Post by Commissioner Erick on Jul 28, 2018 11:28:28 GMT -5
Boston Red Sox (43-47) @ Los Angeles Angels (47-44)
BOS: Rick Porcello (7-6, 4.89)
LAA: Tyler Skaags (7-5, 4.52)
With an expensive payroll, a dearth of high-upside prospects, and a lack of impact talent, Steve Strzepek has piloted the Los Angeles Angels to wild card contention. The formula? Assemble the best defense in the American League.
Also, having the best hitter in the AL helps.
Los Angeles leads the AL in zone rating, Mike Trout leads the lead in on-base percentage, and the Los Angeles Angels will look to continue to deploy their gloves and their MVP candidate when they finish a series with the Boston Red Sox in the Game of the Week.
The Angels employ a fairly basic pitching strategy. Their staff doesn't walk anybody and generally keeps the ball on the ground. Once there, Andrelton Simmons has free reign to vacuum everything up.
Despite a 57 wRC+ and no baserunning value Simmons is on pace a WAR number indicative of being a solid starter. This is the result of spectacular defense. Simmons, last year's Gold Glove winner, leads AL shortstops in zone rating by a mile. How he's doing it is staggering.
Simmons has made a large volume of routine plays and likely plays made, but not a spectacular amount relative to his peers. Many shortstops have made a better percentage of routine plays or likely plays. Where Simmons has shined is when the difficulty knob gets cranked up.
On balls that are classified as even, virtually by definition plays that should be made half the time, Simmons has gotten an out on three-quarters of them. Only one other qualified shortstop in the league has made plays on higher than 45.8% of them. That's a staggering rate indicating Simmons simply has a larger expanse of field where plays are considered likely to him. His 23 even plays made are more than double second place Addison Russell.
On balls considered unlikely, Simmons has made a play on exactly half of them, which is unfathomable and double the rate of the closest AL shortstop. Finally, 29.4% of balls rated as remote have seen Simmons make an out. That's simply crazy. What Simmons has done defensively is simply crazy and he's essentially wrapped up his second Gold Glove before the trade deadline.
If he got his average up even to last year's .273, the Angels would have a special player. Instead, his defense makes up for an albatross of a bat. Fortunately the Angels compensate with an MVP candidate in Mike Trout.
Trout's exploded in July with a .412.545/.667 triple slash showing a player dominating all comers. His .442 OBP is tops in the AL as Trout is on pace to the lead the league in the category for the third year in a row. He's been spectacular in a lineup without a huge second option.
The Angels will take on a Red Sox team still hanging in at 3.5 games out of the wild card. They lost two of three in the series so far and will look to salvage a split. They'll need a bit more from standout rookie Zach Collins to make that happen.
Collins has gone 2-13 with five strikeouts over the first part of the series. Before that, he'd been having an excellent rookie season, including piecing together a 21-game hitting streak which is impressive for any catcher, let alone a rookie. Only he and Nate Jones remain from the fateful trade that sent Rafael Devers and Andrew Benintendi to Chicago, but Collins, who was the #14 prospect coming into the season, has the potential to be in the upper echelon of catchers. He has strong bat-to-ball skills and major power that should see him clear 20 home runs as a rookie. Once he develops more plate discipline, he could be special. As is, he's already posting an .850 OPS as a rookie. He'll be huge in determining Boston's future trajectory, and a big game today would help in their current path to the postseason.
Questions for the GMs:
For Robert Savard, in his last game an injury was suffered by Jackie Bradley Jr. He's banged up with a bruised shoulder. Will he play?
In hindsight, talk about the Collins trade. You got back a stellar player, but Benintendi is a superstar, and Rafael Devers is exceptional in his own right. How do you look back on that trade?
The Angels want you to hit the ball somewhere on the left side of the infield. Will you tweak your lineup to counter that?
For Steve Strzepek, you're a little old-school in that you only use six relief pitchers. How do you get away with it?
After Albert Pujols retired in the offseason you suddenly saw a cap sheet where the majority of your veterans expire after next year. Do you have an underlying philosophy of trying to get stars in free agency at that time or is it too far in the future to tell?
You brought in some power hitters in the offseason in Keon Broxton, Corey Dickerson, and Lucas Duda. Are you happy with the production you've received from those players?
BOS: Rick Porcello (7-6, 4.89)
LAA: Tyler Skaags (7-5, 4.52)
With an expensive payroll, a dearth of high-upside prospects, and a lack of impact talent, Steve Strzepek has piloted the Los Angeles Angels to wild card contention. The formula? Assemble the best defense in the American League.
Also, having the best hitter in the AL helps.
Los Angeles leads the AL in zone rating, Mike Trout leads the lead in on-base percentage, and the Los Angeles Angels will look to continue to deploy their gloves and their MVP candidate when they finish a series with the Boston Red Sox in the Game of the Week.
The Angels employ a fairly basic pitching strategy. Their staff doesn't walk anybody and generally keeps the ball on the ground. Once there, Andrelton Simmons has free reign to vacuum everything up.
Despite a 57 wRC+ and no baserunning value Simmons is on pace a WAR number indicative of being a solid starter. This is the result of spectacular defense. Simmons, last year's Gold Glove winner, leads AL shortstops in zone rating by a mile. How he's doing it is staggering.
Simmons has made a large volume of routine plays and likely plays made, but not a spectacular amount relative to his peers. Many shortstops have made a better percentage of routine plays or likely plays. Where Simmons has shined is when the difficulty knob gets cranked up.
On balls that are classified as even, virtually by definition plays that should be made half the time, Simmons has gotten an out on three-quarters of them. Only one other qualified shortstop in the league has made plays on higher than 45.8% of them. That's a staggering rate indicating Simmons simply has a larger expanse of field where plays are considered likely to him. His 23 even plays made are more than double second place Addison Russell.
On balls considered unlikely, Simmons has made a play on exactly half of them, which is unfathomable and double the rate of the closest AL shortstop. Finally, 29.4% of balls rated as remote have seen Simmons make an out. That's simply crazy. What Simmons has done defensively is simply crazy and he's essentially wrapped up his second Gold Glove before the trade deadline.
If he got his average up even to last year's .273, the Angels would have a special player. Instead, his defense makes up for an albatross of a bat. Fortunately the Angels compensate with an MVP candidate in Mike Trout.
Trout's exploded in July with a .412.545/.667 triple slash showing a player dominating all comers. His .442 OBP is tops in the AL as Trout is on pace to the lead the league in the category for the third year in a row. He's been spectacular in a lineup without a huge second option.
The Angels will take on a Red Sox team still hanging in at 3.5 games out of the wild card. They lost two of three in the series so far and will look to salvage a split. They'll need a bit more from standout rookie Zach Collins to make that happen.
Collins has gone 2-13 with five strikeouts over the first part of the series. Before that, he'd been having an excellent rookie season, including piecing together a 21-game hitting streak which is impressive for any catcher, let alone a rookie. Only he and Nate Jones remain from the fateful trade that sent Rafael Devers and Andrew Benintendi to Chicago, but Collins, who was the #14 prospect coming into the season, has the potential to be in the upper echelon of catchers. He has strong bat-to-ball skills and major power that should see him clear 20 home runs as a rookie. Once he develops more plate discipline, he could be special. As is, he's already posting an .850 OPS as a rookie. He'll be huge in determining Boston's future trajectory, and a big game today would help in their current path to the postseason.
Questions for the GMs:
For Robert Savard, in his last game an injury was suffered by Jackie Bradley Jr. He's banged up with a bruised shoulder. Will he play?
In hindsight, talk about the Collins trade. You got back a stellar player, but Benintendi is a superstar, and Rafael Devers is exceptional in his own right. How do you look back on that trade?
The Angels want you to hit the ball somewhere on the left side of the infield. Will you tweak your lineup to counter that?
For Steve Strzepek, you're a little old-school in that you only use six relief pitchers. How do you get away with it?
After Albert Pujols retired in the offseason you suddenly saw a cap sheet where the majority of your veterans expire after next year. Do you have an underlying philosophy of trying to get stars in free agency at that time or is it too far in the future to tell?
You brought in some power hitters in the offseason in Keon Broxton, Corey Dickerson, and Lucas Duda. Are you happy with the production you've received from those players?
