Angels @ Dodgers May 16, 2016: Here Comes Mike Trout

	Angels			Dodgers
	7:10 p.m. PT			Los Angeles
3B	Escobar		2B	Utley
RF	Calhoun		SS	Seager
CF	Trout		3B	Kendrick
1B	Pujols		1B	Gonzalez
LF	Nava		C	Grandal
2B	Giavotella		CF	Pederson
C	Perez		RF	Thompson
P	Shoemaker (R)		LF	Crawford
SS	Petit		P	Maeda (R)

The Angels are in dire straits right now. They’ve lost Andrew Heaney indefinitely. They’ve lost Garrett Richards indefinitely. Matt Shoemaker, tonight’s starting pitcher, has an ERA over 9 and a FIP over 6. They’re signing Tim Lincecum, and for them, it actually makes sense. They need innings. Their rotation is hurting a lot. Andrelton Simmons, one of their best starting position players, is out for several months. Daniel Nava just passed Shane Robinson for the third-highest outfield WAR on the team yesterday; Shane Robinson has ten plate appearances this year. But, even with everything going wrong, they still have Mike Trout. The Dodgers still have to pitch to Mike Trout.

Kenta Maeda will be facing that challenge, and he’ll be doing it in front of a somewhat weird lineup. Howie Kendrick is batting third and playing third, because the third baseman bats third and plays third. Three is right in the name! I can’t think of any other reason why he’d be there other than a desire to not shuffle the lineup. Yasiel Puig is also getting a day off. It seems like his hitting was just around the corner, so the timing for this rest is a little puzzling.

Also puzzling is this tweet by Fangraphs’ new prospect writer Eric Longenhagen. He passes along that Francis Cespedes is at extended spring training and throwing hard for the Dodgers. You’ll notice that the name is not showing up with a link, and that’s because he has never played a game in affiliated baseball. The Rangers were reported to have signed Francis Cespedes back in 2013, and the internet has been incredibly silent about the signing since then. There’s a mystery here for a local beat reporter to unravel.

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