Angels – Projected 2011 Lineup
OK, so after today’s shocking trade that sent Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera to the Blue Jays for All-Star outfielder Vernon Wells I spent some time thinking about the lineup for the season.
1. Izturis
2. Kendrick
3. Morales
4. Hunter
5. Abreu
6. Wells
7. Bourjous
8. Mathis
9. Aybar
Bench:
Callaspo
Willits
Wood
Wilson
Conger
What do you think?
Potentially, we’ve got an outfield of Wells/Bourjous/Hunter… or that could shift depending on who the DH is on any given day. Bobby Abreu figures to split DH/outfield time.
The infield likely will be Callaspo/Aybar/Kendrick/Morales… the odd men out in that situation are Maicer Izturis (who’s actually higher on the Angels’ depth chart than Callaspo but more prone to injury) and Brandon Wood. Those two can play any infield position between the two of them–so we have backups should anyone go down.
Mathis figures to get the bulk of the catching duty with his former roommate heading to Canada and he’ll be backed up by Bobby Wilson and, soon enough, Hank Conger.
Willits will continue as a backup option in the outfield/pinch runner.
With a starting rotation that projects as:
1. Weaver
2. Haren
3. Santana
4. Piñiero
5. Kazmir
And a bullpen of newly-acquired lefties Takahashi and (also former Blue Jay) Downs along with Jordan Walden, Fernando Rodney, Francisco Rodriguez, Kevin Jepsen, and a couple others… I’m feeling pretty good.
Is this enough to take down Texas and the always-dangerous A’s? We’ll see…
Blogging 'Bout Baseball 
I think the lineup will look something like:
CF Peter Bourjos
SS Erick Aybar
1B Kendry Morales
LF Vernon Wells
RF Torii Hunter
DH Bobby Abreu
2B Howie Kendrick
3B Alberto Callaspo
C Jeff Mathis
And I agree with your prediction for the starting rotation.
Abreu DH
Callaspo 3B
Hunter RF
Morales 1B
Wells LF
Kendricks 2B
Aybar SS
Mathis C
Bourjos CF
Abreu is the best option the Angels have with his career .400 OBP and his average of 26 steals and 90 walks in his 2 years with the Angels. If Callaspo comes in healthy like he was in 2009 with the Royals and puts up similar numbers he would be the perfect 2…. 3, 4, and 5 are all interchangable with Kendricks as protection for the middle 3. Aybar can go back to his 09 form and swing at pitches he likes instead of taking 2 strikes every time he is up. Bourjos in the 9 hole to add speed to the bottom of the order and take some pressure of of him until he gets more experience with the bat.
I’m with Laausc in liking Bobby batting leadoff. I like Maicer’s contributions when he’s healthy but just don’t know how much we can count on him to play for big blocks of time and it would be nice to keep a relatively consistent line up this season. I would love it if Bourjos’ hitting maturity catches up with his fielding ability this season. I see him as the leadoff man of the future in ’12 and ’13.
– Kristen
http://blithescribe.mlblogs.com/
Matty, looks like you’ve got company in the “Blogging Bout/About Baseball” universe: http://bloggingaboutbaseball.com/2011/01/
This utterly confused me when I first pulled up this blog off of a google search and saw this guy’s picture instead of yours.
-Todd
http://cookandsonbats.mlblogs.com
PS – Go Mariners!!!
JESSEDLT – I sure hope Bourjous can hit well enough to be our leadoff hitter but I think if he gets to start in April he’ll likely be lower down in the lineup. We’ll see. Our rotation’s solid, that’s for sure.
LAAUSC – I good analysis. I can totally see Abreu in the leadoff spot since his OBP is pretty darn good. With Wells, our 3-4-5 sure are tough.
KRISTEN – I agree with you. If Bourjous gets better each year he’ll be a solid leadoff hitter for a long time. I wish Izturis could stay healthy. Fingers crossed!
TODD – Crazy… one letter off, eh? Well, to each his own.
The Angels have firepower and speed, and that can kill in games.
I am hoping that Howie Kendricks can stay healthy all season. He will be needed, noit just to man first, but for run poroduction. The lineup is packed though with great guys who hit for average,produce the long ball, plus have some base speed.
Sounds like the Angels might have sealed upa few holes that materialized in 2010.
Rays Renegade
http://raysrneegade.mlblogs.com
RAYSRENEGADE-You know, if Kendrick is healthy he’s a .300 hitter easily, I think. I’m hoping we’ve got a playoff team this year… and it’ll be interesting to see if your Rays can recover from the exodus of players this offseason. Manny and Damon should put on a show, for sure!