Gordon Beckham was an Angels of just a few weeks in 2014, but could end up being a big part of their plans in 2015 or not part of their plans at all. What are we supposed to make of him?
Why did the Angels even acquire Beckham in the first place?
One theory is that they just hate Grant Green who basically filled the same role that Beckham ended up filling. Green was hurt at the time of Beckham’s acquisition but started his rehab assignment just days after the trade, so it wasn’t as if the Halos were going to be without Green for a long time. So go ahead and throw that theory out the window.
What the Angels actually told us was that they acquired Beckham because he was really good at hitting lefties. That was true in 2014 as Beckham had a wOBA split of .341 vs. LHP and .248 vs. RHP. That encompassed just 130 plate appearances though. For his career his wOBA split is .305/.301. So it really wasn’t that he suddenly learned to mash lefties so much as he had a gap of over 100 points in BABIP between his 2014 platoon splits. I’m not saying the Angels were lying so much as being duped by a one year anomaly in platoon splits. That’s actually probably more disconcerting, actually. I’d rather they lie than get fooled by a small sample size aberration.
The other reason the front office pointed to was that they believed Beckham could play second, third and short. Now that makes sense. Green was a failed experiment at short and McDonald just can’t hit. Getting some coverage at short down the stretch was a sound, smart idea.
Are we sure he can actually play shortstop?
Oh, right, yeah. That. Beckham could definitely play second and he had some experience playing third at a competent level earlier in his career. The shortstop thing? That was a big leap of faith.
Beckham played a handful of innings at shortstop in the majors and minors in 2013. He hadn’t seen anytime at that position since 2009 in the minors when he logged 32 games at the position (and made seven errors). That’s not a whole lot to go off of and it certainly isn’t anything that should inspire confidence. Presumably the Angels had some scouts vouch for his ability to play shortstop, which could and should carry weight, but still, it is a roll of the dice. Fortunately, Beckham only played 26 innings at short and none of them were out of necessity.
Will he get non-tendered or traded?
The smart money is on non-tendered, but just about every option is on the table, including the Angels keeping him. None of it depends on Beckham though. This decision will be all about the decision to trade Kendrick, Freese or neither. If one of them goes, the odds of the Halos hanging on to Beckham goes up dramatically. If they hold on to both, it is hard to imagine them keeping him. Beckham impressed in his 61 plate appearance audition late last year, but not enough to stick around as a $5 million reserve.
For that same reason, Beckham seems highly unlikely to be traded. To pay him that much money and give up other assets is a very poor investment when you can just wait a few weeks for him to get non-tendered and try to sign him at a steep discount.
How much gum does he go through in a season?
Seriously, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone ever work a wad of bubble gum so hard. The guy must have mandibles of adamantium. He’s got to go through a pack every three innings, right?
Final Answer
Beckham certainly seems like a good change of scenery candidate, but there is a good chance that he may not be taking in the Anaheim scenery for much longer. Even though we still don’t know what the Angels will ultimately send to the White Sox to complete the trade, losing Gordon and having him flourish elsewhere isn’t something anyone should be losing sleep over. We can start losing sleep if Beckham ends up a starter for the Angels and putting up similar numbers to the ones he posted in his waning days in Chicago.
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