Jay M. Nunez: Team Offense, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Team Offense, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

The 2016 series on team offense continues with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (LAnaheim). The Angels finished twentieth in the majors and twelfth in the American League in 2015 with 4.08 runs scored per game.

Once again I am using a combination of RotoChamp and USA Today as a source of default lineups. I’m going with the USA Today lineup. The two are far apart, but the Angels most recent lineup seems to match USA Today better. That Mike Scioscia lineup is plugged into the Lineup Analysis Tool (LAT) using Musings Marcels as the batter projections. That information produces the following results (Runs per game):

Best lineup: 4.83
Probable lineup: 4.70
Worst lineup: 4.46
Regressed lineup: 4.34

I was wondering if the LAT would put Mike Trout in the lead-off slot. The LAT likes the Angels choice, Yunel Escobar, with Trout second. The RotoChamp lineup has Daniel Nava in the second slot. The LAT likes Escobar and Nava batting in front of Trout, but nine-one, not one-two. It doesn’t matter much which is nine and which is one.

I like Trout batting second. Joey Votto, Josh Donaldson, and possibly Andrew McCutchen are part of a trend to get these great hitters batting higher in the order. Trout’s speed makes him a very good two hitter; in fact, with all his offensive tools, Trout would work well anywhere in the top half of the order.

The trick for the Angels is to stay healthy, especially Albert Pujols. The super slugger made great progress this spring, getting back into the swing of things faster than expected. The Angels hope he’s 100% when the season starts. They also should be greatly improved offensively on the left-side of the infield with Escobar and Andrelton Simmons. Look for a much better offensive team this season in Anaheim.

Jay M. Nunez

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Team Offense, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

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