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Sunday, February 15, 2004New Faces part. 1There may not be a lot of new faces in Anaheim this year, but I can think of few clubs who have had louder off-seasons. I figured what better way to start than by going over the new faces and our dearly departed friends. Let’s start with the new pitchers: Kelvim Escobar: When this signing happened I was a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong- Escobar is a good pitcher- I just figured that this took us out of the running for the other big power right hander on the market (more on him later). Escobar is a right-handed power pitcher coming over from the Blue Jays where he both started and relieved quite effectively in the past. His ERA is slightly better than average with a good strikeout rate, however his walks are a little worrisome (though not horrible by any means). He’s really a hard nut to crack, seeing as how his stats are as both a starter and a reliever, so it’s hard to say anything for certain. Just by looking at a few of his starts he looks like a middle of the rotation innings eater. Just what the doctor ordered for a team whose starters were some of the least effective in the majors last season. Sure, Escobar is a bit a gamble, but it’s a pretty decent deal money wise and pretty much anything is an improvement over last year. Just ignore the fact that baseball-refernce.com’s most similar pitcher is Kent Bottenfeild. *shivers* Bartolo Colon: This was the prize of free agent class as far as pitchers are concerned. Everyone knows Colons credentials- he’s simply the best inning-eater in the game today. His stats are solid across the board- nothing raises any flags- until you see his weight (listed as 5-11, 240). He’s a tub of goo, as my mother would say. He can easily reach the high 90’s with his fastball, but will generally stick around the 92-94 range with a good breaking pitch. His real trademark is his ability to pull out the occasional 98-mph fastball in the late innings. The only questions here are his work ethic and the fact that his arm has been slightly over-worked over the last few seasons. The Halos gave him 4 years and $51 million, which seems a bit high. He should give the Angels that top of the line starter they have needed so desperately for a decade. Bill Stoneman made no secret of the fact he wanted to add some power from the right side in the Halo’s rotation. Considering that, these two signings would have to be considered a home run. How many wins does this add to the Angels? Baseball Graphs has got Colon listed at 17 win shares and Escobar at 12. That’s 9.6 wins this year. If we figure they are replacing Sele (2 win shares), Appier (2 win shares) that’s 8 more wins just for these two additions. And as we all know, the Angels weren’t done adding win shares… |
