Apr 4

Apr 4 LA Angels: Can baseball’s under-achievers finally achieve?

Can the LA Angels win the World Series?

With only one first-place finish in the last eleven years, given their resources and talent, Dave White from European Basball discusses why the Los Angeles Angels consistently underachieve in a division that is arguably one of the weaker in Major League Baseball.

Not only have they had just one first-place finish in the last 11 years, but of more note, in those 11 seasons, 7 of them have had losing records and they have only made the postseason once, in 2014 when they won their division but then crashed out in the first round of the playoffs, losing three straight games to the Kansas City Royals.

In the current MLB climate, I believe that the LAA have underachieved the most in recent years and argue that this may well change very soon.

A brief history of the Los Angeles Angels

The Angels came to MLB in 1961 as part of the expansion era, so they are a franchise that is older than many, such as the Rays, Diamondbacks and Rockies but not as old as organisations such as the Cubs, Braves, Giants or Phillies.

Therefore, they have a good history and frame of reference to be able to compare their relative success, having been in existence for 60 years.

In those 60 years, they have one World Series ring, in 2002, and only one American League Pennant, also in 2002. They had a purple patch in the early 2000s, winning the AL West 4 times in 5 years between 2005 and 2009 but they never translated that form into the postseason. So, why do I say they are underachievers? Well, in my opinion, there are several factors that should make them a very competitive organisation and should have more successes to show.

The first reason is that the LA Angels are a big market team. Naturally, any organisation that is based in Los Angeles should be viewed as a big market team given the region they are in, the population of the area and its relative affluence. They are certainly a top 5 team in terms of their market size in MLB, with the New York Yankees and LA Dodgers being bigger and them being on a playing field with teams like the Phillies, Giants and Rangers. But I would peg them around 4th or 5th in this respect. MLB is awash with money, but when you have a market share like this, you have an embarrassment of riches to play with.

Big Spenders

The above point is borne out by their projected payroll for 2021, according to www.spotrac.com, has them in 6th place with a total of $171.5 million.

In 2019 they were 9th with $161 million and are currently 7th for next season with $107 million committed, but that is to only 14 players, where San Diego are number 1 with $152.6 million committed but that is to 28 players.

This spending power is underlined by the fact that they have 4 players in the top 25 in terms of the 2021 individual player salary rankings;

1. Mike Trout ($37.1 million, which is just one year of a 12 year $426.5 million contract, yikes!), 12. Albert Pujols ($30 million and he is 41 years old), 18. Anthony Rendon ($28 million) and 25. Justin Upton ($23 million). If you list the Angels players by their salary, the 10th player on that list is earning a huge $6.75 million this year.

They have committed eye-watering amounts of money to several players, many of whom have nowhere near justified those figures.

But, you cannot fault their ambition by tying players to such contracts, pinning Hall of Fame superstars like Trout and Pujols (he was in his prime) to long, expensive deals; bringing an elite player over such as Rendon and winning the sweepstake for the genuine two-way star player that is Shohei Ohtani. These figures should make them a more successful player than they are.

The Angels have some serious hitting power

The second factor is that they have elite hitting, I mean when you commit that kind of money to some hitters, they better produce!

Mike Trout

They have the long-touted best player in the game in Mike Trout (I could list a raft of impressive stats here, but I’ll go with this; 29 years old, 1,252 games, and career stats of .304 average, .418 OBP, an even 1.000 OPS and 302 home runs. Trust me, these numbers are ridiculous).

That title of current best player is now under scrutiny with the emergence of Mookie Betts, Ronald Acuna Jnr, Fernando Tatis Jnr, Juan Soto and players of more longevity in Freddie Freeman and Jacob deGrom, but there is no doubt that Trout is a phenomenal talent and that his numbers do not show any signs of regression.

He is a superstar, no question, and has been for a long time, him not winning a World Series would be like Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi going their entire career without winning a league title or Champions League trophy. Unthinkable.

The supporting cast isn’t bad either

Add to Trout the ability of Rendon (30 years old, 968 games, career .372 OBP and 145 home runs) and Ohtani (having a wonderful Spring Training), and arguably a resurgent Albert Pujols (41 years old, 2,862 games, career .299 average, .377 OBP and he sits 5th on the all-time home run list with 662, which is very impressive given the games history, the longevity and skill needed to achieve that).

The player that often gets forgotten about, and my favourite non-SF Giants player, who is possibly their second-best hitter (behind Trout) is David Fletcher. He leads off expertly and relentlessly gets on base (.376 OBP last season) ready to be driven in by the big names behind him. One of Fletcher’s greatest attributes is that he regularly sees 5+ pitches per plate appearance, meaning he and his teammates get to see more pitches, he is making the pitcher work hard and help get him knocked out of the game earlier than if he just came in hacking wildly.

Last year, LAA ranked 9th in MLB in OBP with .332. Whilst not right at the top, worse hitting teams than this have appeared in the World Series. The Angels have also made a shrewd signing at shortstop, with Jose Iglesias (.400 OBP last season) and have the exciting Jo Adell who will get at bats this year. From an attacking point-of-view, there is a depth of talent there and a lot to be optimistic about.

Problems with pitching

Pitching is the main problem for their lack of success, and when purely looking at ERA (earned run average) the following numbers back this up;

2020, overall MLB rank 25th with a team ERA of 5.09
2019, 25th and 5.12
2018, 19th 4.15
2017, 12th 4.20
2016, 21st 4.28.

Pitching has long been the problem in Anaheim and it seems baffling that they haven’t spent some money on some true pitching talent like they have with the hitters.

You have to get the balance right between the two sides of the game. It wouldn’t take much to make them challengers, you don’t need to be a top 3 team in terms of ERA or WHIP to challenge, a top 10 team would more than do it coupled with their attacking line-up, but when you are regularly the 20th or worse team in MLB in pitching, you won’t win your division, let alone a World Series.

How the Angels should spend it, and why.

In my opinion, they need to find $30 million and invest in two decent (not elite) starters at $10 million a pop (and you can find great value for that) and spend the rest on three relievers to bolster the bullpen. Adding that to what they have will make them contenders.

Why will that make them contenders?

Well, for one, their division is not one of the strongest of the 6, certainly at this point in time and for the next couple of years as projected and my reasoning is thus; The Astros are in decline, there is no question about that and that the sign-stealing scandal has hurt them. They have talent but they are not the team they were three years ago.

The As are solid and efficient but they are only having success because this division is weak. They have some nice players but it won’t be sustainable against the big guns because they don’t have the depth or the funds to compete.

The Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners are nowhere near being good enough; the Rangers are also a big market team and underachieving and the Mariners direction seems all over the place, seeing them trade, trade, trade. So, if the Angels picked up on their pitching, there is every reason that they could win this division or pick up a Wild Card place and regularly become postseason attendees.

Surely the best player in baseball, and will be in the argument for being one of the best players to ever play the game, can’t be content with just 3 postseason games - all losses.

Noisy Neighbours

I’m sure another motivation that should fuel the Angel’s front office is to look over at the ridiculous domination and quality of their LA rivals, the Dodgers.

This cannot be lost on the fans and the ownership. Seeing the Dodgers win the World Series last year and being in the WS three times in the last four years must stick in their throat. They have the resources to replicate this dominance in the American League and seeing an all-LA World Series, whilst would be sickening for this Giants fan, would be fun to watch.

Speaking of the LA Angels ownership, I can’t say I know them intimately, but from the outside, they seem like decent owners.

Apart from a slight blip that upset Angels fans with the name change in 2005 when they went from the Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, things look pretty good. Arte Moreno is the owner and has clearly put the team's success as a priority with the investment that he has put in, as discussed earlier.

They are substantial contracts that very few organisations can compete with. Moreno recently secured a good TV rights deal and purchased the stadium and surrounding car parks, which provides security and financial forethought. As I have discussed in previous articles, there are certainly more questionable organisation owners out there.

Long-suffering, but loyal fans

Clearly, the fan base is a loyal one and unaffected by the recent underachievement that this club has seen as they consistently see over 3 million fans come through their gates, which equates to an average of around 38,000 per game, this is good for regularly being the second-best in the American League.

Granted they are in the LA area and have more potential customers, but they are also competing for supporters with the historic and successful cross-town Dodgers. So there is a good base to work from here, good ownership, great fan base - just find some pitching and this club could do some damage.

Tyler Skaggs

I can’t talk about the Los Angeles Angels without acknowledging Tyler Skaggs whose tragic accidental death at the age of 27 in 2019 was devastating for his family and the organisation.

Skaggs was a decent, reliable left-hand pitcher who was showing potential and improvement. His death was such a sad loss and the memorials and tributes paid to him were very emotional indeed, I find some difficult to watch.

I won’t mention them all, but two really make me well up, the first is the first game after Skaggs’ death that the Angels played (they postponed a few matches straight after his death, rightly so). Andrew Heaney was the starting pitcher, who is also left-handed. The first pitch of the game that he threw was Skaggs’ trademark slow overhand curveball to the Astros George Springer, who offered no swing. Respect and class from both sides.

Second, is their first game that they played at home after his death, every Angels player wore his number 45 shirt and his mother threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The Angels went on to win 13-0 and the pitchers combined to throw a no-hitter (a rare baseball feat). Sometimes the stars just align in a beautiful way. After the game, all the LAA players removed their 45 shirts and lay them on the mound. Try watching that without wiping a tear away. Skaggs will forever be in the Los Angeles Angels memory, as well as mine, MLB’s and the baseball community.

Will things change?

So, to end, what of their 2021 prospects?

Well, overall, they are lagging behind the As and Astros in the AL West. I would suggest their offensive line-up is the best in that division but the pitching is not, and this is what will let them down.

Having said that, a postseason berth is not out of the question, but anything more than that would be a surprise. Trade for a pitcher or two of top quality, and they become a player. What is more likely is that they will have some hitters on the MVP ballot, I would suggest Rendon has a chance, Ohtani could be a force with the ball and the bat, oh, and they have this guy called Trout who is pretty handy too.