Wah Wah Wah Anaheim Angels

Tom Hanks said it best when he said " There's no crying in baseball!" . The California Angels of Anaheim need to take a lesson from that. For the past 18 hours, they have been crying that the Boston Red Sox stole Carl Crawford away from them. I don't remember Carl saying that he wanted to go to Boston over Anaheim ( a no brainer, though ) or that he wanted to go anywhere. Carl was on the "open" market, up for the highest bidder. The Angels chose to give him a less lucrative offer and for fewer years, so he's now headed to Boston.

Torii Hunter even came out today and said that he wanted to play with Carl. Well, you should have ponied up some of your own cash there, Torii, and maybe he would have signed with your team. Of course, you could always ask to be traded to Boston and then you and Carl can be best buds on the Red Sox juggernaut for the next 6-7 years.

No one has the right to complain when they get outbid for the services of a player. The Red Sox are clearly going for it now this year and are not concerned about whether or not they make a profit for the 2011 season. Ego does that to people and it drives them to perhaps overpay for a player, so that they can keep interest high.

The Angels problem is the fan base. They show up for a game in the 3rd inning after having a few margaritas and a wheel of brie downtown, then they sit on their hands for most of the game, and leave after the 7th inning stretch, so that they can still make the buffet at Red Lobster.

Anaheim is not a baseball town. They don't deserve Carl Crawford or even Broderick Crawford ( remember him on highway Patrol? ). Joan Crawford lived nearby - so they should be happy with that.

The Angels had plenty of money to spend. After all, now they want Beltre and Soriano, neither of whom will come cheaply. But be careful, LA, you could easily lose them too if someone else throws in a few extra bats and gloves to the deal and you balk at making a move.

You are the stiff of the week - your ownership, your fan base and yes, even the city (ha-ha) of Anaheim. You have worries this year about Oakland and Seattle as well. Best of luck with that -see you on the way to the AL West basement.

Anahein Angels Panic in AL West Race

I am very surprised to see such a laid back organization push the panic button in July and make a trade that makes no sense, short term or long term. They are getting Dan Haren, whose past is much better than his present, a guy who has been oft-injured and a guy who is coming back to the AL from the much less talented National League. He is 7-8 this year with a 4.60 earned rin average and hitters are batting .285 vs. him. Remember, every ninth hitter is the pitcher's spot in the NL and there's always a guy in the lineup whose job is to bunt or hit little punch-and-judy dribblers. The AL is a bunch of bangers up and down the lineup for the majority of teams.

In return, the Angels give up Joe Saunders, who is 6-10 this year with an ERA of 4.62 and hitters batting .290 vs. him. This is against AL teams, so the numbers for Haren and Saunders are a wash. They are virtually the same guy.

But that's not the end of the trade. The Angels gave up 25 year old pitcher Rafael Rodriguez, who is 5-3 with an ERA of 3.04 in AAA this year. He has 2-1 strikeouts to walks ratio and has a lot of upside.

They also gave up Patrick Corbin, 21 year old pitcher who in A ball has been 17-5 over the past 2 years. He has 152 strikeouts and 39 walks during that time.

The Angels will also give up a player to be named later.

This is a terrible trade for the Angels. They are banking on a guy whose best days are behind him, who has been out of the AL for years and they gave away an innings-eater in Saunders and 2 really good prospects.

This was a panic move for sure. There is no rhyme or reason to this. This team is just not good enough to stay with the Rangers this year and this trade won't close the gap unless the Rangers stop playing well and that'as not likely.