As I walked into the gym today at my apartment complex in Kansas City, wearing a Josh Hamilton shirt-jersey, the only other person in the gym was sporting a red hat with a big 'A' on it: Angels.
The way the last two days have gone in the baseball world, it was a fitting coincidence.
In the last two days, Anaheim signed the best free agent hitter available in Albert Pujols to a 10-year, $254 million deal, along with the best free agent pitcher available in now ex-Texas Ranger C.J. Wilson to a five-year, $77.5 million contract.
Consider the landscape of the American League West officially altered. Majorly altered.
There's the obvious: Pujols will boost a lineup that was mediocre at best last year, while Wilson will bolster a starting rotation that, to me, becomes the best in the American League: Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, Wilson, Ervin Santana, fill in the blank (Jerome Williams, probably).
There's the not-so-obvious: Where in the heck did the Angels come from on this deal? With the Marlins and Cardinals the apparent front-runners at the baseball meetings in Dallas, news broke that there was a third mystery team involved in Pujols negotiations. It ended up being the Angels.
I had no idea the Angels were in the financial position to spend that much money over the offseason. Turns out they just agreed to a 20-year, $3 billion TV deal with Fox Sports. That explains that. Much like college football realignment, TV contracts carry much of the weight with how major decisions are made.
Many Rangers fans on the Internet immediately seem to point to the Pujols deal failing in the long-term because of a 10-year commitment to a guy who will be 41 in the final year of the deal (and still making $25.4 million per year in the process). Surely, Pujols, one of the best hitters of all-time, will not be playing at this elite level in his 40s.
OK, that could be true. But what about the short-term? What about 2012, 2013, 2014 and even 2015, when Pujols should, by all accounts, remain one of the most feared hitters in baseball? What about that ridiculous rotation in its prime (Weaver 29; Haren 31; Wilson 31; Santana 29)? Pardon me if I'm not as skeptical. The Angels are going to be damn good. Let's deal with it.
The focus now shifts to how the Rangers will approach the rest of the offseason. Prince Fielder remains an option as the best remaining free agent hitter. It will likely take eight years and close to $200 million, though, to sign him. Do we have that kind of money to spend? Would it even be worth it?
Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish also remains an option. The reports I've seen on his tag are in the vicinity of four years and $75 million. Our international scouts are extraordinary (see Colby Lewis' resurgence), and I trust their judgement with how they handle the Darvish situation.
General manager Jon Daniels has said that the Rangers won't make snap, panic signings simply based on Anaheim's major activity. One of my favorite quotes from him after the Pujols signing: "Our goal is to win, but to win with a responsible business model."
I've trusted nearly every move the organization has made in the past two to three years. This offseason will be no different.
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