Internal moves to improve the Angels

So the Angels aren’t playing very well right now. OK fine, they flat out suck right now. The offense is still a black hole, the starting pitchers are battling without support and the bullpen couldn’t hold a tie, lead or keep the ball inside the yard to save their lives. But you already know this. Post deadline, it is commonly believed that teams can’t really make any more changes, that this is the team the Angels are stuck with. But that belief is wrong, there are a lot of changes the Angels could make from within their own organization, they simply need to be willing to make them.

Release Fernando Salas
This seems like a no brainer really. While his numbers were solid last year, Salas was never anything more than a 6^th inning option because of his problems with the long ball, which plagued him all the way back in St. Louis. This year, his unsightly ERA is more evident of his actual ability, as not only can he not keep the ball in the yard, but even when it does stay in the park, he’s still getting hit hard regardless. Salas has never been an integral part of this bullpen and that won’t change going forward.

Promote Bedrosian/Mahle/Adams/Reynolds
When things aren’t working, and you keep doing them anyway, that’s supposedly the definition of insanity, which sort of makes sense. Clearly, Smith is fighting his command right now. Clearly Salas can’t protect a lead or a tie. Clearly the Angels need at least one or two more good options in the bullpen. It’s a good thing the Angels have a ton of relief depth, but if they don’t use it, what good is it?

Bedrosian hasn’t found himself at the major league level yet, but he continues to dominate in the minors. Perhaps it’s time to promote him for good and let him adjust accordingly. Greg Mahle is a 22 year old So-Cal native with a 2.66 ERA in AA. Austin Adams holds a 2.25 ERA in AA and a strikingly high 12.5 K/9 on the season. Danny Reynolds is on the 40-man roster, has a 3.31 ERA in AA and has a repertoire that is similar to Trevor Gott.

Play C.J. Cron
The Angels understandably had him on the bench for the Freeway Series because they wanted to make sure Albert was in the game. But Albert’s gone cold for about a month now, with no signs of pulling out of this streak or flailing and weak groundouts. Cron actually returned from AAA and immediately started hitting the ball the way he should’ve been this whole year. With a punchless Angels lineup, it’s time they started playing Cron everyday and featuring him somewhere near the middle of the order if he continues to hit.

Promote Nick Tropeano
This one probably should’ve been done a month ago, but now it’s entirely necessary. Tropeano’s ready for the majors. He was ready to begin the year, but served as depth in AAA, which is fine. But with C.J. Wilson out indefinitely, Jered Weaver throwing 82 MPH in his rehab appearances, and Hector Santiago slowly turning into a pumpkin, Tropeano’s presence has been completely necessary. Yet the Angels have been hesitant to promote him, despite impressing in both appearances this year. It’s time to move forward and continue to involve the younger players and pitchers into this team. Playing favorites among the veterans isn’t going to get the Angels anywhere. In terms of effectiveness, the Angels rotation should probably roll out Richards, Heaney, Shoemaker, Santiago and Tropeano. Not only does this give the Angels a R-L-R-L-R order, but it allows them to feature a starting rotation of all 20-somethings. With guys like Sean Newcomb and Chris Ellis in AA, this is the sort of rotation we could see the Angels deploy for years to come. Why not start now?

Run more
The Angels are the most aggressive team in baseball when it comes to taking the extra base, even to a fault, especially when it comes to Gary DiSarcina. But they rank last in stolen bases. They’ve become a station-to-station team, which can work. But this only works when the team is hitting for extra bases, particularly homeruns. The Angels have only two hitters that do that. So in essence, they’ve become a stationary team that can’t hit the long ball. But that’s on Scioscia. That doesn’t have to be the way the angels operate. There’s no reason Mike Trout should have only 10 SB right now when he’s healthy and completely capable of 40+. Aybar and Giavotella are quick enough to make things happen. The Angels just acquired Victorino, DeJesus and Murphy, who can all run.

Basically what I’m saying is, the angels aren’t scoring runs the way they’re doing it now, so why not try it a different way. Even if the Angels lacked the speed to do such a thing (they have plenty of it), this approach in the short term would still make sense to try and jumpstart the offense.