Los Angeles Angels: 4 Holes Angels Must Address at the Deadline

At the All-Star break of the 2015 MLB season, the Los Angeles Angels are playing extremely well, vaulting themselves back into the lead in the AL West for the first time in quite a long while. The team has won 11 of its last 14 ballgames and jumped the Houston Astros, who themselves have gone into a bit of a tailspin. The work for L.A. isn't done, though.

Addressing roster holes seems like a tired topic at this point, and it will remain so until the Angels make some moves to address their weaknesses. Even while much of the 25-man roster has picked up its play in July, problem areas still exist.

If Anaheim hopes to keep this hot streak going and hold off its division foes in the second half, here are four holes the team must address at the deadline.

Left Field

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It seems that everyone has picked up their play in the month of July except left fielder Matt Joyce. Joyce continues to struggle mightily at the plate, an area of strength for him in the past.

Joyce is losing playing time and at-bats because of his struggles, and Los Angeles needs to address his spot in the field. He is batting .190 in July, actually down from his season average of .207. And no replacement has fared much better.

While the likes of Efren Navarro and Daniel Robertson have found some grass with singles in limited duty, neither has an OPS better than Joyce's putrid mark. At some point, the team will be forced to abandon Joyce and forget that he used to be a highly competent hitter. For whatever reason, that isn't the case in 2015.

Second Base

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Johnny Giavotella is a nice player at second base, but we now have close to 300 at-bats of evidence that confirms what we suspected about him prior to the season: He has no power, no speed and is a bad defender. These factors are quite limiting when considering the upside of a player.

No one else has taken more than 13 at-bats playing second base this year; the position has belonged to Giavotella from the start. But just because he hasn't been bad enough to remove him from the lineup doesn't mean the spot can't be improved upon.

He at least continues to draw walks, a saving grace for a player of his skill set.

Catcher

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Perhaps July is the start of the turnaround for Chris Iannetta at the plate. The veteran catcher is batting .250 with a .961 OPS in 24 July at-bats. Those numbers dwarf his season splits of .191/.610. But how long can he keep that pace?

In all likelihood, the real Iannetta falls somewhere in between the guy from the first three months and the guy from July. That may not be good enough for the Angels the rest of the way, though.

Carlos Perez has been splitting duties with Iannetta, but it has been a real struggle at the plate for him after a nice May performance. Perez has just one hit this month. The saving grace at least for Iannetta in the second half could be his defense, which has been a step up from what he delivered in past seasons.

Middle Relief

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Cesar Ramos is currently the only Angels reliever who's thrown at least five innings and has an ERA under 2.25. Los Angeles has also had trouble finding hard throwers and guys who generate strikeouts out of its bullpen. The bullpen's 217 total strikeouts rank 25th in baseball.

Perhaps because of the disappointing showings, and also because the starting rotation has been good all season, Anaheim's bullpen has thrown just 240 innings overall, ranking 28th out of 30 clubs.

Earlier in the year it seemed that the team could use one more starter with injuries mounting, but Andrew Heaney's dominance has all but squashed that need. Instead, on the pitching side, the biggest hole is indeed in the pen. Huston Street is still fine on the back end, but he needs more weapons available to come in in front of him.