In the early hours of January 5, 2010, the Angels family suffered another loss with the passing of veteran announcer Rory Markas. Known to Angels fans for closing out every Angels’ win with “Just another Halos victory” and forever associated with the team for his call at the end of Game 7 of the 2002 World Series “Here’s the pitch to Lofton. Fly ball centerfield. Erstad says he’s got it . . . Erstad makes the catch! The Anaheim Angels are the champions of baseball!”

The book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis came out in 2003 about the Oakland Athletics and GM Billy Bean trying to win with a smaller budget. The primary focus at the time was pitching and on-base-percentage. And we saw this on the field with pitchers such as Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, and Tim Hudson. And currently with hitters like Jack Cust. However, it now seems as though the price of pitching has shot up with pitchers like John Lackey, and A.J. Burnett (Maybe #2 pitchers at best) getting $85 million. Also, the medium average, big power, poor defensive players like Adam Dunn, and Jason Bay seem to still be taking advantage of a down economy.

The Angels have capitalized on playing in a division with teams in transition in recent years. They’ve won four of the last five A.L. West division titles as the Rangers, Mariners, and Athletics have been reshaping and retooling their respective organizations. With a strong farm system and a willing owner in Arte Moreno, the Halos have clearly been the class of the west for the last half decade. But it is clear that the gap between the Have’s and Have Not’s in the division is narrowing.

Mike Scioscia was named the AL Manager of the Year for 2009 while Jim Tracy of the Rockies won the award in the NL. Scioscia led the Angels through a long season filled with injuries, struggles and tragedy.

All baseball fans remember the loss of Nick Adenhart after his first start of the 2009 season. Nick started for the Angels on April 8 and threw six shutout innings against the Athletics in what would be his last trip to the mound. He was killed by a drunk driver later that night. That loss led to months of mourning that still continues within the Angels family.

On the field the Angels struggled and after a blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, the team was 29-29 and Scioscia vowed change if things didn’t turn around. The halos responded and finished the season with 97 wins.

Many valuable players missed time this season. Lackey, Santana, Escobar, Saunders, Guerrero and Hunter all missed considerable time and young players had to step up to get this team to the playoffs.

No they didn’t win the World Series. No they didn’t even make it passed the Yankees. What they did do is overcome multiple obstacles during the regular season and then sweep their arch rival Red Sox in the first round of the playoffs.

Scioscia has led the team to the playoffs five of the last six years and six times since 2002, the year he and his club erased years of misery. Scioscia won his second Manager of the Year title, but he could easily also be known as the Manager of the Decade.

-JT Onyett

Angels allegedly in talks to acquire Tigers’ outfielder

In the last three years Curtis Granderson has averaged 25 HR and just under 20 stolen bases a season. Bobby Abreu has averaged 17 HR and just over 25 stolen bases during that same three-year span. With Granderson on the trading block and Abreu already signed, there is a chance the two could be patrolling the same outfield in 2010 and beyond.

Abreu’s bat and leadership led the Halos to the playoffs last season while many of the other leaders spent considerable time on the Disabled List. Granderson also matches Abreu in durability; both averaging over 155 games played a season over the last 4. While his eye is not as established as Abreu he is a much better defender and is only 28.

The real comparison should be with the current left fielder on the Angels, Juan Rivera. Although Rivera did have a repeat of his breakout season of 2006 last year, his horrendous defense and lack of speed have hurt the Angels in the past. Torii Hunter is getting older and cannot continue to have to worry about below average defenders on both sides of him. The addition of Granderson would move Rivera to DH or make him available in trade for a starter or reliever.

Talks have allegedly included Brandon Wood and Mike Napoli. If it takes one of those plus a prospect to get Granderson, Tony Reagins should pull the trigger. Wood is blocked by Figgins (hopefully) at third and Aybar at Short. Plus Matt Brown and others can fill the void of a top prospect that never gets to play in the Majors. Jeff Mathis proved in the playoffs that he can be a regular and Bobby Wilson or a veteran free agent can be a backup.

Some teams have been criticized for having too many of the same type of player. There is no problem with having too many Bobby Abreus. It’s all conjecture at this point but it would be great to see Bobby and “Bobby- Light”.

Now that Bobby Abreu is signed there are three other ex-Angel free-agents who’s futures are uncertain. So how should the Angels approach this offseason?

Priority #1- John Lackey and/or another solid starting pitcher. If the Angels were to lose Big John we would be left with four solid starting pitchers, but that’s a downgrade from what we had last season. With all due respect for O’Sullivan, Palmer, and Bell, none of them will be number one or each number two starters any time soon. You just can’t win without pitching which is why this is priority.

By Brent Hubbard – AngelsWin.com Columnist

And tonight, the leading off for your Los Angeles Angels will be…

Third baseman Chone Figgins? Left Fielder Chone Figgins? Designated Hitter Bobby Abreu? Shortstop Erick Aybar? Second baseman Howie Kendrick? Infielder Macier Izturis?

Someone else?

Centerfielder wins 9^th straight; Shortstop beaten out by Jeter

By: JT Onyett

The Gold Glove is what every defensive-minded player strives for, but sometimes history and reputation outweigh present and statistics. While Angels’ outfielder Torii Hunter picked up his ninth straight gold glove, Derek Jeter’s fourth award should come under scrutiny.

For years Derek Jeter has been the gold standard for a slick-fielding shortstop. Many remember his heads-up flip relay to get Jeremy Giambi in the playoffs against the A’s and who can forget his jump throws deep in the hole. But those are in the past, he is not that same shortstop anymore. Although Jeter had a better fielding percentage than the Angels’ shortstop, Aybar boasted a better range factor and turned more double plays than his New York counterpart.

What is range factor? A statistic created by Bill James to measure how many balls a player fields at his position, putting more importance on the number of balls that player gets to than on the amount of errors he might commit. This season Oriole Cesar Izturis (4.89) had the highest range factor of full time shortstops in the American League. Erick Aybar was third in that category with a 4.68 in twenty more games. Jeter’s Range Factor was only 3.90, proving he does not have the range we all remember.

The two had about the same fielding percentage, Jeter at .986 and Aybar at .983. However, Aybar’s range leads to much more put outs and assists than the Yankee Captain in less games. He also turned 102 double plays to Jeter’s 75. Aybar’s strong arm allows him to get assists and turn double plays that no other shortstop in today’s game can make.

While this year history was not on the flashy Angel’s side this season, here’s hoping things change in 2010.

Ladies and Gentleman, it’s Hot Stove time.

With the Yankees purchase of the World Series Championship concluding on Wednesday, the other 29 teams get things cooking officially today. I kid about the purchase of the World Series Trophy, but the Yankees have committed one billion dollars to free agents over the last few seasons, their own and others, and while they do pay a significant luxury tax, they never seem to be irrelevant for long.

By Eric Denton – AngelsWin.com Senior Writer

The Angels announced the re-signing of outfielder Bobby Abreu to a two year contract with an option for 2012 on Thursday afternoon. The contract is reportedly worth $19 million guaranteed with the option for the third year based on plate appearances.

1. Matt Holliday – Sure he was great in Colorado and St. Louis, but there is just too much down side for the price he will be asking. The Cardinals should have beat the Dodgers, and he is a big reason why they didn’t. The last thing we need is a playoff mental case.

2. R. Wolf - Outside of Dodger stadium Wolf is a mediocre pitcher at best. And that is in the national league. I don’t want another Jeff Weaver.

Major Expiring Contacts:

Vladimir Guerrero
5 years/$70M (2004-08), plus 2009 club option
2009 Salary – $15 million

Kelvim Escobar
3 years/$28.5M (2007-09)
2009 Salary – $9.5 million

This playoff season has consisted of maybe the two greatest Angel games I have ever seen. Of course with the exception of game 6 of the 2002 World Series. It was difficult to watch, and breath, but they came through in the end. And other than the Fuentes’ mistake pitch last night and the Jepsen blunder today, our bullpen has really performed well.

…Players

Errors happen when your nervous or mentally somewhere else, and high scoring innings happen when pitchers aren’t aggressive. It feels like our Red Sox series of the past. Mental error after mental error. This is not the Angel team we have seen all year.