On the Struggles of the LA Angels

If you are an ESPN Insider, you should read Buster Olney’s piece from this morning.

If you are not an ESPN Insider, I shall summarize. Olney writes that no baseball owner could throw around cash the way Angels’ owner, Arte Moreno, has without being really upset about their miserable start to the season. And it’s a lot of cash: close to a billion dollars either already spent or committed in future contract value since the last time the Angels made the playoffs (2009). Despite this spending, the Angels already trail the red-hot but wounded Oakland A’s by six-and-a-half games. Hamilton has been just awful, topping off his horrific performance at the plate (.179 AVG, .261 OBP, .051 ISO, .228 wOBA, 35.9% K rate) with an unthinkable baserunning blunder, which ended the Angels’ 5-0 loss to the wretched Astros, which has to really hurt since some expected the series with the Astros to be a sure-fire cure for the Angels’ woes.

As I am a fan of small-market teams (MIN, PIT, SEA, TB, MIL), I find the angst surrounding the Angels…amusing, particularly because T. J. Simers is such an ass, by which I mean bitter old hack.