If I'm Hamilton I take that contract with the Angels too, regardless of what Texas offers.

The Angels OF will hit more home runs than the entire Marlins team in 2013. Someone write that down.

 

Bourjos won't hit many.

Man, I love watching Hamilton play baseball... but as a closet Dodgers fan, this sucks. Whatever.

Bourjos won't hit many.

 

Is he even gonna be an Angel in 2013?

They have some deep pockets - I see this deal being a bad one but not as bad as the Albert one is looking - maybe they'll actually make the playoffs this year!

Jon Heyman ‏@JonHeymanCBS

 

hamilton has 4th biggest OF contract in LA: $160M (kemp), $142M (crawford), $126M (wells). and trout may be best of all

Smart move. I'd rather give that kind of money to an everyday player than Greinke.

This may be a dumb question, but why doesn't a big market team like the Cubs try to improve like the Angels and just buy, buy, buy players? Are the Cubs short on money? I can't imagine again how bad that team will be this year. I know they sell out every game no matter what, but I don't see how anybody in their right mind could stand going to see that rotten team play. I'd fall asleep in the stands.

Buy buy doesn't always work, Angels have been trying it, and actually raising the bar on it, and haven't won a WS in the recent y ears, it always isn't an guarantee of anything.

 

And y eah, the Cubs are short on money, Ricketts paid agreed at top dollar then the economy flopped, also, he was expecting the State and/or city to bend over backwards to give him money to fix the stadium, and he was literally laughed at by many with his first proposal for Wrigley funding.

Jon Heyman ‏@JonHeymanCBS

 

hamilton has 4th biggest OF contract in LA: $160M (kemp), $142M (crawford), $126M (wells). and trout may be best of all

It will be interesting to see what type of clauses Angels got, I mean there's no way you could give somebody with his history a contract like this without some serious protection.

Wow.

 

The first thing thought that came to me after I was done processing this development was how I'd love to see them miss the playoffs. Dodgers too.

 

SATAN KNOWS NO AREA CODE

 

Edited December 13, 201213 yr by Swingandalongonetoleft

Seriously, this far and no one yet has made a joke about how much the Angels love their outfielders?

Never thought we would see super teams in baseball. And the days of excessively riding yankees/red sox when it comes to financial power are over. LA > anyone money wise.

Are LAA team to beat in AL, favorite, on paper anyway?

They'll be selling crack to pay for the contract

Are LAA team to beat in AL, favorite, on paper anyway?

 

I'll say the Rangers are still a little better. The Tigers and Yankees are probably better too. The Angels rotation is nothing special and they had to throw a fair amount of money at their pen to make it adequate.

Are LAA team to beat in AL, favorite, on paper anyway?

 

Not sure they're done yet. They need another SP and have assets to acquire that. Pujols is key (i know. obvious). The last two years have easily been the worst of his career (they'd be outstanding numbers for 85% of the league). If he continues to trend downward and Hamilton can't give you at least 140 games, then they'll still be very good, just not great. If Pujols goes '10 on us, hamilton play 140+ games and Mike Trout continues to be the best player in baseball, it's a wrap for that division.

Peter Bourjos! Do it!

I'll say the Rangers are still a little better. The Tigers and Yankees are probably better too. The Angels rotation is nothing special and they had to throw a fair amount of money at their pen to make it adequate.

Let's not forget about the very young team that actually stood up and won 94 games and that division.

Let's not forget about the very young team that actually stood up and won 94 games and that division.

 

I think we can forget about them, they won't even win 90 next year.

I think we can forget about them, they won't even win 90 next year.

I would have said the same thing about them last year. What has happened to make them worse? Losing Brandon McCarthy? Stephen Drew?

I would have said the same thing about them last year. What has happened to make them worse? Losing Brandon McCarthy? Stephen Drew?

 

Lost McCarthy, lost Gomes (replaced by Chris Young), and I really doubt that pitchers and players who have been around forever and ever like Brandon Moss (.954 OPS) and Travis Blackley (3.86 ERA) will continue to find such consistent success. I also wonder about the effectiveness of Bartolo Colon going into next season as well. They have plenty of talent, but there are plenty more questions.

If we really want to do a tally on this, here's the fWAR on some of the guys they lost last year:

 

Torii Hunter: 5.3 (man he had a ridiculous season didn't he)

Greinke ~1.3 (had him for 1/3 of the season)

Dan Haren: 1.8 (was a 6 WAR guy the year before)

Jordan Walden: 0.5

Maicer Izturis: 0.7

 

They've added:

Tommy Hanson 1 WAR last year, >2 WAR in better previous years

Ryan Madson: 1.7

Sean Burnett: 1.1

Joe Blanton: 2.4

Josh Hamilton: ~5

 

They're strengthened their bullpen, but in the fWAR world, Hamilton puts them pretty close to where they were last year, unless he can return to being an MVP type player despite getting older. Their rotation is pretty much where it was last year unless someone gets better.

 

If we want to talk about them as the best team in the AL, they need to add to their rotation or have someone else on their roster step up. They definitely have guys who could do so (Pujols, Trumbo, Morales), but they also have guys who could step back with age or injury, and then that's all counting on Mike Trout repeating one of the best seasons in MLB history.

Lost McCarthy, lost Gomes (replaced by Chris Young), and I really doubt that pitchers and players who have been around forever and ever like Brandon Moss (.954 OPS) and Travis Blackley (3.86 ERA) will continue to find such consistent success. I also wonder about the effectiveness of Bartolo Colon going into next season as well. They have plenty of talent, but there are plenty more questions.

 

What he said. They seemed to get a lot of production from unexpected sources, and I don't expect them to get the same contributions from everyone again.

If we really want to do a tally on this, here's the fWAR on some of the guys they lost last year:

 

Torii Hunter: 5.3 (man he had a ridiculous season didn't he)

Greinke ~1.3 (had him for 1/3 of the season)

Dan Haren: 1.8 (was a 6 WAR guy the year before)

Jordan Walden: 0.5

Maicer Izturis: 0.7

 

They've added:

Tommy Hanson 1 WAR last year, >2 WAR in better previous years

Ryan Madson: 1.7

Sean Burnett: 1.1

Joe Blanton: 2.4

Josh Hamilton: ~5

 

They're strengthened their bullpen, but in the fWAR world, Hamilton puts them pretty close to where they were last year, unless he can return to being an MVP type player despite getting older. Their rotation is pretty much where it was last year unless someone gets better.

 

If we want to talk about them as the best team in the AL, they need to add to their rotation or have someone else on their roster step up. They definitely have guys who could do so (Pujols, Trumbo, Morales), but they also have guys who could step back with age or injury, and then that's all counting on Mike Trout repeating one of the best seasons in MLB history.

 

I honestly don't like the Angels' rotation much. I mean, Weaver's great. But Wilson had a down year last season and who knows how his arm will hold up. Hanson was awful last year and Blanton is a decent #4 or #5. Maybe a full season of Trout + Hamilton and a non-awful month of April for Pujols can make their rotation issues less obvious.

 

Yeah, I don't know that I would call the Angels the favorite right now. The pitching leaves a lot to be desired. We all know it baseball it isn't how well you hit the ball, its how well you pitch and catch it.

Jon Heyman ‏@JonHeymanCBS

 

Think this has been mentioned, but there is NO language in hamilton's #angels contract related to his past issues.