By Toby Hunt, AngelsWin.com Staff Writer -
"Platoon". This is a word that strikes fear into every Angels' fan's heart. We've seen it for years now and it is always a hot topic of discussion and debate. Mike Scioscia loves him some platoons, but we as fans absolutely hate it because there is always one guy who is obviously better than the other yet he still sits in specific situations every time it comes up. Every year seems to have one platoon that gets our panties in a wad. We've seen platoons of Adam Kennedy and Howie Kendrick, Chone Figgins and Brandon Wood, as well as Kendrys Morales and Robb Quinlan. And of course, who could forget the most famous platoon in recent memory between two catchers that is still being argued over to this day?
The great Fabregas/Molina controversy of 2001
2014's version of the great platoon debate features outfielders Kole Calhoun and Collin Cowgill sharing time in the lineup. We at Angelswin have a thing for Kole Calhoun, and why not? He's a great young player with a bright future. Just last year, in his first season getting somewhat regular starts, we saw Calhoun put up an .809 OPS and 8 homers in just under 200 at bats. He showed good plate discipline, and proved to everyone that he deserves regular playing time in the outfield. Those numbers have carried over to this year, as Calhoun has managed an .840 OPS and a 1.6 WAR over 49 games. Not to mention, Kole had an incredible month of June, showing a .346 batting average and .954 OPS. This dude clearly deserves the majority of the starts. And what about that other guy? Just how bad are his numbers? Well, so far in 65 games, Collin Cowgill has managed a .772 OPS and a 2.1 WAR.
Not to mention a rockin' bod.
Man, Cowgill su...wait what? Those numbers aren't bad at all! In fact, I'd venture to say they are pretty damn good. Well, clearly that must be smoke and mirrors at this point. His June numbers must have been pretty b..an .856 OPS? I mean, that doesn't quite match up to Calhoun's month of June but that's still a pretty good month overall. There must be something I am missing here, obviously the Angels are winning more games with Calhoun start....a 25-19 record with Cowgill starting??? Ok...WTF? Why are we so opposed to this? Calhoun was injured for a significant portion of the year, so that is why Cowgill currently has more starts than him. But since returning, Calhoun has started more games. Is it really so bad to have Cowgill in the starting lineup every now and again? Or at the very least, against lefties?
What part of "rockin' bod" do you not understand?
I think as fans, we will always want the best players in the lineup every day. I think most of us feel that Calhoun is the better overall player of the two, and it has shown. That said, "platoon" isn't always a bad word, and I think this year especially has shown that it can work. So on behalf of Angelswin and Angels fans everywhere, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Collin Cowgill. I'm sorry for underappreciating your season thus far. You have been a damn fine player so far in 2014. I think us Angels fans just need something to complain about, as there hasn't been a lot of ammo for us this year. Plus, we just have a thing for gingers.
We just relate to them in so many levels.
Keep on truckin' Collin, keep on truckin'.