just speaking realistically. I think theyre hoping to develop some young talent making the minimum to better equip themselves for a world series run and not rely so much on free agents. If Kendrick and Wood or even Morales can blossom into legitimate offensive threats, adding another major free agent in 2010 makes us serious threats.

its not the end of the world if this is what theyre trying to do. Its unrealistic to have a world series caliber roster every single year, especially when the yankees are back to stealing every impact free agent

It will only cause frustration.

There’s no Tex/ARod probably the best 3 -4 combo going

Who else does have an equivalent 3 – 4? Certainly no other AL West team. Youk/Ortiz is a distant second.

Maybe if we got Manny to slot in before/after Vlad, but otherwise it ain’t happening.

The Angels run prevention is still well above average. They did, however, lose their closer and 5th starter and gold glove first baseman.

Assuming the roster stands pat, the angels are projected at around the bottom third of total offense in the AL, while up around the top third for pitching.

The A’s stand the best chance at catching us with top tier run prevention and an improving offense.

Most likely errors will go up in a significant way from other infield positions with a somewhat weak first baseman. Aybar will not have the assurance of throwing to a vacuum at first, his throwing errors will most likely go up significantly.

The closer position is going to have to be filled in 09, which currently would be Shield’s position. This moves everyone up a notch, making the bullpen weaker. If the league figures out Arrendondo’s two pitches(fastball, splitter is all he throws) then our bullpen becomes immediately exploitable. And we have all seen how Shields pitches against Boston.

The lineup of

Figgins
Aybar/Izturis
Vlad
Hunter
Rivera
Kendrick
Napoli
Morales

is weak. Especially considering we have no clear cut DH if Vlad plays the field. Who would DH, Willits? GMJ? Mathis? Izturis when is isnt SS?

All extremely weak options for your DH spot.

Some things to think about:

Kendrick remains injury prone
Errors become an issue, a big one
None of the young kids have a break out year
Hunter and Vlad continue to decline
Saunders/Satana are not as effective
5th spot is a rotating craphole and provides 15-20 losses

A combination of any of all of those factors could easily see us fall from 100 game winners to taking 2nd.

To make matters worse with the Halos inability to improve the offense Lackey will probably not resign. Don’t be surprised to see him in Boston to start 2010.

…based upon the current roster, I’d say 85 to 90 wins. Assume the wild card comes from the AL east. Sorry – but the ending will be no different than 2008. The Halos do not make it to the ALCS.

I’m an Angel fan from OC, but the A’s are coming, and when they get here, they are gonna stay for a decade.

Billy Beane makes Reagins look like a 7th grader with a box of baseball cards, and when the A’s new ballpark opens (that’s not this year, is it?), Beane will have a budget.

It really could go either way. Our young guys could kill or be killed and there is no way to find out but by putting them on the field.

On paper though we definitely will NOT have as strong of a team as last year. But screw paper…its baseball and anything can happen. Frankly, if we only examined shit on paper then the Rays were probably scheduled for another cellar year about this time last year.

There is no one to drive in runs ???? Vlad has been one of the top run producers the last 5 years..Where were you hiding ??
No impact pitching — I’d say Lackey and Santana ain’t no sloutches..
I’d say an 110 million payroll is pretty good…Seems Angels fans want a bat regardless of what it costs and if it makes sense..
I still see this team as the dominant team of the division.. Oakland is better but not by much,and as far as Texas or Seattle they both don’t have a chance and don’t pose a threat.
We have a better Napoli a healthier Rivera , Santana getting better,Arrendondo…It is still 08 ,lots of time yet for changes..give the team a chance to make moves before putting them down.. Keep your loyalty and faith.. I mean you guys are saying we are gonna be like Kansas or Pittsburgh.. We have a good team here , just because we didnt get Mark Teix doesnt mean we are done and might as well not play….

And with our big 3: Lackey, Santana, and Saunders, have a great chance at winning it all.

And remember: Vlad with good Knee (Watch Out!); Rivera back to form; Napoli aka Troy Glaus Jr.; Figgy .280, .360, 50sb; The Magic of Iz; the dazzling defense of Figgy, Iz, Aybar, and My Man Torii. I’m ready. Let’s Rock.

Offseason ain’t over, last I looked.

The team is obviously in transition and looking to cut the fat and see which of the younger players can be counted on to form the nucleus of future Angels teams. As a result, there is bound to be some pleasant surprises and some disappointments like there was in 2006.

Some surprises/positives from 2006:

Back in 2006 Jared Weaver was the story with his absolute dominance of major league hitting. He seemed destined to become a perennial CY contender for years to come and threatened to take away the “ace” tag from Lackey who had recently taken the tag away from a perpetually injured Colon. Frankie was also a big plus since he was absolutely dominant out of the bullpen and seemed ready to take the mantle away as the best closer in the game from Mo Rivera.

For offense we had a surprise in Juan Rivera with his HR power and .300+ BA. With Juan, it seemed as if the Halos had finally found the Robin to go along with Vladdy’s Batman to form a devastating 1-2 punch in the heart of the order. Unfortunately Rivera’s winter ball injury curtailed the giant steps he took that season and rendered him useless in 2007 and mostly a non factor in 2008. Santana also had a breakout season only to somehow lose it all in 2007 then bounce back in 2008. I would also have to say that Napoli was a pleasant surprise that year since he seemed to have came out of nowhere with his power and patience. Izturis was also a postive along with Kendrick and Saunders when they came up.

Disappointments from 2006:

To me Colon was the biggest disappointment in 2006 since he had just come off a CY season, was supposed to be the ace, had the big contract, and teased Halo fans into thinking their “ace” was back with his dominant World Baseball Classic performance. Unfortunately he would get injured once again and arguably would have stayed healthy if he hadn’t pitched in the WBC as if his life and his family’s life depended on his multimillion dollar arm. Jeff Weaver was also another huge bust that brought back memories of Appier’s last season with the Angels in 2003 with his ineffectiveness. Possibly the bitterest pill to swallow though was when he went to the Cardinals later that year and became a WS hero!!!

For offense, Jeff Mathis for me was the biggest disappointment that year. The Angels continuously raved about him with his plus defense and power hitting bat which was supposed to make everyone forget about Bengie Molina. Mathis was supposed to be part of the new generation of home grown prospects that would take the mantle away from a retiring Tim Salmon, an aging Garret Anderson, and an aging, injury prone, and now offensively ineffective Erstad as part of the everyday core for Angels’ teams to come. Everyone knows how that turned out! lol.

Chone Figgins was also a disappointment even though he had many SBs that year. He proved to be ineffective at the lead off spot with a pedestrian .OBP and BA to go along with way too many SOs for a guy with such little power. The greatest damage by far though from Figgins’ poor season was off the field since it led to one of the worst signings in Angels history with HGH. Kotchman was also a disappointment; however, it wasn’t his fault since he had to battle mononucleosis which wiped him out for the year save for a few games and ABs. McPherson once again proved that he was made of glass and confirmed that he could no longer be depended on to become the everyday third basemen.

I am probably missing some surprises and disappointments from 2006, but the point of my long digression is that the Angels should be good in shape for 2006 since there were many positives that came from that season. Plus people seem to forget that the Angels actually won 89 games that year despite the fact that it was a year of transition! If the Angels win 89 games again or even 85, I say they are in the playoffs. I still don’t feel the A’s have the core to win even 84 games and still feel that Texas and their pitching will be a mess. Seattle will be a non factor once again.

our ceiling is still probably the alds (winning the west). maybe we’ll have some breakouts next year. maybe we’ll make a big move before the season or before the trade deadline. its too hard to tell. i’ll wait for a good prognosis of the upcoming season until at least spring training, and even then it’ll probably still take a good month to figure out where this team is going.

On the surface it appears as if Reagins message is, “We are done with roster moves”. Is he trying to make the agents sweat? What if a hitter like Dunn or Abreu is still available in February? Will the Angels try to grab a bargain?