On July 16, wumbug posted an epic Fanshot (Fanshot here) of an article written by Hall of Fame baseball writer Tracy Ringolsby (Ringolsby Article here).  Among many comments about other MLB teams, here is what Ringolsby said about the Angels in a section entitled Disappointments:

"The Los Angeles Angels began to erode the day Tony Reagins took over as general manager and began undermining the scouting department. The team that seemed in line to dominate for a decade has decayed, and it hasn’t helped that major financial additions, such as Vernon Wells, were made without input from pro scouts."

Ringolsby's prescient insight looks even truer now that the Angels season, for all practical purposes, is over.  But even more entertaining are the 187 comments, made by a number of HH posters, about Vernon Wells and whether the trade worked out by Tony Reagins was worthwhile. 

Here is an example supportive of Wells/Reagins:

"The only point being made here is that 1) the Angels finances have not be sunken by a $20 million a year player, 2) that the team is better today because they acquired Vernon’s bat than they would be if they hadn’t post-Beltre/Crawford, 3) the verdict is still out on TR. The sky has proven to not be falling. This isn’t the hardest argument to win, most of you just need to be patient." Thebigtizzle on July 18 at 8:11 AM.

Others weren't so sure:

"It was pretty obvious to most people that Vernon isn’t an especially good baseball player any more. There’s nothing unusual about this. He’s always had a fairly limited skill set that doesn’t tend to age well. Reagins seemed to make the classic mistake of assuming that a veteran player, who established his reputation in his youth, had somehow managed to recapture his former glory with one resurgent season. I can’t imagine much worse abuses of the team’s resources."  Supoptimal on July 17 at 9:07 PM.

Hindsight is 20/20 and we no longer need to conjecture about the legitimacy of the Wells' trade (it stunk).  But I had a question for the Thebigtizzle then and I repeat it now:

"But, if at the end of the season: 1) the Angels end up in 2nd or 3rd place with about 80 wins; and 2) Wells does not significantly improve his slash line; and 3) Arte states he cannot afford to re-sign Weaver (due to the Wells contract), will you pronounce, on this site, that Reagins should be fired? Yes or no."  angelslogic on July 18, 9:04 AM.

With 2 out of 3 coming to fruition, what say you?