Yesterday the Halos defeated the Chicago White Sox 4-1. Dustin Moseley pitched 5 strong innings and appears to be close to locking down one of the open rotation spots. Chone Figgins and Gary Matthews Jr. homered for the Angels.
Despite having a very strong Spring, it doesn’t appear that Brandon Wood is in the plans at short-stop according to Mike Scioscia due to the defense of Erick Aybar and Macier Izturis.
My take. This is very disappointing. The Angels need to add some power to the lineup, especially on the left side of the infield that features Aybar and Figgins. Wood has nothing left to prove at the minor league level, however sitting on the bench and only getting a couple at bats per week isn’t productive either. I don’t understand the appeal of Erick Aybar. He would have been a great short-stop in the pre-Derek Jeter, ARod, Nomar Garciaparra era of baseball, but all glove and a weak stick are not what the Angels need.
John Lackey points out the weakness in Aybar’s defensive game.
“Aybar is probably more likely to mess up a routine play and make a spectacular play.”
Honestly, what good does it do the Angels if he boots a routine play that leads to 3 unearned runs when he isn’t capable of the 3-run jack later in the game?
As for Wood’s personal situation, he might want to have his agent push for a trade to another organization where he can get his career underway. Not that 24 years is old age, but another year of AAA is a setback when he could be starting for some of more youth oriented teams in the league.
Lyle Spencer continues to take a look at the roster and is a fan of the Angels bench depth.
I agree, Macier Izturis, Robb Quinlan, Jeff Mathis, Gary Matthews Jr., Reggie Willits and Sean Rodriguez are very solid off the bench. Since Matthews is concerned about playing time, perhaps he could be worked out over at first-base, this way the Angels have a left handed stick available if Mike Scioscia choses to use Quinlan as a pinch hitter for Kendry Morales late in a game.
OC Register’s Jeff Miller writes about the Angels good fortune in being able to acquire Bobby Abreu. The Register also features an entertaining slide show regarding Angels who had huge Spring Trainings.
Today the Angels are off.
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