FG on Fox: Don’t Sleep on the Angels

After a disappointing second-place finish in 2011, the Los Angeles Angels decided to become New York Yankees West and attempted to buy their way back into the playoffs.

They gave $240 million to Albert Pujols and $78 million to C.J. Wilson. Toss in the promotion of a young star named Mike Trout, and no one added more talent to their 2012 roster than the Angels.

The result? A modest three-win improvement that resulted in finishing in third place in the AL West rather than second, and a second consecutive season without October baseball.

So they doubled down and threw more money at their problems: $123 million to Josh Hamilton, $15 million to Joe Blanton, $8 million to Sean Burnett and $3.5 million to Ryan Madson.

The returns were even worse, as Hamilton was an unmitigated disaster and Blanton was among the worst pitchers in baseball. Madson never even threw a pitch for the organization as the Angels finished third again. But this time they finished below .500 at 78-84.

Two winters of spending over $450 million in future commitments — during the same two years that Trout emerged as one of baseball’s best player — and the team managed back-to-back third-place finishes.

For the first month of 2014, it’s just more of the same, as LA stands 13-13 — following Tuesday’s 6-4 win over Cleveland — with a game to go in April. Except this year, it might actually be different. This Angels team is actually showing signs of being pretty good.

Read the rest on FoxSports.com.





Dave is the Managing Editor of FanGraphs.

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tz
9 years ago

Though it’s a crude metric, the Angels are 4th in BBref SRS rating system (basically average scoring margin adjusted for strength of schedule to date).

They are also 2nd in overall team WAR, behind the Braves. So the wOBA differential lines up with other metrics saying that the Angels have played a lot better than their current record.

Rubén Amaro, Jr.
9 years ago
Reply to  tz

The Angels are third in the majors in RBI, which is the stat you really should be talking about.