Kuzul

Admit it Angels fans. You’ve been spoiled.

Since Bryan Harvey took over the role in 1989, the Angels have been blessed with a shut-down closer every year until now.

Harvey, Troy Percival, Francisco Rodriguez and yes, Brian Fuentes, have provided an unbroken, 20-year chain of confidence for Halo managers to go to the pen in the ninth.

That amazing streak of good fortune seems likely to be ending this year.

In just 11 appearances this season, Fuentes has already allowed four homers, blown two saves, and lost a game.

With an ERA hovering near 6.00 and a WHIP of 1.31, Fuentes has been far from automatic and anything but intimidating for opposing batters.

Normally, a sampling of 11 games might not be all that much to be concerned about—especially for a guy that led the majors in saves last year with 48 and made the All-Star team.

Lost in those stats from 2009 are his seven blown saves, five losses, 1.40 WHIP and a blown save in the playoffs.

A trip to the DL earlier this year gave the newly acquired, former Detroit Tigers closer Fernando Rodney a shot at locking down wins. Rodney promptly went five-for-five in save opportunities and had fans advocating for manager Mike Scioscia to make the change permanent.

Rodney then promptly blew a save against St. Louis on Sunday, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of Angels fans everywhere.

With all the hand-wringing over the Angels’ offense and inconsistent starting pitching, the biggest letdown of all has been the bullpen. No longer can they count on the best set-up man in baseball to hand the game over to one of the best closers in baseball—a luxury Scot Shields and Brendan Donnelly provided for the past decade.

If the Angels could have simply held on to leads this year in the same way they have held on in the past, they still would be tied for first place despite all of their other woes.

Until the Halos solve their relief problems, the $30 million they are spending on their starting rotation will be utterly worthless, which begs the question: Was Francisco Rodriguez worth $12 million per year after all?

I was front and center on the “don’t re-sign K-Rod” bandwagon two years ago. After all, the Angels had rookie sensation Jose Arredondo, who looked like he was separated at birth from K-Rod with his 1.62 ERA.

Paying the league minimum to a guy that might end up being as good as Rodriguez seemed to make far more sense than paying $12 million for redundancy.

The Angels still obviously put a high priority on the closer slot, despite letting Franky walk. They spent $9 million to bring in Fuentes, 34, because of reservations management had about Arredondo’s readiness in making the jump to closer.

After Arredondo flamed out in his sophomore season, and ultimately ended up needing Tommy John surgery, the insurance move paid off for the Halos.

However, with Fuentes seeming to have lost a step just one year later, questions about the wisdom in letting Rodriguez walk in the first place deserve to be revisited.

Did the Angels actually save money with the move or did they waste $9 million by making Brian Fuentes their highest-paid pitcher?

For $3 million more, would they have been better served to keep the real deal in K-Rod?

$3 million more might start to look like a bargain when you consider K-Rod is only 28 and has already accomplished the following:

He’s a season away from already joining the 300-save club.

Crushed the all-time single-season save record with 62.

Has more saves than any other closer since 2005.

685 K’s in 542 innings pitched (they don’t call him K-Rod for nothing).

Batters are hitting .191 against him for his career (lower than Mariano Rivera).

He’s a World Champion.

Consistently one of the top three most intimidating closers in baseball.

Through 21 appearances this season, he has 25 K’s, with a  1.96 ERA.

Further consider that the Angels spent $5.75 million to sign Rodney as a backup plan to Fuentes this season. That means the Angels ended up spending more on two mediocre closers than they would have if they had just signed their elite closer in the first place. $2.75 million more, which ironically is almost the exact difference between the Fuentes and Rodriguez contracts.

Granted, hindsight is 20/20, but I promise I will never take pitching depth for granted again. It would be wise for General Manager Tony Reagins to take heed as well. It may have taken this year to remind the Angels and their fans what pitching is worth.

The Angels have gone from having the third best team ERA in baseball two years ago, to the second worst in the American League this season.

Now, the Angels are seeing the consequences.

Until the bullpen gets righted, a team that has been built on pitching a defense for the past decade with much success can no longer succeed.

Don’t look for the Angels to make any trades to remedy the problem. They are pretty much stuck with what they have for the season because of all the money they have already allocated to Rodney and Fuentes.

Unless several relievers step up from within the organization in the next month, the Angels will be in for a long, frustrating and forgettable summer.

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There are only three things you have to do in baseball: catch the ball, throw the ball, and hit the ball.

Right now, the Los Angeles Angels are struggling to do any of those.

Coming into Saturday’s game, the Angels have made the fourth most errors in the American League (30 in 44 games, including four at the catching position), leading to 19 unearned runs.

Which hasn’t done anything to help a beleaguered pitching staff that has no problem giving up runs on its own.

Angels hurlers are riding neck-and-neck with the Boston Red Sox for the worst team ERA in the league, while L.A.’s bullpen is by far the worst in that category at 5.42.

As a whole, the team has given up the most doubles, the most triples, the most home runs, the second most walks, and the second highest batting average against.

And as for hitting the ball, a nearly identical lineup to the one that set franchise records for batting average and runs scored in 2009 is maddeningly inconsistent here in 2010.

The Angels currently sit in the bottom half of league with a .249 team average and just 185 runs scored. They are also last in triples with only one, although they reside in the fifth spot in the AL with 79 doubles and 43 home runs.

Catching the ball has not been easy, throwing the ball has been a disaster, and hitting the ball hasn’t been enough to make up for the first two areas of concern.

With all of that in mind, here are the top five changes the Angels must make if they want to stay competitive in the American League West.

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Former Mets General Manager Steve Phillips once said on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, “There is a saying among general managers. Prospects will get you fired.”

Nothing could illustrate that statement more than the L.A. Angels’ version of Ryan Leaf— third baseman Brandon Wood.

Alex Rodriguez, Roy Halladay and Carl Crawford.

Just three names that were bandied about as potential trade bait for Brandon Wood (and a few of his fellow underachieving Halo prospect brethren) over the past several years. Names that could have helped the Angels to their second world championship in their 50-year history, at a time when the team was in a far better position to win.

Fans called into Angel Talk and wrote letters to their newspapers begging management to make a move for a big right-handed bat. Ever since the Angels let Troy Glaus go in 2005, power had been the missing ingredient in their lineup.

The pleas fell on deaf ears as management insisted that Brandon Wood was the next Michael Jack Schmidt, Howie Kendrick was a future batting champion and Jeff Mathis was the next Johnny Bench.

Perhaps that is why manager Mike Scioscia is feeling pressure to give Wood a chance that few players ever get—to struggle at the major league level for an indefinite amount of time totally on the basis of speculation and perceived potential.

The speculation was spurred on by a couple of big power years at AA Arkansas and AAA Salt Lake. What the scouts failed to note was that nobody at the AA or AAA levels has a Barry Zito curve, Mariano Rivera Cutter or Fernando Rodney change-up. If they did, they would be playing at the major league level.

Former Angels GM Bill Stoneman tried to sell him so hard that at one point I thought he was going to start citing his American Legion statistics as grounds for keeping him.

Brandon Wood can now be viewed under the same prism as Orange County’s real estate market—it’s hard to believe how much more he was worth just two years ago.

Wood, who has constantly been referred to all season as a kid (even though he is roughly the same age as half the team at 25), figured to get his one last good look at the majors after the Angels let Chone Figgins walk.

I even said in an earlier column Scioscia should be patient and give him until the All-Star break to prove himself. That was assuming he would at least hit above the Mendoza line, show some pop and not be a total defensive liability.

Bad assumptions on my part.

Wood has managed to make Mario Mendoza look like a batting champion with his .167 batting average in 114 plate appearances. In fact, even his slugging percentage (.228) is only a few points higher than Mendoza’s lifetime batting average of .215.

To compare Wood to the former flashy shortstop would also imply that he was at least good defensively. His five errors and poor decision making have been evidence to the contrary.

Wood not only has been beyond bad, he shows no glimmer of ever getting better. He now has a lifetime batting average of .183 in 338 at-bats, with 108 K’s to 9 walks. He has shown no pop, no speed, no defense, no nothing.

Compare Wood’s numbers to someone like Robb Quinlan, who has never had the opportunity to win the third base job like Wood has. Quinlan is a lifetime .279 hitter in almost 1,200 big-league plate appearances and strikes out only 15 percent of the time compared to Wood’s 31 percent.

Where is Robb Quinlan’s big chance? He shuffles back and forth between AAA and the bigs with no fanfare whatsoever because he never had the expectations of Wood. Perception is apparently more valuable than reality in the eyes of the Angels.

If Brandon Wood was going to be an everyday player in this league, much less an impact player, he would have shown us something by now. To put it in perspective, Scott Kazmir is only one year older than Wood and people are already saying the two-time all-star is washed up.

Yet, despite seeing the emperor trot out to third with no clothes on every game, we are supposed to ignore our eyes and still buy into the propaganda of the coming Angels Messiah.

I’ve got news folks. He’s not coming.

The bigger question is, when will management admit their mistake and move on? Will they make an attempt to sign a veteran like Mike Lowell once he asks for his release from Boston or will they risk Wood potentially ruining their entire season in an attempt to justify sticking with him all these years?

In the short-term, Quinlan is certainly the better option. They couldn’t do much worse.

The Angels are playing in the worst division in baseball this year and still have time to recover. However, giving Wood more time to prove himself may make the West seem a lot tougher for the Angels than it actually is.

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When GM Tony Reagins said his Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim would look to solve their problems internally, he meant it. Sort of.

On April 29, the Angels picked up infielder Kevin Frandsen off waivers from the Boston Red Sox.

Frandsen, 28, spent six years bouncing back and forth between the minors and major leagues after he was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 2004. His longest stay in the bigs came with the Giants in 2007 when he batted .269 with five home runs and 31 RBI in 109 games.

But the Northern Californian’s dream to stay by the bay eventually came to an end.

Frandsen left his heart in San Francisco when he was traded on March 26 to the Boston Red Sox, who eventually released him after he hit .258 in 17 games for Triple-A Pawtucket.

For his minor league career, Frandsen is a .314 hitter and has shown remarkable versatility, playing every infield position as well as both corner outfield spots.

The Angels are still looking for Brandon Wood to solidify the starting third baseman’s job, but given his experience at the big league level, Frandsen may turn out to be a more-than-capable replacement this season.

Already in his Angels debut, Frandsen went 3-for-4 and scored a run en route to a 4-3 extra-inning victory over the Seattle Mariners. He is currently 3-for-6 with one walk as a Halo.

Wood, meanwhile, is mired in a miserable slump, with just four hits in his last 30 at-bats and only 19 hits in 111 at-bats this season. He’s also struck out in 30 percent of his plate appearances and is hitting .171 overall with three extra-base hits and seven RBI.

If those numbers don’t improve drastically in the next two weeks—and at this point, there’s no reason to expect that they will—then look for Frandsen to start picking up the slack.

Especially if super utility man Maicer Izturis continues to struggle with injuries.

Tightness in his throwing shoulder landed the valuable Izturis on the 15-day disabled list back on May 8. He is eligible to return just in time to kick off interleague play when the Angels face the St. Louis Cardinals this Friday.

Over 14 games played this season, Izturis leads the Angels with a .500 average with runners in scoring position, a hallmark of his offense throughout his career.

His smooth fielding style and refined athletic ability also make him an outstanding fielder with tremendous range. Like Frandsen, Izturis can play any infield position, save for first base. 

And it is for that exact reason that Frandsen may be able to stick with the big league club after Izturis returns to the lineup. 

At present, the Angels’ only backup option at first base is Bobby Wilson—a catcher who has only just recovered from a terrific collision with Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira.

Robb Quinlan, the usual suspect to give Kendry Morales a break in the field, couldn’t get into a rhythm at the plate this season and was sent back to Triple-A to get some regular playing time.

His absence, coupled with injuries and poor play from the rest of the bench, created the perfect environment in which Frandsen will thrive.

Frandsen will provide the kind of infield support the Angels so desperately need, and could easily become the No. 2 man at any position around the horn should Izturis wind up on the DL. 

Or when manager Mike Scioscia finally realizes Wood just can’t cut it in the majors.

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One year ago it looked like Joel Piñeiro’s career was over, until he took advice from pitching coach Dave Duncan in St. Louis. Pineiro reinvented his approach, utilizing a sinking fastball. It did wonders for him. He became a 15 game-winner, numbers he had not accumulated since his 16-win season back in 2003 with the Seattle Mariners.

The Puerto Rican native pitched for the National League Central Division Champions, set a career-high with 214 innings pitched over 32 games, and his 3.49 ERA was the second best in his career since 2002. He also led Major League Baseball with 2.5 groundballs for every flyball.

Those numbers raised curiosity during this past winter’s free agent market and it paid with a two-year/$16 million dollar contract with the Los Angeles Angels.

Not bad for the 32-year-old right-hander who was not even chosen to be on the 2009 Team Puerto Rico roster in the 2nd World Baseball Classic.

However, Piñeiro is back on the hot seat again. Not that his Angels team is playing the best baseball right now, but there is growing concern among the team’s brass about his up and down 2-4 record, 4.50 ERA in seven starts. Furthermore, Piñeiro has lost his last three starts and has allowed 53 hits; tops among all starters in the American League.

However, many of his followers think he deserves a break. Piñeiro’s first seven starts had been against the best of the best in the Junior Circuit. The 11-season veteran has faced the New York Yankees twice-the American League’s top scoring offensive team.

He also faced the AL East powers, Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox, and the Central Division-leading Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers twice; three starts in a row

Pineiro’s next scheduled start is Sunday against the first place Oakland A’s.

It is arguable that when you are paid $16 million you do not deserve a break and are expected to win, but let’s give Piñeiro a chance.

Time will tell if he should return to the National League as many of his critics have been requesting so early this season.

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Mike Napoli hit his fourth double of the season on Sunday.

It should have been his second triple.

What does it say when a struggling hitter fails to do everything he can to help his team on offense? Only that it won’t be his team much longer.

Down by seven runs late in a game against the Seattle Mariners, Napoli punched a ball down the left field line just out of the third baseman’s reach, a universal signal for the hitter to take extra bases.

That sure-fire double became a gimme triple when the left fielder misplayed a carom off the stands in foul territory, allowing the ball to dribble all the way into the corner.

All of this played out directly in front of the Angel catcher as he rounded first base and any other player would’ve immediately recognized the situation and taken advantage of the miscue. Instead, Napoli broke into a home run trot on his assumed double.

Why he wasn’t replaced on the spot is anyone’s guess.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia is not one to tolerate his players giving anything less than their absolute all—whether it’s a struggling rookie or veteran masher. Napoli is no rookie, but he’s hardly mashing this season.

In 2010, the typically powerful Napoli has just one home run amid six extra-base hits and is batting a lowly .221 with 24 strikeouts. If there was ever a player to forgive for loafing, he isn’t it.

Napoli’s slow start was initially attributed to his lack of playing time. The former No. 1 backstop lost his starting job to the defensively superior Jeff Mathis at the start of the season.

Mathis got off to a blistering pace, hitting .324 through the Angels’ first 10 games before landing on the disabled list with a broken wrist. 

Following a fairly successful Spring Training, Napoli was vocal about his displeasure over being named the backup to Mathis. Among his complaints, he suggested his defense had greatly improved and he wanted the chance to show it.

With Mathis out, Napoli has now had 20 chances to show it. He still can’t play defense.

Pitches in the dirt routinely skip past his glove, although they are more often credited as wild pitches (of which he’s allowed nine) than passed balls (one). What’s worse, base runners are stealing on him at will.

Coming into this week’s series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Napoli has thrown out only 19 percent of potential base stealers, failing to prevent 22 thefts in 27 attempts. The Rays, meanwhile, rank third in the AL with 29 swiped bags.

Facing the best team in the major leagues will tell a great deal about the Angels’ future in several aspects, but none more than at the catching position.

The window for Napoli to show off his improved abilities is closing fast. If he doesn’t prove himself to be a legit starter before Mathis returns from the DL, he may not even be granted the backup spot for long.

Bobby Wilson is out of options and the Angels will not risk sending him back to the minors when he makes his own return trip from the DL, meaning they would have to make another roster move before activating him.

Ryan Budde has had limited success with the Angels, but his lone start in 2010 resulted in a 8-0 shutout of the Mariners, not to mention his first major league home run. 

And that’s just the current competition. Halos prospect Hank Conger has performed well in Triple-A and could earn his big league wings as early as this summer.

Unless he’s dedicated to being the subject of a mid-season trade, Napoli should be doing everything he can to help his team win. Instead, we’ve seen him lolly gag in the field and whine in the clubhouse. 

The Angels face some tough questions heading into this week. Their starters’ ERA, bullpen ERA, walks and home runs given up, and runs scored per game all rank among the worst in the AL.

Change must come to Anaheim if the team wants to have any hope of competing in 2010. Now, Napoli can’t be blamed for all of the Angels’ worries, but he is in a unique position to make a significant impact on every one of the aforementioned categories.

If he can’t, they will use him to find someone who can.

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This afternoon, prior to the start of the Boston Red Sox game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, I had thoughts of writing an article blasting manager Terry Francona for remaining confident in David Ortiz , who entered batting .149 on the season, as his designated hitter. One swing by Big Papi momentarily postponed that article.

Ortiz has struggled for more than two years. Last season he managed to slug 28 homers and drive in 99 rbi’s. How is that struggling? He hit just .238 and only reached base at a .338 clip. He played like sunset was approaching on his career, flailing repeatedly at off-speed pitches and failing to connect squarely with even the straightest of fastballs. It was tough to see him struggle, as he has been a very celebrated and beloved figure in Boston. He was far from the player that made up a deadly tandem with Manny Ramirez . He wasn’t the player you knew would deliver in the clutch. He would hit home-runs and send the Fenway crowds out of their seats, but he was longer Big Papi.

He expected to bounce back with a bang this season, but it has not gone the way he had planned. It has been more of the same. He was 8-56 in April, clubbing just one homer. But despite his problems at the plate, Francona continued to have faith in the big slugger. Just as the Seattle Mariners brought back Ken Griffey Jr . in part because of what he had done with the team years ago, Francona must have also had sentimental reasons for leaving Ortiz in as an everyday starter. At first I didn’t blame him. After all, this was a lovable character, a fan favorite, a player that guided the Red Sox in 2004 to their first World Series title in 86 years—a player that defined “clutch.” But, with the rest of the team struggling to score runs, Ortiz quickly turned, at least in my eyes, into a burden, as much as I hate to say it.

His woes continued in the second game of their series with the Angels, albeit in their second straight win over their scuffling opponent. He struck out twice and grounded into two double plays. Advocating for Mike Lowell , who entered tonight’s game with one more three more hits than Ortiz in 33 less at-bats, to start in his place and restore order in the order, Ortiz responded to this particular critic and many others by lashing out against Angels starting pitcher Joel Pineiro . In the fourth inning with Boston already ahead 1-0, he skied a changeup into the Green Monster seats for his fourth home-run , trotted around the bases amidst cheers as he has done so many times in a Red Sox uniform, crossed home-plate, received congratulations from Adrian Beltre , and jogged to the dugout and slapped hands with the rest of his teammates and Francona, whose faith paid off.

The solo-shot that gave John Lackey , who was facing his former team, more than enough support was Ortiz’s second hit of the contest. It notched just his second multi-hit of the season, but maybe it can right his sinking ship. The solid night at the plate raised his average to .171 and propelled the Red Sox, a team also backed by Lackey’s seven innings of two-hit ball , to their third straight win over Anaheim and their sixth win in nine games.

Hopefully, as I desperately wanting Ortiz to succeed and rekindle the magic of years past, his average will continue to increase and benefit a resurrected Red Sox offense. Hopefully I can indefinitely postpone the article I was originally going to write, and regret even thinking such a thought.

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The bullpen was supposed to be a key strength for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2010.

All the talk about lacking a true No. 1 starter didn’t matter, because the relievers would be there to secure any lead.

That bravado hinged, in no small way, on the return of Scot Shields.

Shields has indeed returned, but his pitching form has not.

Once one of the brightest young pitching stars to emerge from the Angels’ farm system, Shields burst onto the scene like a supernova in 2001 before going on to help his team secure its first World Series Championship the following year.

That season, he posted a career-best 2.20 ERA and would follow it up with six consecutive years of sub-3.90 work. 

It was only because of a bum knee in 2009 that the ERA streak came to an end. Shields was forced to have season-ending surgery after posting a 6.62 ERA in just 20 appearances.

This year was supposed to be different.

The addition of Fernando Rodney, along with the emergence of both Kevin Jepsen and Jason Bulger, gave the Angels’ relief corps an effective mix of youth and experience to lock down those late-inning leads.

It also provided the perfect cushion to support Shields as he slowly worked his way back into his usual set-up role. With his knee fully healed and rehabbed, it was only a matter of time.

But after 10 appearances, that time has still not come.

Shields has lost his form entirely. He struggles to find the strike zone with consecutive pitches, and his misses aren’t even close.

Through 7.1 innings this year, Shields has allowed 19 baserunners, including 10 hits and nine unintentional walks, resulting in eight earned runs and a 9.82 ERA.

He’s only given up one home run, but considering it was a walk-off blast to Johnny Damon, who had not homered yet this season, it’s hard to look at that as a positive.

For the time being, manager Mike Scioscia has started to use Shields in situations where the game is not on the line. On Sunday, he was brought in with the Angels down by five. After loading the bases, he managed to escape without further damage.

But Shields is no mop-up reliever and his role as such will be limited. Scioscia is trying to do him a favor by using him in low-pressure situations to help regain his form. If he can’t do it, serious changes may be on the horizon.

What form that takes is anyone’s guess.

Ironically, the most sought-after player on the Angels roster at one time may no longer have any trade value. What can GM Tony Reagins hope to get in return for a 34-year-old reliever with nothing left in the tank?

Given his age and veteran status on the team, it is also unlikely the Angels will send Shields down to the minors to right himself.

At this point, all that Scioscia and the rest of the staff do is wait and hope he works out his mechanical issues at the major league level before the team is forced to cut him.

Because that’s exactly what will happen if he can’t turn things around in the next couple of months.

Amazingly, the Angels are still running in the middle of the pack with a 4.32 bullpen ERA. Jepsen has been a revelation this season, while Rodney continues to justify his $11 million contract.

Even newcomer Brian Stokes, while shaky at times, is still working on a 3.65 ERA.

With the starting rotation not yet in a groove, the Angels bullpen may indeed become the strength of the team, as so many predicted in spring. 

Whether that strength comes from the addition of Shields, or his subtraction, is still a question waiting to be answered.

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