Recently, the grumblings, whinings, and flat out accusations and conspiracy theories over at at our favorite Angels blog have reached an all-time high. The inferiority-complex-driven angst radiating from Halos Heaven has increased several fold over the past week or so with media coverage being devoted to the deaths of Yankee legends Bob Sheppard and George Steinbrenner and Angels fans feeling a little too much self-importance over hosting an All-Star Game that nobody watched. But more on that later. In this letter, I will address several of the absurd claims made by Angels fans at Halos Heaven about media bias, payroll, conspiracies, Steinbrenner, and various other things.

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With Roy Halladay gone, the title of best pitcher in the American League has been up for grabs this season. Going into the season, it looked like established aces such as CC Sabathia, Zack Greinke, Justin Verlander, and Felix Hernandez were going to battle for the spot. However, while these guys have struggled, others have thrived. Here are my top 10 pitchers in the AL based on this season only (with some bias regarding how I think they will perform from here on out):

1. Cliff Lee - This guy has been nothing but filthy this season. His 2.88 ERA doesn't lead the league, but his 1.93 FIP does. His WHIP is only 0.93, thanks in part to an insane 0.52 BB/9. His 7.86 K/9 is not elite, but it doesn't have to be - his K/BB is an even 15.00 (!) thanks to that incredibly low walk rate. His BABIP is right around league average, so he hasn't even been that lucky - if his 63.7% strand rate was closer to league average he would have the best ERA in the AL.

2. Jon Lester - There's very little not to like about Jon Lester (except for the fact that he pitches for the Red Sox). He's proven that the huge jump in his strikeout rate from last season is here to stay with an elite 9.42 K/9 so far. His .208 BAA is 2nd in the league, and his 3.09 FIP is 4th. His walk rate (3.81) is relatively high, but there's no questioning who's the ace of the Boston staff.

3. Francisco Liriano - The 2.9% HR/FB rate is probably not going to last. The 9.71 K/9 will, though, and with a career low walk rate (2.34), Liriano has been one of the biggest surprises of the season. His 2.11 FIP is second to only Cliff Lee and he's done it all despite a career high .345 BABIP. Even if he gives up a few more home runs, his xFIP (2.95) is the best in the league. He's also been the most valuable pitcher in the AL this year according to WAR - his 3.3 wins have been worth $13.1 million.

4. Jered Weaver - His 9.86 K/9 is second in the league to only Brandon Morrow and his 4.17 K/BB is 4th. His WHIP is only 1.17 and his 3.29 ERA (13th) is backed by a 3.20 FIP (6th), which shows that his stuff has been at least as good as his stats would indicate.

5. Phil Hughes - No homerism here. Hughes has finally delivered on his potential by becoming one of the 10 best pitchers in the American League. He's posted a great 8.84 K/9 and a nice 1.13 WHIP. His 3.11 ERA is only surpassed by his 2.90 FIP - third in the AL.

6. Clay Buchholz - Buchholz's middling 6.19 K/9 is nowhere near what he put up in the minors, and his 3.63 BB/9 isn't that great either. Still, his 2.67 ERA is good for 4th in the AL and his 3.42 FIP is 9th. His 3.9% HR/FB rate is unsustainable, though, and his 4.20 xFIP warns of what will happen when it regresses.

7. Felix Hernandez - King Felix didn't have a good start to the season, so his numbers aren't as good as some of the others on this list. But the strikeouts are still there (8.37 K/9) and he's starting to come around - he's had 6 quality starts in his last 7 outings.

8. David Price - Price has begun to live up to his full potential in 2010, but he's not quite as good as his league leading 2.31 ERA suggests. His .225 BAA (helped along by a .265 BABIP) is good, but his 6.72 K/9 and 3.68 BB/9 are not. That 80.3% strand rate probably also isn't going to last. Price's season is representative of the Rays' rotation as a whole - excellent, but not as amazing as they'd like you to believe. With a 3.87 FIP, he has the largest FIP-ERA differential in the league. Expect him to come back down to earth during the second half of the season.

9. Shaun Marcum - In the wake of Halladay's departure, Marcum has provided the Jays with excellent pitching and made a serious case for the Comeback Player of the Year award. His 6.53 K/9 isn't great, but his 1.75 BB/9 is, and it's good enough for 5th in the AL. His 1.10 WHIP is also tied for 5th.

10. John Danks - Danks has quietly been quite good this year. His 3.31 FIP is 8th in the league, and right on line with his 3.27 ERA. None of his peripherals - 7.13 K/9, 3.16 BB/9, 1.22 WHIP - are mind-blowing, but they're pretty solid. After not allowing more than 3 runs (and then only once) in his first 10 starts, he saw his ERA rise by nearly a full run after a 4 inning, 8 ER outing on May 29.

Honorable mentions go to the aforementioned Zack Greinke and Justin Verlander as well as Andy Pettitte, Ricky Romero, Doug Fister, and Colby Lewis.

So who are your 10 best pitchers in the American League? Who would you hand to ball to at the All-Star Game with home field advantage in the World Series at stake? Who did I miss or overrate? Let the comments flow.

P.S. - Here's a quiz I made on the top 100 Yankees of all time by WAR. Enjoy!

The MLB.com All Star ballot is up, and Francisco Cervelli, aka God, needs your help! We all know that he's the best catcher in the American League, but the rest of the baseball world needs some convincing. Cervelli is hitting well over .400 and has an OPS greater than 1.000. Those look like All Star numbers to me. However, he faces stiff competition. Last year, Joe Mauer received over 4.3 million votes en route to becoming the starting catcher for the AL at the ASG. In order to beat him soundly, we need Cervelli to get about 5 million votes.

The All Star Game is on July 13th. I don't know when voting ends, but we'll assume that it's at least a week before that. That gives us 69 days to submit 5 million votes, or about 72,500 votes per day. 25 votes are allowed per email address, meaning we will need 200,000 email addresses.

Here's how voting works:

Go to MLB.com and click on the All Star Game banner at the top of the page. In order to vote, you'll need to enter a valid email address, your zip code, your birthdate, and the security code. You'll also probably want to uncheck the box which asks if they can send you promotional emails (checked by default) unless you're using a disposable email address (more on that later).

Now, proceed to fill out the voting form. Choose the circles next to your favorite players (or all the Yankees starters), but do not select any of the AL catchers. You can only pick one player at each position except outfield, where you can pick three. Now, at the bottom of the form, there is a write-in box. Write in "Francisco Cervelli" and select Yankees and Catcher from the team and position drop-down lists. Continue on to the NL form, where you can select whoever you want (preferably terrible players to give us a better chance of winning home field advantage in the World Series, or just the entire Pirates team for amusement). Submit your ballot, and it will display it with the option of voting again.

Voting again is extremely easy. The entire form will be already filled out for you except for the security code, so all you have to do is type it in and uncheck the promotions box if you wish and then click through it. It shouldn't take more than a couple minutes to use up all of your 25 votes.

Now, once you've used up your 25 votes, you will need to create a new email address. This shouldn't take very long, either. There are numerous websites which will generate a temporary, but valid email address. My personal favorite is www.fakenamegenerator.com simply because it will also generate a name, birth date, address, and other information. This will give you a whole new set of information to use. Head on over to MLB.com and repeat the entire process.

We need 2900 people vote 25 times every day until the All Star Game. Obviously, voting more than that would be great, as would recruiting additional people to the cause. It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes a day to get in your 25 votes. You can do it during commercial breaks if you're watching the game. It may seem unrealistic, but remember that a team of only about a dozen rigged TIME's annual online poll to determine the 100 most influential people in the world. And they arranged the entire top 21.

These votes will not just benefit Cervelli. Assuming that the majority of us vote for Yankees on the rest of the ballot, we will probably see Jeter, A-Rod, Cano, Tex, Granderson, and others with highly inflated vote totals as well. Which means, of course, that the AL All-Star team will basically be the Yankees with less suck (no Winn on the bench).

Here's to seeing Cervelli behind the plate for the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning in the 2010 All Star Game. May His will be done.

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UPDATE: Powervoting

This may be easier than we thought. There is a way to bypass the security codes. After voting once, instead of clicking the "Vote again" link, just refresh using F5. Since your form entries are entirely contained within the URL, it will submit the form again. Wait for the page to load before refreshing again to make sure it counts. Count to 25 (or 30 to be safe), then click the Vote again link, type in a new email address, zip code, and birth date, type in the security code, click through, and start refreshing. It's now possible to vote 25 times in about a minute if you have a decent internet connection.

One of the major storylines following the Yankees throughout last season and now this season was that of the "core four" longtime Yankees - Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada. Could they win another championship together? How many milestones will they pass? How many records will they set? Unfortunately, the core four are all on the wrong side of 35, and despite their continued excellence, we have to accept that probably within the next five years or so, there will come a time when Pettitte will not throw 8 innings of four-hit ball, Jorge won't be going 2-4 with a home run, 2 runs, and an RBI, and Mariano won't be coming out of the bullpen in the 9th to close out yet another win (his 530 saves represent 5.54% of all 9584 wins in Yankees history, not to mention the games he's finished that weren't counted as saves).

So now might be a good time to start looking towards the future. After all, back in 1996, the Yankees organization had to suspect that those young guys on the roster had a chance at Yankee greatness. Who is on the Yankees right now that will still be here in 10 years? Will any of them be around for 15 years or more, as the current core four have? Who is waiting in the minors?

Here are a few candidates:

1. Robinson Cano (27) - It seems like Robbie has been here forever, considering he's played 5 full seasons in a Yankees uniform, which is longer than anyone else on the roster outside of the core four and A-Rod. But Robbie's only 27, and he's just hitting his prime. He's also probably the best second baseman in baseball not named Chase Utley, a certain leprechaun in Boston be damned. The Yankees have options for Cano through 2013, and if his production continues, they will almost certainly sign him for longer. Cano will be a premier second baseman and a Yankee mainstay for years to come.

2. Joba Chamberlain (24) and Phil Hughes (23) - An absurd amount of time and energy has been devoted to speculation about the future of these two young pitchers in the Yankees organization. Both of them have shown signs of promise and contributed in various ways to one World Series championship already. However, as the recent departure of Ian Kennedy, a fellow member of the Yankees pitching prospect trio that was given so much hype in 2007, shows, nothing is guaranteed. Joba and Hughes have top level talent, and at least one of them probably has a future in the bullpen as Mariano's successor, while the other will find himself in the rotation. However, we'll need to see some very good numbers from them if they want to land long-term contracts once their arbitration years end. 150+ innings with a sub 4.50 ERA would be a good start.

3. Brett Gardner (26) - As the Yankees speed demon has proven, he is good enough to be an everyday outfielder. His hitting has been very good thus far and he has enough speed to turn ground balls into infield singles and steal 50+ bases a season while providing valuable defense. The only question is whether he will be given the chance, with Carl Crawford hitting free agency next year. Gardner is similar to Crawford in many ways, though, and much cheaper. Even if the Yankees do sign Crawford, I wouldn't be surprised if Gardner found playing time in right field, as Nick Swisher could move into the DH spot if it isn't needed for Posada and Johnson is let go. Swisher himself is only signed through 2011.

4. Jesus Montero (20) - Otherwise known as the son of Francisco Cervelli, Montero seems destined to hit the majors sometime in 2010 or 2011. With a bat often compared to that of Miguel Cabrera, Montero may be the successor to Jorge at catcher. Cervelli will maintain a backup role and Austin Romine is another high-level catching prospect who may find himself in the mix, but Montero has the opportunity to add to a Yankee legacy of excellence at the catching position, with predecessors such as Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra, Elston Howard, Thurman Munson, and Jorge Posada.

What do you think? Who are our next core four? Who will we still be talking about in 2020? How many championships can these guys look forward to?

AL only league, 10 teams. The scoring formula is complicated but basically runs and RBIs are worth the most, and ERA is far more important than saves, wins, or strikeouts. Also, you can pick any 8 pitchers you want, but if your team does not have a minimum of 1050 innings you will be given the difference at a 5.50 ERA.

C: Victor Martinez, 3rd round

1B: Michael Cuddyer, 6th round

2B: Ian Kinsler, 4th round

SS: Marco Scutaro, 8th round

3B: Brandon Wood, 15th round

OF: Carl Crawford, 2nd round

OF: Torii Hunter, 9th round

OF: Franklin Gutierrez, 10th round

DH: Luke Scott, 13th round

Bench:

Travis Snider, OF, 16th round

Austin Jackson, OF, 17th round

Scott Podsednik, OF, 19th round

Jack Wilson, SS, 20th round

Ty Wigginton, 1B/3B, 23rd round

Pitchers:

Felix Hernandez, 1st round

John Danks, 5th round

Nick Blackburn, 7th round

David Price, 11th round

David Aardsma, 12th round

Shaun Marcum, 14th round

Matt Guerrier, 18th round

Brad Ziegler, 21st round

Minors (can be brought up or traded at All-Star break):

Kevin Millwood, 22nd round

Darren O'Day, 24th round

Vin Mazzaro, 25th round

Willie Bloomquist, 26th round

Ramon Ramirez, 27th round

Notes: I know, I know. Three BlowSux and no Yanks. V-Mart in the 3rd round was too good to pass up, though, and there was a run on shortstops which is already a thin position. I'm hoping Scutaro wins the leadoff spot. Ramirez was just a crapshoot in the last round to see if he ends up being worth anything. I also try to stay away from Yankees in drafts because I've been known to overvalue them. I was drafting 4th in odd numbered rounds and 7th in even numbered ones, and was quite pleased to get King Felix for the 4th pick (1-2-3 went A-Rod, Greinke, Longoria - I would have picked Longoria if the guy in front of me had taken Felix). I was also happy about getting Kinsler in the 4th round. I didn't like having to pick Blackburn, but the guy right in front of me took Scott Baker and I needed a pitcher. I think that Price was a bargain in the 11th, though, and I picked up some sleepers in Snider and AJax. Most of the later rounds are just desperation (see Wigginton, Ty) - you have to pick at least one position player for your minors so that's where Bloomquist came from. I know it seems ridiculous, but don't hate too much :P.

The draft is on! Pinstripe Alley's Yahoo Rotisserie Fantasy Baseball League is now full, and in a little under 30 minutes, one lucky manager will be drafting Albert Pujols (or possibly Hanley Ramirez, although Free Bradshaw isn't in the league) while the rest of us look on in jealousy. I'll post the draft order as soon as it's generated - right now, it says that the draft is loading and a link will appear to it shortly. Good luck everyone!

UPDATE:

The draft order is as follows:

1. GriffMan

2. long time listener

3. Leviticus6688

4. Scooby Snacks

5. Sons of Pitches

6. Jramey

7. NYYBlazerFN

8. brooklynsoul

9. YankeesJets

10. YankeesRock (yours truly)

11. Bronx Bombers / YankeesRock27

12. donnybaseball23

13. eforrest

14. Sunday Driver Yea

15. Wraithpk

16. moose35

So far, only YankeesJets and myself are actually in the draft lobby. Interesting note: GriffMan, the one who landed first pick, notified me via email that he would be on a plane during the draft and couldn't make it. So Pujols is gone for sure. 20 minutes to go, here's hoping everyone else shows up.

If you're in the Pinstripe Alley rotisserie fantasy baseball league, don't forget about the draft, which is scheduled for tomorrow at 7pm eastern time. The league ID is 144410 and the password is "number28". Currently there are 14 of 16 spots filled, so if anyone else is interested in joining, there's still some room.

See you all tomorrow at 7!

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For members of the Yahoo Rotisserie league (ID:  144410, password "number28"), which of the following times works best for a draft (see poll below)?

Note that those are just times, not dates. We can pick a date once we have a time. I still need input on what rules you guys want to play by. Please give me suggestions. Also, there's still plenty of room in the league (7/16 spots full), so new players are welcome.

I was bored. It led to a lot of Wikipedia browsing (and some baseball-reference browsing).

1. Which Yankee led the AL in OBP in 1971?

2. Which Yankees team holds the franchise record for most runs scored in a season?

3. Which Yankee pitcher compiled a 120-50 win-loss record over 8 seasons, going to the All-Star game four times and winning 6 World Series rings?

4. Which player led the AL in home runs four years straight (1911-1914) before joining the Yankees in 1916?

5. Which Yankee won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 1951?

6. Who holds the Yankees single-season hits record? What year did he accomplish the feat?

7. Which Yankee led the AL in RBI in 1945?

8. What year did the Yankees change their name from the New York Highlanders to the New York Yankees?

9. What Yankee pitcher went 20-4 with a 1.63 ERA en route to winning the AL MVP in 1943?

10. What Yankee set the MLB single season wins record with 41 wins in 1904, but lost the pennant on a wild pitch?

Yahoo just opened it's 2010 season (I would have been right on it, but I had an art history review session...) and it's time for some fantasy baseball. I've created a Roto league with the default settings (I really dislike head-to-head because it becomes more about strategizing which stats to win and which to punt than picking good players).

The league ID# is 144410 and the password is "number28". All of the settings can be changed to whatever you guys want - I don't have many preferences. Start joining!

Note: The date and time of the draft will depend on when people are available. Please give at least one date which works for you as well as any days you are not available (even something general like "Monday nights" is helpful). I will narrow it down to a few dates and create a poll to decide the final date and time.

Since I'm a person who loves to procrastinate and also loves statistics you can imagine that I spend a lot of time on Sporcle taking as many baseball quizzes as I can find. However, there seems to be an unfortunately low number of Yankee fans and therefore very few quizzes about the Yankees. So I created my own.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/Gangsterls/YankeesGamesByPosition

Some of the names are pretty surprising. I might have made a few mistakes, so tell me if anything looks suspicious. Have fun.

If we obtain another outfielder, either by signing Matt Holliday or Jason Bay to expensive, long-term contracts or resigning Johnny Damon to a two-year deal, we will have one too many outfielders. The Cubs are reportedly interested in Melky Cabrera or Brett Gardner as a replacement for recently traded center fielder Milton Bradley. It is possible that Cashman would trade Melky or Gardner to the Cubs for pitching. The Cubs pitcher I am most interested in getting is Randy Wells, a right-hander who pitched his first full season in 2009 and turned 27 in August.

Wells had a great first season in 2009, posting a 12-10 record with a 3.05 ERA (10th in the NL), 104 strikeouts, and 46 walks in 165.1 innings with a solid WHIP of 1.28 en route to a 6th place finish in the Rookie of the Year voting. He's not a big strikeout pitcher, but his walk rate is excellent. His fastball is around 90 mph, and he throws an excellent slider and an average changeup. Fangraphs suggests that he was worth 3.0 WAR, or $13.5M in 2009. On top of all of that, he's much cheaper than Sheets, Bedard, and the other free agent SP on the market.

It's hard to believe that 2009 was Melky's fourth full season in the MLB. Though he's only 24, Melky already has nearly 2000 PAs. He's a career .269 / .331 / .385 hitter, and while he plays good defense and his numbers may improve as he enters his prime, he's not making the league minimum anymore either, and he has a career OPS+ of 88, and has always been either average (99 in 2009) or terrible (68 in 2008). He's going to get better, but why hold onto him when Brett Gardner is faster, cheaper, plays better defense, and was more valuable in 2009 while getting much less playing time (2.1 WAR vs. 1.6 WAR)? I appreciate Melky's contributions to the Yankees over the past four years, but he's not that valuable to us.

We might not be able to get Wells for Melky straight up, and Cashman may not want to trade Melky unless we sign another OF (which I am opposed to, as it limits our options during next year's massive offseason), but if I had the chance, I would take it in a heartbeat.

According to MLBTR, the Yankees are nearing a one year deal with Nick Johnson worth approximately $5.5-6 million, or about the same price for which we could have gotten back Hideki Matsui, who signed with the Angels for a one year, $6 million deal on Wednesday. This makes it highly unlikely that the Yankees will bring back Johnny Damon, who will want at least a two year deal worth $20 million or more. Both Johnson and Matsui are injury risks but are cheaper than Damon and provide more flexibility next year when a large crop of free agents that includes Joe Mauer hits the market, giving the Yankees the possibility of signing Mauer and moving Jorge Posada to DH.

At this point, you have to wonder what made Brian Cashman decide to take Johnson, an ex-Yankee, over Matsui, a career Yankee and postseason hero. Let's look at their statistics:

Nick Johnson, 30:

2009: 8 HR, 62 RBI, 99BB, .291 / .426 / .405, .831 OPS, 122 OPS+

Career: .273 / .402 / .447, .849 OPS, 125 OPS+

Hideki Matsui, 35:

2009: 28 HR, 90 RBI, 64BB, .274 / .367 / .509, .876 OPS, 131 OPS+

Johnson's power numbers were down in 2009, although his low RBI total is a result of playing for the Nationals and the Marlins. Both Johnson and Matsui are left-handed, so Johnson can expect his HR totals to rise thanks to the short porch in Yankee Stadium. He posted a better average than Matsui and a much better walk rate which led to an excellent OBP - higher than his slugging percentage. Johnson also gives us a bit more flexibility than Matsui, as he can play a fair first base on days when Mark Teixeira is DHing.

Matsui is probably the better pure hitter than Johnson and has better power and a much better slugging percentage. However, he doesn't walk quite as much, though his OBP isn't terrible. Whereas Johnson will find his way into the #2 spot where his high OBP will lead to a lot of RBIs for Teixeira and A-Rod, Matsui is better suited to the #5 spot, where his strong bat will provide some protection to A-Rod above him. Matsui also has other benefits, namely his professionalism and the Japanese fanbase that he attracts, which provides an additional source of revenue and increases Yankee popularity in the world's second-largest baseball market (baseball is Japan's most popular sport) and the source of many future high profile free agents coming out of the same league that produced Matsui and Ichiro Suzuki.

You can't argue with Cashman's decision to go with Johnson's high OBP over Matsui's bat and creaky knees, but it does make me sad to see Matsui go after the great, productive run here and the amazing finish to the postseason. Matsui is a great player and professional and keeping him would remind Japan that there are more teams out there than the Seattle Mariners. However, since it looks like Johnson in pinstripes (again) is going to become a reality, it's better to look ahead than look back.

Johnson is an injury risk and will probably only play 100-120 games even if he is healthy as we will need to rest A-Rod, Jorge, Jeter, and Teixeira on occasion (can someone give Robinson Cano some credit for averaging 160 games played for the past three seasons?). Thankfully, as others have pointed out, we have a fully serviceable DH in Juan Miranda who can take Johnson's place if (when?) he gets injured. Mirandi hit 19 HRs and had 82 RBI in 122 games this season for SWB, hitting .290 / .369 / .498. However, strikeouts may be a concern, as he struck out 101 times in 438 AB. In 8 games in the majors this season, he had 3 hits in 9 AB with a HR and 4 strikeouts.

The one good thing about this is that it guarantees that the Yankees won't be signing Vladimir Guerrero, as it was rumored that they would do so in retaliation for the Angels signing Matsui.

In Cash We Trust.

According to MLBTR, the Yankees have resigned Pettitte to a 1 year, $11.75MM deal. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few incentives in there as well.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/12/andy-pettitte-yankees-closing-in-on-deal.html

I'm glad to see that Andy has decided to return for another year. This will secure the rotation, although picking up another starter would certainly help. Cashman has made all the right moves in the early going to keep us headed towards #28. Andy deserved to get paid this year after being underpaid last season.

Now that we have Curtis Granderson, what do we do about the rest of our OF?

We've got Melky, Swish, and Gardner already. I think that Damon is asking for too much and will sign with another team since we have no need for him. If we signed Holliday or Bay, our OF would be amazing, but we would probably have to trade away either Melky or Gardner after that. I've heard suggestions that one of them could be used in a deal for Halladay, but an offseason involving us picking up Granderson, Holliday/Bay, and Halladay seems almost too good to be true. Who will play left? Melky? What should we do to fill our remaining spots in the OF? Could Nick Swisher possibly be moved to DH if we don't resign Matsui?

Basically, the way I see it, if we sign someone big this offseason or make a trade it has to be a strong #2 starter to anchor our rotation. Burnett is not meant to be a #2 starter. Some days he's lights out, but other days he's so bad it's bewildering. We need someone more reliable.

Unfortunately for us, the free agent market is very thin this year, especially in terms of starting pitchers. John Lackey is the only true ace available and would give us an incredible 1-2 punch pitching after CC. Unfortunately, he is also a type A free agent and will command a sizeable deal along the lines of what Burnett got, perhaps more. That being said, he's a better pitcher than Burnett, and younger as well, but he also has a rough history with injuries, missing significant portions of the last two seasons. We can't say for sure whether the front office will be willing to spend big again after last offseason, especially with Cashman looking to lower the payroll.

There are a number of other options as well. Erik Bedard is a good type B free agent who has shown some excellent stuff over the past few seasons.However, he also has a history of injuries. He had a fantastic beginning to 2009 before getting injured in May and missing the rest of the season. He would be excellent if he can stay healthy and still a strong #2.

Ben Sheets is another type B free agent whose name is often mentioned. If it weren't for this thin market, I doubt he'd be considered, but his numbers have been fairly decent (career 3.72 ERA). He is yet another oft-injured pitcher, and missed the entirety of the 2009 season following elbow surgery. Not only that, he has spent his entire career in the inferior National League, and his ERA could jump by half a point entering the AL. I'd say pass on this one.

Rich Harden is a type B possibility. He has a career 3.39 ERA and is relatively young compared to most of the others at 28. He didn't have a great 2009 with a 4.09 ERA for the Cubs, but is a power pitcher who gets a lot of strikeouts. He's had some injuries, but not recently. I wouldn't mind seeing him in pinstripes.

Justin Duchscherer is a type B free agent who might be considered. His numbers have been great (career 3.14 ERA for Oakland) and he was an All Star in 2008. However, Duchscherer is a strange case, to say the least. He's had some injuries in the past, and was scheduled to return to the A's in August this year after surgery, but was diagnosed with depression and missed the rest of the year. If you'll remember, another pitcher by the name of Zack Greinke was diagnosed with depression and came back on a rampage. Duchscherer could be cheap, and would be a low risk, high ceiling type guy if we signed him.

Then there's a wild card in Cuban Aroldis Chapman. Chapman, a 22 year old who has never pitched in the major leagues, is one of the most hyped prospects in recent memory. His fastball can reach 100mph. The bidding for him will likely go pretty high, but with the Red Sox interested the Yankees may join in just to prevent him from going to them. It would be expensive and risky, which I don't think is what this team needs right now, but like all risks, it has a high reward potential.

I hope we get one of the pitchers above. Much of 2009 was spent with no real #5 starter and a weak #4 in Joba, who was good but had a terrible end to the season. This is primarily because Wang blew up early in the season and we were forced to rely on Gaudin or Mitre throwing every 5th day to get by. I think that Joba is destined for the rotation, but he needs more time to develop. He should be in the #5 spot. Gaudin and Mitre are trash. Our first priority should be to convince Andy to come back. Andy should be offered a contract every year until he decides to retire. If we sign someone, Burnett can be dropped to #3 and Andy will be an excellent #4 starter. With Wang coming back around the All-Star break, we can give him a few starts and if he reaches his previous level of excellence we will have one of the best rotations in the history of baseball. He can be placed in the #4 spot and Andy can move down to #5. Joba can go to the bullpen where he will pitch well and avoid his end-of-season collapse. If Wang can't recover, we still have a great rotation and since our offense is already excellent, we should be able to easily repeat in 2010.

Interesting to see Red Sox fans' reaction to the ridiculous paranoia of Rev Halofan on OTM.

I know we've talked about how classless the Angels fans on HH are, and some have mentioned that they prefer OTM. And I really have to agree - despite the tone of the author of the post ("our friend Rev at Halos Heaven"), most of the Sox fans don't seem to buy into it. Not only do they argue that Mo is not a cheat, they also recognize the difference between supporting your team and blind hatred of your opponents. Thoughts?

Check out the incredible lyricism and high level of intelligence displayed by this Angels fan's rap:

Posted by Ari Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:45 pm EDT

Yo i am the angels a world series title more recent
We dont buy our team we just win for a reason
Not one steroid user in the past 10 years
Didnt buy aroid, pettiteroid, rocket, or any queers
Cus we the Angels and we breakin through the yanks
We not about to stop cus the other team has a bigger bank
We built with winners that no how to hoist a trophy
It aint about dating madonna and nothing but the glory
Beat LA is the only chant u got
Yall cant stop the halos who are just too hot
So get ready we gona beat u in six
This is fate something money wont fix

How can we ever compete with such genius? We might as well forfeit the series right now and go home.

Seriously. I knew that Angels fans were delusional, but this takes the cake.