Kuzul

Mike Trout is going to be the 2012 American League Rookie of the Year, but before anyone jumps the gun, keep in mind that Trout isn’t the first ROY, and won’t be the last. He still has a lot to work on before being mentioned in the same breath as Mickey Mantle or Ken Griffey Jr. 

Don’t get me wrong, Trout is a five-tooler. He runs like the wind (first in the bigs with 36 stolen bases), hits for power (21 homers), hits for average (tops in the A.L. with .345 avg.), wows us with his defensive skills (this explains it all) and has a cannon for an arm (I don’t have a video, but trust me on this one).

But regardless of those numbers, Mike Trout still hasn’t proven himself to be one of the best players ever. That’s not his fault, though. He hasn’t had the opportunity to play a fruitful 15-20 year career, yet.

Is he one of the best rookies of all time? Maybe. But it’s up for debate if he’s THE best rookie. If it were up to me, that honor would go to “Shoeless” Joe Jackson in his 1911 rookie campaign.

Jackson had a 9.9 WAR (via fangraphs), batted .408/.468./.590, finishing fourth in MVP voting, behind Hall of Famers Eddie Collins, “Big” Ed Walsh and Ty Cobb. And he did it at a respectable 24 years old. 

But alas, this isn’t a history lesson; just food for thought.

Mike Trout has been compared to the likes of Mickey Mantle, and being mentioned in the same sentence as the legend is remarkable on itself, but let me remind you of one thing: He has yet to complete a full season in the majors. 

In 90 games, Trout has proven to us that he can pad his stats in a very short amount of time, but at the end of the day, having one great season doesn’t mean you’ll have ten more just like it. 

What will really make him a superstar is whether or not he can maintain consistency at the MLB level for years to come. The bar has been set very high for Trout, because no one is thinking about this season anymore, but instead, they’re thinking about the impact he’ll have on baseball in the future. 

There is a possibility that Trout steamrolls opposing pitchers in his rookie season, then falls off the truck and never lives up to it again; he wouldn’t be the first.

In 2008, Geovany Soto was the National League rookie of the year, batting .285/.364/.504 (not Mike Trout numbers, but bear with me). He has yet to come close to those numbers again, ultimately resulting in his trade in 2012.

This is a small example, but all I’m saying is don’t be surprised if pitchers figure out Trout’s tendencies in 2013, forcing him to make adjustments and testing his mental capacity. 

From a physical standpoint, he could be a 10-year all-star if he keeps this up, but in reality there is one major difference between major and minor leaguers. Major league ballplayers are consistent.

Minor leaguers might have the talent, more talent than their major league counterparts, but they can’t make adjustments and stay consistent enough, ultimately forcing them to ride buses for the remainder of their careers. 

A lot of people are asking, “is there anything Mike Trout hasn’t done?”. Well, it’s the one thing he has no control over: have an illustrious career.

There is no way to predict a home run king, or an all-time hits leader, or someone breaking the stolen base record, because although the talent might be there, it’s not all that’s required. To be a legend, you need to have mental grit, you need to stay healthy, you need to be smart and you have to, above all, stay consistent and let your playing do the talking. 

Joe Jackson batted .300 every season following his rookie year except for once (.272), going out with a .382/.444/.589 slash line in his final season of baseball in 1920, after being banned in the 1919 Black Sox World Series scandal (where he batted .375 with 12 hits, the best of the series’ and committed no errors).

If Mike Trout can play stellar baseball for years upon years to come, I’ll eat my words. But for now let’s enjoy the Mike Trout show, because just like everything else he does, this may never happen again.

For him, or anyone else. 

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During a contest that saw the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim lose to the Chicago White Sox in extra innings, manager Mike Scioscia argued an umpire’s call so vehemently that he took the rather extreme step of filing an official protest.

With a 1-0 Angels lead in the bottom of the first inning at U.S. Cellular Field, White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko stepped to the plate against new Angel Zack Greinke with none out and the bases loaded. He clubbed a grounder to third baseman Alberto Callaspo, who then threw home to catcher Chris Iannetta for the easy force out.

What followed would result in one of the strangest first-inning sequences in recent baseball memory.

After receiving Callaspo’s throw, Iannetta spun and fired to first, taking great care to avoid batter-runner Konerko, who was sprinting down the first base line. The resulting throw was wide, pulling first baseman Albert Pujols off the base. Konerko was declared “safe” by first base umpire Paul Nauert, which would ultimately allow the inning to continue. Chicago scored four runs to put Anaheim in an early hole.

Sensing a potential rules gaffe, former catcher Scioscia went from the visitor’s dugout to meet home plate umpire Lance Barrett, knowing full well that Barrett had the power to make a key call from his angle near home plate.

Scioscia was determined and desperate to change the arbiter’s silence. Indeed, after the umpires convened and refused to oblige, Scioscia still felt so uneasy about the whole affair, he elected to file an official protest with Major League Baseball.

At issue was the umpires’ decision to declare Konerko “safe.”

Official Baseball Rule 6.05(k) states that a batter, in running the final 45 feet from home plate to first base, may not interfere with the fielder taking the throw at first base by running outside of the three-foot line outlined by a chalk or painted stripe. If the batter-runner does run outside of the running lane, and in doing so interferes with the fielder taking the throw at first base, he may be declared out.

Because OBR Rule 4.19 states that, “No protest shall ever be permitted on judgment decisions by the umpire,” Scioscia was prohibited from filing a protest alleging that the umpires incorrectly judged batter Konerko to be within the runner’s lane. Had the umpires explained that Konerko had been within the lane, the protest could not have been filed for it would have been a judgment call protest, which is prohibited by rule.

Instead, Rule 4.19 authorizes a protest “when a manager claims that an umpire’s decision is in violation of these rules.”

Judgment call? No. Rules interpretation? Yes.

Speaking after the contest, Scioscia explained his decision and basis with which to file the report. “The umpire set the parameter and told us that Konerko was running well inside the line. All of the umpires agreed with that.”

Meanwhile, umpiring crew chief Dana DeMuth countered, “[Ianentta] threw wild … Konerko [in] no way interfered with the play at first.”

Very well.

Scioscia and the umpires stipulated that Konerko was running inside (to the left of) the foul line, in fair territory, one of the criteria Rule 6.05(k) requires for a batter-runner’s lane interference call.

Though what of that second required element of Rule 6.05(k), the actual instance of interference?

Further complicating matters is an exception to Rule 6.05(k) interference: “The batter-runner is permitted to exit the three-foot lane … in the immediate vicinity of first base.”

According to DeMuth, that second benchmark was never satisfied: “Konerko going down to first was [in] no way interfering with the play at first…It doesn’t matter where is running.”

Per Rule 6.05(k), the interference must occur with the fielder taking the throw at first base—most likely the first baseman—for such a rule to be invoked.

By rule, the thrower (in this case Iannetta) may not be the beneficiary of a runner’s lane interference call; only the receiver (Pujols) may receive the reward if he is interfered with by the runner’s illegal action.

Because only the receiver may benefit from this interference call, the exception to Rule 6.05(k) applies only to the batter-runner’s position as the fielder receives the throw.

Replays indicate that while Konerko was conclusively over fair territory when Iannetta released his throw, Konerko was on his final stride toward first base when Pujols fielded the throw, which means Konerko was covered by the Rule 6.05(k) exception.

And even if Konerko was not covered by this exception, the umpires still got the call right because Pujols was not interfered with.

Herein lies Scioscia’s conundrum. Iannetta’s throw attempt may very well have been hindered by Konerko’s running in fair territory as the Angels catcher released the ball—for all intents and purposes, it was. However, given the quality of Iannetta’s throw, which was wide and pulled Pujols off the bag, Pujols could not have been interfered with by Konerko because the throw was significantly to the center field side of first base and Pujols nonetheless made the catch.

Had Iannetta’s throw been on-line, then interference might have been possible.

Had Iannetta’s throw nailed Konerko in the back while Konerko was inside fair territory and not protected by the Rule 6.05(k) exception, interference might have been possible if the umpires ruled Konerko’s action and position prevented Pujols from fielding the throw.

Had Iannetta’s throw been lost by Pujols in the sight of Konerko running at him while inside fair territory, interference might have been possible if the umpires ruled this batter-runner positioning constituted an impediment and hindered Pujols from making the play.

Unfortunately for the Angels, neither of these scenarios occurred—the throw was inaccurate and as athletic as Pujols may be, he was pulled off the first base bag by a wild throw from Iannetta, who—as catcher—was not protected by nor subject to the Rule 6.05(k) interference call.

When MLB reviews this filing, the League Office will uphold the umpires’ call on the field and deny the Angels’ protest not because judgment was right or wrong, but because the umpires’ rule interpretation was absolutely correct.

Gil Imber is Bleacher Report’s Rules Featured Columnist and owner of Close Call Sports, a website dedicated to the objective and fair analysis of close or controversial calls in sports.

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Right now, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim appear to have one of the best squads to contend for a World Series title. They have three solid starters in Jared Weaver, Zack Greinke and Dan Haren. They have a reliable bullpen. And any lineup where Albert Pujols is the third biggest threat cannot be trifled with.

They have depth, experience and the energy that feeding off young stars can bring. They also have Mike Scioscia at the helm. The Angels skipper is one of the most reliable in the game. And with the 2002 World Series title and five other Division Championships to his credit, he is assembling a Hall of Fame-caliber resume.

In any short series against any team, the Angels would be given at the very worst a fighting chance if they didn’t come in as favorites.

And yet as of this writing, they are in third place in the American League West. The Texas Rangers, on the strength of their hot start, remain in first. The Oakland Athletics, riding their amazing July, are in second place.

In any previous year, the Angels would need to find their inner resolve to pass at least one of those two teams for a wild-card spot or leapfrog both for the Division Title.

That could still very well happen.

However, if the season were to end today, the Angels would play Oakland in the Wild Card Game. 

When the Wild Card Round was first played to its completion in 1995, many baseball purists wrung their hands worrying what would happen to their sport if a second-place team won the World Series.

Bob Costas trashed the Wild Card system before broadcasting the 1997 World Series, the first ever Fall Classic featuring a second-place team. The wild-card Marlins would go on to win it all.

Since then, the 2002 Anaheim Angels, the 2003 Florida Marlins, the 2004 Boston Red Sox and the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals all won the World Series as second place clubs. The 2000 New York Mets, 2002 San Francisco Giants, 2005 Houston Astros, 2006 Detroit Tigers and 2007 Colorado Rockies all won the pennant as a wild-card entry.

Baseball seemed to have adapted, thrived and moved on.

Now a third-place team could win it. Are the purists OK with that? Do they see that a team that runs the gauntlet like last year’s Cardinals should actually be praised? Or are they still clinging to the notion that nobody but a first-place team should be playing in October?

Either way, this Angels team could test that sentiment this year.

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Entering the season it appeared as though the Los Angeles Angels might have the best starting rotation in the league with Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana.

The Angels further bolstered their staff by trading for Milwaukee Brewers ace Zack Greinke, and are now the team to beat in the American League.

The Angels got off to a slow start this season and haven’t exactly lived up to expectations. They have a 1.5-game lead in the AL Wild Card race and are four games behind the Texas Rangers in the AL West. The Rangers and New York Yankees both have a better record than the Angels, but neither can match L.A.’s pitching depth.

Although you have to score runs to some degree in order to win in the playoffs, pitching is always the name of the game. Haren has had a rough season for the Angels, but if they can roll him out as a fourth starter behind Weaver, Wilson and now Greinke, then they are going to have an absolutely massive advantage over the competition.

The Angels haven’t been quite as good as expected offensively, but outfielder Mike Trout is a Rookie of the Year and MVP candidate, Mark Trumbo is having a big power year and prized free-agent acquisition Albert Pujols has been improving throughout the year.

Los Angeles has enough offense to win games, and now it has elite pitching.

It’s difficult to imagine another American League team matching up with the Angels in the pitching department, so fans ought to feel really good about their team’s chances. The only thing that could possibly be an issue is the bullpen, as Ernesto Frieri is inexperienced as a closer and could conceivably fold come playoff time.

With so many workhorses in the rotation, the Angels figure to leave their starters in the game fairly late on most occasions. Perhaps starting pitching wasn’t the Angels’ biggest need, but now they have an abundance of it and it simply isn’t possible to have too much good pitching.

Great pitchers generally beat great hitters in the playoffs, so the Rangers and Yankees will face a tough challenge if or when they take on the Angels. The Rangers and Yanks have decent rotations, but they are predicated on offense as they have two of the best lineups in the game.

Los Angeles may have found a way to neutralize them.

A lot of this also will have to do with how Greinke responds to the trade. He has been somewhat inconsistent this season with a 3.44 ERA, but Greinke has the ability to take over a game. At the same time, he suffers from social anxiety disorder and could possibly find it difficult to play in a larger market, as he is accustomed to Milwaukee and Kansas City.

Greinke has managed his psychological issues well and has been a top pitcher for the past few seasons, so he should be able to handle it. The Angels haven’t been as dominant as originally hoped this season, but with Greinke in the fold, they will be a difficult hurdle to clear moving forward.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter

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When the Angels made their trade for Zack Greinke the other day, they somehow managed to keep outfielder Peter Bourjos in the system.

The Angels parted with highly regarded shortstop prospect Jean Segura and pitchers Ariel Pena and Johnny Hellweg. Baseball America considers all three to be among the top ten prospects in the Angels system, so clearly the Brewers feel that they got more in this deal than if they let Greinke walk via free agency.

It is odd that they did not insist on Bourjos in the deal. The outfielder who has speed and great defense also has two and a half years of big league experience at age 25. He pushed Torii Hunter to right field while leading the league in triples last season.

With the Angels outfield crowded with two MVP candidates in Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo along side a hot Torii Hunter, Bourjos is a wonderful luxury for the team. A pinch-running, defensive replacement fourth outfielder giving the team remarkable depth.

But Vernon Wells and his albatross of a contract are now off of the disabled list. He has accepted, according to the Orange County Register, a smaller role with the team. However, Bourjos’ role on the team will be diminished even more.

How often will the Angels need a defensive replacement?

In the trade rumors before the Greinke deal, Bourjos’ name would come up. According to MLB Trade Rumors, Bourjos was a key component in a potential James Shields trade. And according to Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com, the Angels were willing to part with Bourjos for a solid reliever.

There is a lot on the line this year with the Angels. They have set their goal to win it all this October. Beyond that, they know that Albert Pujols helping to deliver a title to Orange County would help pay for his massive deal through marketing and merchandising. And the new stars of Trout and Trumbo could keep the Angels relevant for years to come in the wake of a title.

They patched a hole in their rotation and now they need bullpen depth. And they still have a huge chip. A team with a veteran reliever could do worse than solving their center field position for the foreseeable future with a player of Peter Bourjos’ caliber.

Keep an eye on the Angles. They are not done yet.

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On October 10, 1964, the late Mickey Mantle led off in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 3 of the World Series. The score was tied at 1-1, and the Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals were tied at one game each. Barney Schultz was pitching for the Redbirds. Tim McCarver was calling signals behind the plate.

A knuckleball specialist pitching in his first ever World Series, Schultz had just been summoned into the game by St. Louis manager Johnny Keane.

Mantle deposited Schultz’s first pitch into the third tier of the old Yankee Stadium.

In accepting the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting during the Second Annual Hall of Fame Awards Presentation this afternoon in Cooperstown, New York, McCarver, the longtime Fox Baseball analyst, got off the line of the day when he told the crowd at Doubleday Field what he remembered about that homerun.

Watching Mantle round the bases McCarver was reflective. “As a catcher,” he said, ” I have never been prouder than seeing a pitch that I called travel that far a distance,”

The crowd at Doubleday roared with delight. But it was another McCarver observation that really got the audience’s attention.

According to McCarver, three decades ago the number of African-Americans in the major leagues was at an all-time high. Twenty-eight percent of the players in The Show were African-Americans. Today, he indicated, only eight percent of all the men playing in the big leagues are African-Americans.

“We need to increase African-American participation in baseball,” McCarver contended.

McCarver doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk too. He recently made a significant monetary donation to help build a new baseball facility in his native Tennessee so that inner-city youth and disadvantaged children will be afforded the opportunity to play baseball. While that certainly is commendable, I doubt that it will be successful.

The Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) Program has been attempting to remedy this since 1989.

Torii Hunter, of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, has been vocal about this issue for years. So has Hall of Famer Joe Morgan. So have a lot of columnists.

And yet, the numbers are what they are. What can be done over and above what has already been done since the inception of RBI 23 years ago?

Seems to me that basketball and football have long been acknowledged as an African-American teenager’s ticket out of poverty. Frankly, I just don’t see that changing anytime soon. No matter how well intended cerebral thinkers such as Tim McCarver may be.

Bob Elliott, the first Canadian to ever win the Baseball Writers Association of America’s JG. Taylor Spink Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing, was also honored at today’s ceremonies.

 (Doug Gladstone is a Contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.)

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The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have interest in Tampa Bay Rays right-handed pitcher James Shields, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports. He noted that the Detroit Tigers have scouted Shields as well.

Of course, this trade would have huge implications around baseball.

One thing it very well could mean would be that the Rays are somewhat selling. Shields has been underachieving this season at 8-6 with a 4.39 ERA, but he has been the Rays’ ace for the past few seasons.

Without him, it is definitely possible that the Rays could slip down in the American League East. That entire division is capable of pouncing on any weakness.

The other obvious impact would occur in the American League West. With the Cole Hamels rumors swirling, acquiring Shields would take the Angels out of that particular race.

However, they would have an excellent consolation prize. Hamels may never even become available, and if he doesn’t or at least doesn’t end up with the Texas Rangers, grabbing Shields would be a great addition that would outweigh anything else Texas might do.

Obviously the Rays are still competitive, so they might not want to move this drastically yet, but dealing Shields to the Angels would do a lot to a few critical playoff races.

Whether you think I know everything or nothing about Major League Baseball, you should follow me on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook and keep in touch. I love hearing what you all have to say!

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First game at the park: April 19, 1966 – California Angeles
Location of Park: 2000 Gene Autry Way, Anaheim, CA – across the freeway from the pond
How Many Seats: 45,957

Notable Titles and Players:

1 World Series Title
1 AL Pennant
8 West Division Titles

Hall of Famers (12): 
Bert Blyleven, Whitey Herzog, Frank Robinson, Don Sutton, Dick Williams, Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Nolan Ryan, Hoyt Wilhelm, Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson, Eddie Murray

About the Angeles Stadium:

Is it Los Angeles or Anaheim? Either way, it is the home of the Angels. The ballpark was originally built in 1966 for the California Angels and has since been the home to an NFL team and a major earthquake. After undergoing a major renovation, it has become a baseball landmark. The “California Spectacular” in left-field features geysers that spray water and fireworks celebrations after every homerun. The Angels were World Series Champions in 2002 and have also won quite a few West Division Titles in their history.

About Don Julio and Know Your Ballpark: This summer, Bleacher Report and Don Julio have teamed up to get you to “Know Your Ballpark” and know your tequila! Learn about your favorite ballpark by clicking here.

*Baseball stats compiled from http://www.baseball-reference.com

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Now that the month of July has arrived, so too has the uptick in speculation that always seems to lead to rumors.

Rumors in the world of Major League Baseball are what fans grasp onto like barbecue sauce on a char-broiled steak. As each rumor swirls around the web and grows like a weed, it’s hard to discover the difference between truth and fiction.

Fortunately, for fans of the Los Angeles Angels, you now have a place to come to in order to find out what’s real and what’s fake.

Over the next month, we will work to provide you with all of the latest information concerning your Angels—we’ll break down each new bit of information as it’s presented on the web, provide analysis for each rumor and transaction that involves the Angels and weed through all of the rumors/speculation/banter and determine whether they’re valid or just a bunch of hooey.

Bookmark this link, Angels fans. There’s no need to go anywhere for the latest in trade rumors and news—we’ll keep you updated right here!

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The Los Angeles Angels have turned around fan doubt and fear into momentum that is building to its highest point of the 2012 season.

The power of Mark Trumbo earning everyday play and phenomenal abilities of Mike trout have lifted the spirits and energy from Angel Stadium to the locker room.

Early season struggles of an Albert Pujols without a home run and losing record are melted away by the team carrying the hottest record in baseball through the month of June thus far. Optimism is settling in, evidenced Friday by Torii Hunter guaranteeing a playoff spot for the team come September in an interview with Joe Acaba form the International Space Station (via Fox Sports West).

When Dan Haren gave up a five-run lead to the cross-town rival Dodgers Friday, something in the marine layer gave the feeling the game was not decided. The Angels fought back and won the game, beginning what could be yet another sequential series victory for the club through this weekend.

The return of Jered Weaver, consistency of spot starter Garrett Richards and recent run support all point toward an overall improvement in club performance. Bullpen solidarity has helped hold leads and keep games within reach lately as well—behind the superb efforts of Ernesto Frieri.

The below average number of Maicer Izturis, Erick Aybar and rotating catchers at the plate are still concerning. The bottom of the lineup is a liability. Also important to note is that the Angels have only two players batting above .300, Trumbo and Trout.

Keep an eye on the halos to see how many times they can light up “The Big A” in the Angel Stadium parking lot.

Texas still holds the lead in the American League West, though recently they were swept by the Oakland Athletics, who do not have a batter above .280 this season.

For now, it seems like the Angels are hitting stride and will look to continue strong through the All-Star break building their chemistry and record while Chasing the Rangers.

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