Angels Will Roll the Dice on a Shaky Ortega

The Angels have a decimated pitching staff, apart from the tragic death of Nick Adenhart.

In the bullpen, Arreondo and Shields have been shelled. Fuentes has been no K Rod.

On the front lines, Lackey, Escobar, Moseley, and Santana are on the DL. Saunders has been ok, but the door is opening to a tripod of triple a prospects and retreads. A guy named Matt Palmer won with five earned runs yielded yesterdeay.

Now they have to hope they can hit the lotto again Saturday against the Mariners.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia said before Thursday’s game that the decision has been made (Anthony Ortega) on who will start Saturday (Anthony Ortega) but won’t be announced until Friday (Anthony Ortega).

The pluses with Ortega? He is a well-regarded prospect with at least some Triple-A experience (six starts in Triple-A last season and three there this season). He’s already on the 40-man roster (making for less roster juggling) and he would be working on four days’ rest.

The minuses? He reported to spring training with inflammation in his forearm and was set back in his throwing program at a time when he was supposed to be competing for a spot in the Angels’ rotation. He hasn’t pitched particularly well in his first three starts for Triple-A Salt Lake — including nine runs allowed on 12 hits and a walk in four innings Monday at Reno.

The Angels tipped their hand by promoting Double-A right-hander Sean O’Sullivan to Triple-A Thursday and Trevor Reckling from Class-A to Double-A in the trickle-down wake caused by pulling Ortega from Salt Lake’s rotation.

Here is the thing for fantasy players. You may strike lightning and score with a triple A pickup, some guy who did not get past the spring training cuts. A new guy comes up, hurls a gem, and is suddenly a star. But the Brian Bannisters of the world fall down. The one hot start is a fluke. Play this fantasy wire game and it will bloat your fantasy era and whip, causing your good outings by a Billingsley or Lincecum to dog beat because you think you scored big on Chris Jabukakas. You know, he won for Seattle his first time out and then was shelled in his second start.

The better way to play fantasy ball is to lock in a steady pitching staff that you do not have to juggle in daily leagues by the prospective call ups. Most fail. Most will kill you. Yes, a few will become stars, but if you are playing that roll, cause you are sitting with 100 points in hitting and only 50 in pitching and you are in the middle of your league, understand you are gambling, rolling the dice, and letting it all ride not on the 25 mainstays you chose but the one you are desperate to pick up in the hope that he may deliver. Not a winning way to play.

So Anthony Ortega is on his way to the bigs, for better or worse, free and available in most daily leagues. Wanna roll the dice. After all, Angels hitting behind him, weak Mariners in front of him, who knows what the roll will be?