Tough Times in Oaktown

So the Southern Californian Angels of The Greater San Diego Megalopolis signed Torii Hunter to 5 years and $90 million, under the thought that he'll provide protection in the order for Vlad the Impaler... and as Hunter is still just 32, it's probably not that bad of a deal, though he hardly strikes you as an $18mm a year player, Gold Glove or no. I'm also not at all scared, as an A's fan, by their deal of Orlando Cabrera for Jon Garland. as I kinda think that Garland is a worse idea than giving a kid some starts, especially since the Angels are said to have a farm system and all. If these are their big off-season moves, it's probably a net zero on the whole, and doesn't take them from the 94 win up to the 100 win plateau. They are still, after all, on the hook for many more years of Gary Matthews Jr. (.742 OPS last year), and had Garrett Anderson as their third-best offensive player last year. If Torii Hunter doesn't produce like he's got a contract to earn, they are still going to struggle to score runs, and at some point, that bullpen is going to show some serious cracks (K-Rod and Shields' ERA crept up to 2.81 and 3.86, respectively, and both numbers were the highest they have been in the last five years).

No, the bigger problem is that the speculation has begun as to what kind of haul they will get for Haren and Blanton... and the awful idea that moving both for prospects might be the best idea. When your big off-season move is to move Magical Man-Elf Marco Scutaro to Toronto... well, how exactly does the team propose to win games next year? The offense was paced by Jack Cust, who has no defensive position. The next best hitter in 2008 could be Daric Barton, who also has no defensive position, at least as of yet. The team is on the hook to Mark Kotsay and Eric Chavez for more money than anyone else wants to give them right now, thanks to way too much interest in back surgeries. That profile of Injured But Presumed Talented includes Bobby Crosby, Rich Harden, Huston Street, Justin Duchscherer, Mark Ellis...

Well, this isn't exactly the young and exciting team that you'd want to see in advance to a new park opening, with seats and suites to sell and a rising motion to pitch. Seattle's ascension last year also means that the division is more than Angels Or Bust. I'm also not as up on the A's farm system as I used to be, and they did get a couple of useful pieces last year in Travis Buck and Cust. But it still looks a lot closer to 75 wins than 95, and while Hunter is not going to be a great player for the Angels in three to five years at $18 million, he's going to be plenty good before then.

Of course, this is all contingent before the Other Shoe Dropping... which is the word that Johan Santana's days as a Twin are over. On the off chance that he doesn't go to MLB+ East, and wins up in LAALand... well, then they go to 105+ wins with any kind of health, and the rest of the division gets to play the sucker wildcard bet. Which, as we all know, is always reserved for MLB+ East Runner-Up.

So, on the off chance that someone of influence in Green and Gold sees this, my single plea... if you have to deal Haren or Blanton, deal both and flush the year... but move them *out* of the AL, so that you don't get to see them tear you up for the rest of their careers. Because Danny Haren is a stone cold killer, and Joe Blanton is just the kind of smart pitch-to-contact guy that the A's kind of offensive players can never do anything with.

And after you fire sale these guys, announce that you did it because you knew you weren't going to win this year, and cut the ticket prices. Because on some level, the fans of this team *know* that you've been cashing luxury tax checks from MLB+ for years now, and not spending that money on the team. And if you haven't really been trying full-out, why should the fans pay full-out?