Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 2016–17 Offseason Review
Aside from having the best player in baseball, is there anything redeeming about the Angels this season?
In Mike Scioscia’s 17 years managing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the club has only finished under .500 five times. One of those times was last season, when the Angels went 74–88 (.457). In fact, 74–88 was the Angels’ worst record in Scioscia’s tenure.
What went wrong for the Angels? Can they bounce back this season?
Los Angeles’ 2016 Story
The Angels got off to a below-average start of 24–28 before an 8–19 month of June derailed their entire season. By the time they entered July, Los Angeles had the American League’s second-worst record at 32–48 (.400). They were a full 19.5 games behind the Texas Rangers and 11 games out of the Wild Card race. It was evident, barring a miracle, the Angels would spend another postseason at home.
Through the early struggles, there was one bright spot. Mike Trout was Mike Trout (.322/.425/.567 in the first half). Trout also clubbed 18 home runs and stole 15 bases (in 16 attempts) in 89 first half games.
While the Angels’ record hardly improved as the season went on, their impact players were boosted. Trout maintained his high level of play to end the season with a .315/.441/.550 slash resulting in a career-high-matching .991 OPS. He drew 116 walks (league and career-high) while cutting his strikeouts from 158 in 2015 to 137.
Andrelton Simmons’ first season in Los Angeles yielded a 3.1 WAR (thanks largely to his defense, per usual). Simmons missed about a month when he tore a ligament in his thumb in May, but was still a defensive presence. His DRS of 18 was third amongst MLB shortstops (Brandon Crawford and Addison Russell each had 19), and was a career low for Simmons. It goes to show, even when Simmons is “below average” for his personal standard, he’s still great. Additionally, his .281 batting average was the highest since his .289 rookie year, when he had just 166 at-bats.
After a couple down years had his mortality questioned, Albert Pujols responded with (another) 30+ home run season, finishing the year with 31. Pujols also raised his batting average and OBP from 2015, finishing 2016 at .268/.323/.457. While he’ll likely never find the magic he had for all those years in St. Louis, Pujols’ continuing presence as a power threat is key for the Angels.
Kole Calhoun also had a strong season, slugging 17 home runs and putting up a .271/.348/.438 slash line. Calhoun’s WAR of 4.0 was a career high, and continued a trend where he raised his WAR from the previous season, going up from 3.8 in 2015.
What went wrong for the Angels in 2016? Their starting pitching was an absolute mess. After just 34 innings pitched, Garrett Richards tore his UCL and missed the rest of the season. That left a rotation of Jered Weaver, Matt Shoemaker, and Hector Santiago as the consistent top three with a revolving door of fourth and fifth starters. Weaver continued to get hit all over the place due to a sluggish fastball (Weaver’s average fastball velocity of 84 MPH ranked 69th amongst 70 qualified players) and gave up a league-high 37 home runs.
Shoemaker rebounded from a terrible start to the season to put up a 44:8 strikeout to walk ratio in nine second half starts before a comebacker to the head ended his season in early September.
Nick Tropeano looked like a fixture in the rotation, making 13 starts before “elbow discomfort” led to Tommy John Surgery. He’ll miss all of 2017.
Tyler Skaggs made his return from a 2014 elbow injury in mid-July and made 10 starts down the stretch, but was clearly still returning to form.
The Angels were so desperate for back of the rotation help, they traded for Ricky Nolasco and signed Tim Lincecum at one point. Nolasco was serviceable. Lincecum was not.
The Offseason
Long gone are the days of Arte Moreno pushing for Jerry Dipoto to throw money at superstar free agents. The Angels stayed within their means to have a productive, need-filling offseason.
The Angels’ offseason started on a positive note, as they were able to shed Jered Weaver and CJ Wilson (who didn’t pitch in 2016) to free agency. Their first free agency signing was designed to attempt to improve the rotation, as Los Angeles signed right-handed pitcher Jesse Chavez to a $5.8 million one-year contract. While Chavez has a high upside, has been used more as a long reliever in the past few seasons.
A November trade with the Detroit Tigers brought Cameron Maybin to southern California. Maybin slashed .315/.383/.418 in 94 games with the Tigers last season, and gives the Angels another option in the outfield. He has one year remaining on his contract, so he’ll be looking to prove himself this season.
The other significant move from the Angels came on December 10, when they sent a pair of minor-leaguers to the Nationals for 2B/SS Danny Espinosa. Like Maybin, Espinosa has one year remaining on his contract, so he will have something to prove this season.
Aside from those, there were a couple other minor moves (Ben Revere, Martin Maldonado), but the Angels are really looking to get their main pitching core healthy and back in order.
What Wasn’t Answered?
This section is tough, because it can be argued the Angels didn’t really need to answer anything. They have a solid enough hitting core and their rotation should be fine if it stays healthy. However, that’s a big if with multiple guys coming off elbow injuries.
Los Angeles’ farm system could still use some work, as it was left barren, but it’s slowly on the rise. That doesn’t come overnight. You would like to think a guy like Ricky Nolasco is a stopgap in the rotation until you can get a homegrown pitcher in there in his place. Also I would have liked to see the Angels sign more than just Chavez in case of another rotation injury. It’s important to think ahead.
2017 Outlook
The Angels likely aren’t going to be better than the Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners, or Texas Rangers this season. They will be better than the Oakland Athletics, though.
It’s hard to pick against a team with the best player in baseball in Trout. Just having him in the lineup makes the Angels dangerous should opponents choose to pitch around him. Having other quality players like Calhoun and Pujols around Trout’s spot in the order should help too.
However, it all comes down to the rotation staying healthy and being productive, and I’m not sure I see both of those things happening for the Angels, who have tabbed Nolasco as their opening day starter. Maybe I’ll be wrong and the Angels will have a serviceable rotation, but I’ll need to see it to believe it.
