Angels Dust

Saving the game and Frankie.

Like everyone else, I was a very surprised to find out the Angels signed Torii Hunter to a 5-year, $90M contract. With Vlad, GA, $50M dollar mistake man GMJ*, On-Base-Wonder Reggie Willits and Juan Rivera, the outfield seemed to be overcroweded already. So what was Tony Reagins thinking? Lets check pros and cons:

Cons:

• Torii Hunter is on the wrong side of 30 and declining.
• $18M per year is way too much and five years too long (I’m just having a deja vu).
• The signing pushes cheaper options (Willits, Rivera) too the bench.
• Hunter’s defense is not as good as it used to be.
• Hunter’s is a free swinger who does not walk much

Pros:

• Hunter has more power in his bat than anybody on the team besides Vlad (and maybe GA on good days).
• He did not cost us anything but money.
• He makes Rivera, Willits and maybe Morales available for trades.
• He pushes Vlad and GA into part time DH duties.
• He might push GMJ* into the 3.5th outfielder spot

Overall, I think it is safe to say that Hunter does make the team better in the short run, although not as much as A-Rod would have, obviously, and as I wrote in my post-mortem, the Angels window of opportunity is open right now and if the moves increase the chances of winning a championship within the next two years, I’m all for it. Cheap players are nice and all, but if you can get better by spending some money, why not? As much as I like to see the Angels contend year in and year out, I’m willing to give up the 2010-2012 seasons (which is hardly a given, who know what are 30 millions worth in baseball in three years?) for real shots in 2008 and 2009. Hunter is not the big impact player we have all been waiting for, but he is an upgrade and we have to face the fact that there are simply no big bats out there in free agency since A-Rod took himself off the market and the Halos also do not have any outfield options from within emerging, so Hunter was the best option available for money.

Right now, the signing of Hunter makes the team slightly better now and therefore alone, this move deserves some praise. What would really makes this move ingenious is if Juan Rivera or Reggie Willits will be part of the trade that sends Miguel Cabrera to Anaheim.