ESPN's Keith Law, a must-read, has an interesting article on what the Angels should do to improve their team this year.
Short and sweet? Nothing.
Given the distance between them and the Wildcard (agreed), there is little reason to pursue that avenue and, with three teams ahead of them, there is less reason to believe they will overcome all three(not so much agreement).
No surprisingly, he proposes giving to Howie Kendrick Adam Kennedy's job and giving Darin Erstad's to anyone no named "Darin Erstad". I agree.
He also mentions the albatross that Garret Anderson has become at $23 MM for the next two seasons 9and people thought Erstad's $8 MM per the past couple seasons was onerous!)
More surprising, though, is his prescription to stop giving ABs to Chone Figgins in 2007 due to his reliance on hitting singles. Law also mentions Figgy's $2.25 MM salary and its likely increase next year.
Here I disagree. Figgins versatility and ability to wreck havoc on the bases is reason to keep giving him ABs.
Maybe what should be done is move Figgins back into an uber-utility role versus pencilling him in everyday at CF.
As for the salary, even if he doubles that, he is a bargain compared to Reggie Sanders of the world. After all, salary is relative not absolute.
That aside, where did the title to this entry come from?
Here:
Aside from Orlando Cabrera, who is channeling the 2002-03 version of Edgar Renteria, no Angels regular has an OBP of better than.330, although Mike Napoli has been an on-base machine in his limited big league time...
Which sounds strikingly similiar to my post about the rumors of Craig Wilson to the LAA:
With Vladimir Guerrero at .332, there are no other regulars with OBPs greater than .330.