If the Angels don't make any more offseason moves, how would you rate the job Reagins has done.  I think/hope that he must have a grand plan that includes more than just this but according to Tony, "We're in good shape," Reagins said. "If the season opened tomorrow, I'd be happy where we are."

I, for one, would not be satisfied.  I like the Cabrera trade, but I don't agree with the Hunter deal, unless it leads to another trade to free up some of the outfield logjam.  The #1 priority this offseason was to get power out of 3rd, and so far, we have not addressed that need.  I would actually like another power arm in the pen, but I don't view that as an absolute necessity.

If Reagins does have a grand plan that includes more moves, he has pot committed himself to execute that plan.  I'm hoping his quote is just posturing to get our potential trade partners to lower the price.  However, given the current make up of the team, and despite him saying this gives us more options, he's actually painted himself into a corner where he has to make another move.

So I ask you, if the season started without any more moves being made, how would you rate Tony's first offseason as GM?

Interesting article about net win shares on The Hardball Times.  

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/2007-net-win-shares-value/

Among the highlights/lowlights:

Colon, Bartolo   @   ($9,949,934) was the worst value of 2007
followed by Angel fan favorite: Kendall, Jason @     ($9,118,644)

To further prove the genius of our neighbors to the north and south:

"worst teams in free agent Net Win Shares Value were...

LAD     -$21,585,751
OAK     -$19,427,113

the Dodgers' other free agent deals almost all tanked, including Schmidt (-$8.7 million), Brett Tomko (-$4.5 million), Rafael Furcal (-$4.4 million) and Juan Pierre (-$4.3 million). Even waiver pickup Esteban Loaiza was a negative value (-$2.5 million)."

Bill Stoneman doesn't look so bad compared to what the Dodgers were doing.  At least the bulk of Stoneman's risks were 1 year deals.  In the case of Bartolo, he did win a CY Young and it's difficult to predict that a pitcher is going to have back, shoulder and forearm injuries.  

I like seeing the A's right there on that list too.  Hopefully Lew will provide Beane some more cash to spend so that he can turn around and flush it down the toilet.  I'd get even more pleasure out of beating the A's for the division if I didn't have to hear their fans whine about being small market.  Beane has yet to prove that when he does have cash, he can invest it wisely.  In fact, I could have missed a few things but it seems as though the A's have been fading steadily in the farm system since DePodesta left.  Coincidence or not, Beane's star is starting to fade.

I didn't win the lottery for tickets from the Angels, so this is my best chance to make it into the stadium.  I am eagerly awaiting the results of Below or Above.

http://halosheaven.com/story/2007/3/16/31323/4906

Rev, Scotnak, do we know who the lucky winner is?  I will need to make my flight reservations shortly if I'm the winner.

Do you like to clean up half eaten nachos and empty beer cups.  Do you like to do this for cheap?
If so, than the Angels are looking for you.

"Angels Baseball - Cleaner/Set Up Crew - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

PART TIME - CLEANER/SET UP

OVERVIEW In conjunction with the Facilities Department, members of the Cleaner-Set up Crew assist in the overall upkeep of Angel Stadium. This is a Union position with starting pay rate of $9.80 an hour.

Able to work varied hours, including weekdays, weekends, evenings, graveyard shifts and holidays as required."

Apply here

Leave it up to the genius Greg Maddux to throw this one out there and leave it up to Bud Black to not believe it.  Too fresh off the So-sha (much easier to spell it this way) ball perspective, in my eyes, Figgins just got even less valuable.  I didn't think it was possible, but it is.

  When Padres manager Bud Black first heard Maddux    
  say that only 17 percent of runners who steal
  bases eventually score, he was skeptical. But
  after digging deeper, it all made sense to him.

http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070519&content_id=1975007&vkey=news_sd &fext=.jsp&c_id=sd

It might take sometime to unprogram Buddy, but it's clear he's learning from the professor.

Now that I just saw the Met's signed Chan Ho, they have a rotation primarily made up of guys who are going to last 5-6 innings tops.  If they do that, they are going to need to carry a big bullpen to cover all of those innings.  I'm thinking 12 or 13, which is unheard of, total arms devoted to the pitching staff.  If they do this, they are going to need a super sub, ala Chone Figgins because they will be limited on the bench depth that they can carry.  The Royals have a superstar coming up through the minors to take over 3rd base and they are planning on shifting Teahan to a new position.  Instead let's do a 3 way and gets the Royals a real outfielder.  Chone to the Mets, Milledge to the Royals, and Teahan to the Angels.  The Mets might want a bit more, I'm sure we can find a AAA starter to throw into the mix, Moseley maybe, or Seibel who we got from the Sox.

Please tell me I misread this, but Schofield the new hitting coach?  Schofield with a .230 career avg, .308 OBP and .316 Slg.  You've got to be f'in kidding me.  What's next, Jose Canseco as the pitching coach, come on.  I'm perplexed, but relieved it's not at AAA.  I'm not exactly sure what the hitting coach at Tempe means however, is this just for spring training, or only when someone needs to go rehab at that facility?

From the Angels.mlb.com, solely to hit the 300 word requirement.

Dick Schofield, a 14-year Major League shortstop who played 10 seasons with the Angels, is the new hitting coach at Tempe, and Eric Owens, who played for the Angels in 2003, will handle the hitters at Cedar Rapids.

Because of this move and the fact that the Yanks will most likely have 6 starters going for 5 spots, the odds of us signing Zito and then spinning off one of our pitchers in a deal for A-Rod, just took a major hit.  Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina, Randy Johnson, and Pettitte are locks with Pavano and potentially Japanese left-hander Kei Igawa battling it out for the final spot.

This shouldn't be too much of a major surprise, because even though I would love to have A-Rod, it would be a major upset if the Yanks were actually the ones to say uncle to having a high payroll and opt for a cheaper starter at a cost to the major league club.

In today's L.A. Times:

LINK -to- S T O R Y

No God!!!! Please take Hatcher instead!!!

Seriously, this would be a huge loss.  I give Stoneman a lot of credit for picking up mediocre or undervalued pitchers who perform well for the Angels, but Bud probably deserves a lot of credit, if not most. Conversly, Stoneman seems to struggle  picking up hitters, however Hatcher probably deserves a large part of the blame. We cannot afford to lose the leader of the most consistent part of our ballclub over the last several years.

Who thinks we should make a run at signing Bonds in the offseason?  If there is one thing this team needs, it's plate discipline, and Bonds might be the best ever.  Put your personal feelings aside about the guy.  Not only would he provide some much needed pop and lineup protection for Vlad, or vice versa, he could potentially fill in for the hitting coach we seem to be lacking.  I think that if Rivera and Vlad could approach hitting with more of a plan, they could be even better players.  Just watching Barry at the dish could be enough to put the rest of the guys over the top.  I think that Bonds wants to win a World Series so bad right now that he might actually file in as a team player, believe it or not.  Without a doubt, if we were to sign him, he could only make the team better, and I think he could have a positive and dramatic impact on the young guys with his baseball knowledge.  I say, sign Barry and as long   as he stays healthy with Vlad and the current pitching staff, it'll be enough to win it all.  He may be old, but his knee is finally getting healthy and he could provide a huge boost next year.