Angels snookered again with Wells trade

I have tried to rationalize how the Angels could let team GM Tony Reagins trade for Vernon Wells. The Angels surrendered catcher-first baseman Mike Napoli, who is a productive but streaky home run hitter. The Angels also included reserve outfielder Juan Rivera in the trade. On talent alone, we broke even. Though Wells will hit and play a good left field, how many power-hitting catchers like Napoli are there in baseball?

What makes this trade a fireable offense is twofold. First, the Angels will assume virtually all of the $86 million owed to Wells the next four years. Second, if the Angels are to pay this huge contract for a not-so-young not-so-star player, why did they not receive a couple of prospects or a second big leaguer in the deal?

This is what happens when your team, more specifically your team's general manager, has no plan going into the off-season. The Angels' needs were simple to define. Need leadoff batter. Need third baseman. Improve team defense. Improve team speed. Get younger. Improve bullpen.

At least the Angels improved their bullpen.

So. Who bats leadoff? Who is the team's third baseman? How exactly will the defense be improved?

Reagins wasted too many opportunities this off-season. Did not go after Jayson Werth. Treated Carl Crawford as if we were his only option. Lowballed Adrian Beltre. Did not make an offer to Cliff Lee. Signing a star player (even a star we did not need) would have allowed us to trade from strength. We could have acquired a leadoff batter or a third baseman via trade. If we had any depth.

Well. We had depth. At catcher. Until we traded that depth for the $22 million man.

-B. C. Helm

The seventh-inning flee

As I count down the days before pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, I began to wonder. About the seventh-inning stretch. Is there a subliminal message in that song that tells baseball patrons to flee from their seats, leave the ballpark, and prematurely create traffic?

Imagine leaving a restaurant with your dinner plate still 25% full. Or putting a book back on the shelf with a portion of it still to be read. Would you leave a movie theater before the ending? Or worse ... imagine stopping making love just before ... well ... just before you are finished.

So why do people insist on leaving games early?

Are we really becoming a society that is going nowhere, but getting there fast?

-B. C. Helm

This ain't a fantasy ... this is REAL baseball

Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti says that newly-acquired outfielder Tony Gwynn Jr. may become the team's regular center fielder ... if he can hit. The Dodgers are not exactly a fundamentally-sound team. Not since the days of Walter Alston have the Dodgers been known to be strong on defense.

Amazing how teams invest so much money in pitching, yet they pay little or no concern to defense. Not so long ago, a player with Gwynn Jr.'s defensive skills would have been a starter almost regardless of what he hit. Since someone needs to bat eighth, the Dodgers should just play Gwynn and be thankful that he and Ethier will give an honest day's effort on both sides of the ball. Maybe offense can win you a Fantasy Baseball championship, but in real baseball, defense and pitching win out.

-B. C. Helm

Trevor Hoffman ... Next stop: Cooperstown

The first time I met Trevor Hoffman was in 1986. Hoffman and I both attended Cypress Community College. At the time Hoffman played on the school's baseball team. And I was a sports reporter for the school newspaper. I had interviewed him a few times, typically asking him a few questions after a win or a loss, when I had decided to do an interview with the team's double-play combination. At the time, Hoffman was a shortstop.

Fast forward to 1993. Hoffman, the younger brother of former Major League infielder Glenn Hoffman, had just been traded from Florida to San Diego. Since 1986, Hoffman's baseball career had taken him to the University of Arizona, then to the Cincinnati Reds organization, to the Marlins, then finally the Padres.

In the Reds' organization, Hoffman was converted from infielder to pitcher. Though Hoffman's Hall of Fame career was extraordinary for a relief pitcher lacking a dominant fastball, it was his cannon arm (and his inability to hit consistently) that facilitated the Reds to offer Hoffman the chance to convert to pitcher ... or to be cut.

Around the mid-way point of the 1993 season, the Padres traded Gary Sheffield to Florida for three players, Hoffman being one of them. The last time I actually talked with Hoffman was at Jack Murphy Stadium, shortly after the trade. I was sitting on the first base side, field level, when I noticed Padres players signing autographs. So I did what anyone in my position would do ...

... I asked Trevor Hoffman for an autograph.

While Hoffman signed my ball, I told him of the time I had interviewed him at Cypress for that feature I had written. Hoffman, much to my surprise, remembered me.

"Yeah, I remember you," he said. "Your hair is a little longer now, isn't it?"

It was longer. About 8 inches longer.

It was great to have talked with Hoffman that day. When the trade was announced, I remember how excited I was that he been traded to a team so close to home. I would get to watch him play against the Dodgers up in L.A., as well as travel to San Diego to see him pitch. But I could have never imagined that I was watching the beginning of a Hall of Fame career.

Trevor Hoffman announced his retirement yesterday, after 18 years, a record 601 saves, and a World Series appearance for the 1998 Padres. Perhaps the next time I talk with Hoffman will be in Cooperstown when he gives his Hall of Fame induction speech.

-B. C. Helm

Is it February 14 yet?

After returning home from a weekend at Big Bear, I turned on my television and was immediately bombarded with football. Now, I don't hate football like my friend Robert does, but I can hardly remember the last time I watched a football game in its entirety. So while reaching for the Supertramp DVD that I borrowed, I began to wonder ... is it February 14 yet?

Even though my Angels are going to suck this year, I can hardly wait for baseball to again take hold of my daily consciousness the same way it has for virtually my entire life.

Going through the emails that had piled up along my information superhighway, I noticed a response from a recent posting, a response from my friend Darrell who lives in Calgary. My father and I met Darrell and his family on a Jay Buckley baseball tour in the summer of 2006. Darrell and his family are Seattle Mariners fans. And Darrell is possibly more frustrated about his Mariners than I am about my Angels.

"I would say be fortunate that you are not a Mariners fan," Darrell says, "a team that has not even sniffed the World Series. They remain one of two franchises to never make the World Series (the other being the Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos), and continually they are bad. An odd good season here or there, but overall, lousy from top to bottom throughout their history."

Now Darrell's next comment made me immediately think of my friend Charles, a Yankees fan who seems to think that Yankees' GM Brian Cashman could conduct his own Village Idiots Convention. According to Darrell, former Mariners GM Bill Bavasi "was probably the worst GM in MLB history and decimated the organization with brutal trades, giving up solid players and great prospects for retreads and players on the downside of their career."

As an Angels fan, I only wish that Cashman and Bavasi had cornered the market on stupidity and short-sightedness. Rumor has it that Angels GM Tony Reagins just made his reservation for the 2011 Village Idiots Convention, going so far as to offer to co-chair the event.

-B. C. Helm

Looking grim in 2011

If the season started today, this is one of the possible lineups for the 2011 Angels:

3B- Maicer Izturis
2B- Howie Kendrick
RF- Torii Hunter
1B- Kendry Morales
LF- Bobby Abreu
DH- Mike Napoli
C- Jeff Mathis
CF- Peter Bourjos
SS- Erick Aybar

One night in September 2009, the Angels fielded a lineup with all nine batters whose batting averages were .300 or better. And this is the best that general manager Tony Reagins can do? Now I understand why my friend Robert refers to the GM as Reagins the retard.

With this lack of offense, several months ago, my friend Robert and I, when texting each other, would leave out the O in each word, since the Angels have taken the O out of offense.

My friend Charles frequently expresses his frustration with his favorite team, the Yankees, and GM Brian Cashman. Charles says Cashman is the worst GM in all of professional sports.

Well. Cashman may be the worst GM in all of professional sports. But I struggle to have sympathy for a team with 27 World Series championships while my team has only a single championship.

Truth is, when you are not on the top, you want to get to the top. And once you get to the top, you plan to stay there. It sucks to lose, regardless of your team's history.

Good luck, Charles. Regardless of our teams' prior championships, your Yankees and my Angels will be enjoying the post-season the same way as you and I ... from home.

-B. C. Helm

Beltre signs with Texas; Angels snookered (again)

Had the Angels signed free agent 3B Adrian Beltre, I do not think it would have been a good signing. Beltre saves his best performances for the walk year of his contract. His other seasons, Beltre is a typical 6-hole hitter. So, to pay a 6-hole hitter $16 million per season is nutty.

That said, Beltre is a Hall of Fame-type defender at the hot corner. And most importantly, the Angels were really forced to consider overpaying for Beltre. Making no effort to sign Cliff Lee nor Jayson Werth, and treating the Carl Crawford negotiations as if his signing was imminent, the Angels are now left with the dubious responsibility of rebuilding a team with the free agent scraps that remain.

Rumor has it that the Angels are looking at Scott Podsednik to play left field and to bat leadoff. And that is a brilliant move for us ... if the Angels are endeavoring to finish in third place.

And the Angels have NO PLAN for third base. The Angels wasted prospect Brandon Wood at triple-A for three years, in effect creating a career minor leaguer. Then, when he struggled last year. they act surprised AND the uneducated soCal baseball fans give the poor kid a ration of grief.

Anyone could see we sucked last year. If you are going to suck, then let the kid develop. Better to suck with developing youngsters than to suck with overpriced old men.

We will suck again this year. So it is better that we did not sign Beltre, because Beltre would not keep us from sucking again this year.

We may as well play the youngsters this year. Put Trumbo in left field, platoon Conger and Mathis behind the dish. Use Napoli as the regular DH, and if (when) first baseman Kendry Morales needs rest for the leg he busted last year, let Kendry DH and use Napoli at first base.

As far as pitching ... one more chance for Kazmir. If he is not pitching well by the all-star break, move him to the pen. Then we would have three lefties in relief.

Still no resolve for third base. At this point, I would play Izturis there and bat him leadoff.

Either that ... or see if Seattle will trade Figgy back to us.

(The abovementined comments are the rants of a frustrated Angels fan)

-B. C. Helm

And the votes are in ...

After 14 years on the ballot, 287-game winning pitcher Bert Blyleven was elected to the Hall of Fame today, along with second baseman Roberto Alomar. Blyleven was named on nearly 80 percent of the ballots, whereas Alomas was named on 90 percent.

Though not elected, more than 60 percent of the voters named shortstop Barry Larkin on their ballots, an increase of about 10 percent from last year. As you can see with my posting earlier this morning, I had hoped Larkin would get in. But with the increase of votes from a year ago, it looks to me that Larkin has an excellent chance of being elected sooner, rather than later.

-B. C. Helm

In a few more hours ...

In a few more hours, we will know who has been elected into baseball's Hall of Fame for 2011. If I had a say-so, I would cast votes for the following players:

Bert Blyleven
Roberto Alomar
Tim Raines
Jack Morris
Jeff Bagwell
Barry Larkin
Alan Trammell
Fred McGriff
Rafael Palmeiro
Lee Smith

-B. C. Helm