The Monkey predicts the 2015 Angels season

A tradition like no other, the Monkey (that’s me, for the uninitiated) is back to predict the 2015 Angels season. I do this because it is required that all baseball writers submit a bunch of prediction before the seasons end and, frankly, I just like doing it. Most of all, I do it for you, the readers, because I am ultimately here to entertain.

Why? Because I’m really bad at this. I mean, everyone is bad at this, but I’m pretty bad. Just look at these very bad past predictions. See what I mean? Now that I’ve effectively lowered your expectations of my prognostication skills to subterranean levels, let’s dive in.

1) Mike Trout will win the AL MVP, but it will be really close
Everyone knows that Trout is the best player in the galaxy, so he should be a shoo-in for the AL MVP, but the BBWAA is a bizarre creature. Trout only just won his first MVP, but I worry that there will be some voter fatigue setting in and that some of the anti-WAR crowd will turn on Trout again not that he’s got that award in his back pocket. Instead, they will go all in on an old school candidate like Jose Abreu who will crank close to 50 homers, rack up 120+ RBIs and hit over .300 to become a legit Triple Crown threat. Trout will be a Triple Crown threat himself and sanity will ultimately prevail, but it will be an MVP vote where the outcome will be very uncertain until the moment the results are announced.

2) Mike Trout will win his first Gold Glove
And Statcast will be the reason why. Granted, we still don’t know exactly what Statcast is going to be in terms of public consumption, but the bits I have seen makes me think that Trout is tailor-made to benefit from it. There will be so many videos that quantify his amazing speed that it will leave an indelible impression on the minds of viewers that Trout will finally snag that first Gold Glove, even if his DRS and UZR scores aren’t all that great.

3) Aaron Hill will be the starting second baseman for the Angels by July 24th.
The dumpster fire that is the Angels second base depth chart remains a major problem. Sorry, folks, but Johnny Giavotella just isn’t going to get it done on offense or defense, especially defense. Dipoto is going to be left with no choice but to bring in a veteran to try and stabilize things. Aaron Hill is coming off a dreadful season, but he’s a guy Dipoto is familiar with. He knows there is pop in his bat, not a lot of whiffs and steady (though apparently declining) glove work. That won’t be a game-changer, but at least the Halos will know what they are getting.

Oh, and I should mention this, but I came this close to predicting a bad contract swap meet deal of C.J. Wilson for Brandon Phillips. That seems too bold for a mid-season deal, but part of me wonders if that might not be a move those two teams revisit if things continue to go in the wrong direction for those two players.

4) Kole Calhoun will assume the mantle of “most underrated player in baseball”
Right now the title belongs to Kyle Seager, but he is reaching the point where everyone is in agreement that he’s underrated therefore he is now probably a little bit overrated. To me, that means the title has now been vacated. Calhoun meets all the criteria. He’s gritty. He’s good at a lot of things but not great at anything. He’s a third fiddle on a good team. Fans of his team already love him and think he deserves more attention. I’ve certainly noticed over the offseason that there is momentum building for this and all it will take is a hot start for Kole and him spiking in power output (25+ homers) for him to finally get on the national radar.

5) C.J. Cron will become the most polarizing (performance-wise) Angels player
He’s been called the next Mark Trumbo plenty of times, but I think he’s really going to fulfill every bit of that manifest destiny. Some folks love his power. Others live in fear of his low OBP. Now that he figures to play full-time for at least a month, he’s in perfect position to be the focal point of the power vs. OBP debate that plagued Trumbo’s career. Heck, it is already happening as Scotty Allen and I can’t go a week without getting into a Twitter fight over Cron. SPOILER ALERT: I’m right and Scotty’s wrong.

6) Jerry Dipoto will trade for a reliever
This bullpen already seems like it is totally overcrowded, but for some reason Jerry Dipoto will find a reason to make a deadline deal for another reliever. He can’t help himself. It might be a Grilli-esque trade where he makes a challenge trade. It might be a Pestano-esque deal where he takes a dirt cheap gamble on a reclamation project. It could also be a legitimate trade where another arm is needed because Street, Smith or Morin get hurt or tank and Dipoto feels a need to beef up the late inning relief offering. I assure you, Dipoto will find a reason to trade for a reliever.

7) Josh Hamilton has already played his last game as an Angel but they are going to pay him every last cent he is owed
This wasn’t on my list as of Thursday, but let’s just say the climate has changed a bit since then. After the Angels brass went out of their way to napalm their relationship with Josh Hamilton, it is hard to see how he could possibly return to the team. The Angels clearly don’t want him anymore and I can’t imagine their “outpouring of support” is going to make him feel welcome to return. It also isn’t going to make him amenable to a buyout either. The Angels will try and shop him over the next month, but they won’t find any takers which will result in them just eating his entire $83 million and kicking him to the curb like the trash that they obviously think he is. Shameful.

8) Huston Street won’t get his extension, but will re-sign with the Angels
This isn’t exactly a bold prediction because the lack of savings from Hamilton’s suspension that wasn’t really submarined the Street extension idea. But I will take it a step further to say that Street won’t get any extension done in-season nor will he get one done before hitting the open market. The Angels will let him test the open market, but with a big fat offer sheet slapped on him which will get the Halos a better deal (three years, $31.5 million) than they would’ve gotten via the extension that I don’t think they ever really wanted to give him but had to pretend they did so as not to offend Street.

9) Andrew Heaney will take over Hector Santiago‘s rotation spot by the end of June.
Heaney wasn’t exactly impressive in the spring, but the talent is there. He just needs to fine tune some things and he’ll be fine. As for Santiago, he seems to think that he rectified some mechanical issues, but I kind of don’t believe him and kind of don’t think it matters because his stuff just isn’t that good. After three months of him putting a heavy workload on the bullpen every five days, Scioscia will have enough and make the move.

Finally, to just really hammer home my terrible prediction skills, I give you my predicted standings and playoff outcomes as the cherry on top of this awful sundae.

As for the playoffs:

Wild Card: Mariners over Red Sox, Mets over Pirates
ALDS: Angels over Mariners, White Sox over Jays
NLDS: Dodgers over Mets, Cardinals over Nationals
ALCS: Angels over White Sox (revenge for 2005!)
NLCS: Dodgers over Cardinals
World Series: Dodgers over Angels (/ducks lightning bolt)

But wait! There’s more! Now some award predictions:

MVP: Mike Trout (AL), Giancarlo Stanton (NL)
Cy Young: Felix Hernandez (AL), Clayton Kershaw (NL)
Rookie of the Year: Aaron Sanchez (AL), Kris Bryant (NL)
Manager of the Year: John Gibbons (AL), Terry Collins (NL)

So, yeah, I like the Angels. As I described last week, I think there are plenty of reasons to think they can still win the AL West. From there, it is just getting to the crapshoot that is the playoffs. Honestly, I think the American League is wide open. There are like eight or nine teams that you could tell me will win the pennant and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised. But in the National League, it is pretty much the Dodgers, the Nationals and an outside chance of the Cardinals because they are wizards. Alas, I just don’t have enough homerism in me to pick the Halos to go the full distance. If this actually comes to pass, you can throw this post back in my face and blame me.