Angels Player Power Rankings - Week 23

EDITOR'S NOTE: These rankings cover the week ending 9/1, so just ignore all the awesome stuff that happened in last night's win. Boy, holidays are inconvenient.

RANK	PLAYER	CHANGE	COMMENTS
1		— 0 Last Week: 1	Mike Trout – Trout finishes August with a .337/.500/.590 slash line. He got on base half of the time in August. HALF!
2		— 0 Last Week: 2	Jered Weaver – Are the Angels protecting Weaver's arm? The most pitches he has thrown in his last five starts is 104. His mini-slump was part of that, but even his good starts have been curtailed a bit earlier than we would normally expect.
3		— 0 Last Week: 3	C.J. Wilson – I'll forgive his rough start in Tampa, but I won't forgive all of his grumbling about how much he wants to hit only to get struck out by Kyle Lohse.
4		+1 Last Week: 5	Jason Vargas – Seriously, where is that extension?
5		-1 Last Week: 4	Garrett Richards – Uh oh, don't let the wheels come off now, Garrett. You're this close to securing a rotation spot next year and preventing whoever the GM is from doing something stupid like giving Bronson Arroyo $50 million.

6		+4 Last Week: 10	Kole Calhoun – Another few weeks like the one he just had and Calhoun is going to make one of the other Angel outfielders quite expendable.
7		— 0 Last Week: 7	J.B. Shuck – I've come to realize that while Shuck doesn't have many good tools, he rates out as an 80 in self-loathing facial expressions after he ground into a double play.
8		-2 Last Week: 6	Mark Trumbo – What I love about Trumbo is that when he has a horrible week like he just had, everyone wants him traded, which of course would be selling low. But if he starts hitting over the final month of the season, everyone will want to keep him instead of selling high. Logic. It isn't for everyone.
9		+2 Last Week: 11	Josh Hamilton – The power still isn't there, but Hamilton finished August batting .272 and a 9.6 BB%, his highest rate for any month this year, and "only" a 22.6 K%. I guess that is progress.
10		-1 Last Week: 9	Erick Aybar – After an uninspiring August, it really makes one wonder if the Angels aren't better off moving Aybar instead of Kendrick this off-season.
11		+1 Last Week: 12	Hank Conger – Conger had an impressive .844 OPS in August, which just so happened to be the month he received the most playing time. Coincidence?
12		+1 Last Week: 13	Ernesto Frieri – He is still getting the job done and probably causing Tums sales to go through the roof with all of those 14-pitch at-bats he gets involved in.
13		-5 Last Week: 8	Grant Green – A tough week for Green at the dish who needs to get hot in a hurry to leave a lasting impression on the club before he returns to the bench when Howie Kendrick gets healthy.
14		— 0 Last Week: 14	Dane De La Rosa – DDLR had to feel good getting that save against the Rays, but it was scary to see his velocity drop through the floor in his outing a few days later.
15		— 0 Last Week: 15	Peter Bourjos – I'd normally complain about Bourjos not playing much this week, but I think we all know that his wrist is hindering him. The less he plays, the better for his trade value and/or the organization's confidence in him next season.
16		+1 Last Week: 17	Chris Iannetta – After several weeks of Iannetta drawing several walks but getting no hits, he finally delivers a week of multiple hits and no walks.
17		-1 Last Week: 16	J.C. Gutierrez – Wait, he didn't pitch at all this week? I can only assume that his arm finally fell off. Either that or the tilt of his back caused him to throw his back out.
18		— 0 Last Week: n/a	Luis Jimenez – Lucho is back and making a good early impression in the auditions for the starting third base job in 2014.
19		+1 Last Week: 20	Jerome Williams – Too little too late, Jerome.
20		-2 Last Week: 18	Chris Nelson – I'd never be one to celebrate a player getting injured, so I'm just going to go ahead and stop this comment right now./
21		-2 Last Week: 19	Michael Kohn – With Jepsen out, Kohn has assumed the mantle of control-challenged righty that Scioscia insists on placing to much trust in.
22	NO PICTURE AVAILABLE	-1 Last Week: 21	Buddy Boshers – With Boshers an ineffective lefty, is has almost made Scioscia better managing his bullpen because he hasn't been such a slave to platoon advantage.
23		+1 Last Week: 24	Andrew Romine – At least he got some playing time. That's something, right?
24		-1 Last Week: 23	Cory Rasmus – The dominance he showed in Triple-A has failed to transfer thus far. Shocking that a trade with Atlanta isn't working out well for the Halos.
25		— 0 Last Week: 25	Joe Blanton – Joe Blanton. Not even once.