WOW is all i have to say. who is playing short stop for us??????

well here it is guys. looks like the team could have decided to keep howie, wood and adenhart and go with tejada instead.

This is still crazy. does anyone think we have any intention on extending garland? both these guys were contract year players.

Maybe this is a hunt to get both Miguel Tejada and M-Cab.

although i love OC he is on the decline (hes 33) his leadership will be missed but we'll survive.. we got enough veterans on this team and a great manager.

i think we'll survive defensively.. wood, aybar, izturis aint that much of a downgrade. offensively imagine putting kotchman or kendrick in OC's spot in the lineup where vlad is the only legitimate power threat. the #2 spot was golden and OC took advantage for the last 2 years and hit slightly above team avg.  watch as he bats .250 with the sox

im curious to see if maybe hes got great numbers here(kinda like freddy garcia did).

either way, i dont mind it. OC was gone after this year anyway and Garland, although unspectacular is more consistent than Ervin. His ceiling obviously isnt as high, but his floor cant be much lower.

plus hes from southern california. maybe hell pitch better on the west coast in a nice pitchers park at home.

i like it!

Here's a guy who have 2 good season in his whole career.

The only good thing about him is that eats innings. He's barely .500, doesn't strike out a lot of guys, allows almost a hit an inning and has a high ERA in a supposed pitcher's park...

Doesn't bode well

A possible plus for Garland is that his history kind of mirrors a guy by the name of Kelvim Escobar when the Angels signed him. Unfortunately, his pitching coach won't be Bud Black.

As for OC being overrated, I don't understand that line of thinking. He's always been one of the best fielders in the game and he's always been good at getting on base and scoring runs.

Sure the batting average was outstanding - but listening to what changes he made - and seeing what he was doing when he went into a slight tailspin near the end of the season showed me that it wasn't a fluke.

(He said that he stopped trying to hit the ball as hard as he could every swing. When he went into his mini-slump, he looked as though he went back into that mode of trying to kill the ball all the time.)

I also don't understand this love affair with Wood. Sure, he kills in AAA. But to me it looks like he's in the line of D-Mac and Mathis, who tore it up in AAA and strike out a lot in The Show.

Hopefully, trading OC is the first step in getting an established bat in the lineup because OC's 101 RS will be missed.  

Thank you for your service OC, you will be missed.

So basically, even if they don't make another deal, they lose almost nothing, and gain Garland.  I like OC, and he was a great guy to have on the team, but without question, this deal makes the Angels better right now.

But aside from that, I really do like the deal.  Same basic pay coming their ways, both in walk years, and we now suddenly have a deep, strong rotation.  Many people would take Garland as a 2 or a 3.  With us, he's a powerful 4.  Can't say I disapprove at all.

But I'll miss ya, Cabby.

Aside from the emotional attachment (we all loved Cabrera), this trade really makes a lot of sense on so many levels that I would think Reagins would be an idiot not to do it.

Pitching = Premium position; hard to come by
Shortstop = Position that we had an embarassment of riches

Age = Garland is 5 years younger

Contracts = Both are in their walk year; Garland is a local guy who might be easier to sign to an extension

Ability = OC is very good.  Garland is a two-time 18 game winner.

Give Reagins credit for this.  His first trade was a big one, and one that he knew might be unpopular.  But he still pulled the trigger.  Good job.

That said, the timing is brilliant. He had a damned decent year on offense and was GG at SS. His value could not be any higher. He sits at the pinnacle of the defensive position the Angels are deepest at and, therefore, where they are most capable of absorbing the loss. He was going to be a bottleneck after next season, and his contact would be up then, anyway. It was practically inevitable that OC was leaving, and within the next 12-14 months.

In chess, one fundamental principal is to pick a square on the board and own that square. Be able to defend it at all times, defend it heavily, and use that square to launch attacks on your opponent. Pitching is that square for the Angels. Pitching is what everybody needs, few teams have enough of, and what helps protect against demands to raid the farm system in any trade talks.

The Angels get Garland. They just made their position of strength an impregnable fortress going into the next blockbuster deal. They can easily suffer the loss of one solid pitcher. For that, they lost a lot of value in OC, but that value was going to be short-lived any way you slice it, and probably not as great as it was in the 2007 campaign.

Moreno/Reagins may end up being a lot more shrewd than anybody expected. Which would be pretty damned cool.

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Now what am I supposed to think?

Seriously, he brings up many of the points posted here:  Cabrera is a good player, but the Halos have guys that can replace him.

Ken Rumorsthal

My take on things (and I'm making this up as I go along, so go easy on me) - this is the first step in plan c (plan a - a-rod, plan-b - M-Cab).

A-rod was clearly a non-starter, he never had any intention of leaving.  The price on Miguel Cabrera seems to be mighty high, particularly when it involves 4 players including Kendrick, who I think the Halo brains trust have made close to untouchable.  I know they said he's not, but not in the context of a 4 player package.  That's steep.  I think, therefore, Cabrera is out unless Larry chills out a bit.

What this does is open up a couple of newer trading options:

As ever, pitching is at a premium, it's a sellers market and we can offer a 2 starting pitcher package (2 of 3 from Saunders, Santana and Adenhart) + other movable options such as Bootcheck and Moseley.  We potentially have some outfield depth - Rivera, Willits, and I'm still wondering what their thinking is with Kendry.  The depth chart at SS is up in the air.

I think they can look at a bat at either SS (probably Tejada), in the outfield (assuming they move Willits and/or Rivera - the Rays outfielders, many other options here) and 3B (though I think M-Cab and Crede - if he was ever a thought - are probably off the list).

1b - Kotch
2b - Kendrick
SS - ? Izturis/Aybar - Wood 2009
3b - ? Figgins/Izturis - Wood 2009
C - Napoli/Mathis (1 expendable?)
RF/DH - Vlad
CF - GMJ
LF/DH - GA
DH/OF - ? Rivera/Willits

I suspect that bat could very much come in the outfield rather than the infield - there's more options.  I think the new fella has put himself in a strong position to look at a much broader range of options ahead of the winter meetings.

Nowe let's make something happen!!!!!!!!