Fishing for Halos: Can the Seattle Mariners catch the Angels in 2010?

By Jonathan Northrop - AngelsWin.com Columnist

Angels fans have become spoiled. With six playoff appearances in the last eight years, it seems almost a given that at the least the Angels will make it to the first round. This year, however, the view is mixed: many sports writers think that the Mariners are the cream of the crop in the AL West with big-name offseason acquisitions Cliff Lee and Chone Figgins; at the least we can say that the division is tightening up, as the Rangers will continue to be a solid team and the Athletics look to improve somewhat. That said, with a 10 game lead last year—12 over the Mariners—the Angels have a fair amount of room to lose.

How do the Angels and the Mariners compare? Has Seattle’s offseason changes and expected player development bridged that 12-game gap? Let’s take a look at the two teams, position by position, to try to get some semblance of an answer. I am using ESPN.com’s depth charts as a primary resource, for the Mariners and Angels. This is pretty long, so if you don’t want to wade through lot of stathead analysis, skip to the end for my final analysis.

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AngelsWin.com and OCR Forge Partnership

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Chuck Richter, chuck@angelswin.com

AngelsWin.com and Orange County Register Forge Partnership

Santa Ana, Calif. (Jan. 26, 2010) — AngelsWin.com, the Internet’s most visited Angels baseball fan site, and the Orange County Register on Tuesday announced a partnership sharing Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim content between the two online entities. The shared content can be accessed at the Orange County Register's Angels Blog and the AngelsWin.com Blog. RSS feeds for both links are available.

As a result, articles appearing on AngelsWin.com will be simultaneously published on the Register’s Angels blog via the RSS feed and materials from the Register’s blog will be accessible from www.angelswin.com within the upper right sidebar of the blog. 

Angels fans anywhere in the world can now access these materials from either site.

AngelsWin.com, the “voice of the fans” is thrilled to be a part of this agreement.

“The Orange County Register publishes more Angels content each day than any other Website on the net,” said Chuck Richter, founder and executive editor of AngelsWin.com. “We're excited to blend our staff of writers with some of the best in the business, including Bill Plunkett, who I had the pleasure of meeting in Seattle on a couple occasions last baseball season.”

The agreement caps a stellar January for AngelsWin.com. Over the past weekend, the site enjoyed international recognition through an interview with Richter published in the Japan Times that was prompted by the Angels recent acquisition of former Japanese League star Hideki Matsui.

FoxSports.com will be publishing their FoxSports Fantasy/Scout.com Prospect Guide soon, a project both Chuck Richter and David Saltzer worked on over the winter that will provide its readers with in depth coverage of the Los Angeles Angels minor league system. Last October, USA Today chose Richter to Blog about the Angels throughout the entire ALDS and ALCS, reaching national attention.

“Now, today, Keith Sharon and I agreed to a content partnership for the local leader in Angels news!” Richter said.

AngelsWin.com facilitates and promotes a robust community of and for Angels fans and baseball fans in general. Well known for its coverage of the Angels minor leaguers, AngelsWin.com publishes an annual report ranking the Top-50 Angels Prospects throughout the organization. AngelsWin.com also has regular interviews with Eddie Bane, the director of scouting for the Los Angeles Angels, and Abe Flores, the director of player development.

Throughout the baseball season, AngelsWin.com publishes a weekly report on the Top-10 Angels Prospects for the week, interviews with players and regular columns providing insight and opinions about the parent club. Additionally, on days when the Los Angeles Angels play, fans can log into AngelsWin.com’s game day chats and the online message board discussions for more baseball content.

Based in Santa Ana, Calif., the Orange County Register is a leading publisher of news and information with a diverse portfolio of newspaper, magazine and Internet products.  These include 24 local newspapers and five Websites. Founded in 1905, the Register revamped its Website in 2009 to provide personalization capabilities and hyper-local content.

Orange County Register readers will still receive all the coverage of the Los Angeles Angels that they are used to receiving, however, they will now gain additional content and coverage from AngelsWin.com and will be invited to become part of that growing Angels baseball community.

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A to Z Angels: Bob Boone

Name: Robert Raymond Boone

Nickname: Bob

Position: C

Number(s): 8

Years as an Angel: 1982-1988

Angels’ Stats: 3033 ABs, 39 HRs, 318 RBIs, 11 SBs, .245 Avg.

Career Stats: 7245 ABs, 105 HRs, 826 RBIs, 38 SBs, .254 Avg.

How He Was Acquired: The Angels bought Bob Boone on December 6, 1981 from the Philadelphia Phillies.

Why You Should Know Him: A 4-time All Star (1976, 1978, 1979, & 1983), and a 7-time gold glove catcher (1978, 1979, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, & 1989), Bob Boone was a defensive standout who was known for his excellent work at handling a pitching staff. He is part of one of the only three-generation families to play in the Major Leagues, and amazingly, part of the first family to produce three generations of All-Star players (his father Ray Boone was an All-Star 3B, and his sons Brett and Aaron were both All-Star infielders).

To understand Boone’s defensive acumen, consider the following: in his seven years as an Angel, Bob Boone threw out 320 would-be base stealers and only allowed 364 stolen bases. That translates to a career catching percentage of 47%! And, Bob Boone did that when Ricky Henderson was terrorizing the American League stealing between 66 and 108 bases a year.

At the same time, Bob Boone only had 33 passed balls as a catcher for the Angels in 961 games caught. He averaged 130 starts behind the dish in his Angels career and only had 76 errors in 5182 chances for a career fielding percentage of .985 with the Angels!

Bob Boone was one of baseball’s most durable catchers. On September 16, 1987, Bob Boone became the official holder for the most games caught in Major League history when he took his place behind the dish against the Kansas City Royals (breaking Al Lopez’s record). He later stretched the record to 2225 games before retiring. His record lasted until 1993 when Carlton Fisk broke it with 2226 games (this was subsequently broken by Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez in 2009).

Bob Boone was not known for his bat. He only posted a 245/297/323 line as an Angel. However, one area where he excelled as a batter was in collecting sacrifice hits. In his 7 years with the Angels, Bob Boone managed to post 90 sacrifice hits.

After the 1986 season, Mike Port, the GM for the team, took a very austere approach to negotiating with Bob Boone and other Angels free agents at the time. Port did not even begin to negotiate with Boone until 4 days before a January deadline, after which Boone would be barred from signing with the Angels until May of 1987. The amount of the dispute was a mere $10,000. Although the Angels did resign Boone in May of 1987, the contract dispute led to a lower number of games caught for the year.

At the time of the contract dispute, the owners were engaging in a variety of tactics to keep the price of salaries down. It was later determined that the actions by the owners against players like Bob Boone violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement for baseball. The players filed three different grievances against the owners called Collusion I, II, and III. For his part in Collusion II, Bob Boone was awarded damages and free agency in 1989.

One of the more interesting things about Boone was the cheer he received whenever he came up to bat or was announced during a game. More than one first-time visitor to Angels stadium was shocked that the crowd would greet him with a long “Boooooooooonnne!” Many fans were quite perplexed why the home crowd would greet him warmly with such a chorus of “boos”.

Anecdotes and Quotes: "Catching is much like managing: managers don't really win games, but they can lose plenty of them. The same way with catching. If you're doing a quality job you should be almost anonymous." Interestingly, as a manager for the Kansas City Royals in 1996, Bob Boone used 152 different lineups in 162 games.

Memorable Moments/Games: As a member of the Championship Phillies in 1980, Bob Boone was involved in one of the more memorable defensive plays in the World Series. With 1 out in the top of the 9th, Frank White hit a pop-up down the line by the 1st Base dugout. Bob Boone gave chase and managed to deflect the ball before a hustling Pete Rose came in to catch the ball to record the out to protect the 4-1 lead.

On September 30, 1984, Bob Boone caught Mike Witt’s perfect game.

Where Is He Now?: Presently, Bob Boone works as the Assistant General Manager and Vice President of Player Development for the Washington Nationals.

Contributed by David Saltzer - AngelsWin.com Columnist

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Angels fans excited about Godzilla's move to Southern California | The Japan Times Online

By WAYNE GRACZYK

We can expect to see a lot more Los Angeles Angels games than the New York Yankees on NHK and J Sports in 2010 because of Hideki Matsui, especially when the Angels play the Seattle Mariners with Ichiro Suzuki.

Japanese fans at home and also in Southern California are excited about the addition of the 2009 World Series MVP to the Angels lineup, and one of the most thrilled American followers of the team is Chuck Richter who founded, funds and maintains www.angelswin.com, a Web site devoted to the Angels. Its slogan is "Where Angels Fans Are @, Unraveling Angels Baseball One Thread at a Time."

The 39-year-old Richter is a native of Orange County, where the Angels play their home games in Anaheim, but he currently lives in the Seattle area and established the Web site in 2003 (the year after the Angels won their only World Series) as a hobby. It has expanded into a talk forum for Angels fans, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year-round.

There are more than 1,600 registered members of angelswin.com, but Richter says the site gets 4,000-5,000 hits per day. His blog is included in the content, and he insists the fan base is there and growing all the time.

"It has really surpassed my expectations," he said during a recent telephone interview and, since the rumors began about Matsui's anticipated signing by the American League club, traffic on the site has increased with messages from fans in Matsui's home country.

"When word spread that Hideki would probably be joining the Angels, we got more hits than ever from Japan, and we expect the numbers to spike when the season begins," said Richter.

He added that getting Matsui's bat in the middle of the order is going to add even more punch to the already potent lineup of the 2009 AL West Division champions and helps make up for the loss of free agents Chone Figgins (third baseman gone to Seattle) and Vladimir Guerrero (outfielder and DH who signed with the Texas Rangers).

"I know a lot of fans will embrace Matsui. Though coming off knee surgery, he put up great stats (28 home runs, 90 RBIs, .274) in less than 500 at-bats (456, to be exact), and he should more than make up for the loss of Guerrero," said Richter. "Putting Hideki in there with the likes of (outfielders) Bobby Abreu (15 HRs, 103 RBIs in 2009), Torii Hunter (22, 90) and the others makes for a stacked lineup."

The "others" include first baseman Kendry Morales (34, 108), outfielder Juan Rivera (25, 88), third baseman Brandon Wood (22, 72 at Triple-Salt Lake), second sacker Howie Kendrick (10, 61), shortstop Erick Aybar (.312 with 58 RBIs) and catcher Mike Napoli (20, 56). Get used to their names; you'll be seeing a lot of them on TV in Japan this coming season.

Though his Web site is unofficial, Richter says it has the blessing of the Angels ballclub, whose staff has cooperated with him and encouraged the fan forum.

"They gave me a media pass so I can enter the clubhouse, the field and the press box to perform interviews, and we've been talked about on live radio and telecasts by former Angels play-by-play announcers, Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler," said Richter.

(Yes, that is the Rex Hudler who played second base for the Yakult Swallows in 1993.)

Richter also said a highlight of the season for him is actually meeting and mixing twice a year with many of the fans with whom he interacts on the Web site.

"We go to spring training in Tempe, Ariz., and we get about 200 people from angelswin.com who show up. Some folks with the Angels join us at a sports bar, too," he said. "Then at mid-season, usually during the weekend closest to the Fourth of July, several hundred of us meet and have a barbecue and a softball game before seeing our favorite team play. If the Angels are on the road, we do it another time."

Just as Japanese fans are welcome to submit their thoughts on the site, says Richter, they are invited to the get-togethers in Tempe and at the BBQ grill.

"I know there is large pool of Japanese fans in Los Angeles, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Orange County and Anaheim, and I am sure many will come to see Matsui," he predicted.

Though he lives in the state of Washington, Richter says he is a lifelong Angels fan, and he got hooked on the team as a youngster when he used to ride in his stepfather's truck.

"My stepdad always had the games on the radio," he recalls. "I've been hooked on Angels baseball ever since."

He was asked by USA Today to blog during the playoffs last October, and he's hoping the Angels will make it to the playoffs — and the World Series — again in 2010 with their newly acquired "Godzilla."

"I think Hideki may do even better at Angel Stadium than last season in New York. Sure, Yankee Stadium has that short right-field porch that favors left-handed hitters, but Matsui had a higher slugging percentage, on-base percentage and generally better stats on the road," Richter pointed out.

With the above-listed Angels lineup, Richter believes No. 55 will have more opportunities and will put up better numbers than in '09.

The Angels open their regular-season schedule on April 5, at home against the Minnesota Twins. The 2010 Major League Baseball All-Star Game takes place at Angel Stadium too, scheduled for July 13.

Think Matsui will be in it?

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2010/01/24/baseball/angels-fans-excited-about-godzillas-move-to-southern-california/

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Grading the Angels offseason

By Jason Sinner - AngelsWin.com Columnist

As it seems that we are likely done dealing for the winter, how about an overall grade and analysis for the offseason?

Gone:
Gary Matthews Jr.
Lackey
Figgins
Vlad
Oliver
Arredondo

Here:
Pineiro
Matsui
Rodney
Stokes

Returning:
Abreu

While it stings to see several of our most well known Halos move on, Reagins did a solid job with their replacements balancing production with cost. Also netting multiple draft picks in the process

Matsui likely replaces and improves upon the numbers put up by Vlad from last year. Vlad may put up better numbers in Arlington than Matsui in Anaheim, but in terms of improvement from the previous year, it's a step up.

Retaining Abreu was key to keeping the obp philosophy intact. No reason to think he can't produce at a similar level as 2009

The impact of losing Figgins' from the leadoff spot remains a big question mark. It could be huge. If Aybar continues his progression, then it may only be a small step back. Coupled with Wood finally getting his shot and Maicer available to cover should he falter, this could end up a net positive. For now though, it probably at least a mild step back.

Adding Rodney to the pen gives the team another power arm for the late innings. Personally I don't really see him as a replacement for Jose Arredondo as I think Scot Shields will see many of the opportunities that Ollie did. Hopefully, the combo of Rodney and Fuentes will improve the production from the closers spot as opposed to just Fuentes alone. That and it decreases Brian's games finished to keep his option from vesting. The impact of Stokes is yet to be determined but he will likely compete with Matt Palmer for the long relief role.

Although losing big John hurts, he made 27 starts last year with Kazmir making 6. If Kaz can make 30+ starts in 2010, it stands to reason that we will see a similar level of production. Adding Pineiro likely improves production from the #5 spot in the rotation where in 2009, starts from Palmer, Loux, Moseley, SOS, Bell, and Ortega combined for a cumulative era of above 6. The impact of Pineiro on the pen is also substantial yet partially canceled by Kaz not getting deep into games.

Overall, a solid job considering the general lack of talent in this years FA pool. The Rodney signing appears to be a bit of a stretch, as Valverde may have been a better choice, but we'll just have to wait and see. Also, seeing Lee go to Seattle for a somewhat modest bounty was a bit off-putting, but who knows how that came about and what opportunity was there if any. I am happy we didn't shell out big dollars for the likes of Lackey, Holliday, or Bay and kept those draft picks to improve the farm. They are also in good position to add an impact player at the deadline if need be.

Grade: B

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Wayne Graczyk with JapanBall.com

By Chuck Richter - AngelsWin.com Executive Editor

AngelsWin.com was recently contacted by one of the best known editors and sports writers in the industry, Wayne Graczyk, to talk about Hideki Matsui; what are Angels saying about the acquisition and how do we predict he'll do in his first season with the Angels after spending seven seasons with the New York Yankees?

Graczyk is the compiler & editor of the annual Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook and Media Guide, now in its 35th year. Graczyk, who has lived in Japan for 40 years and served as a Sports Editor of the widely read Tokyo Weekender for 27 of them, now has a popular baseball column in the Japan Times and is a frequent contributor to JapanBall.com, operated by Bob Bavasi, a baseball executive and son of the late Buzzie Bavasi, who was general manager of the Angels and Dodgers.

Graczyk also covers Japan for Baseball America, Major League Baseball and JapanBall.com. For years he was a TV broadcaster for the Tokyo Giants, continuing to cover the ball club now as a reporter.

After the conclusion of our interview, which will be published in the Japan Times this weekend, Graczyk kindly offered to mail me his Japan Pro Baseball Media Guide, which I received yesterday. I'm halfway through the guide and I have to tell you, it's a great resource to have as a baseball fan — one that I believe everyone should own. You can pick one up on his Website HERE for just $16.95.

Here are some more details on the guide. It is the only media guide for Japanese professional baseball in English that is endorsed by the Commissioner's Office, the Central and Pacific Leagues and the Japan Pro Baseball Players Union.

This comprehensive reference guide includes the following essential information:

    * League Directories

    * Team Directories

    * Minor League Information.

    * Schedules

    * Full Rosters

    * Player photos

    * Detailed stadium information

    * In-depth statistics

    * Foreign player profiles

    * and much more.

One thing is for certain, well at least in 2010: The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will no longer dominate Japanese television. Graczyk noted that American League West Baseball would take over as the most watched two teams in Japan with the likes of Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki and new Angel Matsui — who will face each other 19 times in 2010. So, Angels fans, be proud, cheer loud and wear red instead. The Japanese Baseball fans are watching.

Look for more from Wayne Graczyk and me over the course of the 2010 season with regards to Matsui, Angels Baseball and how the fans are digging the Japanese star.

For the sake of review: AngelsWin.com members and Angels fans on the Internet, order your copy of the Japan Pro Baseball Media Guide by Wayne Graczyk today and look for the voice of Angels fans,

AngelsWin.com, in the Japan Times this weekend.

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Gary Matthews Jr. Traded to Mets

The Gary Matthews Jr. era in Anaheim is officially over today as the Angels sent the switch hitting outfielder to the Mets for relief pitcher Brian Stokes.

The 30 year old Stokes pitched out of the bullpen for New York. Posting a 2-4, 3.97 ERA in 70 innings pitched.

Los Angeles is on the hook for about $20 million of the remaining $23 million owed to Matthews. Financially this is a poor deal for the Angels but with Matthews wanting out and out fielders Reggie Willits and Terry Evans out of options the move needed to be made.

It would be safe to say that neither Matthews or the Angels got what they expected when they agreed to terms before the 2007 season. Matthews was arguably their best player during the first half of '07 but a knee injury slowed him down and "GMJ" never consistently found his stroke again as an Angel.

After the 2007 season the Angels had an opportunity to replace Matthews in center field and took it, signing Torii Hunter.

Matthews numbers didn't improve in 2008 due to injuries and after the season the Angels decided to go in a different direction, re-signing free agent Juan Rivera and bringing in Bobby Abreu, sending Matthews to the bench.

2009 was a pretty productive season for Matthews in a limited role. However after the season it was clear it was time for Matthews to move on.

Orange Country Register's Sam Miller takes a look back at "GMJ's Finest Moments"

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How Things Change

By Brent Hubbard - AngelsWin.com Columnist

After looking at the Salary threads and Arbitration threads over the past week, I decided to look at the fifteen seasons of Angels Baseball.

I wondered who was the longest tenured player on each of the teams and how long the average player stuck in Anaheim. What I found was interesting in that under Mike Scioscia, homegrown players tended to last longer than free agents, but that turnover was less year-to-year than under Terry Collins or Marcel Lachemann.

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Rangers fan: Open Letter to AngelsWin.com

Rangers Fan in Angel Territory 

Hello Mr. Richter,

I wrote this recently and I think it would play well on Angelswin.com.  I was wondering if you'd have a look.  Main theme: the Angels organization's expectation to win is inspirational.

Best,
Dale Vaughn
Hollywood, CA

I grew up in Arlington, Texas, watching a wily Nolan Ryan complete his career of fooling hitters and hitting fools... where is Robin Ventura these days? I came of age with an MVP, cannon-armed Pudge Rodriguez behind the plate – who held opponent base burglars to one successful third base attempt… for a whole season… three times.  With those few individual references of greatness now squarely behind me, I am able to fully comprehend the accomplishments of the 2009 Texas Ranger team… and look forward to a new season.  This is probably the best my hometown organization has ever looked; and yet, they didn’t even make the playoffs last season because the Angels just didn’t seem to lose.

I should hate the Angels, but now that I am beginning my third transplanted season here, I only have respect.  This is a team that had by all means a disappointing regular season in 09 with injuries to star players, a slew of anonymous starting pitchers, and trouble finding simultaneous hitting and pitching dominance… and yet they just continued to find the W column.

People talk about the curses in Boston and Chicago… it makes me laugh.  The Texas Rangers have never even come close to a World Series.  They are the only active Major League team who has not won a playoff series.  They are one of three teams to never have played in a World Series.  The Texas Rangers are celebrating 50 years of existence (including a 12 year run as the Washington Senators) this year, and they will have won one – that’s one, singular – playoff game.  By contrast, the Angels organization expanded at the same time and has been to the playoffs nine times and won more than 20 playoff games and a World Series title.

The Angels have many notable strengths: the organizational depth to withstand NY Met type injuries; Mike Scioscia, one of the best baseball brains in the country – who repeatedly wins close games and coaches solid fundamental baseball when it counts; and clutch players who have bought into the team concept on and off the field.

And yet, the most inspiring trait about the Angels is the infectious expectation for winning.  I listen to Angel Talk after each game and am bewildered at the seething disappointment from fans when the Angels lose.  It’s like the idea of losing doesn’t even enter the realm of possibility until the umpire calls the final out of the game.  Any baseball fan has got to love that attitude.

Coming from a baseball culture where winning seems like a bedtime fairy tale, and the World Series is reserved for the Yankees, it’s confounding to expect a championship every year in any professional sport.  I can’t be angry at Angels fans – much like Yankee or Red Sox fans – their expectations have cultivated world class organizations; and in the end, we’re all sports fans who want to be wowed each year by new feats of athletic deism and sporting drama.  I love the game of baseball and I like to see my home team striving so hard to compete with organizations like the Angels.

I owe this – a young and talented Rangers roster laden with fielding prowess, pitching potential, run-scoring capability, all overseen by venerable baseball minds – to the standard of excellence that the Angels have cultivated over the past decade.  Last season the Rangers couldn’t keep the Angels down, maybe this is the year the Rangers come out and play high-level ball for 162 games.  For as much respect as I have gained for the Angels organization… I will still root, root, root for my home team and if they don’t win it’s a shame.

I’ll be honest… I’m tired of spending all my energy rooting for that other sports team in Arlington.

Dale from Dallas

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Angels sign starting pitcher Joel Pineiro

The Los Angeles Angels will add one of the top remaining free agents available on the market, right handed starting pitcher Joel Pineiro to their 2010 rotation. Filling the void left by the defection of John Lackey via free agency.

Pineiro and the Angels have agreed to a two-year contact worth an approximate sixteen million dollars, pending a tomorrow's physical.

The 31 year old pitched last season for the 2009 NL Central Division Champion Cardinals, posting a 15-12, 3.49 ERA record in 32 starts. Pineiro walked only 27 batters to 105 strikeouts in 214 innings. He also posted a 60.5 percent ground-ball rate, with a very solid infield defense featuring Erick Aybar, Howie Kendrick, Macier Izturis and Brandon Wood, Pineiro should do well with the Angels.

Pineiro has previously pitched in the American League spending ten seasons with the Seattle Mariners and one with Boston.

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The Eddie Bane Connection: January 2010 Edition

Wednesday at around noon, Angels fans chatted with Eddie Bane (Director of Scouting) with the topic being our Top 50 Prospects list and much more. Check out the entire chat by clicking on the replay button below.

While you're waiting for the first Bane Connection feature of 2010, to begin check out the interview done yesterday with our partners at AM 830, when Jeff Biggs interviewed Tori Hernandez (Angels Manager of Baseball Operations). Some great stuff on the Angels prospects and Baseball America's top 10 list.

Tori Hernandez (Angels Manager of Baseball Operations) Part 1:


Tori Hernandez (Angels Manager of Baseball Operations) Part 2:

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AngelsWin.com 2010 Top 50 Angels Prospects

Photo by Cyrus Melchor - AngelsWin.com

Intro by David Saltzer - AngelsWin.com Senior Columnist

In many ways, 2009 was a tale of two seasons for the Angels’ organization. At the upper levels of the organization, several players were needed to fill the needs of the parent club. As a result, the records for the upper level clubs suffered. At the lower levels of the organization, an incredible draft led to an infusion of talent that blossomed. As a result, the teams did much better. Ironically, due to the Minor League Playoff format, the Angels’ farm team that posted one of the worst records for any of the affiliated Minor League teams (Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes with a 61-79 record) went the furthest in its league’s playoffs.

Looking at the stats only tells a limited story. Without context, most stats are meaningless. Because of differences in the leagues, the size of ballparks and a myriad of other factors, a player’s stats won’t always show linear progression. Moving from a hitter’s league or ballpark to a pitcher’s league or ballpark will affect the overall numbers. But, a sudden rise or drop in production due to those factors shouldn’t affect the player’s potential or value as a prospect. For example, hitting 15 homeruns at Double-A Arkansas is a tremendous feat considering the overall nature of the league and the cavernous dimensions of the Travelers’ home field. We at Angelswin.com include an assessment of those factors when determining our final rankings for this list.

Similarly, how a player’s stats trend often affect a player’s ranking. Many of the Angels’ prospects showed a tale of two seasons in their statistical trends. Several of those who posted lower numbers overall for the season still showed strong trends in their second half. For some it was because they adjusted to their leagues and the higher level of competition. For others it was because they recovered from injuries. In either case, the overall stats don’t reflect the full story of their 2009 season. At Angelswin.com, we reviewed those trends to try and determine a more nuanced understanding of the player’s season prior to finalizing this list.

Measuring the impact of an injury, particularly a season-ending injury, is difficult. While the player may fully recover from the injury, trying to gauge the loss of a year of development is challenging. If, say the velocity of the player’s fastball returns, how will the year off affect his command? We, at Angelswin.com consider the impact not only of the physical injury to the player, but also the injury to the player for the lost year of development.

For those of us working on the weekly Hot Prospect lists last year and on this year’s Top-50 Prospect List, the biggest tale of two seasons was the incredible disconnect between our evaluation of the Angels’ organization overall and the national analysts’ evaluations for the same teams. We believe that a Minor League system exists to serves two primary functions: 1) to develop players to make the major league club; 2) to supply players for trades to fill the needs of major league club.

Using that as a guideline, the Angels in 2009 went into Spring Training last year with 66 players. Of those 66 players, 53 of them were home-grown. Over the course of the season last year, the Angels had many needs, especially for starting pitchers. Their Minor Leagues teams responded by producing Trevor Bell and Sean O’Sullivan (both of whom started the year in Double-A Arkansas), who went a combined 5-4 in 14 starts over the summer at the Major League level. Additionally, the Angels’ Minor League system provided depth with Matt Palmer and Shane Loux who went a combined 13-5 in 19 starts for the team. Overall that’s an 18-9 record provided by the organization’s Minor League players in 1/5th of all the starts for the parent club. Considering that the parent club won 97 games last year with 20% of its starts provided by the Minor Leaguers, it seems that the system developed the players necessary for the parent club.

At the same time, using the depth in the Angels’ organization, Tony Reagins was able to pull off a trade for a frontline pitcher. The Angels gave up three talented players to get Kazmir, but were able to do so because they had plenty of depth at those. Again, it seems that the system fulfilled its secondary function.

When discussing an organization’s system overall, many national analysts like to focus on the quality of the premium talent in the organization. They will often focus on nationally ranked Top-100 prospects within the organization. Essentially, they try to zero in on the perceived impact players. While every team would love to produce a Longoria or a Lincecum, very few of those premium talents exist, and even fewer are developed in any given year. Most minor league teams produce at most one or two average major league players per year. Since the Angels often draft near the bottom of the first round (due to their Major League successes), and have surrendered several of their first round picks due to free agent signings over the past few years, it’s highly unlikely that the Angels will be in a position to draft those premium talents with the national pedigree.

Focusing on the premium talents ignores the advantage of producing a large number of very good players. Take Aybar and Kendrick for example. While both may not be the top player at their respective positions, both would be in the upper echelons compared to their peers. Based on the number of trade inquiries the Angels received for both players, it is clear that many clubs are jealous that they do not have them in their fold. The Angels have relied on and continue to rely on their farm system to produce a quantity of quality players to keep the parent club operating an elite level without having to resort to prohibitive economics. While the Angels organization may not be producing an All-Star player every year, it did produce 53 out of 66 players in a camp to be on a team that won 97 games.

At Angelswin.com, we believe that analyzing an organization requires a broader understanding of the system overall. For that reason, we disagree with the low rankings that the Angels have received over the past two years by national organizations. Based on the numerous debates and discussions that we have had in trying to rank the players in our Top-50 list (this year’s rankings have gone through more iterations than any other year’s to date), and the number of and the quality of the players in our system who did not even make this list, we believe that the Angels’ Minor League organization is much stronger and better than has been reported by other sources.

But, all of that may be changing. In 2009, under the direction of Eddie Bane, the Angels made a tremendous draft. And, with five of the first forty picks in the 2010 draft, the Angels are set to bring in another tremendous haul. Between these two years, the Angels should establish a stockpile of premium talent that would get the attention of the national analysts as well as for those who are more familiar with the club.

Los Angeles Angels 2010 Top 50 Prospects
Scouting reports 1-30 by Chuck Richter - AngelsWin.com Executive Editor

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A to Z Angels: Bobby Bonds

Name: Bobby Bonds
Nickname: Bobby
Position: Right fielder
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Number(s): 25

Years Played As an Angel: 1976-1977

Angels’ Stats: .264/.340/.808 (47 HRs, 169 RBIs, 71 SBs)
Career Stats: .268/.353/.471 (332 HRs, 1,024 RBIs, 461 SBs)

How He Was Acquired: Bonds was traded in December 1975 by the New York Yankees to the Angels for Ed Figueroa and Mickey Rivers

Why You Should Know Him: Bonds was the first player to have more than two seasons of 30 HRs and 30 SBs, doing so a record five times (the record was matched only by his son Barry) and was the first to accomplish the feat in both major leagues; he became the second player to hit 300 career HRs and steal 300 bases, joining Willie Mays. Together with Barry he is part of the most accomplished father-son combination for home runs, runs batted in and stolen bases.

Memorable Moments/Games: In 1977 Bonds tied the club record (37) for most home runs in a season.

Anecdotes and Quotes: Bobby Bonds was a 3 time All Star, and was MVP of the 1973 All Star game. He also was a 3 time Gold Glove Award winner.

Where is He Now?: Bonds passed away in 2003 at the age of 57

Contributed by Bruce Nye - AngelsWin.com Columnist

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Darin Erstad interview

Check out the interview with Darin Erstad and our partners AM 830 on 'The Drive' with Jeff Biggs and Jason Brennan conducted on January 12th, 2009.

Part 1:



Part 2:


Thank you Darin Erstad for your hustle and contributions to the Angels' success over your career with the team. We the fans will always remember you as the player who caught the final out in the Angels only World Series victory to date. You Darin Erstad epitomize what us parents like for our kids to witness in playing the game the right way. Giving it a 110% all the time.

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A to Z Angels: Bert Blyleven

Name: Rik Albert (Bert) Blyleven
Nickname: The Dutchman
Position: Starting Pitcher
Throws: Right
Bats: Right
Number(s): 28

Years Played As an Angel: 1989-1992; 1995-1996
Angels’ Stats: 33-24, 3.92 ERA, 508.0 IPs, 270 Ks
Career Stats: 287-250, 3.31ERA, 4970.0 IPs, 3701Ks

How He Was Acquired: Traded to the Angels from the Minnesota Twins (along with Kevin Trudeau) for Mike Cook, Rob Wassenaar, and Paul Sorrento. Resigned as a free agent in 1992.

Why You Should Know Him: With the exception of Pete Rose, no other player in baseball has had his merits for the Hall of Fame debated more than Bert Blyleven. Possessing one of the most dominant curve balls in the game, he ranks in the Top-10 of numerous pitching categories including wins, strikeouts, shutouts, complete games, games started, 1-0 wins, innings pitched, etc. and nearly won his admission into the Hall of Fame in 2010 when he received 74.2% of the vote—falling just 5 votes short of admission.

Born in Holland, Bert Blyleven spent the majority of his childhood in the shadow of the Big-A. At the age of five, Bert’s family moved to Garden Grove where he became a standout pitcher for Santiago High School.

Drafted in the third round in 1969, Blyleven found himself starting in the Major Leagues by the middle of 1970 at age 19. He posted a 10-9 record that year and won the American League Rookie of the Year award.

Over the course of his 22 year major league career, Bert pitched for the Twins, Rangers, Pirates, Indians and Angels. He was an All-Star in 1973 and 1985. He helped the Pirates win the World Series in 1979 and the Twins win the World Series in 1987. As a starter, Bert liked to work fast and deep into games, for which ESPN announcer Chris Berman nicknamed him Bert “Be Home” Blyleven because everyone could by home by eleven on days that he started.

In 1988, after a poor season, in which Bert went 10-17 with a 5.43 ERA, he was traded to the California Angels. Bert quickly rebounded in 1989, going 17-5 with a 2.73 ERA at age 38. He led the American League in 1989 with five shutouts, and, over the course of the season became quite a streak buster for the Angels. Nine times during the 1989 season, Bert won a game after an Angels’ loss. He stopped losing streaks of five and seven games for the team. For all of those accomplishments, Bert won the Comeback Player of the Year award in 1989.

After a poor year in 1990, Bert missed all of the 1991 season with a rotator cuff injury. He resigned with the Angels as a free agent and went 8-12 with a 4.74 ERA. In so doing, he became one of only three Major League pitchers to win his first game before his 20th birthday and his last game after his 40th birthday.

Over the course of his career, Bert was a well-known character and comedian in the clubhouse. One of his favorite tricks was giving a player the “hot-foot” by setting his shoelaces on fire. For that, many of his teammates called him the “Frying Dutchman”. Bert was also known for numerous other practical jokes and always telling a good joke.

The case for Bert’s admission into the Hall of Fame has continued to gain steam. More analysts are recognizing the inequity of run support that Bert received over the course of his career and discounting the lack of recognition Bert received while playing. Using more sophisticated and modern analysis, Bert’s dominance becomes much more apparent in all categories except career wins. With closeness of the 2010 vote, hopefully, next year, Bert will be home by eleven in the Hall of Fame.

Memorable Moments/Games: On September 22, 1977, Bert Blyleven through a no-hitter against the Angels while pitching for the Texas Rangers.

Anecdotes and Quotes: Bert credits the success for his curveball to his unusually long fingers. He claims that his fingers grew to be so long from sticking them in the dikes in his homeland as a child.

Where is He Now?: Bert Blyleven is a color commentator for the Minnesota Twins. Fans often bring signs saying “Circle me Bert” in order to get him to circle them with his telestrator during his broadcasts. In 2009, Bert was the pitching coach for the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic. Bert presently lives in Fort Myers, FL, and has four children and two step-children. For more information on Bert, fans can view his website at www.bertblyleven.com

Contributed by David Saltzer - AngelsWin.com Senior Columnist

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A to Z Angels: Bud Black

Name: Harry Ralston Black
Nickname: Bud
Position: Pitcher, Pitching Coach
Throws: Left
Bats: Left
Number(s): 40, 20

Years Coached As an Angel: 2000-2006
Angels’ Stats: Never played for Angels
Career Stats: 121-116, 3.84 ERA, 1039 Ks

How He Was Acquired: Hired as pitching coach before the 2000 season after spending the previous season as pitching coach at AAA Buffalo (Cleveland).

Why You Should Know Him: Black pitched for five teams in his career, most notably the Angels’ old AL West archrivals, the Kansas City Royals. Black won a World Series ring with the Royals in 1985 as a player, then another as the pitching coach of the 2002 Angels squad.

Black handled the pitchers under manager Mike Scioscia from 2000 until 2006, then took over managing duties with the San Diego Padres. Some of the pitchers who he has helped develop include John Lackey, Jake Peavy, Francisco Rodriguez, Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana.

Under Black’s direction, the Angels staff ranked in the top five in the American League on five occasions, including a second place finish in 2002. In his seven years in Anaheim, the Angels posted a 4.17 ERA, second among AL staffs during that period.

Memorable Moments/Games: Black had a hand in one of the Angels most heartbreaking finishes…as an opponent. He pitched a three-hit shutout against the Angels at Royals Stadium to give California and Kansas City identical 88-70 records on October 2, 1985. The next night Danny Jackson outdueled Don Sutton and the Royals took a one-game lead with three to play. The Angels finished one game back. It was the first of three comebacks by that Royals team, which overcame three-games-to-one deficits in the playoffs against both the Blue Jays and the Cardinals to win Kansas City’s only World Series title.

Anecdotes and Quotes: Black was part of baseball history twice. He was the starting pitcher for the Royals during the infamous pine tar game against the Yankees, and in a game against the Angels he surrendered Reggie Jackson’s 500th home run.

Where is He Now?: Bud Black is currently the manager of the San Diego Padres.

Contributed by Brett Borden - AngelsWin.com Columnist

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A to Z Angels: Steve Bilko

Name: Steve Bilko
Nickname: Stout Steve
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Position: 1st baseman
Number(s): 20

Years Played As an Angel: 1961 -1962

Angels’ Stats: .282/.388/.916, 28 HRs, 97 RBIs
Career Stats: .249/.336/.444, 76 HRs, 276 RBIs

How He Was Acquired: Drafted by the Angels from the Detroit Tigers in the 1960 expansion draft.

Why You Should Know Him: He was a home run hitting great in the 1950s enjoying his greatest fame with the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League from 1955 to 1957. His greatest year came in 1956 when he won the PCL’s Triple Crown with a .360 batting average, 55 home runs and 164 RBIs.

Memorable Moments/Games: Stout Steve was a fan favorite and fittingly muscled out the last home run hit in Wrigley Field in 1961.

Anecdotes and Quotes: During his brief stay with the Cubs, announcer Bert Wilson placed Bilko at the end of what he hopes would soon be a famous double play combination of Ernie Banks, Gene Baker and Steve Bilko. The name for that was “Bingo to Bango to Bilko.”

Where is He Now?: Steve Bilko passed away at age 49 in 1978

Contributed by Bruce Nye - AngelsWin.com Columnist

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Steve Physioc: My Friend Rory Markas

Interview conducted by David Saltzer - AngelsWin.com Senior Columnist

In the early hours of January 5, 2010, the Angels family suffered another loss with the passing of veteran announcer Rory Markas. Known to Angels fans for closing out every Angels’ win with “Just another Halos victory” and forever associated with the team for his call at the end of Game 7 of the 2002 World Series “Here’s the pitch to Lofton. Fly ball centerfield. Erstad says he’s got it . . . Erstad makes the catch! The Anaheim Angels are the champions of baseball!” Rory was a beloved announcer for the team. We recently had the opportunity to speak with Steve Physioc, one of Rory’s good friends and colleagues to find out more about Rory Markas, the man.

Angelswin.com: On behalf of everyone at Angelswin.com, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us today. We know that it is a tough thing for you to do, but very much appreciate your comments.

Angelswin.com: How are you today? Are you still numb from the loss?

Steve Physioc: I was absolutely shocked because I had just seen Rory just a couple of weeks earlier and I don’t think he ever looked better. He was thinner. The color in his face was terrific. He had such great spirit. He said that he was “feeling great”. I can’t understand it. Obviously Southern California lost a great voice, and a great, great person. He was a joy to be around. He never had a bad word to say about anybody. He was a real earnest friend.

Angelswin.com: Last night you covered the USC game for Rory. What was it like filling in for your friend?

Steve Physioc: Well, one of the beautiful things about doing the USC game last night was we dedicated the broadcast to Rory for the rest of the season. I only did that one game because USC asked me to do that game and I’m doing so many PAC-10 games this year that it makes it almost impossible because usually when USC plays I’m doing a game somewhere else. But, I was very glad to do that and also very glad to work with one of Rory’s best friends Jim Hefner. They worked together for 13 years doing USC Basketball. Just to be able to share stories of our adventures with Rory through the years. My years with him with the Angels—whether it was sharing dinner or lunch, or sitting in the airplane and talking history or politics or baseball or basketball, it really didn’t matter. He just was a good guy. And that was the same thing that Jim Hefner was talking about last night during the USC-Stanford game. Rory was just one of those loyal friends that as I said earlier didn’t have a bad thing to say about anybody. You wanted a Rory Markas as your friend. That was one of the joys of working with him.

Angelswin.com: What was it like working with Rory for 8 years?

Steve Physioc: Our working relationship was pretty consistent because whether he was doing radio or I was doing radio we always had each other on for pre-game shows because we had a segment with the broadcasters. Whether it was Mark Gubicza, Rex Hudler, Terry Smith, Jose Mota, or myself, we would come into each other’s booth and share information. Or, if Rory were having a pre-game show, he would invite myself and Rex Hudler and have a segment to talk baseball. We’d talk whether the Yankees were in town. We’d talk about who was the best hitter in baseball. Who has the best curveball? And so we’d talk those stories on the air. When I was doing radio, I’d do the same thing. I’d ask Rory to join me, and he might come in with Jose Mota and we would have a little round table discussion about the game of baseball. It’s those moments that I really enjoyed.

To be quite honest with you, it was the time away from the game. I think I’ve shared with several people his love of history. And he had a great affection for former President Jimmy Carter. When we were in Atlanta for inter-league play a few years ago, Rory was invited because the individual who was putting together the leadership conference knew that Rory was going to be in town and knew of his love of Jimmy Carter. So, he got this phone call saying “Hey, Rory, we would love to have you join us for this council/luncheon that former President Carter was having.” And oh my gosh, Rory was just delighted! That evening, when we ate together in the media lunch room, his face was all lit up. And he goes “Phys, I have got to show you these pictures.” And it was pictures of him with former President Carter together and shaking hands. And he told me what some of the questions were because obviously Jimmy Carter is a big baseball fan and had questions about the Angels. He was just so tickled to share that experience and I was glad to be part of it because I am a big fan of former President Carter myself. It was just wonderful to be able to share it with Rory.

Angelswin.com: Did you know Rory prior to him coming to the Angels?

Steve Physioc: Just a little bit. You know, when I would do an ESPN game and he was doing the Milwaukee Brewers, or different events along the way. But not nearly as much as I had when we shared our time with the Angels because we were travelling together. When you are on the airplane or having a dinner or a glass of wine after a ballgame, those are the times that you really have an opportunity to share.

Angelswin.com: Are there any good stories that you can share?

Steve Physioc: He had the quickest wit, and it was a very dry wit. We might all be in conversation being silly on the airplane, and then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Rory would have the absolute perfect comment about the situation, and we would all break up. It was just perfect. He had a very educated, dry sense of humor.

Angelswin.com: What advice did you give him when he started with the Angels?

Steve Physioc: Oh, I didn’t give him any advice. He was already a tremendous broadcaster at that time with experience with the Brewers, the Clippers, the PCL teams. There was no advice given by me. We’re both the same age and he was already a veteran, so I was ready to help him get going.

I think it was more sharing our baseball experience and growing up. I grew up in the state of Kansas and he grew up in Southern California. But we both shared the same kinds of experiences being out on a fall afternoon listening to a college football game or a summer afternoon and he would be listening to Vin Scully to the Dodgers games and I would be listening to Fred White to the Kansas City Royals games. It was our love of the game and of story-telling. Those that made us the fans that we obviously became. And who were the voices that we listened to growing up. For me, it was the voices from the mid-west. For Rory, it was the voices of Southern California, Mr. Scully, Mr. Hearn, and Mr. Miller—three Hall of Famers.

Angelswin.com: Can you tell us more about Rory’s public appearances on behalf of the Angels?

Steve Physioc: Well, I think all of us are. And thankfully, whatever the Angels ask us to do we’re there because the Angels have a wonderful baseball foundation. And then of course, Mike Scioscia has his youth baseball program up in that Thousand Oaks area. Rory lived far away—he lived in Palmdale, he would come down and he would be a part of that program every single year. Rory took great delight and wanted to be there every single year. I think Mike always appreciated that greatly.

Angelswin.com: Rory may probably be most remembered by Angels fan for his call at the end of Game 7. What is your greatest memory of Rory in the broadcast booth?

Steve Physioc: Here is my greatest memory, and it is not that call because I was there at the ballgame. And I don’t say that out of disrespect, I say that out of respect because I’ll tell you, the story is Game 6. While he was doing Game 6, Game 6 was the only game I missed and that’s because I was doing the UCLA game against Colorado State for Fox Sports Net. On the drive back, the Angels were trailing 5 to 0. And I said to myself, “You know what? I don’t want to watch the Giants celebrate on our field. So, I’m going to get into the car, and just in case we come back, I’m going to drive the stadium right now and hopefully we’ll come back.”

Well, there was a horrible traffic jam on Interstate-5, and I have no idea if there was an accident or what it was. So, I had plenty of time to get to the stadium, but I never made it. I was at Valley View or almost to the 91 when the game ended. All I can tell you was that during that jam, I was listening to Rory and his description of the Angels’ comeback was so compelling that I had tingles going up and down my spine. Every time someone hit a homerun, lights started flashing and horns started blaring because people were on the interstate listening to Rory Markas describe the action. And then Erstad hits the homerun to make it 5-4. Glaus hits the double to give the Angels the incredible come from behind victory.

The next day, on Game 7, I did have a chance to go, and I went right to that radio booth and I said “Rory, I want you to know that I rarely get to listen to you (because we’re usually working at the same time), but you were fantastic last night! It was such a joy to listen to you in the car.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to the game to watch that incredible comeback, but I said “I pictured it in my mind listening to you.” And that is my greatest memory of listening to Rory Markas broadcast Angels baseball.

Angelswin.com: This past year has been a year with a lot of loss for the Angels’ family. It started off last year at this time with the passing of Preston Gomez, then Nick Adenhart, and now Rory Markas. The Angels brought in some counselors to help with the loss of Adenhart. Did they give you some advice that you could share that might help with the loss of Rory?

Steve Physioc: You know, I am very strong in my faith and what I do is every single morning I go and have my prayer time. And that’s the way I get my compass needle the way I look at it back to North, back to G-d. And so, in these times of crisis, whether it was Nick Adenhart or Rory Markas, I start my day in prayer. That’s the only way that I can get through these times—through that understanding that knowing that we have a blessing of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in these kinds of situations. It has worked incredibly well in my life at a time of suffering when we lose a loved one, a friend, a family member. I’ve lost my dad. The only way I was able to get through those with any kind of understanding was because of my faith. And that is what I am using at this time to get to the understanding of a Nick Adenhart or a Rory Markas passing. I’ve been praying not only for Rory, but also for his mom, his brothers that he left and his girlfriend because they are the ones who are really doing the grieving. I feel so badly for them.

Angelswin.com: Is there anything you can think of that Angels fans can do to help them at this time?

Steve Physioc: You know, I don’t know. I have not heard of a service yet. But, there might be a way to go to the Angels Baseball Foundation and donate in that. Or maybe Rory has a foundation that he has donated to in the past. But, I’m not aware of that information right now. I do know that all of us support the Angels Baseball Foundation because that is a tremendous cause and it has helped so many young people out.

Angelswin.com: Once again, on behalf of Angelswin.com, thank you for taking the time to speak with us under these tragic circumstances.

Steve Physioc: You bet. Thank you for calling.

To find out more information about the Angels Baseball Foundation, fans are encouraged to log onto here.

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A to Z Angels: Dante Bichette

Name: Alphonse Dante Bichette
Nickname: Dante
Position: RF/LF
Number(s): 11, 19

Years as an Angel: 1988-1991
Angels’ Stats: 533 ABs, 18 HRs, 76 RBIs, 8 SBs, .244 Avg.
Career Stats: 6381 ABs, 274 HRs, 1141 RBIs, 152 SBs, .299 Avg.

How He Was Acquired: The Angels drafted Dante in the 17th round (424th overall pick) of the 1984 amateur draft.

Why You Should Know Him: Dante Bichette was an unfortunate victim of a trend that began in the late 1980s and took more form in the early 1990s where the Angels tried to “win one for the Cowboy” at all costs—especially as the Cowboy’s health began to fail. This often resulted in the Angels prematurely abandoning younger players and trading them for “crafty veterans” who were on the down side of their careers to try and catch lightning in a bottle.

In the case of Dante Bichette, he was traded in 1991 to the Milwaukee Brewers for Dave Parker. Dave Parker went on to under-perform for the Angels (he posted a 232/279/358 line with 11 HRs in 119 games), Dante went on to have a great career, especially as an original member of the Colorado Rockies.

Dante’s career performance definitely was enhanced by playing in the high altitude and dry climate of Coors Field. However, in 1995, Dante’s numbers weren’t solely the result of the ballpark. In 1995, he nearly captured the Triple Crown when he posted a 340/364/620 line with 40 HRs, 128 RBIs and 13 SBs.

Anecdotes and Quotes: "When you try to hit the ball for power, your swing gets too long. The best thing to do is stay back, see the ball, and then explode through the ball."

Memorable Moments/Games: On April 7, 1993 Dante Bichette hit the first ever homerun for the Rockies off of Bret Saberhagen in the 7th inning at Shea Stadium.

On April 26, 1995, Dante Bichette hit a 3-run 14th inning home run against the Mets to give the Rockies their first win in the brand new Coors Field. It was a dramatic come-from-behind win 11-9 win. That year, as part of the Blake Street Bombers, Bichette helped power the Rockies to win the National League Wild Card (setting the record for the fastest time for an expansion team to reach the post season) and finished second in the National League MVP vote.

On June 10, 1998, Dante hit for the cycle in a game against the Texas Rangers at Coors Field.

Where Is He Now?: Presently, Dante lives in Florida with his wife and two sons, and is actively involved with coaching his sons in baseball.

Contributed by David Saltzer - AngelsWin.com Columnist

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A Year of Loss for Angels and Their Fans

By Eric Denton - AngelsWin.com Senior Writer

It has not been an easy year for the Angels organization nor its fans.

A year ago this week the Angels lost Preston Gomez, who had worked within the organization in some form or another since 1981, due to injuries suffered when he was struck by an automobile during Spring Training in 2008. Gomez was a valued member of the Angels brain trust, consulting owner Arte Moreno, manager Mike Scioscia and general managers Bill Stoneman and Tony Reagins. Gomez was credited with helping turn fellow Cuban Kendry Morales from talented prospect into one of the most productive hitters in the Angels lineup. He had a hand in helping the Latin American players in the Angels system develop into professionals and adjust to their new surroundings and environment in the United States.

April 8, 2009, Nick Adenhart took the mound, making his debut in what everyone thought was going to be his breakout season as a big leaguer. Having pitched very well in spring training and with John Lackey and Ervin Santana on the disabled list, Adenhart was going to get an extended opportunity in the rotation to show the Angels brass that he had put a rough 2008 behind him and was ready to show that he was a big leaguer for good. After six shutout innings against the A's, Adenhart went out with a group of friends — Courtney Stewart, Henry Pearson and Jon Wilhite — and the automobile in which they were traveling was struck by an alleged drunk driver. Only Wilhite survived.

The horrible news of the death of the 22 year old rocked the organization and the fans. Players and fans mourned Adenhart all season with a makeshift shrine that sprung up outside Angel Stadium. Adenhart's death affected most everyone who came to watch an Angels game last year. Parents would hug their children a little tighter outside the stadium, players and fans of opposing teams would stop to pay their respects to a life snuffed out far too soon. The Angels were able to rebound and have a successful season, ending up only two wins short of the World Series. Obviously fans were disappointed the Halos weren't able to win for Nick, but the season ended with general positive feelings and memories.

While certainly not in the same class as the losses of Gomez and Adenhart, on Nov. 25, 2009, Angels fans found out that their long time television broadcast team of Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler would not be back for another season. After 14 years a change was being made. No matter how poorly the Angels played during the first few seasons "Phys" and "Hud" called, the high of the 2002 World Championship year and the stand out years that followed, it was Physioc and Hudler who were there, leading the way and telling us the story of those baseball campaigns. A business decision was made and the fans again felt a loss.

Chone Figgins, John Lackey and Vladimir Guerrero, arguably the three biggest reasons for the Angels success over the past eight seasons, are all now former Angels — Figgins to division rival Seattle Mariners, Lackey to the dreaded Boston Red Sox and Guerrero a free agent. The trio leaves three significant holes on the roster and it's unclear if the Angels will be able to withstand their loss. Brandon Wood has the minor league pedigree to replace Figgins, but the team is without a lead off hitter of his caliber. Reagins has, as of this writing, not replaced Lackey, making Jered Weaver the de facto "ace" of the rotation and leaving the Angels pitching staff with question marks at the very least in the fifth man's spot.

While new Angel Hideki Matsui will likely put up some productive numbers at the plate, he's not Vladimir Guerrero. Guerrero was the Angels for six seasons; he was the player the casual fans came to watch and he was the player the children loved.

While the Angels have let many free agents go over the seasons — Troy Percival, Bengie Molina, Troy Glaus, Garret Anderson and Francisco Rodriguez in particular — they all left year by year, never in just a couple weeks span of time. The fans sense of loss and anger over these roster changes was pretty intense here at AngelsWin.com and on the airwaves on the Angels flagship station, AM 830 KLAA. We have all come to accept that baseball is a business, but that still doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye to your favorite players. In the big picture, losing them just means they live in another city now and have a different hat on. We'll see them again down the road when the Angels call to put them into their Hall of Fame and we can tell our children or grandchildren "I was at Game 7 where John Lackey pitched and Garret Anderson knocked in the winning runs in the World Series."

The holidays were past and the new year got underway; bowl games were nearly finished and the NFL season was beginning to wrap up. Fans started to think about spring training and speculate on the fate of the 2010 Los Angeles Angels. Then, in the same manner as 2009 had started, 2010 has unfortunately begun under the same dark cloud.

"Erstad says he's got it ... Erstad makes the catch! The Anaheim Angels are the champions of baseball."

This was THE greatest call in the history of Angels baseball. Every time I heard it before the news of the passing of Rory Markas I'd get a little emotional. Every time. Now, the man who made it and who would end the majority of his Angels broadcasts with the catchphrase "Just another halo victory" is no longer with us. Another heartbreaking loss for the fans and the organization.

Pitchers and catchers will report to Spring Training in about a month. Hopefully Markas' passing will be the last loss Angel fans and the organization will have to endure for quite some time.

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