The Los Angeles Angels won’t likely win that many games unless Ervin Santana, Dustin Moseley and Joe Saunders can keep the rotation afloat until John Lackey returns in May. Also, Scot Shields is banged up and that will effect the Angels’ bullpen big time. The Angels will be a solid baseball team but they won’t get a whiff of 91 wins….take the under.

The Angels are darn lucky that they traded for Jon Garland in the off-season. John Lackey will likely miss at least the first month with a sore arm and Kelvim Escobar will likely miss the entire season. To put that into perspective, Lackey started 33 games last season for the Angels and he was 19-9 with a 3.01 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. Escobar started 30 games last season and he was 18-7 with a 3.40 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. Without those two guys in the rotation the Angels will need big efforts out of Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders and Dustin Moseley.

25-year old righty Jered Weaver will be the ace of the rotation by default. He started 28 games for the Angels last season and he was 13-7 with a 3.91 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. He has the stuff to be a big winner so it will be interesting to see if he takes a step forward in 2008.

28-year old righty Jon Garland will be the #2 starter for the Angels at the start of the season. He should benefit from his new home park and his improved defense that will be behind him. Garland started 32 games last season for the White Sox and he was 10-13 with a 4.23 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP. Garland was a combined 36-17 in the 2005+2006 seasons which shows that he has plenty of upside.

25-year old righty Ervin Santana should be so much better than he is because of his stuff. It appears that he gets rattled very easily when things don’t go his way. He pitched in 28 games (26 starts) for the Angels last season and he was 7-14 with a 5.76 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP. In his previous two season for the Angels Santana was 28-16 so the potential is there for a rebound.

27-year old lefty Joe Saunders will be the #4 starter for the Angels this season. He started 18 games for the Angels last season and he was 8-5 with a 4.44 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP. Saunders now has a career record of 15-8 in 33 major league starts so look for him to take advantage of his big chance.

26-year old righty Dustin Moseley did a little bit of everything for the Angels last season but he will be in the rotation until Lackey returns. He pitched in 46 games (8 starts) for the Angels last season and he was 4-3 with a 4.40 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP.

21-year old righty Nick Adenhart is the top prospect in the Angels system from the pitching side and he will likely be the first callup if the Angels need a starting pitcher. He started in 26 games in AA ball last season and he was 10-8 with a 3.65 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON: C+

32-year old righty swinging Vladimir Guerrero and 33-year old switch hitting Gary Matthews will be sharing time at RF & DH this season. This is with the idea of keeping Guerrero healthy enough to play in 150+ games in 2008. Guerrero played in 150 games for the Angels last season and he was 186 for 574 (.324 avg, .950 OPS) with 89 runs scored, 27 homers and 125 RBIs. He played in 108 games in RF last season and he made 9 errors while showing average range. Not many batters challenged his throwing arm last season as he only had 5 assists. Look for Guerrero to have a monster 2008 season for the Angels.

Gary Matthews will bring his outstanding mitt to RF part time and it will make the Angels defense much better while giving Guerrero a breather.

Reggie Willits is likely #3 in line in RF also as he played 31 games there last season while only making 1 error and showing below average range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON: A+

32-year old righty swinging CF Torii Hunter was the Angels’ big addition over the winter. He played in 160 games for the Twins last season and he was 172 for 600 (.287 avg, .839 OPS) with 94 runs scored, 28 homers, 107 RBIs and 18 stolen bases. Hunter only made 2 errors in 155 games in CF while showing average range. He does make a lot of acrobatic catches that get him on Sports Center.

Gary Matthews will be the main backup in CF for the Angels. He played in 135 games there for the Angels last season and he made 5 errors while showing outstanding range.

27-year old switch hitting Reggie Willits is #3 in line for playing time in CF this season. He played in 136 games for the Angels last season and he was 126 for 430 (.293 avg, .735 OPS) with 74 runs scored, 34 RBIs and 27 stolen bases. He played in 30 games in CF for the Angels last season and he made 1 error while showing average range.

28-year old switch hitting Nathan Haynes played in 40 games for the Angels last season and he was 12 for 45 (.267 avg, .624 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 1 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He played in 12 error-free games in CF for the Angels last season but he showed poor range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON: A-

36-year old lefty swinging Garret Anderson will split time between LF & DH this season. He played in 108 games for the Angels last season and he was 124 for 417 (.297 avg, .828 OPS) with 67 runs scored, 16 homers and 80 RBIs. Anderson made 2 errors in 85 games in LF last season while showing below average range. Anderson will likely play in at least 135 games this season as the Angels will shuttle him between LF and DH in an attempt to keep him healthy and his bat in the lineup.

33-year old switch hitting Gary Matthews will play a lot of LF and RF with Torii Hunter now the starting CF. He played in 140 games last season for the Angels and he was 130 for 516 (.252 avg, .742 OPS) with 79 runs scored, 18 homers, 72 RBIs and 18 stolen bases. He made 5 errors in 135 games in CF while showing outstanding range so he should be great in LF for the Angels in 2008.

29-year old Juan Rivera also might get some ABs in LF this season. He played in 14 games for the Angels last season and he was 12 for 43 (.279 avg, .737 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 2 homers and 8 RBIs. Rivera has played in 466 games in his major league career and he has a .291 average with a .813 OPS, so the Angels will find a way to get him some ABs this season.

27-year old switch hitting Reggie Willits played in 64 games in LF last season making only 1 error while showing outstanding range but he has too many players in front of him on the depth chart to get too much playing time there.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON: B