The Angels are starting the season without Scot Shields and Chris Bootcheck so they will need to tread water a little bit until they are ready to return. Still, 26-year old righty Francisco Rodriguez will be back to dominate the 9th inning for the Angels this season. He pitched in 64 games (0 starts) for the Angels last season and he was 5-2 with 40 saves, a 2.81 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP. He also whiffed 90 hitters in only 67.1 innings which shows how dominant K-Rod really is.

32-year old righty Scot Shields will start the season on the D.L. and the Angels will miss him. He pitched in 71 games (0 starts) for the Angels last season and he was 4-5 with 2 saves, a 3.86 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. Shields whiffed 77 batters in 77 innings last season for the Angels which shows what kind of stuff he has. Shields had 31 holds last season which led the American League which he has now done three years in a row.

34-year old righty Justin Speier has been very solid in the 7th inning for the Angels. He pitched in 51 games (0 starts) for the Angels last season and he was 2-3 with a 2.88 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP. The Angels win most of the games that they have a lead heading into the 7th inning because of K-Rod, Shields and Speier.

37-year old lefty Darren Oliver will be the only pitcher in the Angels’ bullpen that pitches left handed. He pitched in 61 games (0 starts) for the Angels last season and he was 3-1 with a 3.78 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. It will be interesting to see if Oliver is effective again in 2008 because he hasn’t been that good of a pitcher over his major league career. He has pitched in 412 games (228 starts) in his major league career and he is 94-81 with a 4.93 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP.

29-year old righty Chris Bootcheck will start the season on the D.L. Bootcheck has been the long man in the bullpen for a couple of years now and his role is an important one. He pitched in 51 games (0 starts) for the Angels last season and he was 3-3 with a 4.77 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP.

29-year old righty Jason Bulger will have a bullpen job at the start of the season. He pitched in 6 games (0 starts) for the Angels last season and he was 0-0 with a 2.84 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. Bulger also pitched in 49 games in AAA ball last season and he was 5-2 with 10 saves, a 3.76 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. He also whiffed an amazing 81 batters in only 52.2 innings in the minors last year.

23-year old righty Rich Thompson has made the opening day roster for the Angels. He pitched in 7 games (0 starts) for the Angels last year and he was 0-0 with a 10.80 ERA and a 1.95 WHIP. Thompson pitched in 38 games (3 starts) in A+AA+AAA ball last season and he was 5-3 with 1 save, a 2.01 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP. Thompson only allowed 52 hits and whiffed 85 batters in 76 innings last season in the minors.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON: A-

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-