Last season, the Angels seemed to take a page from the New England Patriots' play-book, rebounding from an off-year to return to championship form. Though they did not make it back to the World Series, they captured the A.L. West and enter this season among the favorites to win the division again.
As usual, the Halos endured a lengthy list of injuries in 2004, missing Garret Anderson, Troy Glaus, Tim Salmon, Bengie Molina and others for long periods. But it mattered little, as the Angels improved 15 games from '03, getting a huge boost from newcomer Vladimir Guerrero, who won A.L. MVP.
Last year, they tied for the league lead in batting (.282) and posted the fourth-lowest ERA (4.28). Newcomer Steve Finley, who won his fifth Gold Glove in 2004, joins two-time winner Molina and three-time winner Darin Erstad (he won his first at first base in 2004) to give the Angels one of the league's better defenses. Anderson figures to win one eventually and, with Finley in center and Guerrero's ever-feared cannon in right, this team has perhaps baseball's best outfield defense.
Manager Mike Scioscia continues to cement his reputation as one of the game's better managers, suspending talented but immature outfielder Jose Guillen for the last week of the season for showing him up in the dugout, effectively ending Guillen's tenure in Anaheim.
Guillen, who was jettisoned to Washington, is just one part of what figures to be an extreme Angel makeover. Gone are longtime pillars Glaus and Troy Percival, who signed surprisingly big deals with Arizona and Detroit, respectively. Salmon, who played in just 60 games because of shoulder and knee injuries, could retire.
The Angels don't have a dominating ace, but they have a collection of solid No. 2 starters. Right-hander Bartolo Colon (18-12, 5.01 ERA) didn't exactly look like a $51 million pitcher in '04, but he chews up innings. Right-hander Kelvim Escobar, another big-ticket acquisition, won just 11 games, but like Colon pitched 208 innings.
Anaheim officials have toned down their once-lofty expectations for left-hander Jarrod Washburn (11-8,4.64), who can become a free agent at the end of the season. The club gave up on erratic Ramon Ortiz and will expect more out of 2002 postseason hero John Lackey (14-13, 4.67) this year. The Angels signed another No. 2 type, Paul Byrd, 1 who made a strong return with Atlanta last season after missing all of 2003 following Tommy John surgery.
In the bullpen, Francisco Rodriguez (12 saves) is still young at 23. With Per-cival gone, K-Rod will assume the full-time closer's role that was earmarked for him during the 2002 postseason. Rodriguez dominates left-handed batters, as does 29-year-old Scot Shields, which is important in a pen that in '04 contained no lefties. Brendan Donnelly struggled in September after pitching well most of the summer. Kevin Gregg also figures to have a larger role.
At shortstop, the Angels said goodbye to popular spark plug David Eckstein, not offering him a contract. They replaced him with a much more expensive player, free agent Orlando Cabrera, who signed for four years and $32 million. Versatile Chone Figgins, who in 2004 became the first Angel player to steal 30 bases since Luis Polo-nia and Chad Curtis in 1993, figures to play mostly second base with the addition of Finley and the expected emergence of top prospect Dallas McPherson at third base. Adam Kennedy, recovering from reconstructive knee surgery, also figures into the mix.
McPherson has the power potential of Glaus, but can also hit for average and even steal bases. Some scouts project him as an eventual first baseman or corner outfielder, but for now he'll be given every opportunity to work out his defensive kinks at third.
Nobody was more excited to see Finley arrive than Anderson, who went on the D.L. for the first time in '04 and missed 43 games with arthritis in his back. Playing center field regularly for the first time surely didn't help, and Anderson, who averaged 30 homers and 120 RBI from 2000-03, will gladly move back to left.
Finley, who turns 40 in March, quietly has built a career worthy of Hall-of-Fame consideration. He needs just 15 home runs to get to 300 and 664 hits for 3,000. With a two-year deal that has an option for 2007, this might not be his last contract. He played in 162 games between Arizona and Los Angeles last season, belting a career-high 36 homers.
Like Finley, Guerrero figures to hit his 300th home run this season, albeit at the age of 29. Guerrero (.337, 39 homers, 126 RBI) was unfazed by his move to the A.L.
and the pressures of a new contract in '04 and carried the Angels into the playoffs. He hit 11 home runs and drove in 25 runs after August, including seven home runs and 12 RBI in his final 10 games.
Casey Kotchman has been the Angels' top prospect since signing out of high school in 2001, though injuries have hampered his development and draft classmate McPherson has progressed more quickly. Kotchman's fluid, left-handed swing draws comparisons to Will Clark and Todd Helton. He has the potential to develop into a Gold Glover, though with a reigning Gold Glove man on first already, Kotchman figures to see most of his at-bats at designated hitter.
Between an injury-plagued start and the return of Ivan Rodriguez to the A.L., Bengie Molina (.276-10-54) lost out on
a third straight Gold Glove. Jose Molina starts this year as the backup, though promising Jeff Mathis could emerge.
The Angels usually don't have much of a bench heading into spring training, but that's not the case in 2005. The team signed Cuban defector Kendry Morales, a 21-year-old, switch-hitting corner infielder/outfielder. Kennedy, who comprised the middle of the 2002 World Series infield with the departed Eckstein, could come off the bench. The Angels also have Juan Rivera, a powerful corner outfielder acquired from Washington in the Guillen deal.
