I have come to the conlusion that the Angels depth is a little too thin right now to swing a blockbuster trade for someone like Halladay, and it is my opinion that we can win it all without him anyway. So, I've been pouring over the list of FA pitchers to see if there are any diamonds in the rough that could keep the Angels competitive with the other perrenial post-season teams in the event of a Lackey departure.

Only one man really seems to stand out, and that is Jason Marquis. Some facts: He has pitched fewer than 190 innings only once in the past 6 seasons (167 in '08). He has had no significant injuries. He just turned 31 in August, making him only 2 months and 2 days older than Lackey. Since giving up a career high 35 HRs in '06, he has gotten his HRs-allowed down to 15 in the last two seasons, and last year was in the launching pad of Coor's Field. His '09 WHIP was a career low 1.380 as a full time starter. That's a better '09 WHIP than Saunders, Santana, and Kazmir. His lefty/righty splits are about even. Money wise, he earned under $10 mil last year. He should get a raise, but he'll cost far less than the $16/yr or whatever it is that Lackey wants.

All of the above, plus the fact that there are zero other good, young, healthy, free agent, starting pitchers, makes me believe that Tony Reagins needs to be at Marquis' neighborhood Del Taco at the same moment that Lackey is signing papers with the Spanks or Sux. (Joel Piniero had a good '09, but he's due for his next injury.) Marquis may not be a bonified ace, but the facts are we just can't get an ace this year without trading away the farm. However, if Lackey makes room for him, I believe that Weaver will step into the role of staff ace. And Marquis is as quality a #2 starter as Saunders, Santana, or Kazmir. This will allow us to continue to use guys like O'Sullivan, Palmer, and Bell in more strategic ways, and will let them develop in their proper timing, rather than relying on one of them to hold down the 5th spot. Plus, we can give the money we save to Figgy, Oliver, Vlad...

Please weigh in.

Hey Everyone. Here's a quick update. Melody Ann was born November 1st, at 2:59 pm! Check her out! She's almost 3 months premature. She's a little smaller than David Eckstein at 14 inches, 2 lb. 4 oz. She seems pretty healthy so far. Thanks to everyone who has been praying and wishing us well. Keep it up! It is slightly unfortunate that she had to be born into a world where the Yankees are in the World Series instead of our Angels. Let's hope our boys are there for her first birthday next year!

UPDATE: The complicated pregnancy that coincided with the ALCS was discussed in RallyManatee's Angel Fan Down FanPost in mid-October

So, my wife is 25 weeks pregnant, thank you, thank you. She's an Orange County native, and life-long Angels fan. Yesterday afternoon, our Dr. discovered that she was already dilated about 3 cm, and rushed her to the hospital. To make a long story no less than 75 words, she underwent surgery to stitch her cervix closed (sorry if your squeamish). This will hopefully keep our unborn baby girl Angels fan, Melody, in the womb for another few weeks. If she marinates a little longer, she can be delivered prematurely without much risk of deformity. So, I'm telling the HH community because I know many of you are believers, and will pray for Melody, Stacey, and me. We've already bought Melody a Rally Monkey onesie, so she's gotta pull through, right? Believe in the power...

We got to watch the ALCS, game 1 in the hospital room, but my wife was taken into surgery in about the 5th inning. When the doctor came to get me afterward, and I walked into the recovery room, her first words were, "How are the Angels doing?" What a wonderful woman. I wish I had better news for her, but they were already down 3 to 1. Let's hope they take game 2 tonight while we watch from the hospital bed. Go Angels! Do it for Nick, and do it for the unborn Angels fans like Melody!

Some names have been tossed around about who the Angels should go after to improve our pitching. It seems like a lot of fans here don't understand how waivers work. Since we are at the top of our division, we are one of the last teams to get a chance to claim a player off waivers. So, there is little to no chance we are going to get Heath Bell, or any other good player off waivers this season.

I think our only hope is that enough of our in-house pitchers turn it around down the stretch. The bullpen has certainly settled down, though. In the past 30 days, Jepsen, Bulger, Oliver, and Palmer all have ERA's under 3.00. If they keep it up, and Fuentes has no more hiccups, the pen should be okay.

What we really need is to have at least one, if not two, of our starting pitchers step it up. Lackey and Santana look good right now, but there's no way two starters can carry us to and through the post season. I really hope Weaver isn't injured and hiding it like Saunders was. Let's hope that last start was just a fluke. We need Weave to return to form immediately to make this last push to the playoffs.

I didn't see any other post on this subject yet. www.mlbtraderumors.com mentions the Angels are interested in George Sherrill as a setup man. An O's scout was at the game last night. Apparently they're asking for 2 top prospects, possibly Wood and Reckling. To me, that sounds a little steep. With the possibility of Dondo coming back into form, I'd rather gamble on our own boys shaping up. What do you think?