Kuzul

The Texas Rangers weren’t bit by injuries in 2014—they were ruthlessly mauled.

On Sept. 2, the day the Rangers were officially eliminated from playoff contention, nine players expected to be a part of the club’s Opening Day lineup and starting rotation had missed 20 or more games to injury, according to Sports Illustrated‘s Cliff Corcoran.

Free-agent signee Shin-Soo Choo—inked to a seven-year, $130 million deal—suffered a bone spur in his elbow. Ace Yu Darvish was shelved with elbow inflammation. 

One loss, though, loomed especially large, as marquee trade acquisition Prince Fielder managed just a .247 average with three home runs and 16 RBI in 42 games before succumbing to a herniated disc in his neck.

The ailment interrupted a string of 547 games played for Fielder, per MLB.com‘s Tracy Ringolsby. Overall, the rotund-yet-durable swinger logged at least 157 games every year from 2006 to 2013.

“It was real difficult because I wasn’t used to missing games,” Fielder told CBSSports.com’s Brandon Wise of his truncated ’14 campaign. “So to miss a lot of the season, it was difficult at first, but I had to be an adult about it, kind of try to just get back healthy to be ready this year. I’m good, I’m 100 percent—whatever it was before is back.”

Now, the slugging first baseman, who missed exactly one contest over a four-year span and who made three All-Star teams during the same stretch, will look to return strong and propel Texas into contention in the American League West.

“It means we can get the guy we are accustomed to seeing,” third baseman Adrian Beltre told Fox Sports Southwest’s Anthony Andro. “We all know what he can do. If he can get back to his form of being healthy it’s a real plus. When you have a guy like that that plays every day, plays hard and produces it will give us more balance.”

FanGraphs projects Rangers first basemen to post a 2.7 WAR next season, good for 14th in MLB. As SBNation‘s Adam J. Morris notes, Texas is “expecting—or, perhaps, hoping—that Prince starts mashing again, and is a 4-5 win player in 2015.  What he does is going to be one of the biggest factors for Texas in 2015.”

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the division, the defending champion Los Angeles Angels are positioning themselves for a repeat, and they’re hoping for a lot more from outfielder Josh Hamilton.

The 33-year-old logged just 338 at-bats for the Halos last year, hitting .268 with 10 home runs in the second season of his five-year, $125 million deal.

This season, Hamilton told Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com (h/t CBSSports.com’s Chris Cwik) he plans to hit .300 while cracking 30 home runs and driving in 100, the type of production he routinely put up in his days with Texas. 

None of those annual milestones are out of reach for the 2010 AL MVP winner, but it’d require a big bounce-back at an age when many players’ skills begin to erode.

For what it’s worth, Baseball Prospectus is projecting Hamilton to produce a 3.6 WAR, his best mark since 2012.

“The last couple of years have not been good at all,” Hamilton said, per Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. “You’re always looking to improve, and I’m looking to improve a lot more.”

Yet there are still doubts—deep, lingering ones—about whether he and Fielder can recapture the magic that made them top-shelf sluggers in the not-so-distant past. 

It seems unlikely the Rangers will be mauled as hard by injuries as they were in 2014. And the Angels can reasonably hold out hope that Hamilton will rejoin the ranks of MLB’s elite.

Still, as the 2015 season approaches, it’s worth wondering if two of 2014’s most injury-bit superstars and their respective squads are on the ascent—or careening toward a crash.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference. 

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The freshest batch of rumors is in, and the reports suggest that a couple of potent bats could be on the move in the months prior to spring training.

Several teams have been aggressive in reshaping their rosters. The Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres have been extremely busy upgrading and reshuffling in order to get the most talent on their respective rosters. The smartest teams use a mix of free agency and trades to make changes.

Making trades can be difficult, though, as negotiating for top players is never easy. Every organization values a player differently, hence the difficulties that often ensue.

Regardless, the following players are likely candidates to be dealt at some point during the winter months.

Josh Hamilton

Josh Hamilton hasn’t posted poor numbers on par with B.J. Upton since signing with the Los Angeles Angels prior to the 2013 season, but many would argue that he has been more disappointing given the five-year, $125 million contract he signed that offseason.

He has just 31 homers and 123 RBI in 240 games with the Halos, but it’s his OPS of .741 that is most disappointing. While with the Texas Rangers from 2008 to 2012, his OPS was .912.

The organization might be at wit’s end with the 33-year-old. Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports that they’ve tried to trade him this offseason: “The Angels, according to major-league sources, have discussed a possible Hamilton trade with at least two teams this offseason, the Rangers and the Padres.”

Rosenthal notes that the talks were “exploratory in nature; they did not gain traction.” MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez echoed that statement:

That still doesn’t negate the fact that Hamilton could be on the move.

Hamilton is owed $83 million over the next three seasons, so it’ll take a team with deep pockets to take him on. The Halos would certainly cover part of the cost, but not enough to attract smaller-market clubs.

Trading Hamilton would simply be a move to rid the organization of some excess salary; there’s no way the team gets anything of extreme value for him. He’s a high-reward, bounce-back candidate for 2015, but teams don’t dish out top talent for a veteran in that regard.

Of course, general manager Jerry Dipoto is doing his best to downplay the talks, via Rosenthal: “We are absolutely of the belief that the ability is there for him to do the things that he has done in the past. Now we have to help him turn the key to bring the ability out.”

GMs contradict trade rumors all the time for various reasons, so make of this situation what you will. In the end, don’t be surprised if Hamilton has a new address next season.

Seth Smith

The Padres suddenly have a rather stacked outfield.

Wil Myers, Carlos Quentin, Rymer Liriano, Cameron Maybin, Will Venable, Abraham Almonte and Seth Smith are currently on the roster. The Dodgers have also finally traded Matt Kemp to the Friars, as their official Twitter account announced, so that’s another player who needs playing time in the outfield. And the team has finalized a trade for Justin Upton, reports Rosenthal.

Of the big group of outfielders, one could assume that Quentin would interest American League clubs that could offer him time at designated hitter. Liriano and Maybin are both players with high upside, so there should be interest there.

But an underrated player who could be on the move as a result of this overhaul is Smith. ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick hears that his name has been coming up in talks:

Smith slashed .266/.367/.440 last season. He was best against righties, though, as he slashed .270/.359/.455 against them.

Teams looking into Smith will utilize him as the left-handed-hitting portion of a platoon in either left or right field. This is where the 32-year-old stands at this point in his career, so he’s nothing more than a complementary piece in an already deep lineup.

A deal for Smith is the type of acquisition that could put a strong team over the top. Hiding weaknesses against southpaws becomes a lot easier with a player like Smith waiting on the bench to take his hacks.

The Padres would do well to trade him. He’s one of their most valuable trade assets, and they still have other holes to fill. With potentially nine outfielders for four jobs (don’t forget a reserve outfielder), there’s some dealing to be done.

Follow Kenny DeJohn on Twitter: @kennydejohn.

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Updates from Saturday, July 26

MLB Lineups reports Josh Hamilton is not in the Angels’ lineup:

James Schmehl of MLive provides more details:

Original Text:

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Josh Hamilton is once again dealing with an injury that could keep him out of the lineup.

The 33-year-old veteran was removed from his team’s game Friday against the Detroit Tigers in the fourth inning and replaced by Efren Navarro. The club later announced that this was the result of a knee injury:

Hamilton missed about a month-and-a-half earlier in the year due to a torn ligament in his thumb. He had been able to remain in the lineup until this point, but he struggled to a .291 batting average and just five home runs.

Despite the lack of power, Hamilton has remained the cleanup hitter for the Angels, where he has contributed with his .322 batting average with runners in scoring position. His solid production has helped the team remain one of the best in the major leagues. Only the AL West rival Oakland Athletics have a better record at this point of the year.

If Hamilton is forced to miss a significant amount of time, the squad could end up struggling to replace him in the lineup. Outfielder Grant Green was recently placed on the disabled list, which leaves Navarro as the only other option for the Angels.

Based on the severity of the injury, it is possible Los Angeles will start looking for outfielders before the trade deadline.

Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter for the latest breaking news and analysis.

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You’ve got The Hustle. You’ve got American Hustle, smart hustle, false hustle and Charlie Hustle.

And then you’ve got the kind of dopey, bird-brained hustle that destroys seasons and can wreck a career.

There is a very fine line between aggressiveness and foolishness when Bryce Harper crashes into an outfield wall or a thin speedster like Dee Gordon or Billy Hamilton goes merrily diving into first base.

But there is no fine line when fullback-sized lugs like Josh Hamilton and Yasiel Puig dive into first base as if they’re Michael Phelps in the Olympics.

Puig appears to have gotten off easy. Though he has not started since Saturday after suffering a strained ligament in his left thumb diving into first base, he is day-to-day, and it appears as if he will avoid the disabled list.

But a Los Angeles Angels of We Stink in April team that cannot afford another slow start following two monumental years of underachieving just lost Hamilton for probably at least two months when he dove into first Tuesday night attempting to leg out an infield grounder.

Hamilton, after the lost year of 2013, was hitting .444 (12-for-27) with two homers and six RBI through his first eight games. He and Albert Pujols each were looking like their old wrecking-ball selves. Together with Mike Trout, things were going to be…

RIIIIIP!

Hamilton is 6’4″, 240 pounds. Puig is 6’3″, 235.

That’s a lot of meat to be laying out when joints and ligaments and cartilages are just asking to be butchered.

These dives into first are risky, ill-advised, just plain nuts and, depressingly…apparently unpreventable.

Managers from Mike Scioscia to Sparky Anderson to, guaranteed, Connie Mack have begged, pleaded, cajoled and nagged their guys not to do it. Clearly a skipper can bloviate, but he simply cannot legislate, dictate, mandate or intimidate.

When Hamilton went down, the first thing I thought of was a random game in May two summers ago during what would be his last season with the Rangers. Hamilton dove into first base attempting to beat out a ground ball in the eighth inning of a game…the Rangers were leading 10-3.

It was utter insanity.

Next afternoon, I asked Rangers manager Ron Washington about it. Washington shook his head. Yes, he said, he had asked Hamilton not to dive into first—in any situation—any number of times over the years.

He smiled, shook his head and shrugged.

“When a guy smells a hit,” Washington said, “he reacts.”

Sliding into first base, which has been proven to not expedite arrival time any more than simply running through the bag, does not pass the smell test. Scioscia told reporters in Seattle after Hamilton’s injury that he attempts to “persuade” players to run through the bag rather than do at first what should only be done with a Speedo and a swimming pool.

But in the moment, simple reaction takes over.

That was Harper versus the Dodger Stadium wall last May. Not only did he take 11 stitches in his chin, but he sustained a knee injury that cut short his season after 118 games and led to surgery.

Harper vowed a couple of days after smashing into that wall that it would not cause him to change the way he plays. “I’m gonna play this way forever,” he told me then. “I respect this game.” While I applauded him for it, in retrospect, maybe the best thing for both him and the Nationals—short and long term—would have been if he would have adjusted just a wee bit and saved his knee.

Problem is, this razor-sharp competitiveness is why some of these guys are where they are to begin with. Dial it down?

“You don’t have a dimmer,” Nationals reliever Drew Storen told me while Harper, like some Saturday morning cartoon character, was still seeing stars.

It is one thing to leave it all out on the field.

But when guys can’t stay on that field, they’re helping neither themselves nor their teams.

Last season, the Angels were already eight games out of first place on the final day of April, and they were nine out on the last day of April in 2012.

They readjusted much of their spring strategy this year to avoid the horrible start. Pitchers pitched deeper into games. Hitters were given a bigger workload.

Now, they must play without their cleanup hitter into June.

Robinson Cano gets zinged sometimes for playing on cruise control. But the flip side of that is he’s played in either 159, 160 or 161 games now for seven consecutive seasons.

Ol’ Charlie Hustle himself, Pete Rose, once said he would walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball.

Watching them play with such joy and flair, it’s clear that Hamilton and Puig would, too.

But with all of today’s modern fabrics, wouldn’t you at least try on a flame-retardant suit first?

Even if you smell a hit.

Making things even more head-shakingly crazy in the case of the reckless Hamilton, this is a guy who missed 36 games early in the 2011 season when he suffered a broken right arm while sliding headfirst into home plate. Yes, that’s not quite as daft as going headfirst into first base—hey, a run is a run—but wouldn’t you learn something there?

“We do tell him to stop doing it,” Washington told me during that conversation two Mays ago. “We don’t need him to lose a finger.

“But when you’re competing and smelling things, you do what you’ve got to do.”

Until you no longer can.

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. He has over two decades of experience covering MLB, including 14 years as a national baseball columnist at CBSSports.com.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball here.

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This is the Josh Hamilton the Los Angeles Angels thought they were getting. Alas, after paying the five-time All-Star $125 million over five years in December 2012, the 32-year-old’s start to 2013 was as cold as his 2014 beginning has been hot.

In his first month as an Angel, Hamilton batted a ghastly .204/.252/.296 on his way to hitting just .250/.307/.432 with 73 runs scored, 21 home runs and 79 RBI, all of which were career worsts for seasons in which Hamilton played at least 100 games.

This April, though, the 2010 AL MVP has been the exact opposite, with 12 hits in his first 24 at-bats (.500, if you couldn’t figure that out), along with a pair of homers and doubles apiece. All of which earned Hamilton a share of the AL player of the week, per Joey Nowak of MLB.com.

“(Hamilton is) obviously a different player than he was last year,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said via Nowak‘s story. “He’s back to his playing weight (about 240 pounds). He has a comfort level in the box that started to come together the second half of last season but never really materialized the way it had before in his last couple years in Texas. Right now, we are seeing it. Hopefully, he’s in a better place in the batter’s box now and will maintain it for long stretches.”

That would be big for both the Angels, who once again have postseason aspirations, and Hamilton, who endured a calf strain that cost him a few weeks during spring training before making it back to hit .333/.378/.606 in March. Both sides want a redo on 2013, and a quick start is the best way to go about that.

Hamilton attributes his strong showing through the first seven games of the season to getting back his rhythm and timing in the batter’s box, according to Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com. “Hitting is rhythm and timing,” the outfielder told Gonzalez. “If one is out of sync, you are going to struggle.”

With Hamilton not struggling at the outset of his second year in Los Angeles, it’s time to make some general statements about his performance so far and play a little Fact or Fiction with each.

Statement No. 1: Josh Hamilton’s power is back.

For a hitter like Hamilton, who sports a .532 career slugging percentage, power is paramount. That wasn’t the case in 2013, especially early on.

A year ago, Hamilton managed a measly .296 SLG and .548 OPS before May. From there, his power fluctuated some, but he actually put up a solid .464 SLG and .783 OPS after April. That’s not quite the Hamilton of old, but it indicates just how much his awful beginning drowned out the progress he made over the rest of the year.

To wit, Hamilton hit .329 with a .518 SLG and .909 OPS over his final 45 games from mid-August until the end of the year.

Now that he’s in his age-33 campaign, it’s only natural for Hamilton to experience some decline in his performance. Thing is, his last April was still more of an outlier than a clear indication that Hamilton’s days as a dangerous hitter were done.

Is he going to return to his 30-plus-homer ways from his peak seasons? It’s a possibility. And even though it’s more of a cute observation than anything else, there is this: Since 2008, Hamilton has topped 30 homers and 100 RBI every other year, and 2014 is one of those other years.

Is Hamilton’s power back? Seems so. In fact, one could make a claim that it was here all along and only went hibernating for a month or two early in 2013.

Verdict: Fact

Statement No. 2: Josh Hamilton’s plate discipline is improving.

For Hamilton to sustain this early-season success, the two keys are going to be his health and his plate discipline, both of which have been concerns during his career. While the former is hard to control to an extent, the latter—when and when not to swing—is something that is well within a player’s ability to maintain.

Hamilton has always qualified as a free swinger, as proven by his 56.1 percent swing percentage, which is the percentage of pitches a batter goes after, and he ranks among the top 10 highest in the sport since 2007, his first year.

To start 2014, though, Hamilton has been a wee bit more selective. His swing percentage is at 46.3 percent, which would be a career low by far. Here’s a look at Hamilton’s other plate-discipline metrics so far:

That table basically shows that Hamilton has been swinging at fewer pitches overall (Swing%) while also doing a better job of swinging at pitches in the strike zone (Z-Swing%) after a dip in 2013 and swinging at pitches outside the zone (O-Swing%) at a much better rate than in recent seasons.

Add it all up, and it’s not surprising that Hamilton already has drawn six walks and has whiffed only six times in his first 30 plate appearances. By comparison, in his first year with the Angels, Hamilton had only three walks against 11 strikeouts through his first 30 trips.

A sample size of 30 PA is too small to draw any conclusions about Hamilton’s plate discipline this year, or any player’s for that matter. Studies have shown that a player’s strikeout rate tends to stabilize around plate appearance No. 60, while his walk rate takes about twice as long.

If that holds true with Hamilton, then he’ll need to continue with his current approach through the rest of April before we really buy in. And even then, this is a hitter who always will have an aggressive mentality and some swing-and-miss to his game.

Verdict: Fact (for now)

Statement No. 3: Thanks in part to Josh Hamilton’s early success, the Angels can avoid a third straight disappointing season.

It’s all about April for the Angels, who have been underwhelming in the face of lofty expectations the past two years despite a ton of talent on the roster.

It’s too early to put much weight on the Angel’s 3-4 start following two series against fellow AL West clubs, the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros, but if any team in baseball needs to avoid a poor first month, it’s the Halos.

Here’s why. After April 2013, the club was just 9-17, and in April 2012, they went 8-15. From May on, though, they’ve been much, much better the past two seasons, going 69-67 last year and 81-58 in ’12.

The West is wide open at the moment, due to injuries that have the two preseason favorites to fight for the division crown more than a little short-handed: The Oakland Athletics are without Jarrod Parker after Tommy John surgery, while A.J. Griffin remains sidelined with elbow tendinitis; and the Texas Rangers lost Derek Holland for half the season after offseason knee surgery and Jurickson Profar with a shoulder injury suffered late in spring training that will cost him at least a couple months.

The Angels cannot afford to miss the opportunity that those injuries—as well as Hamilton’s hot start—is presenting. The rest of the team has to get on board with Hamilton and put together a strong opening month. After all, they’ve shown they can play well once the calendar flips to May.

Verdict: Fact

While the expectation shouldn’t be for Hamilton to regain his MVP form, he certainly should bounce back from a disappointing 2013. Ultimately, if that also helps the Angels do the same, then there’s a good chance they’ll be playing in October for the first time since 2009. That’s one final fact Hamilton and the Angels would like to change.

Statistics come from Baseball Reference and FanGraphs, except where otherwise noted.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11

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Sometimes, when you just can’t buy any hits and you really feel the need to find yourself, the best thing to do is pay a visit to the Houston Astros.

It worked for the Los Angeles Angels, anyway.

To recap, the Angels did indeed have trouble buying hits in their season-opening series against the Seattle Mariners. They managed just 17 hits and eight runs in the three games, compiling an ugly slash line of .177/.223/.313.

Not quite what you’d expect from an offense that ranked seventh in MLB in runs last year, much less one that was expected to be even better with some healthy key parts and some new additions for 2014. 

But then the Angels met the Astros on Friday night, and literally (meaning figuratively) exploded.

Mike Trout got things started with a long solo home run in the first inning. Josh Hamilton eventually added his first home run of 2014, a three-run job in the sixth inning. Kole Calhoun hit his first of the year as well.

In the end, everybody in Mike Scioscia‘s starting nine got a hit:

John McDonald added another hit as a pinch-hitter, bringing the total to 15 and prompting Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register to observe:

If you’re an Angels fan or just a fan of good offense, say it with me now: Phew.

Now, the whole Astros caveat/catch/whatever is worth re-noting. This is a team that ranked dead-last in MLB in ERA last year, and the Angels started off on Friday night facing a guy who had a hand in that. Astros starter Lucas Harrell had a 5.86 ERA in 36 games (22 starts).

Still, it was just a matter of time before this Angels offense had a night like Friday night.

They won’t be scoring in the double digits every night, but there should be no mistaking that what happened on Friday night is much, much more like the true Angels offense than the offense that got shut down by Seattle to start the season.

They keep all kinds of snazzy projections over at FanGraphs, among them being projections for how much WAR teams stand to get out of their hitters. If you follow that link and take a look, what you should see is a projection for the Angels to get 26.0 WAR out of their hitters in 2014.

It may not sound like much, but that’s the best projection out of all American League clubs. Therefore, SCIENCE says that the Angels should have the best collective offense in Junior Circuit.

Granted, this is mainly due to the presence of Trout. He was worth 10.0 WAR in 2012, 10.4 WAR in 2013 and, wouldn’t you know it, he’s already leading the American League with 0.6 WAR in 2014. Contrary to popular belief, things don’t change.

Trout’s baserunning and defensive talents are a big reason why he’s so good at WAR, but his bat is certainly the main reason. And to this end, Trout’s not alone in the Angels lineup. 

We can put it this way:

Note: Those projected numbers are ZiPS projections that can be found here.

If you’re not familiar with OPS+, it’s a version of OPS that adjusts for home ballparks and league quality and puts everything on a scale where 100 represents average. Anything over 100 is above average. 

Point being: There really aren’t many easy outs among Scioscia‘s collection of regulars. To boot, even the ones that are there are debatable.

Erick Aybar isn’t quite as easy an out as his track record says he is, as he’s posted an OPS+ over 100 in three of five seasons. David Freese, meanwhile, is absolutely a candidate to outperform his projection after posting an OPS+ over 100 in each of his five seasons in St. Louis.

If there’s one thing I’m not sure about, it’s that 133 OPS+ projected for Albert Pujols. That’s not far off from the rock-solid 138 OPS+ he had when he was healthy in 2012. Asking him to return to that level coming off an injury-ruined 2013 season is asking a lot.

The trade-off, however, could be that Hamilton outperforms his modest projection, which he’s already well on his way to do.

Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com did a pretty good job of hitting the nail on the head here:

Through four games in 2013, Hamilton had one hit and two walks in 19 plate appearances. He had struck out eight times. Next to that, the .462/.563/.769 slash line he has in the early going this year looks even better.

You can count his manager as one who doesn’t think Hamilton’s hot start is a fluke.

“I definitely get that sense, and I think the patience is coming from being comfortable in the box,” Scioscia said Wednesday, via Pedro Moura of the Orange County Register. “I think he’s in a real good comfort zone. His head is still, he’s seeing the ball really well and that’s gonna lead to a little bit better pitch selection when he’s swinging the bat.”

If there’s one statistic that confirms what Scioscia is talking about, it’s O-Swing%. It’s a FanGraphs favorite that measures the percentage of pitches batters swing at outside the strike zone, making it a go-to metric to find hitters with bad plate discipline.

It’s on that note that I present Hamilton’s showings in the O-Swing% department from recent seasons:

• 2011: 41.0
• 2012: 45.4
• 2013: 41.2
• 2014: 27.6

Between 2011 and 2013, Hamilton was extremely aggressive in expanding the strike zone. In fact, he was right up there with Jeff Francoeur. 

But so far in 2014? Nuh uh. Hamilton has been a totally different player.

Now, this obviously stems from an absurdly small sample size, as the O-Swing% you see for 2014 hasn’t even been updated to include Friday night’s game. Just because Hamilton is this disciplined now doesn’t mean he’s going to be this disciplined all season.

It’s definitely a good sign, though, and I can further drive home the point by noting this: The last time Hamilton finished with an O-Swing% under 40 was in 2010, the year he hit .359 and won the AL MVP.

Looking forward, the Angels know that their offense will at least have a pretty decent floor as long as Trout is around and still playing like Trout. The offense that finished seventh in runs scored last year was basically him and a collection of spare parts, after all.

But Trout shouldn’t have to do it all by himself this year. He’s surrounded by quality hitters, among which should be at least one other stud. This Angels offense shouldn’t be about its floor. It should be about its ceiling.

And if Friday night’s blowout is any indication, it will be.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked.

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The beginning stages of spring training led to a rather ominous development for the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday, as star outfielder Josh Hamilton suffered a strained left calf during baserunning drills.

MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez reported news of the injury and noted that Hamilton was on crutches:

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times provided a bit more specificity of the potential timeline regarding Hamilton’s recovery and evaluation, along with a brief quote from the 32-year-old veteran:

The Los Angeles Times’ Mike DiGiovanna weighed in on the early adversity, which also included pitcher C.J. Wilson being hit in the head by a line drive:

Hamilton is a five-time All-Star and former American League MVP, but he had a disappointing 2013 campaign in his first action with the Angels, hitting a career-low .250. He managed just 21 home runs in 576 at-bats, compared to 43 the previous year with the Texas Rangers despite seeing 14 fewer at-bats.   

Although this is considered a minor setback, perhaps a revisiting of the basic fundamentals preached in spring training could help Hamilton as he prepares to bounce back from a lackluster season. The minor ailment shouldn’t cause him to miss any regular-season games, either.

With the star power the Angels have in Hamilton, young phenom Mike Trout and Albert Pujols among others, the hope is to capitalize more on it after going just 78-84 last year. Doing so depends on Hamilton picking up the slack at the plate, along with his recently underachieving teammates and Pujols in particular.

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If the owner of your favorite baseball team has a “win at all cost” attitude, that’s usually a good thing, right? Yes! Being aggressive and spending money has paid off for many eventual World Series champions. But it’s also resulted in some very dire situations, notably in the case of Arte Moreno and the Los Angeles Angels. 

Saddled with two of the worst contracts in baseball—Albert Pujols, whose numbers have declined in three consecutive seasons, is still owed $212 million through his age-41 season in 2021; Josh Hamilton, also in the midst of his worst big league season, is due $106 million through his age-36 season—the Angels are headed for an extremely important offseason that is likely to be challenging in terms of a limited payroll and limited trade pieces in the minors. 

General manager Jerry Dipoto, assuming he still has a job after a very disappointing season, will have to be creative if he wants to improve this ballclub.

It’s hard to do any worse than he did last offseason, when he took on the risk of signing Hamilton, signed Joe Blanton to a two-year, $16.5 million deal—Blanton was recently banished to the bullpen after pitching poorly out of the rotation—and acquired Tommy Hanson from the Braves for reliever Jordan Walden—Hanson was recently optioned to the minors while Walden has been a key component on a very good Braves team. 

In addition, Dipoto‘s two big bullpen acquisitions haven’t worked out due to injuries—Ryan Madson never made it back from Tommy John surgery before being released; Sean Burnett has pitched just 9.2 innings and is out for the season with an elbow injury. And to cap it off, Ervin Santana, who was traded to Kansas City for a 27-year-old minor league relief pitcher, has been Cy Young-caliber in 2013. 

Pointing out the few minor roster moves that have worked out won’t make things look much better. In order to make the Angels a playoff contender once again in 2014, they’ll need to utilize the few resources they have and get as much value out of them as possible. 

Despite the overall struggles of the pitching staff, three-fifths of the starting five—Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson, Garrett Richards—are pretty solid. Fixing the back of the rotation on a limited budget isn’t impossible.  

Making up for Pujols’ decline and the production he’s given them versus what they’re paying him is the bigger challenge. Here’s my suggestion on how they can make up the difference on a shoestring budget and with no farm system talent to deal.

Trade Howie Kendrick to Free Up Salary and Clear Spot For Grant Green

Could it be that Dipoto fleeced the division rival A’s by trading a light-hitting third baseman for a guy with the potential to be a very good one? Grant Green (pictured), who was drafted as a shortstop and has played all over the diamond before settling into second base this season, has been on fire (14-for-51, 2 2B, 5 BB) since being acquired for Alberto Callaspo at the trade deadline. 

Callaspo is doing a fine job in a part-time role with Oakland (.785 OPS in 17 games), but he was miscast as an everyday third baseman in Anaheim, and the Angels needed to shed his $4.875 million salary for 2014.

Not only will they save close to $19 million over the next two seasons by trading away Kendrick, but they could also add a starting pitcher or a couple of prospects in the deal—it’s tough to find a match for a team in need of a second baseman and that is willing to give up a quality third baseman in return. 

Trading Kendrick to the Dodgers, who were reportedly in talks with the Angels last month regarding the second baseman, according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, could be revisited. While top pitching prospect Zach Lee was part of the trade package being discussed, there’s a chance that the insistence of his inclusion might be the reason why the deal didn’t happen. 

If the Angels took back Stephen Fife (2.47 ERA in nine MLB starts) instead to fill the fifth spot in their rotation and asked for the team’s top outfield prospect, Joc Pederson, who likely won’t make it to the majors on a Dodgers team deep in outfield talent, we could have a deal.  

Trade Peter Bourjos for Chase Headley

With Pederson on board, the Angels would be free to shop Peter Bourjos with Mike Trout moving over to center field. While he’s been injured for much of the season, the 26-year-old Bourjos has been productive when on the field. 

In 45 games, Bourjos has a .780 OPS with three homers and four stolen bases. If he can stay healthy, a team could get a terrific defensive center fielder with an ability to hit 10-15 homers and steal 25-30 bases. With third base the target, the Angels need to find out if the Padres are interested in three seasons of Bourjos—he won’t be a free agent until after the 2016 season—in exchange for one season of Chase Headley (pictured).

While the Padres already have an injury-prone Cameron Maybin signed long-term to play center field in San Diego, adding another speedy outfielder like Bourjos could still be a possibility.

Here’s why. The Padres have likely figured out that oft-injured Carlos Quentin isn’t capable of holding up for an entire season in the National League. Moving him to an American League team that will be able to place him in the designated hitter role for a majority of the time makes a lot of sense. They’ll need an outfielder to replace him, and that’s where Bourjos fits in. 

With an alignment of Maybin, Bourjos and Will Venable, the Padres’ outfield defense could be one of the best in baseball. Losing Headley and Quentin will leave a huge hole in the offense, but neither player factors into the future plans of the team. How they replace the loss of offense in 2014 is another story. 

As for the Angels, they might have to include a mid-level prospect to get the deal done, but the 29-year-old Headley‘s value has plummeted with his subpar season. It might not take much to get him. His projected $9-10 million salary for 2014 is likely affordable with Kendrick and Callaspo off the books.

Sign Eric Chavez in Case Pujols Misses Time

A native San Diegan, Eric Chavez (pictured) could get closer to home by signing with the Angels this winter after two consecutive productive seasons (.855 OPS, 25 HR in 2012-13) as a part-time player for the Yankees and Diamondbacks.

Because the 35-year-old still can’t shake the injury-prone tag—he’s been on the disabled list multiple times over the past few seasons—coming back to the American League is likely so he can log at-bats from the designated hitter spot. It’s also the reason his salary demands will stay low enough for the Angels to afford him and the reason he won’t be offered a full-time starting gig elsewhere. 

Resulting Lineup Projection

1. Mike Trout, CF
2. Chase Headley, 3B
3. Albert Pujols, DH
4. Josh Hamilton, RF
5. Mark Trumbo, 1B
6. Joc Pederson, LF
7. Grant Green, 2B
8. Erick Aybar, SS
9. Chris Iannetta, C

Bench
Hank Conger, C
Eric Chavez, 3B/1B
Andrew Romine, IF
J.B. Shuck, OF

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Carlos Marmol was a big distraction for the Chicago Cubs before being demoted Tuesday.

Despite the success he showed as the Cubs closer in 2010, Marmol started to show signs he couldn’t get the job done in 2011 when he had 10 blown saves.

The last two years have been much of the same, as fans were always on edge when he came into games.

Besides that, he was a distraction to his teammates:

Hoyer says marmol had become a distraction, “kind of a sideshow” for teammates.

— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) June 25, 2013

Whether it was a distraction of him constantly blowing leads or the lack of confidence teammates had in him, Marmol wasn’t good for the clubhouse.

No matter what happened, Marmol finally became more of a distraction than the Cubs wanted to deal with and he was demoted.

But Marmol hasn’t been the only distraction in Major League Baseball this season.

Here’s a look at five other players who are distractions to their teams.

Begin Slideshow

Josh Hamilton’s wife Katie had some problems at the Rangers game on Friday.

According to Scott Miller of CBSSports.com, Katie had to call for security at the Ballpark in Arlington as Hamilton’s new team, the Los Angeles Angels, took on his old one, the Texas Rangers. It continues:

“People were being ugly, not necessarily [just] booing,” Hamilton, the former Rangers star, said. “They were being inappropriate with kids around. And that was before the game even started.” Hamilton said the security guards remained stationed in Katie’s area of the stands throughout the game, and there were no more incidents after the pre-game insults.  Rangers spokesman John Blake said Saturday afternoon that the Angels requested additional security because of a few “overexuberant fans.” There were no ejections, according to Blake.

The heckling was likely due to the departure of Hamilton from the Rangers this offseason.  He signed with the Angels for a 5-year contract worth $125 million in December.

Fans often boo players who leave their home teams, but this time things went a little too far, and Hamilton’s wife no longer felt safe at the ballpark.

The season hasn’t been good to Hamilton thus far. In his first five games, he’s only gotten one hit, batting .050 with ten strikeouts. His first game back at Arlington didn’t go so well either, as the slugger went 0-for-4 with two punch-outs. 

This won’t be the last series between the Angels and Rangers. The two teams are both in the AL West, meaning that they play each other several times this season, both in Arlington and Anaheim. 

The situation with Hamilton’s wife is sure to add a measure of intensity to the remainder of this series.

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