While there are some players having good seasons I think it’s still pretty clear that Mike Trout is the best player in baseball. With the exception of last season when he finished 4th; Trout had been 1st or 2nd in the MVP voting since his rookie year. Trout is on his way to contending for another MVP awards this season as he’s hitting .314 with 25 home runs and 50 RBI’s. The RBI total is a little low, but remember that Trout generally hits 2nd in the Angels line up; so he has less opportunities to drive in runs early in the game.
No with all of the awards and the numbers he’s put up Trout has only played in 3 post season games.
In baseball unlike some other sports it’s difficult for one player to carry his team. Now a player can get hot and pick up more than his fair share, but over a 162 game season there are about as many highs as there are lows for a player. So don’t expect Trout to be getting the Angels into the playoffs again this season as he needs some help and you wonder if he’ll ever get it there.
The Angels have assembled what should be an impressive young pitching staff, but I’m not sure if they’ve all been healthy at the same time to form a rotation. Tyler Skaggs and Nick Tropeano are currently on the disabled list while Andrew Heaney has actually managed to stay healthy this season. Garrett Richards had made all 15 of his starts going into last nights game and while he did make his 16th start of the season he left that start after just 2 2/3rd innings due to right forearm irritation. Richards is scheduled to start Sunday against the Dodgers, but will have to see if he makes that start.
Richards is 30 years old while Heaney and Tropeano are 27 years old and Skaggs is the youngest at 26 years old. Then the Angels added Shohei Otani to the mix and it looked as though they’d have a starting rotation that could help get Trout into the playoffs, but it doesn’t look like this will be that year.
Otani returned from the disabled list on July 3rd, but only as a hitter. He’s made 9 starts this season and has a good ERA at 3.10, but it’s unclear if he’ll pitch again this season. His bat in the line up is a plus, but the Angels really could’ve used his help in the rotation.
While it’s looking like another season that Trout and the Angels won’t see any post season action they’re actually having a good year. The Angels are over .500 at 47-45. While it’s always good to be over .500 the Angels are still 14 games behind the Houston Astros for 1st place in the American League West. The Angels are currently 10 games behind the Seattle Mariners for the second American League wild card spot. Not only do the Angels have to make up a double digit deficit in games, but they also have to jump the Oakland A’s who are 4 games ahead of them in the standings.
Could we see the Angels go out on the trade market and try to acquire a starter? Even if they did go out and get a top starter would it be enough to get them into the playoffs?
Alex Bregman had the first two home run game of his career last night and got the walk off hit for the Astros as they beat the A’s 6-5 in 11 innings last night. While Bregman hit those two home runs neither of them was the walk off winner.
Here’s how it went down/ Bregman made weak contact with a pitch that was low and outside. It appeared as though the ball would stay foul by home plate, but it ended up rolling into fair territory. A’s catcher Jonathan LuCroy scooped up the baseball and attempted to tag Bregman. As Bregman pulled back from LuCroy’s tag attempt the baseball popped out of his hands and fell to the ground. Bregman took of towards 1st base where he appeared to be an easy out. LuCroy threw the ball to 1st base to get Bregman out the ball ended up glancing off of Bregman’s helmet and going down the rightfield line. While all this madness was going on Kyle Tucker who was on 2nd base when this started scored the game winning run.
Since LuCroy was charged with an error on the throw Bregman doesn’t get credit for an RBI or what would’ve been his fourth walk-off hit of the season. The Astros however do get credit for their sixth walk-off win of the season.
Believe it or not this is the second time this season that Bregman has hit the ball not very far from home plate that ended a game. On April 8th Bregman hit a pop up in front of home plate against the Padres. San Diego 1st baseman Eric Hosmer came running in calling the ball. Hosmer ended up over running the baseball and it dropped behind him as the game winning run scored.
In case you where wondering the umpires did review the mess with Bregman and LuCroy. The review took a little over two minutes and as I’m sure you can guess the call stood.
It looks like the Carmelo Anthony will be playing for someone other than the Oklahoma City Thunder next season. The Thunder has given Anthony permission to meet with other teams.
Early reports are that Anthony and his representatives have met with the Rockets and the Heat. The Lakers along with some other teams have expressed interest in Anthony, but no meetings have been reported.
Now before Anthony can go anywhere the Thunder would have to find a trading partner for him and that’s not going to be easy. Anthony has a no-trade clause, but would be willing to waive it if he’s dealt to a team that would be willing to release him. That’s where the issues start to come in to play. Anthony has a salary of $28 million dollar for next season and there isn’t a team out there that can absorb that type of a cap hit.
If Oklahoma City is unable to find a trade partner for Anthony they may end up buying him out so they can spread the salary cap hit out over a four year period.
Who does Anthony end up playing for next season?
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