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Spring training is officially underway, and your fantasy draft preparations have likely begun in earnest. As part of RotoBaller's ongoing effort to help you win your leagues, we're previewing all 30 MLB teams. In these articles, we discuss each team's offseason moves, as well as their hitters, pitchers, and prospects.
Today's installment covers the 2017 Los Angeles Angels Team Outlook, and previews their potential fantasy baseball contributions.
Editor's note: for even more draft prep, visit our awesome 2017 fantasy baseball rankings dashboard. It has lots of in-depth staff rankings and draft strategy columns. You will find tiered rankings for every position, 2017 impact rookie rankings, AL/NL only league ranks and lots more. Bookmark the page, and win your drafts.
Offseason Moves
Following their worst season of the Mike Trout era, the Angels were content to make moves around the edges this winter. They added a couple of speed and defense outfielders in Cameron Maybin and Ben Revere and some pop in corner infielder Luis Valbuena and middle infielder Danny Espinosa. They also swapped catchers with Milwaukee, trading Jett Bandy for Martin Maldonado. Finally, Los Angeles (or is it Anaheim?) bid adieu to a pair of albatross starting pitchers, as both Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson’s contracts mercifully expired.
Hitting Overview
Trout remains the alpha and omega of baseball, real or fantasy. His predecessor in that department, Albert Pujols, looks much more mortal but is still quite useful. Pujols can no longer be counted on to hit for average, but he’s still good for 30 homers and 100 RBI, along with a decent runs total and even a few steals. Kole Calhoun continues to be an underrated outfielder, and his plate discipline metrics took a positive jump last year to boot.
Unfortunately, beyond those three, there’s not a ton here for fantasy owners to get excited about. Maldonado and Andrelton Simmons earn their keep with their gloves, not their bats. Espinosa has some thump in his bat and can steal some bags, but his free-swinging ways will wreak havoc on your batting average. Valbuena and Cron have been intermittently useful in the past but may end up platooning at first base. Ditto Maybin and Revere in left field – that may not be the initial plan, but Maybin’s pretty much a lock to get hurt. Neither player can offer more than speed and maybe an empty average.
Pitching Overview
If his elbow is fully healed, Garrett Richards will be the ace of the staff. He’s a great buy-low candidate. Matt Shoemaker’s strikeout and walk rates make him playable in most formats despite issues with the long ball. Hopefully his horrific head injury last season has no lingering ill effects. Former top prospect Tyler Skaggs flashed some upside in 2016, but he’s never thrown more than 150 innings in a season and had some control issues as well. Ricky Nolasco is…well, he’s Ricky Nolasco. Moving on.
The bullpen projects to be one of the worst in baseball. Who will fill the closer role will be determined in spring training. Veterans Huston Street and Andrew Bailey will look to stave off the rise of young fireballer Cam Bedrosian. Street has the longest track record of success, but was absolutely atrocious last year. Bailey’s last successful season was back in 2011. That he’s even in the mix after his health issues is commendable, but the real prize in this group is Bedrosian. The 25 year old’s 31.5 K% would have ranked him 17th among relievers if he’d had enough innings to qualify.
Prospects Overview
The Angels’ system remains among the worst in baseball. They don’t have much of anything that would interest fantasy owners in 2017, unless your league prizes middling fifth starter/middle reliever types.
Conclusion
The Angels are finally getting out from under some onerous contracts, and brighter days are ahead. While I suspect they’ll be better in 2017 than many anticipate, the whole is greater than the parts from a fantasy perspective. Outside of Trout, Pujols, and Calhoun, they don’t have any bats worth rostering outside of deep and AL-only leagues. On the pitching side, their best assets carry questions about health and/or roles.
