Here’s your little-known and -understood fact from Year 2014: The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim led all the major leagues with 98 wins. Weird, huh? Almost unbelievable? It’s easy to forget, I guess, because the Angels got swept by the Royals in their Division Series. Maybe also because the Angels spent most of last season in second place, not passing the A’s for good until late August.
But gosh, they were good. All the every-day players were at least decent, Jered Weaver was Jered Weaver, Garrett Richards was great before going down with an injury, and Matt Shoemaker came out of nowhere and went 16-4. Despite Ernesto Frieri’s meltdown, the bullpen was fine, especially once Huston Street came aboard. This was a really good team, its early demise just another reminder of the fickle nature of October baseball.
So why do all the projections have the Angels dropping off by a dozen or so wins, and probably finishing behind the Mariners of Seattle? Well, that’s ancient history. But we’ll touch on some of that in the course of offering three good reasons to watch the Angels this season...
1. The Great Undrafted Ace
Is this the year we actually start believing in Matt Shoemaker? Undrafted and stuck in the minors for some years, Shoemaker seemed like the sort of pitcher who just couldn’t pitch brilliantly for an entire season. Remember? We kept figuring the Angels would have to stop winning, because Garrett Richards was out and Shoemaker just couldn’t keep pitching so well?
Well, the joke was on us. Shoemaker, who’d also pitched quite well in a high-run environment in the minors in 2013, wound up 2014 with a 3.04 ERA, a 5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and the best winning percentage in the American League. No, he probably won’t go 16-4 again. And okay, so he might not be the Angels’ ace; that’s probably Richards, once he’s off the DL, probably sometime next month. But yes, Shoemaker probably is for real. And this season we can make up for lost time and actually watch him.
2. The Greatest Baseball Player
Look, I know there are people out there who think Wins Above Replacement is basically a junk stat. Some of them are even my friends! But the wonderful thing about WAR is that it measures, or at least attempts to measure, just about everything: hitting and fielding and baserunning. Which nothing else does. And measuring just about everything makes Mike Trout look really, really good. In fact, Mike Trout is almost certainly in a very small group with Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Albert Pujols.
Except for one thing: Trout joined that exclusive club in his early 20s. Which doesn’t mean Trout’s going to get even better. In fact, you can reasonably argue that he was (slightly) worse at 21 than 20, and (slightly) worse at 22 than 21. Don’t you want to see what he does at 23? What’s more, Trout is one of the few every-day players who’s actually a decent bet to do something exciting every time you see him. I just wish he’d go back to stealing bases...
3. That new second baseman...
Okay, so this one’s mostly for me. But I sure am curious about Johnny Giavotella, who’s slated to take over at second base from Howie Kendrick (traded to the Dodgers). Giavotella has spent parts of the last four seasons with the Royals, and hasn’t hit at all (or impressed anybody with his fielding, either). But in a whopping 413 Triple-A games, Giavotella’s got a .305/.384/.451 line. Is Giavotella just another 4-A player? Or did he really deserve an extended trial with the big club in Kansas City? Should the Royals have eschewed free agent Omar Infante and just handed the job to Giavotella?
Of course one season can’t answer every question, at least not fully. More than anything, it’s just nice to see a guy who seemed stuck in Triple-A finally get the nod on Opening Day. Eventually you do have to perform, though.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
2014 record: 98-64
Playoffs: Lost in ALDS (3-0) to Kansas City Royals
Projected 2015 record: 87-75*
Key additions: 2B Josh Rutledge, OF Matt Joyce, SP Andrew Heaney
Key subtractions: 2B Howie Kendrick, C Hank Conger
*Projected records courtesy of FanGraphs
