Light Up That Halo! Albert Pujols Puts Angels On Top

It almost feels like Christmas in Southern California, and perhaps the Los Angeles Angels, Southern California’s baseball team that had a massive shopping spree and stunned the world, bought early holiday gifts. These days, being the greatest hitter in baseball is the easiest way to earn a huge payday and migrate to the realm of glamour in Orange County, a large city in Southern California where many celebrities find a place to call home.

The Angels, however, were in need of an overhaul and recently changed the landscape and spent $331.5 million. This is the greatest free agent signing for the best player of the century. This is Planet of the Apes, not the Rally Monkeys. I often think of Albert Pujols as the cleanest, if not the purest player in baseball, a slugger who is now worth millions after his longtime stay in St. Louis, where he emerged into baseball’s most dangerous hitter. Never before has baseball felt so good in California, as St. Louis fans are saddened by Pujols' departure.

The shock and dashing hopes in St. Louis, and understandably so, are felt tremendously after the second-best player in Cardinals’ history exercised his option by signing as a free agent for $254 million over 10 years with the Angels Thursday. Now, it’s the Angels turn to own the rights of the most high-profile slugger. The Rally Monkey faithful cheered like hell for Prince Albert and the Angels, pulling off one of the biggest blockbuster deals in franchise history and doing just enough to lure a sellout crowd into baseball heaven.

It’s a huge signing, one that turns the Angels into an immediate AL West contender, as Pujols will likely retire in an Angels uniform. Chances are Pujols and C.J. Wilson, one of baseball’s sharpest left-handers who signed as a free agent for $77.5 million over five years, makes the Angels considerably far more superior -- raising expectations after bringing in stronger depth and, more importantly, a power hitter.

What’s likely is that the Angels are going to have to elevate into prime contention, and will have to be lucky if the ballclub demands to rule the league and have influence over the AL West. And so, Angels owner Arte Moreno is smarter than before, making the biggest splash since he brought the franchise and suddenly is building a relationship with one of baseball’s luminaries.

“It’s a very exciting day for the Angels community, for Southern California as a whole,” new general manager Jerry Dipoto said.

This is what the excited fans want to hear, that a slugger accepts roughly $44 million to go west instead of staying in the Midwest, where life after Pujols is strangely untold. By surprise, Mike Scioscia heard about the gratifying news. He received word on an airplane, flying home from baseball meetings. His cellphone rang, he answered it and it was Moreno, his boss, calling him to tell him about the free agency signings that were never envisioned. The reality is, the happiest place on Earth is located on Katella Avenue and State College Boulevard, and in all honesty, Pujols is bigger than Mickey Mouse at Disneyland.

Instead of Tinker Bell brightening up the night sky, the Angels can light up that Halo!

It’s the happiest day for the Angels, as the ballclub built natural power, but the team must attain greatness and solidify its national preeminence. Before all of this happened, as irrelevance was the definition, the Angels were the second-best team in town and were loafing in the shadows of the Dodgers. The local fans were thinking BLUE, not red, but now the feeling is not the same with Pujols arriving to town when he was free to move around the country and landed in Orange County.

And perhaps he was the best thing that happened for Moreno and the Angels, along with stealing Wilson from division foes the Texas Rangers. Before all of this, he as the owner took much criticism for being inept and not the businessman with millions who offer a top slugger big dollars. But this time, he wooed Pujols away from the world champion Cardinals. This is not a friendly business but a risky business, if you will, and the Angels were quietly determined to give crazy money to two players that the ballclub obviously thinks are components to ripen into championship form.

Maybe Moreno was nuts to spend this kind of money for a baseball player, but damned if you do and damned if you don’t. It was the first time since he bought the Angels in spring of 2003, a few months after the club won its first World Series, that Moreno refused to fail and restored the team’s identity. As the Dodgers are on the verge of new ownership next summer, Moreno lifted his ballclub into primary considerations locally here in Los Angeles, finally maneuvering his team like an actual owner in command of saving his club’s brand.


This winter, he cleaned out his front office, getting rid of former general manager Tony Reagins, who dismantled the Angels with his lack of aggressiveness and inexperience at the GM position. This winter, he has brought on board two stars from other cities, and now the Angels are considered the favorites to win the American League title. This doesn’t sit too well with other ballclubs, when the Angels haven't had legit power since Vladimir Guerrero and when the team consist of the best pitching staff that has the most depth and talent with the likes of Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, Ervin Santana and the newest member, Wilson.

That guy is Pujols, a future Hall of Famer who is 31 and has played for 10 seasons hitting at least .300 with at least 100 runs batted in. The criticism is from Pujols accepting a 10-year contract that some believes is too long, given his age and eventual decline in productivity. If he begins to slow down late in his career, he can suitably fit in well as a designated hitter, a slugger known for drilling home runs with 445 in his career, on pace to surpass Barry Bonds’ career record of 762 homers.

It comes as a surprise that he established a consistent winner in one day around a sterling managerial staff and a family-friendly ballpark in Anaheim. It comes as a surprise, even though the Angels failed to advance to the postseason for the second straight season all while fans were embittered with the front office for spending millions on inferior outfielder Vernon Wells after acquiring him in a trade that sent catcher Mike Napoli to Toronto. Napoli was eventually traded to the Rangers and bloomed into a top-tier player. It comes as a surprise when Moreno was slammed by irascible fans for promising everyone that he would invest in a slugger to revamp his team, but spared no money in rebuilding the team and was unsuccessful landing a premier free agent.

It comes as a surprise, for sure, but an overhaul was badly needed.

Angels Still Can't Mess With Texas

So there were the Rangers, no less bullish as Power Rangers than the ballclub was as an American League contender amid a tight, tense pennant race, aiming to remain atop the AL West and hinder the Angels from giving chase.

What the Rangers desire for an industrious crusade is the aid of hopefulness, exuberance and victories to stay in contention and, if possible, be in pursuit of back-to-back World Series glory. Sure, it's been seen before in baseball, such are tight races and sometimes an extreme fight last until the final day of the 162-game season, but it doesn't seem like the Angels are fully capable of catching the Power Rangers to tie the division.

The first necessity is for the Angels to continue a surge and induce fear, when the Texas Rangers clearly have been in a funk of late ineffective in pummeling the Angels in a pennant race of dubiety and nerves. The momentum came suddenly and inexplicably, just as we were optimistic in the Angels, just as we were telling ourselves not to discount the Angels and relight the Halo.

It happened so quickly we could feel the streak of a miraculous turnaround, a convergence of Angels in the Outfield to evoke miracles for the red-hot ballclub. With merely one swing of the bat, or maybe even multiple swings -- I might add -- the Angels were thrashed in the Heart of Texas.

This was a night when the Rangers couldn't be reckoned with, a night when the Angels couldn't mess with Texas, a night the boys from Orange County were burnt like Texas toast. When David Murphy lofted his second career grand slam in the fifth inning off Angels starter Dan Haren, this after Nelson Cruz broke out of his slump and opened the fourth with a drive to center field, he had secured a crucial 11-7 win for the slumping Rangers.

The horror exist still as it was last week when the Angels were said to be dead and buried by the Rangers and it was so bad that the majors could've staged a funeral in tribute of the fallen Angels. The moment before all of this, the Angels weren't even in contention, but were done for the season after a rebuilding stage crumbled under the inept general manager Tony Reagins and cheap owner Arte Moreno.

We all screamed amazed by the Angels resurgence, as the Rangers never panicked and had indicated to be the stronger, hungrier and powerful ballclub in this showdown worth raving about only for what is at stake between a pair of clubs with the objective to win its division and clinch a postseason berth. All of the sudden, the Rangers came alive in their own ballpark in Arlington to ignite fireworks that brightened the humid air on an ideal night for baseball.

Even more important was the Rangers finding an identity, when the Angels strayed in the first game of the most critical weekend series and were stonewalled by Texas, an ambitious club that began the stretch 6-1 and finished 2-5. But stunningly, the streak that the Angels rode, playing with plenty of heart and talent, is missed and disappeared instantly.

It was missing in action when the Angels were absent and never challenged the Rangers, losing in a lopsided fashion, getting pushed and shoved around in an uncompetitive meeting and falling in the AL West standings. And when it comes to the Angels, as a reminder to you all, they have no consistent or solid power hitters in the lineup, lacking that one power bat in the batting order to produce RBIs without leaving too many runners on base.

Despite the Angels juggernauts and a crafty pitching rotation, if you haven't noticed by now, this is the team that relies on aggressive base running and scoring runs by doing the little things to collect a win. Now the Angels are finally enduring a real test. A more painful test or an uphill battle the Halos flunked ever so badly against a dexterous offense with the ability to compile runs on the scoreboard swiftly.

The night for the Angels wasn't all so bland, even if a six-game winning streak became commonplace at a time when all the momentum was positive and used to their advantage. It's undoubtedly one of the must-win situations the Angels wish they could have back, another chance to redeem themselves after the Rangers badly stomped them for 18 hits and three homers at Rangers Ballpark -- a loss snapping the Angels season-high winning streak.

It's not a perfect world, at least not for the Angels -- come to realize that the Halos left the happiest place on earth and traveled to Texas for a three-game showdown with division foes. But now it's much clearer that the Angels can't match the Rangers' incomparable depth, from the pitching rotation to the batting order. To a certain extent, there's just not enough talent. It's largely for the fact that the Angels have no solid hitters, and sometimes the pitching is a bit shaky, erratic and subpar as manager Mike Scioscia has no choice but to depend on his wayward bullpen.

"It's one loss," Scioscia said. "We need to turn the page and move on to tomorrow's game. Obviously, everything is magnified tonight because we're playing the team we're trying to catch. But it's one loss and there's still a lot of baseball to be played."

But now, he's giving his team the best opportunity to win by choosing to send Ervin Santana and Jered Weaver on three days' rest to the mound in a critical series.

Leave it to Weaver, it appears.

It's actually a brilliant decision, simply because Weaver is in the running for the 2011 AL Cy Young and MVP award. It's actually a splendid move, mostly because he is the face of the Angels, particularly after signing a five-year $85 million contract extension as the ace prefer to reside in Southern California and continue wearing an Angels uniform. His family roots exist in California, his prior accomplishments are in Orange County and his likeability is beyond amazing.

He probably could, even though he's a human and not a robot that can throw a 90 mph fastball without getting tired after a grueling 100-plus pitch night on the mound, be the man who wins the division single-handedly for the Angels. The other night, where the Angels shut out the White Sox in an 8-0 victory at Angel Stadium, a place closer to the Happiest Place on Earth, he tossed seven scoreless innings for a 15-6 record.

He potentially is a 20-game winner and leads the MLB with a 2.03 ERA. Without him, the Angels aren't closer to heaven, but are useless and futile. If the Angels are trying to purge woes and compete for the division title, then they'll need to win the next two games of this series. Until then, the Angels can't slow down Texas, unless the two teams are playing different clubs in another series.

This time, Scioscia was confident and gusty -- enough, in fact, to juggle his rotation and shift his starters around as Weaver and Santana give the Angels an edge in the series. On the flip side, it can all backfire if Weaver and Santana struggles in their next outings, but the Angels are in a pursuit, angling to keep momentum and remain in a tight race with the Rangers.

For the worse, he and Mike Butcher can generate criticism if all fails over the weekend, like a player suffering an injury or giving away a meaningful contest. They also know nobody is keen to see Joel Pineiro and Jerome Williams. If many had the choice, they'll rather see Weaver and Santana every other day on the mound.

With one swing, Cruz ended his slump when he was 4-for-27 in his last seven games and was swinging wildly without a conscience and discipline. It was huge as Cruz laced a two run-scoring double in the second to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead. And he wasn't done. The man of the night was a triple shy of the cycle in the sixth and demolished the Angels, hitting a bullet to left-center and scoring three more runs. That marked his third six-RBI game of the season.

Even if it seems as if the Angels are back in the running for winning the division, in reality, it doesn't seem real but surreal, until Los Angeles convince the public that they can beat the Rangers at least twice in a series to win a three-game showdown.

For now, it seems, we have to wonder if the Angels have it in them.

Tony Reagins Prolong Woes, So Angels' Fans Might As Well Boycott

It's as if spirit has suddenly vanished on Katella Ave.; almost as if the Angels couldn't care less in revamping an inactive ballclub faced with tremendous emptiness and shame, unable to lure a blockbuster free-agent in an offseason attempt.

Before, the well-respected ballclub that resides near Disneyland was as popular as the other team in town and the city of Anaheim had been emblazoned with seas of red attire to adore the best baseball franchise in town.

At this point, the Angels are in oblivion, even if this is one of the main attractions in Orange County, even if this is one of the most mediocre clubs in baseball and even if Tony Reagins, the inept Angels general manager, is a toxic waste in a town that once was accustomed to postseason splendor.

These days, as the Halo in the parking lot of Angel Stadium doesn't brighten the sky as much, the organization is failing so miserably to improve and helplessly transforms into dysfunction.

It was one of baseball's well-operated businesses, until the owner Arturo Moreno purchased the franchise when the Walt Disney Co. decided to relieve itself of the responsibility in running a profitable business.

And just as much as he downplays the magnitude of becoming the first Hispanic owner, he pathetically denies to confess that he has sabotaged the Angels and disgusted devoted fans in a depress community, unless they drive down the street and spend countless hours at Disneyland to release all the disillusionment and affliction.

Beyond the duplication of his failures as owner, so largely that fans are bickering in an outcry for losing on every bid this winter, it has lifted the insanity and the sport has strangely teetered.

For all the belief that the polarizing Bill Stoneman, the former general manager who built the Angels World Series championship team, wasn't aggressive in reaching deals or assembling talent, he's now truly missed since stepping down after eight years.

And yet, what turned into futility to expand upon the twinge of unsuccessfulness, the malcontent fans might as well just boycott the Angels next season, until Reagins is canned by his softhearted boss and until the Angels make adjustments, erecting a profound club and reinstalling exuberance.


The Angels are wrapped in tremendous disarray, until Moreno is reluctant in believing in Reagins' horrendous implosions as a nugatory executive, relied on to renew a depleted and lifeless culture. Reagins, by further note, isn't criticized of his botched inactivity after he hasn't solidified or rehabilitated normalcy.

Whatever it is, he's poorly tearing down the essence of Angels’ baseball, ruining a franchise that has plunged mightily and he is heavily not suitable for the task.

The Angels were never on the verge of pulling off a valuable deal to benefit long term, nor were they considered likely the favorites of the AL West, but blameworthy losers and could replicate another awful season.

Honestly, the deranged Angels couldn't care less about winning a World Series, let alone spending wisely on a few leading candidates, losing on Carl Crawford and Cliff Lee.

What the hell?

It's not particularly hard to notice that the Angels are cheesy in the way they run a lousy business, unless you are blind or either in denial. Every season, this time, it's a suspenseful scenario and the Angels constantly keep the fans guessing on any potential upgrading pieces.

But in the end, while other franchises bid aggressively for the best slugger or ace available, the Angels are deprived of putting together the repertoire of necessary players, befitting for rising into top contention in a ripened division.

In all, it figured that the Angels were endangered of losing Crawford based on its history in the past, even if they informed other clubs he was a targeted free-agent amid the pursuit.

The most recent story in the midst of such a misunderstanding, around the time when teams are actively upgrading to add missing pieces, is that Reagins acknowledged he was busy calling other organizations. For now, it's not easy to believe a damn thing and it feels sometimes as if he's overwhelmed by a shortage of finances, unsure whether or not he desires to ensure a player of a long-term deal.

"I think when you hear the marquee names being shopped around or portrayed in the media as 'that player is coming to your market,' there's an excitement level, and then when he doesn't come, obviously there's some disappointment by some." Reagins said.

If you haven't notice, he's been saying the same thing repeatedly during his tenure and still, he hasn't done anything to reform the defenseless Angels.

"But you have to go and play 162 games every year," he said. And being able to add bullpen pieces are significant. When you don't have those pieces and your bullpen doesn't perform the way it can, it can really show itself. I'd rather have those pieces than not have those pieces, I can say that."

I'd rather have a dignified player, too.

In an effort to not fortify a misplaced era, the Angels aren't anywhere near returning to its usual form.

So the understanding, for some, is that the Angels prolongs an epidemic of woes, wrongly at a time when the high-market franchises are rebuilding and aiming to rightfully be the elites of baseball.

This is the town that Mark Teixeira was traded to as a rental and then hightailed his way to New York, where he signed a sizable deal with the Yankees.

This is the town that Paul Konerko turned down millions, just to stay in the Southside of Chicago, a place he gladly calls home.

This is the town that had a chance to bid for Lee and, at one point, had been in the sweepstakes to potentially finalize an unforeseen deal with the unhittable ace, but as usual the Angels lagged, allowing the Phillies to present a fitted amount and stun the baseball world by signing the peerless left-hander.

This is the town that was in the running for Roy Halladay in midseason, but opted to rebuff interest in grabbing the Cy Young winner.

When it comes to baseball in a tepid town that has dysfunctional owners, oddly enough, fans tend to become furious with the lack of aggressiveness in adding a relentless texture.

There has been, on the other hand, gossip that teams from smaller markets with limited profit are forced to overpay to attract top-tier free-agents. And believe it or not, it's very obvious these days.

The latest deal of insanity came on a $126 million contract for Jayson Werth that the Washington National foolishly gave to a role player who had a fairly superb season as an outfielder for the Phillies.

Then, it was the Boston Red Sox giving Crawford a ridiculous $142 million deal. It was, by far, one of the most overpaid and mismanaged deals in baseball history, but reports were released that Moreno came close to proposing a contract within a pricey range.

Hell, the last time the Angels signed a top-notch free-agent happened two winters ago, when they brought in Torii Hunter, but since then the Angels famously become known for offseason blunders.

If what is destroying the Angels isn't visible for people, then either the folks of Orange County are simply humiliated or could be unaware of Reagins.

What's more important, for the moment, is the destruction and it has held the fans hostage, wondering if the Angels were ever coveted to obtain one of the finest free-agents on the market.

The situation probably turns burdened for the well-respected manager Mike Scioscia. For now, at least, the responsibility of assembling a refinable aspect falls on the skipper.

Just the other day, however, it was an amusing party that generated holiday cheers to more than 200 children at the annual Angels' Children's Holiday Party at Downtown Disney's ESPN Zone, but so far, that is as much holiday cheer the Angels have treasured this offseason.

Don't expect much, until Reagins is given his final paycheck.