The guitar puns could be endless here, but I'll stop for the sake of everyone's sanity.
The Angels, after over a week of speculation, have finally agreed to terms with Raul Ibanez on a one-year, $2.75 million contract. Incentives can carry the deal up to $5 million, and according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, there are no option years to be had. It is indeed a simple one-year contract, likely serving as a stopgap for C.J. Cron to further develop and surface as our DH/1B in 2015.
Ibanez is headed towards his age 42 season, and despite having averages in the .240s the past two seasons, his slash line as a DH since Opening Day 2012 is .282/.344/.594 (170 at-bats, so take that as you will). Coupled with his career stats at Angel Stadium (a slash of .349/.407/.522 in 295 at-bats), this signing looks as though it could pay off VERY handsomely for the Angels.
I was skeptical of his Angel Stadium stats, so I looked at his year-by-year stats in the stadium, and they're relatively consistent (he hasn't batted below .256 at Angel Stadium since 2003). Even after not playing the Angels at all between 2008 and 2012, he picked up right where he left off, notching a .918 OPS at Angel Stadium in 2008, then coming back four years later to rake to a .970 mark. So, to some degree, the park in and of itself has to be doing something good for Raul--there's no way it's simply been Angels pitching for the past 15 years. The dude kills it here.
One of the most notorious Angel killers of all time is one of us now. Bat him sixth and let's go win.