Joe Saunders: Time To Push the Los Angeles Angels' Panic Button?

The Los Angeles Angels' pitching staff of recent memory has not been dominant. They've been in the top few staffs in the league before, but were not in the top last year, nor were they resting on the bottom.

They have gotten the job done when it counted, though, usually with a pitcher or two having a great season while a couple others struggle, whether as a whole they were dominant or not. Most importantly, nearly anyone who follows baseball can at least tell you who most of the starting pitchers are.

Their rotation doesn't change over time much. Jered Weaver, Ervin Santana, and Joe Saunders were all part of the rotation from 2006 onward, and the additions of Joel Piniero and Scott Kazmir was the most movement the rotation saw in some time.

As I earlier stated, each year some shine and some struggle. Last year, Weaver was great, Saunders and John Lackey pitched well, and Santana struggled. This year, Weaver's been good again, Santana's been okay, and Kazmir and Piniero have had work to do.

But when does a struggling pitcher incite panic?

The Angels' have always had a starting pitcher with an ERA around 5. In 2006 it was Jeff Weaver, 2007 Santana, 2008 Jon Garland, 2009 Santana again, and in 2010 it has been Piniero so far.

Scott Kazmir, however, has an ERA over 7 after a bad loss to the Red Sox. He had an ERA over 7 last year in May too, but rectified that and finished with an ERA under 5. This article is not about Kazmir's struggles, though.

Joe Saunders, by contrast, may be more of a reason to panic. The major reason for worry is quite simple: he has always, always been a hot starter. His performance this year is the opposite of his usual performances. Let's look at his first six performances each year:

2006: 4-1, 3.06 ERA, 35.1 IP, 18 BB, 23 K, 2 HR
2007: 4-0, 2.89 ERA, 37.1 IP, 13 BB, 19 K, 2 HR
2008: 5-0, 2.08 ERA, 43.1 IP, 10 BB, 20 K, 3 HR
2009: 4-1, 3.29 ERA, 38.1 IP, 10 BB, 16 K, 3 HR
2010: 1-5, 7.04 ERA, 30.2 IP, 14 BB, 13 K, 7 HR

So yes, his strikeout totals are down, but he was never a power pitcher of that type (100 K's the past two seasons, fewer before). His innings are down, but they're not that awful, it's still over five innings a game. Aside from his extra base hits shooting upward, especially the home run count, the issue Saunders is having doesn't seem to be found in the other stats.

It's not the teams either. Each season has been fairly consistent in who the Angels' face early on: Oakland, Seattle, Boston, Detroit, with a couple other teams usually mixed in. He even faced the anemic Indians' offense and lost that game when he allowed three earned runs in five.

Saunders is facing Seattle tonight, which I'm watching as I type. Seattle's offense is arguably the worst in the league (Franklin Gutierrez, Ichiro, and assorted junk), so even if he performs well tonight, I still think it is time to panic. He flat out should not be pitching this badly.

He said of his playing before the game tonight, according to CBS Sports, "I'm just getting the bad ones out of the way, getting them done early." Based on those stats above, that's a very odd route for him to go, though if he is not too concerned, then maybe he still has hope to turn it around.

If he does bad again against the Mariners, then what options are there? The minors is a possibility. They threw Santana in there for a bit in 2007 and 2009, so maybe it will be needed for him.

If he is put in the minors, there are options for the Angels to bring up. Sean O'Sullivan's pitching well down in Salt Lake City, and Trevor Bell is a possibility as well. The Angels could always grit it out, but with how bad the pitching is this season, they need to do something sooner rather than later to regain their footing.

Hopefully Saunders does well tonight though (as of this writing, three scoreless innings, so that's good) and rights the ship himself so the Angels do not have to for him. The Angels cannot win with half their staff playing like this.