Brandon Wood’s minor league “rehab” stint is about to come to an end and even though he hasn’t shown any real progress at the plate, he is likely going to rejoin the Halos by the end of the week. It would seem that he is going to return to the team only to find himself buried on the depth chart behind Maicer Izturis and Kevin Frandsen. Doing that would “make sense” and be totally “logical and well thought out,” but that doesn’t mean the Halos should still do it. I’ve got seven reasons why the Angels might want to consider giving Brandon Wood his old job back even though he doesn’t deserve it.
Wood is almost back!! But only because he isn’t allowed to stay on the DL for sucking.
- The summer heat is on its way and the fans really could use some sort of way to cool down. What better way than to have Wood providing a nice cool breeze three or four times a game when Wood steps up to the plate and begins his usual hopeless flailing of the bat, fanning all the spectators (and himself) in the process.
- There is a noticeable lack of soul patches in the Angel line-up. I’ve long been a proponent of the effects of facial hair on a team’s record and without that soul patch niche being filled in the line-up, I don’t think this team can win the World Series. We all remember how badass that soul patch Scott Spiezio used to rock was, right? The Angels won their only championship with him playing first. Can’t be a coincidence.
- With Scott Kazmir pitching better and Brian Fuentes having not blown a save in a few weeks, I am plum out of Angels to consistently rag on. What better way to fix that than by adding a guy to the everyday lineup that constantly strikes out and seems destined to never see his batting average creep over the Mendoza line?
- The Angels didn’t really get on a roll until Kendry Morales hurt himself on that ill-fated grand slam celebration. If one self-inflicted wound can start a winning streak, why not double down and hurt themselves even further by handing a starting job to the worst hitter in major league baseball? The Halos might never lose again!!!!
- The whole notion behind pretending Wood had an injury and placing him on the DL to rehab in Salt Lake was to get him going again, just like they did when they temporarily demoted Howie Kendrick last season. Even though Wood has been almost as bad in his few weeks in the minors, the old quick demotion trick just has to work right? Right? Anybody? Bueller?
- If Mike Scioscia can somehow continue justifying giving Robb Quinlan regular starts, I am pretty sure he can employ the same cognitive dissonance to convince himself that Brandon Wood deserves to play everyday. I mean, Wood has been bad, but he hasn’t been Quinlan-bad.
- OK, on serious one. The Angels still are better off in the long-run if Wood can become a regular contributor. Izturis just can’t hold up physically playing everyday and Kevin Frandsen doesn’t field well enough or hit with enough power to hold down the hot corner on an everyday basis. If Wood is allowed to regain his confidence without constantly worrying about losing his job again, he could become a real asset in the line-up that Izturis and Frandsen could never be. Mmmm, this Kool-Aid is delicious.