Friday, May 28, 2004
Q&A with RICHARD CECCARELLI
Richard Ceccarelli is my first interviewee who solely writes a blog. Pearly Gates focuses on the Anaheim Angels from the O.C. The self proclaimed “all knowing one”;) was kind enough to answer a few questions on the Sox upcoming opponent. (Yes, I jumped over the Mariners because they are going nowhere. If you are interested in the M’s, check out the excellent blog, U.S.S. Mariner.)
El Guapo's Ghost: After the winter addition of Vlad to anchor a lineup with sluggers - Glaus, Anderson, Salmon - and OBP guys - Eckstein and Kennedy, most thought that the Angles would have no difficulty putting runs on the board. Unfortunately, the three hold over sluggers are on the DL and the OBP guys have not performed up to expectations so how have the Angles continued to be one of the top run producing teams in the A.L. and will it continue? Why are the Angels still scoring runs?
Richard Ceccarelli: It is a puzzler. Going into the season the offence was built around average and power- this is not a team that's going to take a lot of walks. Three major power threats have been removed due to injury (Glaus, Anderson, and Salmon) but two names do remain- Vladimir Guererro and Jose Guillen. The pair have carried the Angels offence this season, sporting OPSs of 1.000 and .904 respectively. Those numbers are actually even better in the month of May as the injuries have piled up; Guerrero has been at 1.030 and Guillen is at 1.125 this month. Of course two men can't do it alone. A few role-players have stepped up- Jeff DaVanon, Chone Figgins and Casey Kotchman have all been productive. The Molina brothers have also added a much-needed shot of power. And as much as I hate to say it, Mike Scioscia's "small-ball mentality" has also contributed. The team is third in the AL with 36 steals and near the top in sacrifice hits. I never condone giving up outs, but I suppose it is acceptable when your lineup features names like Shane Halter and Alfredo Amezaga.
Can they keep it up? Sadly, no. There's no way that Guillen can keep on his torrid pace, and guys like Figgins and Kotchman have already shown signs of coming back to earth. This lineup needs reinforcements- and quick. Unfortunately they seem to be a long way off.
EGG: A part of the above question is answered by the hot starts of Figgins and DaVanon, but which has been the bigger surprise?
RC: That's a very hard question to answer, as both have been very impressive. I would give the nod to DaVanon who has very quietly become a walking-machine. He's leading the club in walks (with 16 as of 5/26) despite only playing in 35 games. He also leads the club in OBP at .406. Along with his terrific eye he brings a fair amount of pop and excellent speed. I'm convinced that Jeff is the best 4th outfielder in baseball today.
EGG: Anaheim's team pitching stats were unexpectedly impressive. As of 5/25/04, they ranked fifth in runs and homers, sixth in free passes and second in strikeouts. The pen has been excellent. Shields, K-Rod, Gregg have a combine for 105K to only 27BB while giving up only two dingers in 88 innings. Even though the relief ace, Troy Percival, has twelve saves, he seems to be struggling with only nine strikeouts in sixteen innings and issuing ten walks. What is the problem with Percival?
RC: I don't agree that the pitching staff has been unexpectedly impressive- especially the bullpen. Francisco Rodriguez was one of the top-5 relievers in baseball last season and Scot Shields was also very impressive as both a reliever and starter (2.85 ERA in 148.1 IP). This is one of the top-5 bullpens in baseball right now, and that's with set-up man of the year Brendan Donnelly on the DL.
As for Percival, it finally appears that age and injuries have caught up with him. His velocity is down 2-3 mph. That hasn't been the biggest problem however- he was always better when he took a little off his fastball. His struggles appear to stem from his control. He looks to be overthrowing in an attempt to get his velocity back, and the ball is sailing on him. I don't think he's quite done though. Last season he suffered a hip injury that some feared would end his career. He returned from that injury with a new wind-up that supposedly limits the stress on his hip, and was quite effective with it. It was similar to his stretch-delivery of past seasons, and it reined his fastball back a bit, resulting in pinpoint control. He abandoned it this spring, going back to his old, high leg-kick wind-up. In my opinion he needs to return to last year's delivery.
EGG: The back four of the rotation are pitching to expectations, but Colon has had problems. From Colon's stats, it appears that the long ball has been his biggest issue but reports have stated that his loss of velocity is the reason for his ineffectiveness. What is the problem?
RC: I haven't seen a loss in velocity for Colon. He's still in that mid-90's range with the occasional heater reaching 98. His problem has been plain and simple- control. His control has been nothing short of atrocious this season. That may not show up in his walk totals, but anyone who has watched him can see it. He has consistently missed up-and-over the plate, which explains his high HR totals. The wildness appears to be due to inconsistent mechanics. He reportedly entered spring training nearly 30 pounds over-weight, (a condition which is as much to blame on poor work ethic as a nagging back injury) and that has contributed to the problem. I'm not too worried about Bartolo- this is his M.O. He always starts strong, goes into a short early-summer tailspin, and always finishes the season with solid numbers. Also, the Angels have a fine pitching coach in Bud Black who should be able to get him straightened out.
Other notes
• One of the things I miss about living in Boston: Really. Standing on a corner, not in Winslow Arizona, but in Brighton Massachusetts this morning, the famed "57" bus comes by, and on the electronic bus number sign, in between flashes of "57," the old Garden-style flashing bulbs said "GO" then "RED" then "SOX"... It's May 27th. Buckle up.
• El Guapo’s Ghost would like to thank all of the new visitors that stopped by over the past couple of days. A traffic spike on Wednesday of over 200 and Thursday greater than 400 got us to exceed our goal of 10,000 visitors before June. Please continue; we post original content daily...well…mostly original and almost daily.
• Have a good holiday. In the next week or so, topics addressed will be: ERA is a poor stat, Sox draft strategy, and Sox grades over the first third of the season.
Richard Ceccarelli is my first interviewee who solely writes a blog. Pearly Gates focuses on the Anaheim Angels from the O.C. The self proclaimed “all knowing one”;) was kind enough to answer a few questions on the Sox upcoming opponent. (Yes, I jumped over the Mariners because they are going nowhere. If you are interested in the M’s, check out the excellent blog, U.S.S. Mariner.)
El Guapo's Ghost: After the winter addition of Vlad to anchor a lineup with sluggers - Glaus, Anderson, Salmon - and OBP guys - Eckstein and Kennedy, most thought that the Angles would have no difficulty putting runs on the board. Unfortunately, the three hold over sluggers are on the DL and the OBP guys have not performed up to expectations so how have the Angles continued to be one of the top run producing teams in the A.L. and will it continue? Why are the Angels still scoring runs?
Richard Ceccarelli: It is a puzzler. Going into the season the offence was built around average and power- this is not a team that's going to take a lot of walks. Three major power threats have been removed due to injury (Glaus, Anderson, and Salmon) but two names do remain- Vladimir Guererro and Jose Guillen. The pair have carried the Angels offence this season, sporting OPSs of 1.000 and .904 respectively. Those numbers are actually even better in the month of May as the injuries have piled up; Guerrero has been at 1.030 and Guillen is at 1.125 this month. Of course two men can't do it alone. A few role-players have stepped up- Jeff DaVanon, Chone Figgins and Casey Kotchman have all been productive. The Molina brothers have also added a much-needed shot of power. And as much as I hate to say it, Mike Scioscia's "small-ball mentality" has also contributed. The team is third in the AL with 36 steals and near the top in sacrifice hits. I never condone giving up outs, but I suppose it is acceptable when your lineup features names like Shane Halter and Alfredo Amezaga.
Can they keep it up? Sadly, no. There's no way that Guillen can keep on his torrid pace, and guys like Figgins and Kotchman have already shown signs of coming back to earth. This lineup needs reinforcements- and quick. Unfortunately they seem to be a long way off.
EGG: A part of the above question is answered by the hot starts of Figgins and DaVanon, but which has been the bigger surprise?
RC: That's a very hard question to answer, as both have been very impressive. I would give the nod to DaVanon who has very quietly become a walking-machine. He's leading the club in walks (with 16 as of 5/26) despite only playing in 35 games. He also leads the club in OBP at .406. Along with his terrific eye he brings a fair amount of pop and excellent speed. I'm convinced that Jeff is the best 4th outfielder in baseball today.
EGG: Anaheim's team pitching stats were unexpectedly impressive. As of 5/25/04, they ranked fifth in runs and homers, sixth in free passes and second in strikeouts. The pen has been excellent. Shields, K-Rod, Gregg have a combine for 105K to only 27BB while giving up only two dingers in 88 innings. Even though the relief ace, Troy Percival, has twelve saves, he seems to be struggling with only nine strikeouts in sixteen innings and issuing ten walks. What is the problem with Percival?
RC: I don't agree that the pitching staff has been unexpectedly impressive- especially the bullpen. Francisco Rodriguez was one of the top-5 relievers in baseball last season and Scot Shields was also very impressive as both a reliever and starter (2.85 ERA in 148.1 IP). This is one of the top-5 bullpens in baseball right now, and that's with set-up man of the year Brendan Donnelly on the DL.
As for Percival, it finally appears that age and injuries have caught up with him. His velocity is down 2-3 mph. That hasn't been the biggest problem however- he was always better when he took a little off his fastball. His struggles appear to stem from his control. He looks to be overthrowing in an attempt to get his velocity back, and the ball is sailing on him. I don't think he's quite done though. Last season he suffered a hip injury that some feared would end his career. He returned from that injury with a new wind-up that supposedly limits the stress on his hip, and was quite effective with it. It was similar to his stretch-delivery of past seasons, and it reined his fastball back a bit, resulting in pinpoint control. He abandoned it this spring, going back to his old, high leg-kick wind-up. In my opinion he needs to return to last year's delivery.
EGG: The back four of the rotation are pitching to expectations, but Colon has had problems. From Colon's stats, it appears that the long ball has been his biggest issue but reports have stated that his loss of velocity is the reason for his ineffectiveness. What is the problem?
RC: I haven't seen a loss in velocity for Colon. He's still in that mid-90's range with the occasional heater reaching 98. His problem has been plain and simple- control. His control has been nothing short of atrocious this season. That may not show up in his walk totals, but anyone who has watched him can see it. He has consistently missed up-and-over the plate, which explains his high HR totals. The wildness appears to be due to inconsistent mechanics. He reportedly entered spring training nearly 30 pounds over-weight, (a condition which is as much to blame on poor work ethic as a nagging back injury) and that has contributed to the problem. I'm not too worried about Bartolo- this is his M.O. He always starts strong, goes into a short early-summer tailspin, and always finishes the season with solid numbers. Also, the Angels have a fine pitching coach in Bud Black who should be able to get him straightened out.
Other notes
• One of the things I miss about living in Boston: Really. Standing on a corner, not in Winslow Arizona, but in Brighton Massachusetts this morning, the famed "57" bus comes by, and on the electronic bus number sign, in between flashes of "57," the old Garden-style flashing bulbs said "GO" then "RED" then "SOX"... It's May 27th. Buckle up.
• El Guapo’s Ghost would like to thank all of the new visitors that stopped by over the past couple of days. A traffic spike on Wednesday of over 200 and Thursday greater than 400 got us to exceed our goal of 10,000 visitors before June. Please continue; we post original content daily...well…mostly original and almost daily.
• Have a good holiday. In the next week or so, topics addressed will be: ERA is a poor stat, Sox draft strategy, and Sox grades over the first third of the season.
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