Tag Archives: Angel Pagan

June 20, 2016

Pagan Ritual

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Erik Kratz was 0 for 16 for the Pirate this season when he came up in the bottom of the fifth inning to face Madison Bumgarner. He pulled a high fly ball deep to left. Angel Pagan went back to the wall, made a leap, came down, and threw his glove to the ground in disgust as the ball went for a homer. On the slow motion reply, you could see the ball in the pocket of Pagan’s glove. His arm hit the wall, however, on the way down and he lost the ball. It was a great try, but Pagan felt he should have made the catch.

The Pirates lead the Giants 1-0 as Jeff Locke is holding his own against Bumgarner.

April 1, 2016

Bochy Nails the Lineup

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Bruce Bochy decided to use Angel Pagan instead of Gregor Blanco in the outfield. Blanco was in my original lineup analysis for the Giants. What’s more interesting is that Bochy decided to bat Pagan ninth:

Aside from the 9-1 alignment of Pagan and Span, Bochy is leaning toward batting Buster Posey third and moving Matt Duffy (last year’s No. 3 hitter) lower in the lineup to separate the two left-handed-hitting Brandons, Belt and Crawford.

That’s how Bochy drew it up Thursday, and he might stick with it. It could put more runners on base for the Giants’ big hitters. It also could make it tough on opponents to match lefty-on-lefty or righty-on-righty, especially late in games.

It goes like this: two lefties (Span, Joe Panik), two righties (Posey, Hunter Pence), lefty (Belt), righty (Duffy), lefty (Crawford), the pitcher and Pagan (switch-hitter).

Bochy is listening to his analytics team:

“I give (Bochy) credit for being open to new information as well as using information differently as he looks at the strengths and weaknesses of the club,” general manager Bobby Evans said. “It’s important to be flexible and adjust as needed and be open to new things. He deserves all the credit.”

The Lineup Analysis Tool (LAT) does not see that as the optimum lineup, but there is only a 0.037 run difference between the two. It agrees 100% on the bottom third of the order, and at least with the three players used in each 1/3 of the lineup. Very cool.

October 25, 2012

Tacos for All!

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Angel Pagan walks and steals second in the bottom of the eighth, and every one wins a free taco! Taco Bell will give them out on Oct. 30th. I’ll probably be hunkered down in a hurricane then.

With one out, the Tigers walk Pablo Sandoval intentionally, and the Pirates make a pitching change with Buster Posey coming up.

Update: Octavio Dotel is in the game on a double switch.

Update: For the second time tonight, a Tigers reliever walks the first man he faces. The bases are loaded for Hunter Pence.

Update: Pence hits a fly ball deep enough to right, and Angel Pagan score with Sandoval moving up to third. The Giants get an insurance run as they lead 2-0. Time for another pitching change.

Update: Belt stirkes out to end the inning. The Giants take a 2-0 lead into the ninth.

October 24, 2012

Setting and Clearing

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Angel Pagan doubles and Marco Scutaro collects another single to drive in Angel, and the Giants lead 7-1. That brings up Pablo Sandoval. He doesn’t homer, but he does line a single to left as Jose Valverde does not seem to have fixed his problems.

Update Buster Posey dumps a hit into right, and the Giants lead 8-1. Posey is 2 for 4, and if he is hitting again, the Giants will be in very good shape.

Update: Joaquin Benoit comes in and strikes out Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt. The Giants take an 8-1 lead to the eighth inning.

October 24, 2012

Another Weird Hit

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The Giants pick up their second strange hit in as many games. Angel Pagan hits a ball down the third base line with two out in the bottom of the third. Miguel Cabrera goes behind the bag to field it, but it hits third base and bounds to Cabrera’s left into leftfield. Pagan winds up at second with a double.

Update: Once again, the lucky batted ball leads to a run as Marco Scutaro singles up the middle for the RBI. The Giants lead 2-0 with Pablo Sandoval up.

Update: Sandoval homers again! He goes to leftfield this time, and the Giants lead 4-0! Verlander’s pitch count is up to 61, and he may not last much longer.

Update: The hits keep coming as Buster Posey lines a single to left.

Update: Hunter Pence grounds into a force play to end the inning. The Giants have a four-run lead in a park that depresses offense.

October 15, 2012

Early Blast

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Angel Pagan leads off the bottom of the first with a home run high into the stands in right, and the Giants lead 1-0. According to the broadcast, this is the first lead the Giants had at home this post season.

Marco Scuarto follows with a single, as Chris Carpenter continues to get hit with the bases empty.

Update: Carpenter issues a walk, but gets two pop outs and a grounder to end the inning. The Giants come away with an early 1-0 lead.

July 1, 2012

More Bad Defense

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With two out and two on in the bottom of the ninth, the game tied at three, Angel Pagan of the Giants lifted a long fly ball to Jay Bruce in right. Bruce went back, but not far enough, and the ball lands behind him for a double. Either Bruce thought he was at the wall and didn’t think he could go back further, or he lost the ball in the sky. It really looked like he had a bead on it, but just thought he was out of room. The Giants win 4-3.

The NL Central remains very tight with the Cardinals beating the Pirates earlier. Cincinnati leads the Pirates by one game, the Cardinals by 2 1/2 games.

April 26, 2012

Pagan Worship

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Angel Pagan hits a three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning off Reds closer Sean Marshall and the Giants come back to win the game 6-5. This was a very unlikely home run. In his two previous season, Marshall allowed four home runs in 150 1/3 innings. Pagan hits a home run every 54 at bats. Angel, however, hit his third of the season, and the Giants are getting some unexpecTed Power from their lead-off hitter.

December 6, 2011

Torres to the Mets

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It appears the Mets are about to trade Angel Pagan to the Giants for Andres Torres and reliever Ramon Ramirez:

The trade makes a ton of sense for the Mets.

In Torres, they are getting a hitter just a year removed from posting an OPS+ of 122 while playing an extremely good center field. His offense dropped precipitously in 2011, just like Pagan’s, but Torres’ defense remained stellar. And after making just $2.2 million last year, he’ll probably check in around $3 million in arbitration; Pagan will get more like $5 million.

So it isn’t clear that Pagan is a better bet than Torres in 2012, both come with one-year commitments, and Torres is much cheaper.

Pagan is four years younger in terms of seasonal age, so his upside is higher than Torres, who will play 2012 as a 34 year old. Ramirez is a solid pitcher out of the pen. This strikes me as a stop-gap deal, one to keep the roster full cheaply while Sandy Alderson waits for the Mets owners to get their financial house in order.

July 20, 2011

Just Call Him Angel of the Extra Innings

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Angel Pagan homers with one out in the tenth as the Mets defeat the Cardinals 6-5. The Mets came back from deficits of 3-0 and 5-4 to finally win the game in extra innings, their first walk-off home run of the season. Carlos Beltran also went deep as he continues to add to his trade value.

Pagan was an unlikely hero, as he was hitting poorly in July, coming into the game with a .172 BA in the month. He’s also hit poorly late in the game, .175 before tonight with one home run after the seventh inning. The SNY team was broadcasting from the outfield, and Pagan’s game winner just missed hitting their table.

September 16, 2010

Pagan Ritual

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Angel Pagan picked up three more hits, including his 30th double of the season as the Mets down the Pirates 6-2. Pagan raised his slash line to .295/.347/.437 for the season. The Cubs let a decent player get away here. In limited playing time with them, he posted a .255 BA and a .306 OBP. A better hitter since joining the Mets, both those averages rose about 40 points. His power dropped a bit, however, as his slugging percentage is up just 30 points. With his good defense, his WAR is going to come close to five this season.

August 15, 2010 April 19, 2010

Pagan Ritual

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Angel Pagan hit the game winning home run in the seventh as the Mets defeated the Cubs 6-1. Pagan is hitting well, but that was his first extra-base hit of the season. He now has as many career home runs as triples, 16.

The Ike Davis era started on a high note as the youngster singled twice and drove in a run. Given that the Mets first basemen were hitting just .167 it was a huge game for Ike.

February 10, 2010