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Albert Pujols to Angels? Rumors of Biggest Splash Abound!

By Rev Halofan

Isn't it awesome to have a WInter Meetings without any squawks about the Yankees or Red Sox?

The Winter Meeting buzz about free agent 1B Albert Pujols got a jolt when the usually reliable Ken Rosenthal named the Angels IN A TWEET as suitors for the Cardinals All-Star. His tweet sent shockwaves thru the blogging and mainstream media alike.

Rosenthal is respected enough to force people to take his tweets seriously, but the LA Times Mike DeeGee tweeted and the OC Register Bill Plunkett tweeted reporters on the scene added caveats that they had not heard a word of any Angels involvement and reported strident denials of any Halo involvement by their sources.

But a few telling tweets give us clues as to who the sources might be that Rosenthal references away from So Cal beat reporters MDG and BP. First a TWEET from Joel Sherman reporting the assumption that because Angels owner Arte Moreno and Angels team president John Carpino are not in town, the likelihood that Jerry Dipoto would be running the delicate negotiations for Pujols might be a stretch. Sherman TWEETED earlier that an AL official had mentioned the Angels being in on it but that Sherman had checked with sources who said no.

Ah, but now the plot thickens. Sherman has sources with the Angels who deny it after an AL exec confirms it. And Sherman knows Arte and Carpino are not in town. Except... Victor Rojas TWEETS that team president John Carpino IS indeed present at the Dallas Winter Meetings. Just then, Tom Singer, veteran of 31 Winter Meetings reminds us all of the stealth that Moreno established in 2004 in THIS TWEET:

The GM is different, but Moreno was key guy 8 yrs ago when came out of nowhere to sign that winter's top FA, Vladi Guerrero

So the pieces add up like this:

  1. New Angels regime is less secretive than old Angels regime.
  2. A major national reporter breaks the Pujols to Anaheim rumor.
  3. Local reporters get no confirmation.
  4. A New York baseball reporter says an AL source had told him this but that his Angels sources denied it and President Carpino was not in town.
  5. But it turns out Carpino IS in town!
  6. Carpino is the lone holdover from the Moreno regime that stealthfully signed Vlad Guerrero in 2004

So there you have it. John Carpino is in Dallas, but is he in the school book depository or on the grassy knoll?

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