Should The Angels Trade Make a Trade?

Alright, the streak is over.  Will the Angels be coming back down to earth or will they start another streak.

One could argue that their competition over their last 15 games or so was not so stellar except for their 3 game sweep of the Yankees just before the All Star break.

So, where do they go from here?  Do they mortgage the farm to get a front line pitcher or good set up man for the 'pen?  Do they stand pat and hope their unexpected offensive bounty continues and their shoddy pitching improves?  Do they promote the guys who have produced like Matt Palmer and Shane Loux to the rotation and demote Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders until they get their problems worked out?

By trading away good to great prospects along with some quality front line players do they weaken themselves to much and upset a chemistry that has finally taken them to the top of their division?

Lots of questions with no sure answers.  So far, Brandon Wood, the Angels' most coveted prospect, who is mentioned in almost all trade rumors, has not produced very much as the major league level.  Why?  Most would say that he hasn't been given the chance that Howie Kendrick, Juan Rivera, or even Kendry Morales has been given and that is the chance to play every day and get some kind of rythym going.  Woods has produced at every level except the major leagues.  For a long time the knock on him was that he struck out too much but he has shown much improved plate discipline over the last two seasons.

Other players frequently mentioned are Howie Kendrick, who seems to have found his stroke in recent weeks and raised his average almost 20 points over that same time period mostly coming off the bench.  Can he be the everyday player that he was?

Erik Aybar and Macier Itzuris have been playing lights out in the field and at the plate during the Halos recent streak.  Aybar's name has come up recently too in trade rumors.  Both of these players are hitting around .300 and have shown some spectacular fielding ability. 

However, most would agree that the Angels have a logjam of sorts at the second base/shortstop position.  This was one of the reasons that Wood was moved to third base in the minors two years ago.  They also have Sean Rogriguez waiting in the wings in tripple A at second base.  Rodriguez is a second baseman who it talented in the field and hits for both average and power.

So, with all this one could ask what's the problem?  We are in first place against a Rangers team that might or might not do their historical fold in the second half.  It's not like last years lead but it's 3.5 games ahead as of this point.  Do the Angels need to improve their starting pitching?  Absolutely.  The question is how.

The question that needs to be asked is who are the Angels going to count on in the future.  No prospect is guaranteed to be major league material no matter how good his minor league stats were.  Dallas MacPherson anyone?  But it is time to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

I like Brandon Wood.  Some people don't because he hasn't lit up the league in any of his call ups.  Scoisia himself seems to have something holding him back from playing him every day.  I trust Scoisia.  This is my dilemna.

I also like Howie Kendrick and think he will be a line drive hitter for the next 8-10 years in this league, hit for a high average, and give you a quality at bat almost every time up.  Is this enough when you have a guy giving you excellent play right now and another possible winner at the postion waiting in tripple A in Rodriguez?

Chone Figgins is the spark plug for this team and has been the team's third baseman for the last two years.  He hits for a high average but is not your prototypical high powered third baseman.  After the MacPherson fiasco, the Angel organization has been hoping that Wood would fill that role but has not come along in the last few years as quickly as they would like.  Figgins is 31 and his contract is up after this season.

If you trade for a guy like Halliday what do you get?  You get a 32 year old pitcher front of the rotation guy for a year and a half.  Supposedly the reason the Jays are even talking trade is that Halliday has made it clear that he is going to test the free agent market when his contract is up.  Considering what the Angels did with Frankie Rodriguez this last year, this means they are not going to pay top dollar to keep him.  That means Halliday is a longer term rental.

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