Chone Figgins

[stadiumsauce]

Catch a Falling Angel: Another team to keep your eye on in the next few weeks is the Angels. They are showing signs that they're willing to listen on a slew of players, including both catchers (Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis), outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. and their entire infield. Interestingly, one commodity the Angels seem to be targeting is young pitching with upside -- which sounds like an indication they're increasingly uncertain about their ability to re-sign John Lackey.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com...&source=MLBHeadlines

 

Jayson Stark writes in the above article that the Angels are listening to offers on all of their infield. With Weeks out for the year, I hope the Brewers take a look at trying to bring Chone Figgins over. He can play anywhere in the infield, gives us a legit lead-off hitter, can play 'small ball', is hitting .350 over the past two months, and is FA after this year - so there is no long term commitment. If the Brewers look for a piece to jumpstart their offense, I can't think of a more perfect fit that Figgins.

[sargennm]

Catch a Falling Angel: Another team to keep your eye on in the next few weeks is the Angels. They are showing signs that they're willing to listen on a slew of players, including both catchers (Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis), outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. and their entire infield. Interestingly, one commodity the Angels seem to be targeting is young pitching with upside -- which sounds like an indication they're increasingly uncertain about their ability to re-sign John Lackey.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com...&source=MLBHeadlines

 

Jayson Stark writes in the above article that the Angels are listening to offers on all of their infield. With Weeks out for the year, I hope the Brewers take a look at trying to bring Chone Figgins over. He can play anywhere in the infield, gives us a legit lead-off hitter, can play 'small ball', is hitting .350 over the past two months, and is FA after this year - so there is no long term commitment. If the Brewers look for a piece to jumpstart their offense, I can't think of a more perfect fit that Figgins.

I love the idea if it's feasible. He's a switch hitter who's hit righties better over the course of his career.

[Invader3K]

Would they really be looking to sell yet, though? I know the Rangers are on fire right now, but the Angels are still in second place in the AL West.

[RyDogg66]

2nd best in the West barely makes LAA a pest in pursuit to wear the vest of the AL Wildcard.

[Invader3K]

Yeah, it seems to be a forgone conclusion that the AL Wild Card will be coming out of the East yet again. However, is it really impossible to think the Angels could overcome the Rangers? The Rangers seem to have a recent history of flirting with contention, and then fading down the stretch.

[splitterpfj]

I think this is the right to for the Angels to be listening to offers - it doesn't mean they make a deal yet, but they need to know the possibilities.

 

Yes, they could get back in the division race, but they could just as easily go the other way too, discussions today could mean a deal in 3-4 weeks.

[Oldcity]

Saying the Angels are wiling to listen to offers for Gary Matthews is like saying the Brewers are willing to listen to offers for Suppan.

[TooLiveBrew]

The Angels really are becoming a bit of a mess. The AL West might be wide open in coming seasons.

 

Horrible contracts for both Matthews Jr & Hunter, didn't/couldn't re-sign Teixeira after trading for him. Obviously this is not in-depth analysis http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[crewcrazy]

I imagine the sudden death of Nick Adenhart was a shock to the team, and it understandably took awhile for them to play up to their ability in the weeks after the tragedy.

 

They're currently three games out of the wildcard, but I agree that the winner of the wildcard will likely end up with the second-best record in the AL and not come out of the West. If they're not confident in keeping Lackey, he might be an interesting rental option, although he's really struggled since coming off the DL this year.

 

They've got a few big series coming up (3 @ SF, 3 vs. LAD, 3 vs. COL, 3 @ ARI and 3 @ TEX to close out June), so we'll likely know a lot more about their "seller" status by July.