Los Angeles Angels

Catchers & Infielders:

• C – Brian Downing (LF)
• C – Mike Napoli (1B)
• 1B – Kendrys Morales
• 2B – Bobby Grich
• SS – Jim Fregosi
• 3B – Troy Glaus (1B)
• CI – Doug DeCinces (3B)
• MI – Erick Aybar (SS/3B)

Outfielders:

• LF – Garret Anderson (CF/RF)
• CF – Mike Trout (LF/RF)
• RF – Tim Salmon
• OF – Jim Edmonds (CF)
• OF – Don Baylor (3B/LF)
• OF – Chili Davis

Starting Pitchers:

• SP – Nolan Ryan
• SP – Andy Messersmith
• SP – Dean Chance
• SP – Frank Tanana
• SP – Shohei Ohtani
• SP – Mike Witt

With every team, we started building their all-time 25-man and 40-man rosters by using the Hall of Fame as a starting point, figuring that a player enshrined in baseball’s immortal Hall would certainly qualify to make his team’s all-time roster.

Almost all the Hall of Fame members are easily identifiable with one team so it’s a simple way to start every roster with near-inarguable selections. There are a few brilliant players who made significant contributions to multiple teams, and it’s our job to decide where they made the biggest impact.

Los Angeles has to fight for Jim Edmonds, Frank Tanana, and Nolan Ryan:

Jim Edmonds

Los Angeles: 7 years, 1 All-Star, 0 MVP, 20.5 WAR, .290 AVG, 464 Runs, 408 RBI, 121 HR, 26 SB

St. Louis: 8 years, 3-time All-Star, 0 MVP, 37.9 WAR, .285 AVG, 690 Runs, 713 RBI, 241 HR, 37 SB + 1 World Series Title

Frank Tanana

Los Angeles: 8 seasons, 3-time All-Star, 0 CYA, 34.3 WAR, 3.08 ERA, 102 Wins, 92 CG, 1233 K, 1615 IP, 24 SHO

Detroit: 8 seasons, 0 All-Star, 0 CYA, 13.1 WAR, 4.08 ERA, 96 Wins, 27 CG, 958 K, 1551 IP, 7 SHO

Nolan Ryan

N.Y. Mets: 5 seasons, 0 All-Stars, 0 CYA, 3 WAR, 3.58 ERA, 29 Wins, 13 CG, 493 K, 510 IP, 2 SHO + 1 World Series Title

L.A. Angels: 8 seasons, 5-time All-Star, 0 CYA, 40 WAR, 3.07 ERA, 138 Wins, 156 CG, 2416 K, 2181 IP, 40 SHO

Houston: 9 seasons, 2-time All-Star, 0 CYA, 25.4 WAR, 3.13 ERA, 106 Wins, 38 CG, 1866 K, 1854 IP, 13 SHO

Texas: 5 seasons, 1 All-Star, 0 CYA, 15.2 WAR, 3.43 ERA, 51 Wins, 15 CG, 939 K, 940 IP, 6 SHO

Nolan Ryan and Frank Tanana obviously belong with the Angels, but Jim Edmonds does too in a strange way. St. Louis has over a century of teams to draw their talent from and Edmonds would fight for an inactive slot as a Cardinal. As an Angel he contributes on the main roster and would start if Mike Trout wasn’t Mike Trout.

It’s better for the league with Jim Edmonds wearing the halo. And if people think we are being soft on the Angels, please remember that we sent Rod Carew and Torii Hunter to Minnesota, Vlad Guerrero to Montreal, and Albert Pujols to St. Louis.

As with every team, we are trying to build an active roster with 13 position players and 12 pitchers, and then a 15-player inactive roster of guys who just missed the cut, but remain valuable as callups in case of slumps or injuries.

The 13 active position players are usually two catchers, six infielders, and five outfielders. The stats are built around the average of the player’s best three consecutive seasons.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame doesn’t help us out much here – if you go to www.baseballhall.org and enter “Los Angeles Angels” you get…Nolan Ryan.

With just one player coming from Cooperstown, WAR (Wins Above Replacement), a great stat for looking at the all-around contribution to a team for both hitters and pitchers, can help us find the rest. We get lots of help here, as in order we find: Mike Trout, Jim Fregosi, Tim Salmon, Brian Downing, Bobby Grich, Darin Erstad, Howie Kendrick, Garret Anderson, Erick Aybar, Troy Glaus, Chone Figgins, Jim Edmonds, Andrelton Simmons, Doug DeCinces, Wally Joyner, Adam Kennedy, Dick Schofield, Kole Calhoun, Devon White, Bengie Molina, Bobby Knoop, Bob Boone, and Chili Davis.

Every team needs at least three catchers, so Mike Napoli deserves consideration as well.

Once plugged into the simulation software, we looked at their OPS (on-base + slugging percentage) and their defensive rankings and they break down like this:

CATCHER: Brian Downing, Mike Napoli
FIRST BASE: Kendrys Morales, Wally Joyner
SECOND BASE: Bobby Grich, Erick Aybar (sometimes)
SHORTSTOP: Jim Fregosi, Erick Aybar (sometimes)
THIRD BASE: Troy Glaus, Doug DeCinces
LEFT FIELD: Garret Anderson
CENTER FIELD: Mike Trout, Jim Edmonds
RIGHT FIELD: Tim Salmon

Shohei Ohtani will make the team too and get some at-bats at designated hitter. That leaves inactive roster options for Darin Erstad, Howie Kendrick, Chone Figgins, Andrelton Simmons, Adam Kennedy, Bengie Molina, Kole Calhoun, and Chili Davis.

For the pitching staff we’re looking for six starters and six relievers. Bear in mind that across the whole game you will see dynamic, outstanding starting pitchers that can’t crack an all-time rotation but are better served as relievers on a team than sitting inactive. Hall of Famers are automatically on the roster so Cooperstown gives the Angels Nolan Ryan.

With 22 players on the total roster we have room for 18 more pitchers. Once we dug into the career WAR rankings (as Angels) we came up with: Chuck Finley, Jered Weaver, Frank Tanana, Mark Langston, John Lackey, Mike Witt, Dean Chance, Jarrod Washburn, Troy Percival, Francisco Rodriguez, Andy Messersmith, Kirk McCaskill, Jim Abbott, Ervin Santana, George Brunet, Scot Shields, and Bryan Harvey.

Young star Shohei Ohtani is already included.

We looked at their overall numbers in the simulation software and leaned heavily on ERA to come up with these designations:

STARTING ROTATION: Nolan Ryan, Andy Messersmith, Dean Chance, Frank Tanana, Shohei Ohtani, Mike Witt
RELIEVERS: Jim Abbott, Rudy May, Scot Shields, Troy Percival
SET-UP: Francisco Rodriguez
CLOSER: Bryan Harvey

Ohtani provides value in the rotation and also at designated hitter.

The inactive pitcher options are Kirk McCaskill, Jered Weaver, Clyde Wright, Jarrod Washburn, John Lackey, Rudy May, and Mark Langston.

So how did we do?

Are you happier about Ryan than you are mad about Vlad?

Is it too soon to include Shoehei Ohtani?

Let us know in the forums below and if you make a compelling case we will adapt it in-game. We want every squad to be the best they possibly can be and appreciate your help fine-tuning the Angels for Eternal Baseball.

Photo Credits:

• Angels baseball spring training, 1977 by Orange County Archives
• Ken Brett, 1977 by Orange County Archives
• Angel Stadium by Ken Lund
• Panorama of Angels Stadium by Ben W