By David Saltzer| @DaveSaltzer| Angels Win.com
Albert Pujols (Keith Allison/Flickr)
For the second year in a row, the Angels “won” the offseason by signing the biggest free agent hitter on the market: Josh Hamilton. The 2013 Angels will feature the 2012 Rookie of the Year winner Mike Trout and winners of four MVP awards at the heart of their lineup in Albert Pujols and Hamilton. In short, their offense will be scary. But that is not all that the Angels did during the offseason to improve the team. The Angels made their team more in the fashion of their second-year GM Jerry Dipoto—one that will feature a solid rotation led by an ace (Jered Weaver), a dominant offense (led by Trout, Pujols and Hamilton), incredible defense and an improved bullpen.
For the casual fan, the new-look to the Angels will seem quite different from last year. But, for Angels’ fans, what matters most, is winning. Arte Moreno desperately wants to bring another World Champion team to Southern California and has spent the money to do so. With all the moves made by Dipoto this offseason, winning is what this team should do. The balance of power in the American League has clearly shifted to the Western Division.
CORNER INFIELD – No other baseball team may have a greater dichotomy between its corners than the Angels presently have in Albert Pujols and Alberto Callaspo. One is one of the elite hitters in baseball, the other, is a solid contributor and grinder who fits into the Angels payroll. Fans might remember that Pujols struggled at first with the Angels. He failed to hit a homerun in all of April as he struggled to adjust to the American League and missed his family (his family stayed in St. Louis for the school year and his wife gave birth to his fifth child in September).
Subtracting April’s numbers from his 2012 totals, Pujols posted a .297/.343/.571 line with 101 RBI for the rest of the year, which is much more in line with his career norms. Given the addition of Hamilton batting behind him, and a full season of Trout in front of him, there is every reason to believe that Pujols will increase on those numbers in 2013. As for Callaspo, he provides reasonable production for his salary. But, he is essentially holding the position until the Angels top prospect, Kaleb Cowart is ready—which should be in roughly two years.
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