MLB Trade Rumors: Angels Looking for a Bat

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that with injuries to Howie Kendrick and Garrett Anderson and poor performance by Shea Hillenbrand, the Angels are stepping up their efforts to improve their anemic offense via the trade market.  Reportedly, the Angels are kicking the tires on several players, including "Colorado third baseman Garrett Atkins and outfielders Brad Hawpe and Jeff Baker, outfielders Kevin Mench (Milwaukee), Jacque Jones (Chicago Cubs), Pat Burrell (Philadelphia) and Emil Brown (Kansas City), and third basemen Morgan Ensberg (Houston) and Edwin Encarnacion (Cincinnati)."

The Angels are hoping to deal from a starting rotation that goes seven deep, dangling Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders and Dustin Moseley, and the hope is that whoever they obtain, the player can first fill in for Anderson in left field and then move to designated hitter when Anderson returns in a month or so.

In this scenario, Pat Burrell would be a great fit for the Angels, however its hard to see how the deal could work for the Phillies.  The Phils need relievers, not starters, and Burrell is one of the few hitters on the team that can provide power from the right side of the plate.  Perhaps if the Phillies knew that Aaron Rowand and Shane Victorino would stay hot or that Wes Helms would get hot, they would be more willing to deal, or, if what the Angels were offering was the type of reliever the Phillies need, then perhaps something could be worked out.

But as it stands, those are probably too many "ifs" to overcome.

Tom Goyne is the author of Balls, Sticks, & Stuff, a Phillies-centric site, and maintains the Phloggers’ Pheeds page, a source for the latest commentary from around the "phlogosphere". Recently, he teamed up with his brother to launch Roto Front Office.