As great as Mike Trout is, the Angels don’t have enough pieces around him to contend this season. And with their MLB worst farm system, they might not be able to put the pieces around him anytime soon either.
That’s a bummer because Trout is only 24, the best player on the planet and the time to win is now.
LOS ANGELES ANGELS
+2780 to win 2016 World Series
+1379 to win AL Pennant
The Angels appear to be a team that could win 90 games or lose 90 games. There are so many questions surrounding their roster. What will they get from an aging Albert Pujols and Jared Weaver? Will they get enough offensively from left field? How does middle relief shakeout?
Every team has questions, but those are BIG questions and the answers figure to be the difference between going to the playoffs and missing the postseason.
Peace and harmony reign in Anaheim – for now. Manager Mike Scioscia won a power struggle with former GM Jerry DiPoto and has embraced the arrival of Billy Eppler, and staff changes that brought former members of his coaching staff, Bud Black and Ron Roenicke, back to the organization.
Buoyed by the all-around talent of Trout and a sound pitching staff, the Angels will contend – but it might be in spite of themselves.
Trout continued to be the modern personification of Mickey Mantle, setting a new personal best with 41 home runs in 2015 and leading the AL with a .991 OPS. He gained a running mate in Kole Calhoun, who emerged as a Gold Glove outfielder while hitting 26 home runs and driving in 83 runs last season.
The dropoff in the Angels’ lineup was monumental when those two didn’t produce. Angels left fielders in 2015 combined for just nine home runs, a .317 slugging percentage and .592 OPS – all the lowest in the majors at that position.
The apparent plan to plug that hole with a platoon of Daniel Nava and Craig Gentry, rather than a costly signing of Yoenis Cespedes, Jason Heyward or Alex Gordon off the winter free agent market, offers only marginal hope.
Dipoto did the Angels a favor before he left, rebuilding the pitching staff and leaving the team with a deep reserve of young starting pitchers.
Garrett Richards, the team’s 27-year-old ace, leads that group. One of the hardest-throwing starters in the majors, Richards bounced back from a devastating knee injury to make 32 starts in 2015. He went 15-12 with a 3.65 ERA. Richards could get even better this season as he moves farther from that knee injury.
The key pieces of the bullpen are still in place. Huston Street converted 40 of 45 save chances last season and lead setup man Joe Smith is a reliable eighth-inning option.
Pujols is coming off his first 40-home run season since 2010 and has driven in 200 runs over the past two years. The Angels have to be happy with that and try to milk it for as long as they can by gradually increasing his time at DH.
Key Additions: SS Andrelton Simmons, 3B Yunel Escobar, C Geovany Soto.
Key Losses: SS Erick Aybar, 3B David Freese, RP Trevor Gott.
The window might have closed on the Angels. The task for GM Eppler is to pry it back open. The Halos’ reluctance to ink a big name outfield free agent will likely leave them an unbalanced team with Trout, Calhoun and Pujols forced to carry an inadequate offense.
Prediction: 85-77
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