Like he could do any worse. The Angels did acquire a lefty for the bullpen, Jason Christiansen, who likely will not factor much as the club limps down the September stretch. At least the Angels have given a nod to their history by giving fans optimism in August, only to fall out of first place by September.
And it does not look to get any easier.
The blame has to go on General Manager Bill Stoneman. The Angels are loaded with minor league talent, but will not use any of it to acquire players that the club desperately needs. The Angels management has been arrogant to a fault in refusing to bring in a left-handed reliever until yesterday. The everyday lineup is absolutely pathetic. The Angels start a second baseman in center field, a bench jockey at third base, and platoon a bench player and untested rookie at designated hitter. That is fine if you are building for the future, but it will not win a division title. And even if the club does slither into the playoffs, it will suffer the same fate as it did last season.
It is funny. Baseball pundits always mention that the Angels could use a right-handed power hitter and third baseman; maybe even a right-handed power hitting third baseman. But where you could find one of those?
Oh yeah, the Angels let Troy Glaus move to Arizona in the offseason, easily the biggest error of the past couple of years (barely above K-Rod's inability to catch a ball thrown by the catcher). The Angels reasoned that they did not want to spend the money on an injury-prone third baseman. Dallas McPherson, Troy's replacement, had arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone spur and clean out the joint in his left hip. McPherson is expected to be on crutches for up to 10 weeks before beginning rehab.
Talk about your all-time backfires. The injury-prone Glaus has played in 123 games this season and has belted 30 home runs, including one last night. Think Vladimir Guerrero would like the protection in the lineup?
Oh well, at least Matt Leinart backs at least one winning team.
No comments:
Post a Comment