At the Helm: Angels snookered again with Wells trade

25 January 2011

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

2 comments:

HiroJanuary 25, 2011 at 9:16 AM
Do you realize that the Angels are paying more per year for Wells than what they had offered Crawford? And that he is now the highest paid Angel per year ever? EVER? Is he the best player the Angels have ever had? I don't think so. Let's hope they make the best out of what they currently have this year, or else I sense it will be another frustrating year to be an Angel fan.
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The Camera EyeJanuary 25, 2011 at 4:21 PM
For counting purposes, the list of Angels past and present that are better than Vernon Wells requires the use of a calculator.
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About B. C. Helm

My father took me to my first baseball game when I was seven years old ... way back in 1973. Little did my father realize he had created a monster.

Since then, I have gone to hundreds of baseball games, both Major League and Minor League. And I plan to attend many, many more games. Eventually, I will go to games in all Major League Cities.

The Anaheim Angels are my favorite team. Win or lose. Sadly, the Angels have done a lot more losing than winning. We (yes, we. The Angels are my team) have won only one World Series Championship since our inception in 1961.

But being a baseball fan is about more than cheering only for your team. Baseball ties generations together like very few other things can. Baseball has been in existence since the 1700s. Though the sport has experienced many advancements, the sport is still essentially the same as it has always been.

In this blog, I plan to write about anything and everything that is baseball, anything and everything that piques my interest. I will do the best I can to site sources and attach weblinks, unless doing so destroys the flow of reading.

I will assume that if you are reading this blog, you have a working knowledge of baseball and are capable of doing your own research.

If you read something I have written, and think I left something out or misstated a fact, feel free to bring it to my attention as a comment. That said, I am not interested in anyone hijacking this blog. If you want to be a critic, then go write your own blog.