Is Jeff Mathis worth it for the Angels?

Jeff Mathis is widely regarded as a great defensive catcher. So great, that he can not hit at all, and still be the starting catcher for the Angels. They believe that he is so valuable that he is worth keeping around. This is obviously not the case, as he had a -.3 WAR in 2011, actually an improvement from his 2010 season, where he had a  -1.2 WAR. He registered a .2 D-WAR in 2011, but had a -.6 D-WAR (-.6 is his career D-WAR) in 2010. According to runs saved statistics, he has actually cost his team runs, and his percentage of balls fielded turning into outs is lower than league average. He catches less  base stealers than league average, but he does have a better than average range factor. His offensive statistics are hideous, at a .557 OPS, .257 OBP, and a -1.9 O-WAR for his career. His PPG is just .72, and his PAPP is a disgusting 3.84. He seemingly can't hit the ball really hard either, at a .249 BABIP, which is weird since he is a flyball hitter. The explanation for this is found pretty quickly, as 24% of his flyballs don't leave the infield (league average is like 12%). His secondary average is terrible at .186, and his ISO sits at .107. His PPS is just 82.36, further cementing that Mathis is a liability in that lineup. Whatever imagined (and it is imagined) benefit Mathis gives the team defensively, he makes up for it by being one of the worst offensive players in all categories in the league. When your looking at why the Angels have fallen off a bit, it isn't hard to figure out. They have made a whole bunch of dumb roster moves.

Grading Tony Reagins time in LA

After missing the playoffs for the second year, the Angels fired GM Tony Reagins. So its time to see where he messed up (and what he got right). Firstly, I have already written about the Scott Kazmir trade, and the absolute failure that was, so I feel no need to address that. Also, because he was only there for 4 years, it is really too soon to really be able to address all his drafts. So we will focus on key trades and signings. One of his first major moves was trading Orlando Cabrera for Jon Garland before the 08 season. Cabrera put up a 2.1 WAR with the White Sox in his only year there, making 10 million. This is a WASP well above the Halladay Standard at 4761. Garland, also playing just 1 year for the Angels, had just a 1 WAR and a 12 million dollar salary. This was an obvious loss. During 08, he traded Casey Kotchman and Stephen Marek for Mark Texiera. Marek has not played in the big leagues, and Kotchman put up just a .8 WAR for the Braves, and a 4512 WASP, while Texiera put up a 3.3 WAR and 1893 WASP with the Angels. This doesn't even include that they drafted Mike Trout (.9 WAR so far) and Garrett Richards (-.2 WAR so far) with the draft picks they got for losing Texiera in free agency. This was an obvious win, and the Braves don't want to hear the word Texiera anymore because that was two really bad trades for them. In 2010, the Angels sent Joe Saunders and two minor league players who have yet to reach the big leagues for Dan Haren. Haren has a 6.8 WAR as an Angel and a 2482 WASP. Saunders has a 2.2 WAR with the Diamondbacks and a 3340 WASP. Another win for the Angels, so far (it will depend on what the minor league players do for Arizona). However, the biggest disaster was before the 2011 season, when he shipped Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera for Vernon Wells. Wells put up a negative .2 WAR and made 23 million dollars (a vomit inducing 50600 WASP). Rivera was pretty terrible with the Jays, and was moved to the Dodgers. Napoli was immediately moved to rival Texas Rangers were he put up a 5.5 WAR and very good 1054 WASP. That move alone is probably the biggest reason Reagins was fired.

Now signings: Torii Hunter is 4 years through a 5 year $90 million deal. So far, he has posted a 13 WAR. He would have to pull off the most amazing season in baseball history (a 17 WAR is what he needs) to meet the Halladay Standard for the contract. So, they gave him way too much money. Brian Fuentes was also given way too much money, registering a 8667 WASP in his time in LA. Add, Bobby Abreu to that list as well, a 4893 WASP. Fernando Rodney a 55000 WASP, Hideki Matsui a 4285, Joel Pinero 10667, and Hisanori Takahashi 19000, all well above the Halladay Standard of 3000. Scott Downs was the only really good sign at a 2272 WASP. Reagins' era as GM was an era of a couple bad trades, and some really bad signings. We will see in the next few years how his drafts work out, but it appears that Reagins really set this organization back and a move was warranted.