a few gifts from the usually ungenerous Red Sox and more than five agonizing hours of playoff baseball. But the Angels finally -- finally! -- got on the right side of the postseason tote board on Sunday.
1. The Angels are staring into an 0-2 hole in Game 3 of their American League Division Series against the Red Sox on Sunday night. To say that the Angels, who won 100 games in the regular season -- including eight of nine against the Sox -- are not playing their game would be a vast understatement. "We haven't seen what won us 100 games out there," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said on Sunday in Boston. "We haven't seen our team on the field. That's what's been frustrating for us." Especially galling is the fact that the Angels have not stolen any bases. Howie Kendrick is feeling some heat for that. Scioscia is vowing to stick by his second baseman, though he hit just .267 (with a .313 OBP) in six September games after his return from a hamstring pull and is 0 for 9 in the two ALDS games.
This is not Chicago, and these are not the Cubs, so there will be no beer-fueled dirges about goats or cats or other inhuman forces that conspired against the home team. The Angels, after all, have not had to wait 100 years for a championship. But when they look back on the great flameout of 2008, they will ache just the same.
The Angels won 100 games in the regular season by being aggressive. They lost the first one in the playoffs by being reckless.
The key word is "valuable." That's where they get you. If the award was called "Most Excellent Player" or "Most Superb Player" or "Most Productive Player" or even "Most Awesome Player," everything might be a whole lot easier.
As if the Angels' pitching rotation isn't stellar enough, several baseball people say they believe that they may try to pull off the coup of the winter by signing CC Sabathia, the perfect Brewer and best free-agent pitcher in at least a decade.
Imagine if every NFL team used the same 3-4 defense, no matter their personnel or even the down and distance variables. Ridiculous, you would say. The NFL is a thinktank of innovators, all trying to deploy their personnel in the most advantageous manner. Some have arranged schemes to maximize unique talents such as Lawrence Taylor, Troy Polamalu and Shawne Merriman. So how can it be that 30 major league baseball managers have decided to use their bullpen essentially in the exact same manner? (Left- and righthand setup specialists in front of a one-inning closer.) Isn't there a Whitey Herzog, a Billy Martin, even a Herman Franks out there any more?
There are certain things you learn when you move to the Midwest. For instance, there doesn't have to be a technical reason (like, say, construction or an accident) for a long traffic jam. No matter how hot it may get -- and a Heartland July can melt Volkswagens -- people will still wonder if it's hot enough for you. Slow-moving tractors are always looking for a spot in front of you on two-lane highways.
It's hard to imagine that a team that plays just down the road from Disneyland and is one of the most fan-friendly in baseball could be scary, but the Los Angeles Angels have been frighteningly good this season. At 71-43 they have the best record in baseball, are on pace for the franchise's first 100-win season and lead the AL West by 10.5 games -- an advantage more than twice as big as that of any other first-place team -- and yet everyone associated with the Angels believes they can play even better.
Ned Colletti has made a lot of -- to put it more kindly than many people in Southern California do -- questionable decisions during his tenure as the Dodgers general manager. And maybe someday, Thursday's deadline-pushing trade for Manny Ramirez will get lumped into that category.
The Angels have acquired first baseman Mark Teixeira from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for first baseman Casey Kotchman and minor league pitcher Stephen Marek, SI.com has confirmed.
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana stood in the bullpen at Angel Stadium last Wednesday, three hours before game time, and pondered yet another radical change to their repertoire. Between starts, Saunders and Santana throw their bullpen sessions on the same day, with Saunders going first and Santana second. But Saunders, fresh off his only loss of the season, proposed a switch: Santana first, himself second.
1. D-Lee & Co.: Since the turn of the millennium, the Cubs have never come close to cracking MLB's top 10 in run production. In fact, Chicago has finished in the bottom half of runs scored in seven of the past eight seasons.
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- How's this for a vote of confidence? Speaking about Angels manager Mike Scioscia, club owner Arte Moreno tells SI.com, "He was here when I got here, and he'll be here when I leave.''
This is an awesome time of the year for playing around. Hitters do it with their stances. Pitchers fine-tune their deliveries. And managers do it with just about everybody and everything that they can get their manipulative little fingers on. If there's a big-league manager out there not fiddling around with his lineup card right now ... well, he's just not doing his job.
Also in the Daily Scoop... • What's wrong with Barry Zito? • Why Joba Chamberlain going to the bullpen is the right move. • Why Paul Lo Duca should keep quiet.
In this era of jacked-up power hitters and on-base specialists who work deep counts, Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick's foremost skill is almost quaint: He hits hard line drives where there are no fielders. In doing so, he rarely alters his swing, tries to crank moonballs or jerks one down the line. Neither does he lunge, teeter or lean. Just one short, efficient cut after another, hands slicing through the hitting zone. Outfielder Torii Hunter, who joined the Angels this off-season as a free agent, was taken aback.
With Oakland in full-on rebuilding mode and the Mariners hoping to somehow replicate their 88 wins from last season, it looks like this will be the Angels' division to lose once again.
It's hard not to look at even the best American League starting rotations and see question marks where you'd prefer exclamation points.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- It used to be -- maybe a week ago or so -- that major league teams, every last one of them, would get all huffy about the importance of holding onto their young and talented prospects. Build from within, they all said. Scout and develop. Go homegrown. That's the way to do business.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Angels' big offer for young hitting star Miguel Cabrera included top young hitter Howie Kendrick, young catcher Jeff Mathis, one of two coveted young pitchers -- Nick Adenhart or Ervin Santana -- plus an additional pitcher prospect described as a "mid-level'' talent, SI.com has learned.
Alex Rodriguez, who is apparently a much better businessman than I would have guessed, is closing on his deal for $275 million guaranteed plus $30 million in just-about-guaranteed marketing monies to return to his first and only choice, the New York Yankees. But even with the Great A-Rod off the board, there's still going to be plenty of interest and intrigue at the winter meetings, which begin a week from today and could see multiple superstars change teams via trade.
Also in this column: • How many chances for Torre? • Mattingly vs. Girardi debate • Wedge makes a bad call • More news and notes
ANAHEIM -- He is no longer a menacing, made-for-October fireballer, but Curt Schilling, it turns out, can still bring it. "Remarkable," said Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein after Schilling's virtuoso seven-inning performance in Game 3 of the AL Division Series in Anaheim. "His style has changed but his postseason results haven't. He has a smaller margin for error than ever, but he still went out there and did it."
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Jonathan Papelbon decided to change things up as he took off his shoes and slipped into his red and blue "cinco ocho" Crocs. With a can of beer in each hand, he bypassed an encore presentation of the "Irish Jig" and went into what can only be described as his version of a "Crip Walk".
Nobody wants to go down 0-2 in a best-of-five series. Nobody wants to be in the situation the Cubs and Phillies find themselves in today.
So what will we have here in this postseason, really, besides more downtime on our hands than Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro put together? I mean, is there a team out there that can't be beat? Is there some Super Ace waiting for enshrinement into October lore? Do we have to concede this postseason to the Yankees?
Also in this column: • Mets hang on to Randolph • Andruw Jones gone, Teixeira staying? • More news and notes
First the Red Sox broke an 86-year drought in 2004. Then the White Sox (88 years) finally earned a championship. And then the Cardinals (24 years) won their first title in almost a quarter of a century. Who's next? The possibilities are numerous. Half the teams in this baseball postseason have an entire generation -- or two, or three -- of fans who have been waiting to see their team win a World Series: the Rockies (their entire 14-year history), Phillies (27 years), Indians (59 years) and, most infamously of all, the Cubs (99 years).
Here's a look at the teams that either already have a spot in the postseason (Indians, Angels and Red Sox) or are fighting to get there in the final week of the regular season:
I. Angels' potential three-man rotation: Last summer, Major League Baseball announced that there would be four additional off-days in the postseason under a new television agreement starting in 2007. Many folks lamented the fact that Game 7 of the World Series would be scheduled in November, but Dodgers catcher Mike Lieberthal didn't mind: "What's four or five more days," Lieberthal said to the Associated Press. "If it increases revenue, more power to it."
The season's on the line. Every game counts. And so, of course, that's why you've been seeing Fabio Castro, Horacio Ramirez and Jo-Jo Reyes on the mound.
With the Yankees' recent bump in the road on their trip through Anaheim, and the Angels' continued success against them, it reminded me of something I've been puzzled about since the 2003 offseason: Why did the Yankees pursue Gary Sheffield instead of Vladimir Guerrero when they were both free agents?
If somebody's going to make a move, this would be a good week to do it. Five of baseball's six divisions feature series this week between the first- and second-place teams. (The only division left out is the American League Central.) Those five show-me series:
Also in this column: • Selig hits a homer • Bonds strikes out
Also in this column: • The starting pitching market • Mets seek Nationals' Cordero • Kenny Lofton to the Cubs? • More news and notes
Also in this column: • A good week for baseball -- by comparison • More news and notes
Reggie Willits belts a majestic fly ball toward the leftfield foul pole in Baltimore's Camden Yards, a typical blast during batting practice, when coaches groove 55-mph meatballs and players jovially pump balls out of the yard to massage their egos and amuse their teammates. But leaning on the back of the batting cage, Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia is not amused. "Hey!" he yells at his 26-year-old rookie outfielder. "What was that? That's going to cost you." Willits hangs his head, chagrined at having been busted. He's a speedy, switch-hitting leadoff man who made it to the majors last season three years after being drafted in the seventh round -- and two years after he whiffed 112 times in A ball -- because he shortened his stroke, developed patience at the plate and became a pest. Willits has not hit a home run in his first 276 big league at bats, but he is a perfect little Angel because at the All-Star break he led all rookies in on-base percentage (.408), walks
Also in this column: • Big Z bounces back • Mets' big-game pitcher • More news and notes
CINCINNATI -- Over the past couple of seasons everyone has told us that the one piece the Angels are missing is a big, burly, power-hitting stud for the middle of their lineup. We heard that first, of course, from Angels general manager Bill Stoneman, back in October of 2005 -- after his team was embarrassed in the ALCS by the White Sox. Well, what Stoneman actually said was, "Adding a bat will be the top priority." But we all knew what he meant.
| Most Viewed | Most Emailed | Top Searches |
© 2009 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
