Posts tagged ReggieWillits at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

The Angels disabled list is filling up rather quickly this spring. It seems like everyday they're having to place another player on it. So far, it's been an affliction that's only affecting their pitching staff as the Angels have four pitchers on the disabled list in John Lackey, Kelvim Escobar, Scot Shields, and Chris Bootcheck. Luckily for the Angels, if there's an area of the team where they have enough depth to shoulder such losses, it's the pitching staff.

The other area where the Angels are extremely deep is in the outfield where they currently have six players they can plug in. Actually, make that five at the moment, because Gary Matthews Jr. may soon be joining all those pitchers on the shelf.

Outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. left Monday's game against the San Diego Padres in the first inning after rolling his right ankle while running the bases. Matthews was helped to the clubhouse by Angels trainer Ned Bergert and then taken for X-rays. The X-rays were negative and the preliminary diagnosis is a sprained right ankle.

His status will be re-evaluated today but even before the injury he was not scheduled to play again until Thursday's one-game Freeway Series in Anaheim.

You never want to have injuries in the spring, but if you're going to have them, you don't want them to be during the final week before the season starts. As I already said, though, with Torii Hunter, Vlad Guerrero, Garrett Anderson, Juan Rivera, and Reggie Willits, there are plenty of Angels in the outfield to keep the team afloat if Matthews has to miss any times.

Poor, poor, Felix Pie. As if having to suffer from a twisted testicle isn't painful enough, and I'm truly grateful I've never had to experience it, now Pie has going to be out for three to five days because he had to undergo surgery on it today.

Pie is suffering from what's called testicular torsion, or, in layman's terms, a twisted testicle. It happened early in camp, but Pie had the problem reduced manually, sources said, and was able to continue playing. He was scheduled to have the corrective surgery on the Cubs off-day next Monday, but when Pie reported to camp with soreness Monday, the Cubs decided to get the procedure done today.

I'm not sure if I want to know what having "the problem reduced manually" consists of or not, but whatever it was, maybe Felix enjoyed it. He deserves a chance to enjoy something, right? The poor kid has had to go through a lot lately. First his ball gets twisted up, and now he's got doctors going at his boys with a scalpel.

I cringe just typing it.

Then to top it all off, he's got to deal with hearing rumors about the Cubs pursuing every center fielder who might be available: Coco Crisp, Marlon Byrd, Reggie Willits, and Ryan Freel have all been mentioned as players the Cubs are looking at.

Needless to say, I don't think this has been the best few weeks of Felix Pie's life.

Previously at FanHouse:
Felix Pie Suffers Tragic Twister Accident

The Minnesota Twins of five years from now are going to be awesome. Once they've sent Torii Hunter to the Angels, once they've sent Johan Santana somewhere that will pay him 85 million dollars a year, once they've sent Mauer and Morneau packing (to the Yankees), they'll have settled into their new ballpark (Jacobs Field, by the look of it) with their Florida Marlins Championship Job Squad and will win 100 games with nothing but Boof Bonser standing on the pitcher's mound with a chainsaw.

Fun fact: As I was uploading that picture of Torii Hunter, my girlfriend walked by and asked, "Who's that? G, the Great Gatbsy?"

My response: "Basically."

Just when White Sox fans thought they had a reason to be thankful for Torii Hunter, the Los Angeles Angels came completely out of nowhere to spoil their dreams. According to the Los Angeles Times, Hunter agreed to a five-year, $90 million contract with the Halos, making him the highest paid player in team history. It's a surprising move, not just for us but also for Hunter:

"They shocked me," Hunter said on a hastily arranged conference call late Wednesday night. "I wanted to be with these guys. I thought maybe they didn't need a center fielder like me. They shocked the world. I love these guys. . . . I want to say thank you guys for choosing me. I'm honored.

Technically speaking, the Angels didn't need a center fielder like Hunter, not after dropping $50 million on Gary Matthews last winter. But Angels owner Arte Moreno was serious about adding another big bat to the middle of the lineup -- the Gold Glove defense in center was pure gravy. Expensive gravy, sure, but still gravy.

Matthews will shift to left field (where his fielding will be useful but his bat will stick out) and Vlad Guerrero will stay in right. As for Garrett Anderson? He's probably the new primary DH. What about Reggie Willits, who hit .291/.391/.344 as a rookie? I'm guessing just a super-sub filling in at all three outfield spots, just like he did last year. He gets on base but has almost no power, so it's not like he was deserving of a full-time job, anyway.

The Angels will kick off the playoffs with Game 1 of the ALDS against the Red Sox tonight in Boston, but it won't be quite the same squad that won 94 games to clinch the AL West. For one, both Bartolo Colon and Gary Matthews have been left off the playoff roster for the first-round.

Colon was originally expected to be available to pitch from the bullpen but felt a twinge in his elbow while pitching on Tuesday and was left off at the last second. It's not a huge loss -- he's posted a 6-34 ERA in 99 1/3 innings this year -- but he turned things around lately, posting a 3.95 ERA for the month of September. Dustin Moseley will take Colon's place in the bullpen.

As for Matthews, he also worked out on Tuesday but had too much pain in his left knee to feel like he had anything to offer the team. Erick Aybar will take his spot on the roster, with Reggie Willits replacing him in center field. Willits and Chone Figgins, who's spelling Vladimir Guerrero in right, have a grand total of four career starts at Fenway Park between them.

One reason Angels owner Arte Moreno is hesitant about bringing Alex Rodriguez to Anaheim, besides that $25 million price tag, is he doesn't want to disrespect Vladimir Guerrero.

Moreno doesn't want to upset his current superstar, by bringing in another superstar, and paying him twice as much. I don't think Arte really has to worry all that much, because Vlad trusts his owner. When asked about the possibility of A-Rod joining him with the Angels, Vlad had this to say,

"I've never even thought about it," Guerrero said through an interpreter. "I'm not worried about anybody else, and I don't want to comment on players outside the organization, especially if it has to do with money."

"The players I'm surrounded by now can do the job," Guerrero said. "I respect Alex. He's a tremendous talent. But beyond that, I don't want to comment, because there are too many pieces that don't fit. I like the way Arte runs the team. He'll do the right thing."

So now the only thing that Moreno has to ask himself is if Rodriguez is really worth the price. It's not like the Angels are struggling and need his bat to get over the top. Besides, they already have an All-Star at short as it is in Orlando Cabrera. Well, at least he should have been an All-Star.

If the Angels put too much of their money into A-Rod, it might leave them a little short when it comes time to sign guys like Jered Weaver, Casey Kotchman, and Reggie Willits in the future. Though with Bartolo Colon's $16 million salary off the payroll, it might not be that hard to make room for everybody.

I know that the west coast of this wonderful country of ours often feels like it's forgotten about by the rest of the country. This type of negligence also applies itself to our All-Star Game as many deserving players on the left coast get snubbed on a regular basis. Fear not, my distant friends, for I am hear to to make sure you're heard.

Let's see who the American League screwed from our AL West constituents.

Sammy Sosa: Texas Rangers. Whether you hate Sammy Sosa, or love him, he deserves to be on the All-Star team. Michael Young was the Rangers lone representative, but really it should be Sammy representing his last place team. He not only hit his 600th home run this season, but he has 63 RBI already. I know his .255 batting average isn't exactly the thing dreams are made of, but his .784 OPS is better than that of Young. I mean, if MLB could find a way to sneak Barry Bonds in, they should have done the same thing for Sosa.

Orlando Cabrera: Los Angeles Angels. Hey, if you don't like shorstops who play stellar defense and are hitting .337 with 48 RBI all while on pace to finish the season with over 200 hits, then I guess Orlando Cabrera doesn't deserve to be an All-Star. The truth is Cabrera just fell victim to the rule that makes sure each team is represented. Michael Young is a good player, don't get me wrong, but Cabrera is more deserving of the All-Star nod than he is.

With as much time as major league ballplayers are away from their families, it takes a devoted wife and devoted children to spend their lives with a ballplayer. Does that devotion have a limit? Not for the family of Angels speedster Reggie Willits, who basically live in a batting cage. That's right, the Willits' decided to save money by, instead of finishing the building of their house (the batting cage was the first thing built), just moving everything into the cage including bed, living room, and dining area (kitchen and bathroom separate ... of course).

Baseball wives are an understanding breed. They endure 12-day trips and meals at midnight, and move their families from minor league towns like Yakima, Wash., to Pulaski, W.Va. But Amber Willits, the wife of Angels outfielder Reggie Willits, has taken hardball devotion to a new level. For the past three years, she has made a home, raised a son and helped develop a .300 hitter - all in an indoor batting cage.

"I could not have gotten here alone," Reggie said. "I have an extremely supportive wife."

How supportive? Find out after the jump:

I think it's safe to say that Shea Hillenbrand has not been enjoying himself since signing with the Angels this last offseason. He started off the season as the designated hitter in Anaheim, but when he couldn't hit he found himself buried on the bench by Mike Scioscia. Then the emergence of Casey Kotchman and Reggie Willits made sure he stayed there.

For the most part Hillenbrand has remained quiet and respectful of Scioscia's decision, but it appears that his patience has run out.

"I feel like I'm being pushed aside, put on a back-burner, and I don't like that at all," Hillenbrand, 31, said. "If I'm not going to play here, give me enough respect to trade me or get rid of me. I think I deserve that."

If Manager Mike Scioscia "doesn't think I can help this team, there are teams out there I can help," Hillenbrand continued. "I'm a quality player in the prime of my career. To go from playing every day to not playing at all, it's very disheartening."

Well, Shea, they've been trying to trade you. In fact, you were thisclose to being sent to the Bronx to play for the Yankees, but then Garrett Anderson had to go back on the disabled list and Casey Kotchman took a baseball to the dome.

The Angels may have been able to get away with a 3-0 win over the Dodgers on Saturday, but it wasn't without paying a price. Garrett Anderson aggravated an injury in his right hip flexor tendon-that's my favorite tendon!-chasing down a fly ball in the first inning.

Anderson was placed on the 15-day disabled list after the game. Reggie Willits, who took Anderson's place in the lineup and delivered a clutch two-run single keying the 3-0 victory over the Dodgers, will return to the lineup on a regular basis in left field. A roster move will be made to replace Anderson.

Anderson got off easy too. After all, he wasn't the Angel getting drilled in the head by a pickoff attempt at second base. If you didn't realize how strong Russell Martin's arm is, well, Casey Kotchman knows.

He got knocked out and spent his night at the Centinela Hospital Medical Center where he underwent testing and was kept for observation.

It was a scary moment for the Angels, as Kotchman laid on the ground for several minutes before he was finally helped off the field.

Of course, injuries are nothing new to the Angels, so I doubt these latest ones will slow them down. It seems they lose another player a week due to something, and yet they have still managed to hold down the second best record in baseball. If they fall into a rut later this summer, you'll probably see Mike Scioscia taking a bat to his players to get a win streak going.