The Angels are next in our Offseason In Review series.
Major League Signings
- Scott Downs, RP: three years, $15MM. Angels also gave #74 overall draft pick to Blue Jays.
- Hisanori Takahashi, RP: two years, $8MM.
- Total spend: $23MM.
Notable Minor League Signings
Trades and Claims
- Acquired LF Vernon Wells and $5MM from Blue Jays for OF Juan Rivera and C/1B Mike Napoli
Notable Losses
Summary
The Angels entered the offseason seemingly ready to spend; they were a strong fit for free agents Carl Crawford, Adrian Beltre, and Rafael Soriano. However, they came up short on all major free agent targets, succeeding only in upgrading the bullpen. Then GM Tony Reagins made matters worse by acquiring Vernon Wells, who has one of the worst contracts in baseball.
Wells has four years and $86MM left on his contract. If we are to consider Juan Rivera to be dead weight, that's $5.25MM cleared, and the Blue Jays reportedly sent another $5MM. The Angels' reluctance over the years to give playing time to Napoli unless they had to indicates they weren't fond of his receiving skills, and I'm guessing they didn't want to pay him $5.8MM in 2011. Still, could have been non-tendered if the Halos didn't want him and he did have trade value by himself. Since he wasn't a pure salary dump, I can't subtract Napoli's contract from Wells' burden even if Arte Moreno does. Ultimately, it's as if the Angels gave Wells a four-year, $75.75MM free agent contract, with the bonuses of opening up an extra roster spot and not having to surrender a draft pick.
Wells isn't a $19MM player at this point in his career, though I am curious what kind of contract he would have gotten this winter as a free agent. I think coming off one good year following a pretty bad one would have set his ceiling at four years and $52MM at the very most. My comparison is Victor Martinez, another player who can handle a premium defensive position but is not regarded as good there. So even with this generous comp, the Angels overpaid Wells by at least $20MM. For the Wells deal to work out for the Angels, he'll need to improve defensively with the switch to left field and have offensive seasons resembling '08 and '10 rather than '07 and '09. You can cherry-pick Wells' 2010 numbers either way, but it was a streaky season bookended by strong performances in April and September. From May through August, he hit .251/.300/.449. The ZiPS projection system calls for .260/.313/.432 in 2011 (and presumably worse in future years), which would make this trade a disaster.
As for lefty relievers Downs and Takahashi, the Angels certainly paid full sticker price. But their bullpen needed the upgrade and such expenses are justified for big budget contending teams.
On the plus side, the Angels have improved their outfield defense, which is crucial given their flyball pitching staff. The Angels have serious offensive concerns, but all of the AL West contenders are flawed. Despite a poor offseason, the Halos' fine rotation may still carry them to the playoffs in 2011.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.
It might be important to note that Downs is hurt “indefinitely.”
I love Scott Downs, but he is so not an athlete.
I remember playing an NL game and he hurt his toe running out a ground ball, he missed like 3 weeks.
I know what you mean, man. I’m a Jays fan, too, and I can remember that time when he hurt his foot fielding a ground ball on wet grass.
It’s all good as long as you don’t tear your Lisfranc thingy. Chien-Ming Wang and Brian Bruney both had that injury and now there are search parties looking for what’s left of their careers.
Thought it was mid to late April, did that change? It’s not like he tore his rotator cuff.
Ah, perhaps I read that before they had finished diagnosing what happened, I remember reading that on mlb.com before. After some Google research, apparently he threw off of a mound a couple days ago but still needs to heal the bone that was injured.
Yeah he’ll start the season on the DL but they said he’ll be fine come mid-April. It’s not serious.
Trades and Claims
•Acquired LF Vernon Wells and $5MM from Blue Jays for OF Juan Rivera and C/1B Mike Napoli
HA!
The $5MM has still not been confirmed to my knowledge, in fact I am pretty sure that the Jays have denied that 5MM was sent.
Thats true, AA said it was not a part of the deal
I doubt the rumour will ever go away, we’re months removed from the trade and it is still being mentioned. AA’s reputation can handle it though.
I still can’t believe he didn’t ask for more money. I’m sure AA would have kicked in 15-20 million just to get the contract off their hands. At the end of the day though the money doesn’t affect the Angels.
I wish the general public somehow was able to see the behind the scenes on this trade.
Considering the pictures that absolutely must be involved, I’m pretty happy in the dark on this one.
This thread should be almost as good as the Yankees one.
But seriously, guys. Vernon Wells?
How often can you acquire a 22 Million dollar a year outfielder for a spare sparts?
How does 22 Million only get a spare parts OF? Thats the bigger question
I think the best gauge for this deal was when I tried to trade Wells for Napoli and J. Rivera in MLB 2K10 and the computer declined the trade.
-wtk
I think most people wouldn’t have made that Wells trade. In The League, they would call that a “trade rape”.
enjoy crawford in red sox when he is 70 years old and on a power chair going after a fly ball.
I didnt know we signed him for a 41yr contract!
Thats awesome…that means he is only making about $3MM per year. With that deal we can sign Pujols!
hahaa well played.
Vernon’s UZR rating would def improve with a power chair.
You’re one of those guys who says ATM machine, aren’t you?
AC Conditioner!
I like your name. It’s fitting.
What offseason?
the angels’ front office can pull a trade like this because they know they will be with the team 10 years down the road. unlike some g.m.’s who sign a player for 7-10 years and leave before the said player will be old and in sorry state.
you’re not welcome
then you are a loser.
try harder
logic fail
almost posted the same thing 30 min ago! 🙂
In years past, I would have tried my best to defend this huge, stinky, steaming pile of an off-season. Now that I’m older and wiser, I just sigh and see it for the desperation that it is. Oh, and I keyed Tony Reagins car.
Unfortunately, Reagins didn’t notice since he’d already traded in his Lexus for a ’94 Corolla.
Hey Tim, just an FYI, the word “premium” can only be used to describe Jeff Mathis.
The silver lining off all of this is that now when I wear my Angels gear around NoCal, I get sympathy instead of sneers or “bandwagon fan” claims.
Watching and listening to as many Angel games as I could this Spring, I don’t know that Wells was bad. Overpaid, sure, but he automatically makes them better. Obviously these are big IFs, but if Bourjous can continue his hitting and base stealing, if Izturis can stay healthy, and if Trumbo can provide pop long enough for Morales to return, this is going to be a very good ball club.
And thus, the IF Days have returned to Anaheim.
The Wells trade was obviously made out of desperation but aside from the money it actually made our outfield a whole lot better than last year. Since it’s only 4 years, it won’t cripple the team if Wells ends up a dud. I was dreading this coming season but I’m beginning to feel optimistic based on good performances in spring training by Aybar, Kendrick, Bourjos, Trumbo, Abreu and even Mathis and Callaspo. If these guy can translate that into the regular season and with our solid rotation and improved bull-pen then I can see us in the post-season. Go Halos!
boston’s signing crawford for 7 years after missing the play-offs seems a very desperate move to me.
I totally agree but you haven’t seen one media outlet say so.
The media is the worst place to use as a frame of reference. No newspaper or website can replace logic and critical thinking (or lack thereof).
.329 lifetime OBP? Same amount of XBH’s as Bobby Abreu? 7 years / $142 million? And they want to give the Angels crap about Vernon Wells? lol
I totally agree with u bro
Only? 4 years isn’t exactly a short commitment.
Compared to the 7 that Boston gave Crawford then yes, 4 years is a shorter term than 7 years. Observe: 4 < 7. Believe it or not, 4 years is also shorter than the 5+ that Texas gave Beltre.
Would you seriously rather have a poor-mediocre player for four years than a good-great player for seven years simply because “4 < 7" ?
Even beyond that, Crawford will be younger at the end of his deal than Wells will at the end of his 4 year deal…
So would you rather have the better player at a younger age for longer
or the older inferior player at more money for less years
Not defending the Wells trade. It’s got few pluses with mostly negatives. However, signing any player to 7 years is risky for teams that are not BOS or NYY in the AL. Believe me, any Angels fan that wouldn’t want Crawford on our team would be lying. It might very well come back to bite Moreno/Reagins for not willing to take a greater risk.
So your crystal ball already guaranteed you that Crawford will be great the entrire 7 years? BOS and NYY will be OK if a 5+ contracts turns out bad. Halos are not quite up there with those guys but they’re not TB either. If a 5- year contract goes bad it won’t totally handcuff LAA (e.g. GMjr).
I never guaranteed he would be great for the whole thing, but Crawford is great now while Wells is not. So would you rather sign a great player to a seven year deal or a mediocre player to a four year deal that pays him more per year than the great player gets?
Some would say you’re using woman’s (i.e. irrational) logic if you’re suggesting that I’m saying that by not signing a guy to a 7 year deal means it’s OK to acquire another guy for 4 years. All I’ve tried to put across is that 4 years is less than 7 and therefore less of a risk. Of course Crawford is more desireable that Wells. Depending what report you believe, the Halo’s FO didn’t want to sign a player for that long.
That’s not really the case. Wells is being paid more per year so, aside from a career ending injury, he actually has a greater ability to handcuff a team with an injury. He also provides much less value to begin with. If all they were worried about was the “low risk” they should have gone after Cust who signed for one year and as an added bonus didn’t cost 80mil but only 2.5 mil, and has provided the same value as Wells over the last three years.
If any of you knew anything, Rivera, Napoli, and the 5M roughly equal 16M. 86-16=70. Its a 4/70M contract now. The redsox paided gave Crawford a huge contract and he has no arm, and no power. In 4 years hell virtually have nothing other then maybe 30+ sb speed, and decent fielding. Were as Well’s is moving to a grass field, and a contender with a team around him in Anaheim. Expect Vernon to repeat lastyears performances, barring any injuries.
It’s a little premature to call Carl Crawford great. 7 years to a table setter with only a .329 lifetime OBP wreaks of desperation.
Crawford has been playing since 2002, so I don’t think it’s too early to call him great. “lifetime OBP?” why would his OBP from almost 10 years ago matter? When you do the more reasonable thing and look at his OBP from his last three healthy years he has a OBP of .358. He had the 4th best OBP on the Rays last year, and would have had the 5th best OBP on the Red Sox last year.
the writer of this article called wells trade a disaster. he is a cubs’ fan. he must not know what disaster in roster management looks like.
I think its important to note they could have moved Napoli for other players so the Angels lost the trade value of Napoli as well.
I remember rumors of Napoli for Joulys Chacin. I think that would have been a better move.