During the Winter Meetings in San Diego, back in December, the Angles agreed to a trade with the Dodgers that sent Howie Kendrick to LA in exchange for top pitching prospect Andrew Heaney. Despite Heaney being heavily talked about becoming the next major league ace, losing Howie Kendrick could very well hurt the Angels in 2015. For 9 years, Howie was a big contributor to the Angels as the starting 2nd baseman, both with his bat and glove.
For most of those years, losing Kendrick would not have been a huge loss, but coming off of his best season of a 9-year career (arguably) that helped lift the Angels to an AL West division title, losing Howie blows a big hole in the infield. In 2014, he batted for an average of .293, while scoring 85 runs and driving in 75 runners over the course of 157 games. He was very valuable, however, in contributing to his team’s winning efforts, as Howie put up a career high WAR of 5.2, and if the Angles had 9 of Howie Kendrick in the lineup, the team would average 5 runs/game (Angels averaged 4.6 runs/game in 2014). Now with the absence of Kendrick’s presence at the plate, his significantly high WAR will be missed the most, as Howie was worth at least 5 wins in total last season. His replacement, Josh Rutledge, had a WAR of -0.8 in 2014, and has been bounced back and forth between the majors or minors the last 4 years. Josh’s lack of much experience at 2B though, will turn up the good chemistry in a horrible way, that Kendrick had with the other Angel infielders.
Howie in 2014 recorded a fielding percentage of .984 at second base while 94% of the balls fielded by Howie resulted in an out. With David Freese, Erik Aybar, and Albert Pujols, all being a part of the Angels infield with Howie in 2014, they made smooth play after smooth play, as Kendrick was the anchor, along side Pujols, as solid defense was portrayed last season. Without Howie’s glove, clubhouse presence, and bat, the Angels manager, Mike Scioscia, will have to put on another great performance in order to replace his former second baseman and compete to capture the NL West crown again.
