Los Angeles Angels Notes

The Angels will pay $11 million to Gary Matthews Jr. this season even though he's not playing for them

The Blue Jays flipped Mike Napoli to the Rangers for Frank Francisco. Who would you rather have as your closer? Frank Francisco or Fernando Rodney? I really wouldn't want either but for now the it looks like the Angels are stuck with Rodney.

For what its worth - Baseball-Reference.com lists Andre Dawson as the most similar batter through age 31 season to Vernon Wells. In his age 32 season Dawson left his Canadian team (the Expos) and exploded for his new team hitting 49 HR with 137 RBI (both led the league) for the Cubs. Could Wells have a similar rebirth with the Angels? Winning an MVP like Dawson may be asking too much for Wells but I do think Wells could be a sleeper.

Also for what its worth - Baseball-Reference.com lists Dontrelle Willis as the most similar pitcher to Scott Kazmir. That's not a good thing.

Unless he has a monster season I'm guessing the Angels won't pick up Kazmir's $13.5 million option for 2012. Combine that money saved with the $11 million coming off the books for Gary Matthews Jr. and it looks like the Angels will be active in the free agent market come wintertime. Prince Fielder? Heath Bell? Jonathan Papelbon?

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Keith Olbermann is out at MSNBC. Just curious but does anyone think the Olbermann ratings came close to justifying his contract? Is anyone really surprised at this business decision? Most people deriding this move say that they just fired the guy with the highest ratings at the network but they never mention the guy had lower ratings than Samurai Jack re-runs... Interesting - Why We Have Different Types of Screws and Screwdrivers... Schtup With People will be my Fantasy Baseball team name this year. Exploding Dildos is out. I got the name from this list of awful band names. Too bad Gynecological Whack-A-Mole is too long... The trade between the Angels and Blue Jays looks like an absolute disaster. The Blue Jays get two players they can actually use while the Angels get a franchise crippling contract. Oh and did I mention that Vernon Wells has been awful at Angels Stadium (.226 BA/ .267 OBP/ .340 SLG/ .607 OPS in 159 AB). Absolute disaster... Also interesting - An elevator that publicly shames people who go only one floor... Saying Olbermann had the best ratings at MSNBC is like saying some player is the best on the Pittsburgh Pirates roster. Faint praise indeed... Meanwhile the Tampa Bay Rays signed both Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez. Just a couple of years ago who would have guessed that Damon would get twice as much as a free agent than Manny?... I so want to have a poster sized picture of this... Those Captain Morgan commercials about rum and coke being greatest idea ever crack me up but not for the reason they intend. They have two guys with a gallon of rum and just one 2-liter bottle Coke. Those are going to be some strong drinks. I can't help but picture how those two schmucks will look when they are half-way done with the bottle of Captain...

JP Riccardi

I'm starting to feel like the last guy on the JP Riccardi bandwagon. Reports are starting to more than trickle out that his job is in jeopardy. I don't think that's fair.

Riccardi was put in a damned if you do - damned if you don't situation. When he took the job in Toronto the Canadian dollar was strong and he was expected to spend some money by the fans of the team. Specifically he was expected to spend that money on fan favorite Vernon Wells. Now it is that contract, along with the deals given to Alex Rios and BJ Ryan that are coming back to haunt him. It was these three deals and how he handled the potential trade of Roy Halladay that have put him in this situation.

As I said - he HAD to sign Vernon Wells. Letting fan favorite Wells walk would have cost Riccardi his job. He gave the fans what they wanted and now the fans are mad at him for it. That's not fair.

At the time of the BJ Ryan signing - Riccardi was pretty much hailed for making a very savvy signing. Because of the strength of the Canadian dollar at the time - the money spent on Ryan wasn't as much as it seemed. Ryan was a guy who was used to the AL East and not just unafraid of the Yankees and Red Sox but successful pitching against them. The Yankees had Mo Rivera and the Red Sox had Jonathan Papelbon. BJ Ryan was supposed to be the Blue Jays answer to the other teams' closers. Remember - it was a very popular move at the time that propelled many people to make the Blue Jays the trendy pick to win the AL East that year.

Alex Rios? That was a bad signing plain and simple. However, like Vernon Wells - Alex Rios was a fan favorite. Riccardi signed him but I think it is only fair to give him credit for dumping him before the big money kicked in.

Riccardi doesn't get the credit he deserves for building a foundation that can be built upon and which can bring success in the near term. Aaron Hill and Adam Lind give the Blue Jays a 3-4 punch as good as any in baseball. The pitching when healthy is also among the best and deepest in baseball. JP Riccardi is under contract for 2010 and I think he deserves to come back.

I know that this isn't a popular opinion but I think I'm right about this.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

In 2006 the Red Sox picked Kristopher Johnson with the 40th pick of the MLB draft. With the next pick the Yankees took Joba Chamberlain. Johnson is 3-9 with a 6.14 ERA for AAA Pawtucket... I'm a Nathan Fillion fan and I would pay money to see this movie. Nathan Fillion as the Green Lantern. Pretty impressive trailer. Too bad it was put together by a fan and isn't real... Scrabble Champ - Toronto's Marc Rzepczynski has a tough name to spell but in Scrabble it would be worth just 38 pts - the Braves Javier Vazquez's name is worth 43 points... A vastly underrated movie from the 90's was Barbarians at the Gate. You never see this movie anywhere and that's too bad. James Garner was great in this HBO flick... Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - going into yesterday's game, Vernon Wells of Toronto is hitting just .172 at home but a smoking .337 on the road.... I caught the pilot of Warehouse 13 and I must say I was impressed. This series has lots of potential and I'll be sure to tune in for future episodes. The casting is very good and you can't help but like Saul Rubinek as Artie Nielsen... The American League record for pitchers used in a season is 32. The Indians have now already used 26 and we're not even at the All-Star break... In case you haven't been following it or haven't heard - Mariners Single-A prospect James McOwen had his hitting streak end at 45 games last night...

Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays are still in the hunt for both the AL East and the AL Wildcard despite only averaging an anemic 4.1 runs per game. Their offense is obviously the big problem and it hasn't been helped by the fact that stars Alexis Rios is having a sub-par year and Vernon Wells has been injured. The spotlight was earlier on Frank Thomas and his awful start for Toronto but the fact is the Rios / Wells production has been missed the most. The Blue Jays have been just 9-13 in one run games and with more offense that easily could have been 13-9 which would have put them just a game and a half behind Boston in the AL East and out front in the Wildcard race.

If the Blue Jays make a trade for a hitter and either (or both) Rios and Wells round back into form - then the Blue Jays will be a team to reckon with. Of course this is assuming their pitching remains healthy.

Top 5 - Biggest Fantasy Baseball Disappointments - Hitters

Today I'll take a look at who I see as the 5 biggest disappointments, as far as hitters are concerned, in fantasy baseball so far this season.

1. Lance Berkman - I thought he'd be an NL MVP candidate instead he has a .764 OPS. He was the first pick for many fantasy teams. He's the baseball equivalent to Daunte Culpepper right now.

2. Vernon Wells - just 5 HR and a lousy .691 OPS - did the new contract make him complacent?

3. Garrett Atkins - last year he hit .329 with 29 HR - this year he's hitting .234 with 4 HR

4. Rocco Baldelli - this was supposed to be a big comeback year - not the year of suck

5. Robinson Cano - still time for him to bounce back but he was supposed to be competing for a batting title not hitting .274