Thursday, December 13, 2012

Angels In The Outfield

Josh Hamilton is reportedly taking his talents to LA. photo credit: thebiglead.com


Turn the spotlight toward Los Angeles, rumor has it tinseltown just got a little more tatted up. Josh Hamilton has reportedly signed with the Angels. Let's hope the reports are right, cause otherwise this is a giant waste of time. And since it's on the internet, it must be true (insert french model "bonjour" joke here). Since the sports world doesn't spend enough time talking about LA already, this ought to do the trick. Even the Lakers are sick of the attention they've been getting. Hell, if the Pistons started the season 9-13, it may have been progress. The Lakers start the season poorly, they fire their coach. I guess there may be a difference in expectations.

That's exactly what the Angels now have: expectations. The Angels have had expectations for a while, actually. They inked Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson last year. They traded for Zack Grienke. They have the greatest general since Patton in Mike Trout (he does dominate WAR). And now (reportedly) they have Josh Hamilton. Ah the beauties of no salary cap. But what does this move do for the fightin' rally monkeys? At first glance, most immediate responses will gravitate in the direction of excitement, I'd think. If I were an Angels fan, I'd be excited. Lose Torii Hunter, gain Josh Hamilton. The Rangers have been stagnant so far, sans moving Michael Young. They've lost Mike Napoli. It looks like they are about to lose Ryan Dempster. And oh yeah, they lost that Hamilton fellow. Could the evil empire be heading towards the setting sun, not the rising sun?

Probably not...let's be realistic. The only person with more money than the Yankees is Warren Buffet. And since he doesn't appear to be interested in buying a baseball team, the Angels can firmly take the grasp as the other team in sports willing to stop at nothing until they buy a championship. I read an article this morning on Chauncey Billups. Now, admittedly, there is no athlete who I have a greater respect for than Chauncey; I absolutely love him and absolutely hate (still) Joe Dumars for that trade. Chauncey is not really relevant to the Angels. But the article brought up the point that the '04-'05 Pistons could end up being the last team in the NBA to win a title without a superstar, forever. I'm nearly positive there won't be another in basketball. And with moves like this, it's starting to cloud the future for a team like that to do it in baseball. With all of these things to consider, I don't think this makes the Angels the front runner for anything.

Baseball is weird. Teams like Oakland can catch fire in a mere second and before you know it...oh no, the Tigers eliminated them, just kidding. But seriously, start up teams make runs in baseball like no other sport. Take the Orioles, for example. Where did that come from? You can even use Oakland, since Baltimore didn't advance either. The point is, the team that just throws money at talent doesn't always win. There's something to be said for doing it the hard way. You draft players, build them in your system, hire the right manager, and before you know you raise a trophy. There are certainly counter examples. The Yankees have won twenty-seven world championships. That's a lot. But even the Yankees seem to be missing out on the highest priced talent these days. Maybe they're starting to figure out that isn't necessarily the best way to accomplish what you want.

The Angels are a weird case though because they won a title doing it the hard way not too long ago. They have a world class manager in Mike Scoscia, and they have developed talent in their system that has succeeded at the major league level. They drafted Trout. They drafted a guy like Mark Trumbo. So that's why this deal just seems to surprise me a little bit. Josh Hamilton is a great player, as is Albert Pujols. They can do things I can't even do in a video game. They're top tier talent. But they aren't going to be top tier talent for much longer. Pujols showed age last year (whatever his age may be), as did Hamilton. And while Hamilton did not get the super-long deal Pujols did, that's a lot of money for a guy who struggled down the stretch and isn't getting any younger.

Can the Angels win a World Series next year? Yes. Any team that has a top four of Trout, Howie Kendrick, Albert Pujols, and Josh Hamilton can win it all. That's a guess on Kendrick by the way, someone has to replace Torii. But the Angels didn't even make the playoffs last year. Not only that, they had two teams finish ahead of them in their own division. They lost a lot of pitching. Yeah they still have Weaver and Wilson, and now Tommy Hanson, but what have those guys ever won? Wilson pitched in the World Series a couple of times, he gets that to his credit, but he isn't their ace. No, that would be the kid brother of the former Tiger great Jeff Weaver. This is a team who said they couldn't afford to go out and sign a big name pitcher like Zack Grienke, yet they go out and sign Josh Hamilton? For $125 million? Something is not right.

Josh Hamilton joins Mark Trumbo and Mike Trout in the LA outfield. photo credit: bleacherreport.com


The move makes the Angels better, no question. I'm just not sure how much better it actually makes them. Hamilton is going to be a similar player to Torii Hunter. He's going to hit more home runs, yes. His role is different than Hunter's. But I don't think he's better than Torii defensively. I don't think he is a better teammate than Hunter. That may not be fair of me to say since I'm not his teammate, but Hamilton doesn't seem to be in the news for his leadership. The move, for me, means the Angels are saying this: This is our chance to win it, and if we fail, oh well, we went down trying. It's a fine strategy and a lot of teams do it. The Tigers may even be doing it. But for Los Angeles, I'm just not sure it's warranted. The Angels have arguably the greatest young talent baseball has seen since ever. Why not keep that money and build around him? I guess you could still do that in the future, there is no salary cap, but $125 million? That's the kind of thing you give to a full-proof investment and that is not what Josh Hamilton is.

From a personal standpoint, I'm not about to criticize Hamilton. Everyone makes mistakes in life and I'm sure he's a fine person who just needed to grow up a bit. But from a business standpoint you HAVE to look at it more in depth. You are taking a guy who has drug and alcohol issues, who relapsed LAST YEAR after being sober for a long period of time, and you are going to give him $125 million to come play baseball in southern California? Temptation grows on trees out there, literally. I'm sure it's written in his (reported) contract that he can't mess up or it's night night. But I'd be just a little bit more cautious about that one.

For Hamilton though, the move makes total sense. He's going somewhere where he doesn't have to be the guy. Pujols and Trout have that covered. He doesn't have to play centerfield anymore. If he strikes out, there is someone in the lineup who can pick him up. He left a sinking ship for greener pastures. The Rangers have apparently decided to sail the Bermuda Triangle, because they could not seem more lost at this point. For Josh Hamilton, his expectations of winning a championship are now more realistic than they were yesterday.

It all goes back to expectations. This move makes the Angels better, yes. It gives them a great chance at a winner. I don't think it makes them better than the Tigers. I don't think it makes them better than San Francisco. And in a sport where tradition rules, that division belongs to the Rangers until the season is over and they didn't win it. One thing is for sure though. You can keep that spotlight in the exact same place, cause it's not going anywhere.

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