Posts tagged ChoneFiggins at FanHouse

Despite being three and a half games ahead of the competition in the American League West, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have a big problem - their players keep getting hurt, and nobody knows why. Vlad Guerrero and Scot Shields are getting check out for health issues and Chone Figgins has a hamstring made out of velcro. In unrelated stories, Kendry Morales was gored to death in a bullfight and Jose Arredondo had a bomb stuffed in his mouth, was blown up from the inside, and tumbled into a pit of lava where he was then burned to death.

So.

Today's Dugout examines the problems in Los Angeles (or Anaheim?) and using the in-depth baseball analysis Fanhouse has become famous for, blames the problem on the 1990s remake of a 1950s movie. Here's to hoping they come out with another Pirates of the Caribbean movie so we can get Pittsburgh in a few of these.

Angels inside of the Outfield, after the jump.

When the Angels placed Chone Figgins on the disabled list with a strained right hamstring earlier this month, they did so about a full month after Figgins originally hurt it. Instead, Figgins tried to play through it, but even though he was able to contribute a little it became clear it wasn't going to get any better without rest.

So Chone did his time on the shelf, and patiently waited for the hamstring to heal before the Angels activated him last week. Then, in his first game back Figgins re-aggravated the injury and hasn't played in a game for the last five days. All of which means that the Angels may be putting their third baseman/outfielder/hot dog vendor right back on the disabled list.

"We're going to have to make a decision in the next couple days," Manager Mike Scioscia said. "He's making progress, but we're into day five now, so he'd have to make some significant progress in the next couple days."

While the Angels haven't lost a hold of first place in the AL West without Chone at their disposal, it's not like his absence hasn't been felt. The Angels were the highest scoring team in the American League in the month of April, but during May, which their lead-off hitter has spent the vast majority of the time unavailable, they've fallen to eighth in the American League.

Thankfully they have a pitching staff that includes two guys who are pitching out of their minds in Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders, along with the recently returned John Lackey. They don't need to score runs.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Arizona Diamondbacks (28-19) at Atlanta Braves (26-21) - 7:35 PM ET

This is a game where you can forget the records. Forget the place in the standings. And for Arizona, you can even forget the fact that they just came from Miami where they were swept by the Florida Marlins. Because tonight, Doug Davis returns to the mound for the Snakes. Davis, you remember, was the guy that found out he had thyroid cancer, yet still made his next two starts for Arizona before going in for surgery (and returned to the dugout mere days after the surgery). If there is a more accurate definition for the term "love of the game" than that, I'd like to see it. You hear all the time about life putting baseball in perspective. Davis grabbed cancer by the throat and used baseball to put life in perspective. I don't know how you don't root for a guy like that.

The Chicago White Sox are currently riding a six-game win streak that's helped put them back in first place in the AL Central, but that doesn't mean everything is fine and dandy in the Windy City. Sure, the Sox have played a lot better the last few weeks and are starting to resemble a team that can win the division, but they still have holes.

The most glaring one is at second base where Juan Uribe and Alexei Ramirez have been splitting time this season. Combined, they're hitting .201 with four home runs and 20 RBI. The other glaring hole on the White Sox is their lack of a lead-off hitter, as the team currently has Orlando Cabrera at the top of the lineup, and he's much better suited for the two-hole (snicker).

All of which leads to trade speculation as the Sox are hoping to fill both holes in one move, but it won't be Brian Roberts they're going after. One of the names brought up to general manager Kenny Williams, though, was the Angels' Chone Figgins.

''That's an interesting name, and a name that I, yeah ... they're a pretty good team and they need ... I'm talking about the guys that will ultimately be available, and I don't know if they will be any better than what we already got,'' Williams said Tuesday, hours before the Sox beat the Cleveland Indiana 4-1 at U.S. Cellular Field. ''Again, the key phrase being that they will ultimately be available. Not that I can't sit here and play the fantasy game. Hell, I can play that game and come up with a bunch of people. Reality, that's the game I have to deal in.''

Man, there's something about being the top team in the AL West that makes a team have to use it's disabled list a lot more often. I already went over the Athletics' problems with keeping people healthy yesterday, but the injury bug isn't limited to Oakland's city limits.

Nope, it's made it's way down to southern California as well. Invading Anaheim, Orange County, Long Beach, Compton, Los Angeles, and whatever else the Angels are putting in their name these days. After already being without Chone Figgins and Howie Kendrick, it looks as though the Halos are going to have to add Erick Aybar to the disabled list as well.

Los Angeles Angels shortstop Erick Aybar left Tuesday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays in the first inning after dislocating his right pinky while fielding a ground ball.

X-rays on Aybar's hand were negative, but he will visit a specialist on Wednesday to determine the extent of the damage.

The Angels finished the game by moving Maicer Izturis over from third to short, and putting Robb Quinlan at third. They're going to await the results of Erick's trip to the specialist today before making any move official, but I'm guessing that if Aybar has to go on the disabled list, that the Angels will call up Brandon Wood to take his spot on the roster.

It was back on April 11th when Chone Figgins strained his right hamstring, but it wasn't until now that the Angels finally placed Figgins on the disabled list. He's been listed as day-to-day since, which is rather annoying when you have him on your fantasy team, and the Angels had been hoping that Chone would be able to play through it.

Well, he did for a while, playing in the next 21 games before finally tweaking the hamstring sliding into home against Baltimore last weekend. Now the Angels realize he's not going to get better without rest.

"He's making progress, just not enough to be ready for next week," manager Mike Scioscia said. The skipper said the move would help take the pressure off Figgins to continually test his strained right hamstring, allowing it to heal at its own pace.

"We want to establish depth, but you can't rush this thing," Scioscia added.

Figgins is a big loss for an Angels lineup that's been struggling, as he is hitting .306/.421/.355. After initially hurting the hammy, Chone kept chugging along for a little bit, but is hitting only .200/.298/.250 the last three weeks.

Kendry Morales has been called up from Salt Lake to take Figgins' place on the roster, and will be used as an extra bat off the bench.

While his older brother has been thriving as the Padres leadoff hitter, younger brother Marcus Giles has been struggling. So much so, that the Padres have decided to bench Marcus for three games, including Wednesday's contest against the Mets. The second baseman is barely hitting his weight -- just .191 -- since May 7th.

I've heard of players getting benched for a game, or even two, just to get their heads straight. You know, baseball is a game of streaks, some of which are good, some of which are bad. Marcus just happens to be in a slump at the moment -- so the Padres hope -- and they are giving him some time off. A lot. Three games off means they really think he's having a rough go of it. That should be ample time for the suddenly light hitting second baseman to find his stroke.

Just off the top of my head, Chone Figgins, Garrett Atkins, and Travis Hafner are all hitters this year who have been benched for a few games in a row because of slumps, only to return to form after rejoining the lineup. I'm guessing the same thing will happen with Marcus -- he may have lost his power, but he certainly is better than a .237 hitter. The time off might not be welcomed, but it should be beneficial.

One team already had him, another desperately needs him, the team that has him probably doesn't want to get rid of him, and all three could use him. Such is the triangle of love for Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Troy Glaus. But like most trade rumors, this has no real-life foundations -- that we know of. It is just a bunch of suggestions by the media, most strongly pushed by Bill Shaikin of the LA Times over the weekend. While there is no doubt that both the Angels and Dodgers could use Glaus' bat in the lineup, I highly question the foundations for this push.

Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi has given no indications that Glaus is on the market. Nor should he. The Blue Jays have an extremely solid team that is only out of contention in '07 because of a streak of injuries that would make Cleveland Browns fans feel sympathetic. They have an excellent lineup when healthy, and Glaus is a big part of it. Simply put, there aren't many 35+ home run hitting third baseman in baseball, why would the Jays be so quick to let one go? But when you do realize that the Jays have such a strong lineup, you wonder if they could withstand losing Glaus' bat in exchange for some needed pitching behind Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett. I think they could, as long as they got some good pitching in return. Which brings me to what the Angels and Dodgers have to offer.

Both LA teams could provide not only a starting pitching prospect, but also a replacement third baseman in exchange for Glaus. If the Dodgers presented a package of say Andy LaRoche or Wilson Betemit and Chad Billingsley, or the Angels offered Erick Aybar or Chone Figgins and Joe Saunders or Ervin Santana, I think Mr. Ricciardi would definitely be all ears. So while there haven't been any signs that Glaus is going anywhere, the Dodgers and Angels certainly have the goods to make such a deal happen.

Previously at FanHouse:
Blue Jays' Luck Goes From "Bad" to "Code Red"

Just as things were starting to turn around in Anaheim, the Angels lost another player. The team was finally starting to get healthy with the returns of Jered Weaver, Bartolo Colon, and Chone Figgins, but now the Halos will be without Garrett Anderson for a while.

Anderson has been placed on the 15-day disabled list after an MRI revealed a torn right hip flexor tendon. Garrett injured the tendon while running out a ground ball against the White Sox on the 27th of April, so his placement on the DL is retroactive to April 28th.

That doesn't mean the Angels know exactly when they'll be getting their left-fielder back.

"It's a big loss," said manager Mike Scioscia. "I think the way our offense has been a little spotty, it's important to get our [hitting attack] back."

To counter the loss of Anderson's bat in the middle of the order, Scioscia moved Gary Matthew's Jr. from the lead-off spot to the third spot in the order ahead of Vladimir Guerrero.

"Right now it's very important to get proactive in front of Vlad [Guerrero] and to set the table ... and to get guys behind him to swing the bat. That'll keep our offense going."

And just as a final kick to the stomach, the Angels also found out on Friday that they'll be without Howie Kendrick for at least another week. Kendrick broke his left hand on April 17th when he was hit by a pitch from the Athletic's Chad Gaudin.

Previously at the Fanhouse:
I'm Pretty Sure The Angels Are Cursed
Chone Figgins Can't Give You The Finger
Bobby Crosby Ruined Jered Weaver's Day
Bartolo Eats Up Innings, Mariners

Another day, another player added to the Angels disabled list.

A team starved for offense lost another of its top hitters Wednesday when second baseman Howie Kendrck, who was batting .327, went on the 15-day disabled list because of a broken bone in his left hand.

Kendrick, hit by a Chad Gaudin fastball in the seventh inning Tuesday night, returned to Southern California on Wednesday for an MRI test and CT scan, which revealed a non-displaced fracture at the base of his middle finger.

The team has no set timetable for when Kendrick will return but he's likely to be out until the start of June.

In case you haven't been paying attention, here's the list of Angels who've spent time on the DL this season.

• Jered Weaver (just returned)
• Bartolo Colon
• Chone Figgins
• Robb Quinlan

That list doesn't even include the latest injury to Vladimir Guerrero's wrist.

As for the struggling Angels offense, I'm not sure that's a fair assessment. You have to have an offense for it to struggle, and the Angels haven't had one period lately. After being shutout by Dan Haren and the Athletics on Wednesday night, the Angels have scored six runs in their last six games. Not coincedentally, they're 0-6 in that span.

To replace Kendrick on the roster, the Angels are expected to bring up the promising Brandon Wood from the minors.

Previously at the Fanhouse:
Bobby Crosby Ruined Jered Weaver's Day
Vladimir Guerrero Hurts Hand, Angels Fans Leap From Buildings
Bartolo Colon Is Better At Rehab Than Britney Spears
Chone Figgins Can't Give You The Finger
The Angels Will Start The Season Without Jered Weaver