The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim need help to reclaim another American League West division title. With the Texas Rangers adding Cliff Lee to their rotation it’s going to be tougher than ever for the Angels to catch the Rangers.
Currently the Angels own a 47-42 record and are four and a half games out of first place. Yet, if the Angels would like to catch the Rangers and pass them for first place the Angels could use some help.
Where does the help come form? The Oakland A’s. They’ve got two players that would improve the team considerably. When making a trade with the A’s the Angels don’t have to give up players who are already at the Major League levels, just some prospects.
Now the Angels could actually trade for two players from the A’s. One players alone would help them with their fielding problems and give them a bat in the lineup, and take away from the platoon at third base.
Kevin Kouzmanoff has had an up and down season with the A’s hitting the ball. He’s aggressive and not very patient, but he would fit right into the Angels lineup. Not only that he wouldn’t have to be hitting so high up in the lineup as he had done with the A’s.
He’s hitting a decent .269, with 89 hits, 16 doubles, eight homers, 40 rbis, and a stolen base. Kouzmanoff would definitely be an improvement of Brandon Wood, Macier Izturis (currently injured), and Kevin Frandsen.
Defensively he improves the Angels dramatically. Of the group of players that have seen time at third base for the Angels they’ve combined for 14 errors while Kouzmanoff has only seven errors.
The other player that would benefit the Angels would be Michael Wuertz. After an outstanding season with the A’s last year he’s been inconsistent this year, but a fresh start may help him regain the magic that he had last year.
It also wouldn’t hurt the Angels because the bullpen has been struggling throughout the year and the addition of Wuertz could boost some life into the bullpen. So, far Wuertz has appeared in 23 games, has a record of 2-1, with a save, an ERA of 5.71, has struckout 13 and walked 10.
The season before that though Wuertz went 6-1, in 74 appearances, had four saves, and struck out 102 while walking 23.
With the year that Wuertz is having though it maybe difficult for the A’s to include him with Kouzmanoff. So, Brad Ziegler could be the other option in the trade to help improve the Angels bullpen.
Ziegler has had a decent season so far he does struggle a little bit against left handed hitters. He’s appeared in 41 games, has a record of 2-4, and has 25 strikeouts to go along with 17 strikeouts.
As for the Angels what players would they give up in a trade to the A’s for Kouzmanoff and Wuertz or Ziegler?
Michael Kohn is a 24 year old right handed relief pitcher who’s appeared both at the Double-A and Triple A level and is having a solid year in 35 games he has a 2.08 ERA with 52 strikeouts to 20 walk, and 10 saves.
Tyson Auer also 24 is an outfielder who can play each position who has appeared in Advanced A ball and now Double A is hitting a combined .340, with 103 hits, eight doubles, eight triples, three homeruns, 30 rbis, and 44 stolen bases.
Also, coming over could be Casey Haerther who’s at the Single A level who has played both third base and first base. He’s 22 years old and currently hitting .315, with 90 hits, 13 doubles, two triples, four homeruns, 54 rbis, and nine stolen bases.
Either way the trades would benefit both clubs it would bring in a reliever that the Angels could definitely use a third basemen that can not only hit but provide defense at the hot corner and the A’s like they usually do they’d be getting young talent to build up their farm system.
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