34-year old righty reliever Scot Shields has not looked good at all this season for the Angels. He has pitched in 40 games (1 start) for the Angels this year and he is 0-3 with a 5.48 ERA and a 1.78 WHIP. He has given up 44 hits in 42 2/3 innings which isn’t too bad but he has also walked 36 batters and that has been a big problem. Shields came into this season having pitched in 448 games (14 starts) in 9 years with the Angels and he was 46-41 with 21 saves, a 3.03 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. The Angels were talking about cutting Shields but they will give him the rest of the year for him to prove that he has something left.

With Joel Pineiro out for most of the rest of the year the Angels need 23-year old righty Trevor Bell to step up. He has pitched in 19 games (3 starts) this season for the Angels and he is 1-3 with a 6.03 ERA and a 1.78 WHIP. Bell has given up 52 hits in only 34 1/3 innings for the Angels so far this year. In his three starts, Bell is 0-2 with a 6.43 ERA and a 1.86 WHIP. The Angels really need Bell to start pitching like the scouting reports say he can.

34-year old righty reliever Scot Shields is pitching some of the worst baseball of his major league career right now. Shields has pitched in 26 games (0 starts) for the Angels this season and he is 0-2 with a 5.13 ERA and a 1.75 WHIP. He has now pitched in 474 games (14 starts) in his 10 years with the Angels and he is 46-43 with 21 saves, a 3.11 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. I have a feeling that Shields is going to get into a groove pretty soon as he’s too good of a pitcher to have the results he has had so far this season.

34-year old lefty Brian Fuentes has been getting hit hard this season. He has pitched in 15 games (0 starts) for the Angels and he is 3-1 with 8 saves, a 5.52 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. He has given up 5 homers in only 14 2/3 innings and that is downright horrible for a closer. But he has whiffed 19 batters so his stuff is still good. You have to wonder how much longer the Angels are going to put up with Fuentes as the closer when he could be a dominating situational reliever. 33-year old righty Fernando Rodney has the ability to close out games. He has pitched in 26 games (0 starts) for the Angels this year and he is 4-0 with 5 saves, a 2.70 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. But he has walked 17 batters in only 23 1/3 innings this year which can’t be tolerated in a short reliever. It will be up to Mike Scioscia to decide if he’s going to put up with Fuentes’ gopher balls or Rodney’s walks in the ninth inning.

26-year old lefty starting pitcher Scott Kazmir just doesn’t have it right now. He has started 9 games for the Angels this year and he is 3-5 with a 6.34 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP. Kazmir has been getting hit hard this year as he has given up 55 hits (8 homers) in only 49 2/3 innings this season. He has walked 24 batters this season while only striking out 34. The strikeouts are a big concern as Kazmir is just not missing as many bats as usual. I wonder if he’s hurting right now and just hasn’t told anyone.