Kuzul

As August trails on and September approaches from afar, roster expansion is around the corner for the stretch run of the 2015 MLB season. Teams in contention for playoff spots, such as the second-place Los Angeles Angels, may need to call upon their top prospects to give the big club a jolt in the fall.

Even though Los Angeles doesn’t have a very strong farm system at the moment, there are still pieces here that make for intriguing additions and have strong promise for the future.

While a list of a team’s top overall prospects gives a snapshot of the talent in place, it also can ignore the breadth of players available. Thus, here is a list of the Angels’ best prospect at each position.

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The 2015 MLB All-Star Game is taking place July 14 in Cincinnati. Fan voting for the starting lineups wraps up this week. There is still some time to get votes submitted for your favorite Los Angeles Angels players. However, only a few have a real shot at playing in the game this year.

Each team is required to receive at least one participant because of an asinine rule. Outside of that, an All-Star berth comes down to popularity and production. Here are the Angels’ top candidates to be named an All-Star in order of likelihood.

1) Mike Trout

No surprise here, as Trout leads all American League players in WAR.

2) Albert Pujols

A number of weeks ago, I wrote a Bold Predictions column in which I said Pujols would make the All-Star team. While most of the other predictions from that piece seem foolish now, this one I nailed.

Pujols has been on an absolute tear since May. He’s hit 20 home runs in the last two months alone. He has a 1.142 OPS during the month of June. He is even now up to second in the AL in WAR among first basemen. After such a shaky beginning to the season, Pujols is inarguably the team’s second-best player and is deserving of that All-Star bid that seemed so bold to predict just six weeks ago.

3) Huston Street

Sadly for Los Angeles fans, after Trout and Pujols, there is a real drop before the team’s third-best candidate. Street is that guy, but his chances of making the team are no sure thing.

Street is third in the AL with 21 saves. His peripherals also stack up nicely with his positional counterparts. The problem is there are a number of non-closers who have been much better than Street this year.

Dellin Betances and Wade Davis (besides picking up saves as injury replacements) have been untouchable middle relievers. The same goes for lesser names like Evan Scribner (41-to-3 strikeout-to-walk rate) or Darren O’Day.

The saves may get Street into the game anyway. Despite the progressive nature of baseball fans, that stat still matters in many circles.

4) Hector Santiago

The last player in Anaheim with any chance of making the All-Star game is Hector Santiago, and he likely doesn’t have much of a chance.

Santiago has been the team’s best starting pitcher this season and has solid figures across the board. Little else makes him a realistic All-Star, however. His record is just 4-4 in 15 starts and he’s given up 13 home runs this season.

Most pressing is the fact that there are simply too many elite arms in baseball right now.

His 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings mark is very good for a starting pitcher, but it puts him 13th in the AL this season among qualified pitchers. His 1.13 walks and hits per innings pitched (WHIP) is also superb, but it doesn’t even put him in the top half-dozen among AL starters.

Santiago has had a good year, but it won’t likely be good enough to make the team. The mediocre play of the Angels will hurt him, as will his manager’s propensity to rejigger the rotation to save arms. It may be the smart play, but it doesn’t come off positively when your manager skips your turn in the rotation.

At 39-37 this season, Los Angeles has had a sloppy year. Getting four players into the All-Star Game is a little too much to ask. The Angels are guaranteed one All-Star and could potentially have more. That’s not too bad.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Seventy games into the 2015 MLB season, the Los Angeles Angels are owners of a 35-35 record. At exactly .500 is not where Los Angeles wanted to be nearing the halfway point of the baseball season, but these 70 games are already banked. The wins and losses aren’t going anywhere.

With a plus-three run differential, the results are right in line with the production thus far. If not for the very surprising seasons put together by the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles may even have been closer to first place despite the mediocre record.

At 35-35, the Angels have shown some drastic strengths and weaknesses throughout the roster. Here are a few of the most influential things we’ve learned about the team up to this point.

The offense is much worse than it was last year

It wasn’t hard for the team’s offense to fall short of where it was a season ago. Last year’s Angels were great at the plate. They led all of baseball in runs (773) by a healthy margin. They finished in the top five in total bases (2,295) and seventh in OPS (.728).

This year’s squad is worse, and unfortunately, it has been considerably worse.

Through 70 games, rather than being a top-flight offense, it is a bottom-third unit. Los Angeles ranks 23rd in total bases (888), 24th in batting average (.242), 23rd in on-base percentage (.303) and 20th in slugging percentage (.384). Even though the lineup contains many of the same bats as last year, the production has not been at the same level. However…

The offense can be better in the second half

Because we have past examples of success from many of these hitters, it isn’t hard to predict, or expect, an offensive turnaround in the second half of the season.

Erick Aybar, for example, has never had a season with an on-base percentage under .300 when he’s gotten at least 300 at-bats. He also hasn’t stolen fewer than 12 bases in a season since seven years ago. Expect him to get to first base more often in the summer months and, as a result, steal a few more bases than he has thus far.

Similar arguments can be made to varying degrees about Chris Iannetta, C.J. Cron and Matt Joyce.

Joyce’s season is especially confounding. He has never been a good hitter against lefties but has always produced against right-handers. In 2015, though, even that platoon matchup has failed him. His .614 OPS against righties this year is nearly 200 points below his career split!

Huston Street is underrated yet again

Every season, Huston Street falls under the radar when the discussion of elite closers comes up. Every year, a bunch of closers with the job supposedly locked down get demoted to positions of lesser prominence. Every year, Street seems to avoid both the talk of the best guys as well as the slew of those relegated to lesser roles.

This year has been another example of both.

In 27.0 innings, Street is 20-of-22 in save chances, with a 2.33 ERA, a 0.93 WHIP and 28 strikeouts.

Starting pitching will be an issue all season

Although Street has anchored a strong bullpen, the starting pitching for Los Angeles has been a different story.

Hector Santiago has been good, but he has also seen the team skip his turn in the rotation and drop him to relief roles on occasion.

Garrett Richards has been OK, but he got a late start to the season and has not lived up to his sky-high talent.

Both Matt Shoemaker and Jered Weaver have been bad, and they have also battled through injuries. Shoemaker lost some turns in the rotation, and Weaver is currently on the disabled list with hip inflammation.

These four guys, along with C.J. Wilson, have combined to start 68 of the team’s 70 games. If Los Angeles doesn’t discover reliable sixth and seventh options, the injuries and below-average output will do great harm to the Angels’ record.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The term “fantasy sleeper” is rather stupid at this point. 

There is so much written, so many forums and so much media, no one is a sleeper. 

You think Gio Gonzalez is a sleeper this season? He’s not. Everyone knows who he is. They might not like him as much as you do, meaning you will be able to draft him late, but he is not being slept on.

The new term should be “fantasy value” as in: so-and-so has great fantasy value because of how late he is being drafted. So, hypothetically, what’s the best lineup that can be put together of players who no one wants, all undrafted players? This would show us ultimate value, adding a player off waivers who can produce all year.

Here is 2011’s Best Fantasy Baseball Team No Money Can Buy.

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