Major Additions: Luis Valbuena, Cameron Maybin, Ben Revere, Bud Norris, Martin Maldonado
Major Losses: C.J. Wilson, Jered Weaver, Jhoulys Chacin
Strengths: Mike Trout, Defense
Weaknesses: Pitching
Potential Breakout Stars: Tyler Skaggs, Alex Meyer
The Angels are trying to contend this year, and while I think this is no worse than an average team, they're not contenders in my mind and they blew their whole farm system on trying to contend during the Mike Trout Era. That said, they do have Mike Trout himself, the best player in baseball who has never posted a wRC+ below 167 in any of his five full seasons, clocking in at 171 last year. For comparison, David Ortiz had the second highest wRC+ in baseball lat year at 163, and NL MVP Kris Bryant finished at 149. When your worst season is still better than everybody else, that's pretty good. Hitting behind Trout will be one of baseball's most underrated hitters, Kole Calhoun, who slashed .271/.348/.438 for a cool 118 wRC+. Albert Pujols may be 37, but he was also the greatest hitter of the 2000's, and he's hit 71 home runs over the past two seasons. There's also Yunel Escobar, C.J. Cron, Andrelton Simmons, and newcomers Cameron Maybin and Luis Valbuena. On the defensive side, don't expect many miscues. The up-the-middle defense of Simmons (SS), Danny Espinosa (2B), and Trout (CF) is the best in baseball, and Cameron Maybin (LF) and Ben Revere (backup OF) aren't half bad either. Where this team will struggle, though, is on the mound. Only one pitcher on this entire team, Ricky Nolasco, threw enough innings last season to even qualify for the ERA title (minimum 162 innings). Ace Garrett Richards was limited to just six starts last season, while the ultra-talented Tyler Skaggs has never thrown more than 113 MLB innings in any season, including just 49.2 over the past two seasons. Command artist Matt Shoemaker threw 160 innings last year and nearly qualified, so at least he, Richards, and Nolasco will be somewhat reliable. Andrew Heaney and Nick Tropeano are both recovering from Tommy John surgery. In the bullpen, veteran closer Huston Street was great in 2015 (3.18 ERA, 1.16 WHIP) and horrendous in 2016 (6.45 ERA, 1.93 WHIP) so it's hard to tell how the 33 year old will pitch in 2017. Cam Bedrosian is the exact opposite of Street, as he has only pitched a few major league seasons and was terrible in 2015 (5.40 ERA, 1.77 WHIP) but dominated in 2016 (1.12 ERA, 1.09 WHIP). The Angels are very high on his chances to repeat. Other pieces to the question mark/bullpen are Andrew Bailey, who was excellent from 2009-2011 but hasn't been nearly as good since, Deolis Guerra, the longtime top prospect who finally made an impact last season (3.21 ERA, 1.11 WHIP) at 27 years old, Mike Morin, who has been overwhelmingly average since his great rookie season in 2014, and Jose Alvarez, the command artist who gives up a ton of hits but doesn't walk anybody. Overall, I'm pessimistic about the Angels' chances. I'm not a fan of the way this club has been managed, but when you have the best player of the 2000's (Pujols), the consensus best player of the 2010's (Trout), and arguably the best defensive player in the game (Simmons), anything is possible.
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