Wells to Angels?

[RchW]

If AA pulls this off he should be MLB Exec of the year right now. No need for a vote.

Angels to acquire Vernon Wells in blockbuster trade with Blue Jays | MLB.com: News

[kq76]

I'm curious how much money the Jays are sending them. I suppose it doesn't matter that much from a fan's perspective, but when trying to ignore the salary aspect I don't get it from the Angels' perspective. Wells could have a down year again and easily be just as good or bad as Rivera, but costing way more. And on top of it you give up Napoli when it doesn't look like you have a very good replacement in line? I'm thinking that what's reported there is just a made up story or only part of the deal.

[CD1083]

The smell of desperation.

[Johnny Canuck]

According to Jon Heyman, the Angels are picking up all of Wells' remaining contract. If that's true, this is one of the greatest heists of all time. I'm no Blue Jays fan, but I have to tip my cap to AA for dumping the most untradeable contract in MLB on the insane Angels. Even if Napoli and Rivera are gone after 2011, not having Wells' albatross of a contract holding them back moves Toronto much closer to becoming a plausible playoff contender by 2012/13.

[Chicagofan76]

Toronto Blue Jays turned into the Montreal Expos.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by Chicagofan76

Toronto Blue Jays turned into the Montreal Expos.

[Terpripken]

...and yet the Angels wouldn't pony up for Crawford. Hmmm...not sure what is going on in Anaheim.

[RchW]

The Angels blogs don't like it much.

Halos Heaven - For Los Angeles Angels Fans

Angels release Mike Napoli, sign Juan Rivera to a 4 yr $86M extension


Ridiculous, right? I mean, that headline must be from The Onion.

Sadly, it's all too real. While it's still uncertain how many Canadian dollars (if any) the Blue Jays will pack into Mom's Attic when Vernon Wells rents his U-Haul next month, make no mistake. They're popping corks and smoking Cubans in Toronto tonight. Alex Anthopoulos has done the impossible.

Today, the Toronto Blue Jays unloaded one of the worst contracts in baseball history and got players with positive value in return. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have just agreed to take on the majority of Vernon Wells' seven-year, $126 million deal, signed in 2006, in exchange for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera.

This trade doesn't even deserve the dignity of a formal analysis. The Angels voluntarily vacated about three or four wins next season while simultaneously boosting their payroll by nearly $10 million. Sure he had weaknesses, but Mike Napoli was the second-best offensive player on the 2010 Angels, and light-years better than Jeff Mathis. And even though Wells outperformed Juan Rivera last year, the two of them have been virtually identical hitters over the last four seasons. Wells may play center field for awhile, but if Torii Hunter's recent performance there was unsatisfactory, then he will find himself in Juan's old corner soon enough.

Wells, whose contract was a regular feature on the waiver wire, was previously thought to be unmovable. Tony Reagins, Arte Moreno, and Mike Scioscia are now the owners of the back-end of a deal back-loaded at the time of signing to account for uncertainties in the US-Canadian exchange rate. Sam Miller of the OC Register was noted that very rarely does a trade make one team "older, more expensive, and worse," all at the same time.

Thinking outside the box? Perhaps not thinking at all.

Edit;

The poll they put up is very funny.

Poll
Be honest, tell me how you feel.

* I'm going to need another 40.
* Someone's got to pay for this.
* What else could go wrong now that the worst has happened?
* Click, click, BOOM
* I actually like the deal (an option for our Canadian guests).

1057 votes | Results

[Chicagofan76]

Wells can opt out of contract after any season the next 4 yrs? not that he would get paid 21-23 million anywhere else.

[Tony M]

I thought this was going to be about David Wells

[CD1083]

Originally Posted by Chicagofan76

Wells can opt out of contract after any season the next 4 yrs? not that he would get paid 21-23 million anywhere else.

Is Scott Boras his agent?

[Johnny Canuck]

Originally Posted by Terpripken

...and yet the Angels wouldn't pony up for Crawford. Hmmm...not sure what is going on in Anaheim.

Good point - I really liked the post at Fangraphs about what the Angels could have gotten this off-season for all the money they've just thrown away on Wells.

What Does $75 Million Buy In 2011? | FanGraphs Baseball

[RBLwebguy]

Originally Posted by RchW

If AA pulls this off he should be MLB Exec of the year right now. No need for a vote.

No kidding!

[RBLwebguy]

Originally Posted by Terpripken

...and yet the Angels wouldn't pony up for Crawford. Hmmm...not sure what is going on in Anaheim.

Desperation?

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by Terpripken

...and yet the Angels wouldn't pony up for Crawford. Hmmm...not sure what is going on in Anaheim.

Texas and Oakland beefing up = Desperado GM in LAA.

If you look at most of the trades AA makes, he's a master at capitalizing on the desperation of his fellow GMs. By all rights he should've been the one sweating on the Halladay deal, as it's been mentioned that the only team Halladay wanted to go to was the Phillies. Fortunately for him Ruben Amaro Jr. desperately wanted Halladay and AA was able to pick up three pretty decent prospects for him, one of whom will probably be in the 2011 rotation.

The Mariners felt they were contenders last year, but didn't want any part of figuring out what role Brandon Morrow would excel most at...enter the Jedi Ninja GM...off go Brandon League and Johermyn Chavez to the Mariners and the Jays get a SP with #1 upside.

Not that he's great shakes or anything, but AA found out that Fred Lewis was in San Fran's doghouse, picked him up for the infamous PTBNL or cash and plugged a hole in the lineup.

Yunel Escobar was on the outs with Bobby Cox and most of his teammates, and Alex Gonzalez had had a career first half. Poof! Off he goes with minor league SS Tyler Pastornicky and minor league RP Tim Collins (would love to have seen him pitch here, but he's a RP for a reason) for Escobar and LHP Jo-Jo Reyes, whose career has completely stalled out...but as Joaquin Andujar said: "Youneverknow"

The Astros had just traded Lance Berkman to the Yankees and desperately needed a 1B. Off goes Brett Wallace for a player AA has coveted for a long time: CF Anthony Gose.

Oakland has a cast of thousands in the OF, boom! off go two more minor league RP for Rajai Davis, who's no world beater by any means, but his acquisition just became a whole lot more important.

The Brewers really want to contend this coming year, so off goes Shaun Marcum for their #1 prospect Brett Lawrie and a few days earlier another PTBNL for Carlos Villanueva.

The Angels struck out on all their free agent targets this offseason, but have had a four year crush on Vernon Wells that led them to make the disastrous Gary Matthews Jr. signing out of desperation when VW signed his behemoth extension after the 2006 season. This one was the mother of all of the Jedi Ninja master GM's trades. It came out of nowhere. Keith Law said yesterday that the Jays would've taken a bag of turnips and a can of tinned meat in return for Vernon Wells. Nice turnips and some decent quality tinned meat, I must say.

Add in all the decent, cheap free agent signings, what was widely thought to be one of the better drafts in MLB in the 2010 amateur draft, and the farm system going from bottom five or ten to top five or ten in the sixteen months AA's been on the job. Nice.

I'm not saying he's the perfect GM or that everything he does will turn to gold, because it won't. I am saying that so far I'm mighty impressed and very happy he's running my favourite team.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by Chicagofan76

Wells can opt out of contract after any season the next 4 yrs? not that he would get paid 21-23 million anywhere else.

Nope. He can only opt out after 2011. But, as you say, he'd have to be absolutely nuts to do so. About as nuts as Tony Reagins looks right about now.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by Chicagofan76

Toronto Blue Jays turned into the Montreal Expos.

Lol wut?

[actionjackson]

The Jays paid a grand total of approx $57 million for Vernon Wells including his amateur draft bonus in 1997. So from 1997-2010 (14 seasons of pretty decent productivity, 12ish in the majors) the Jays paid $29 million less than the Angels will be paying over the next four seasons for Vernon's age 32-35 seasons depending on how much cash (if any) the Jays send the Angels...And we got two decent MLB players back as well? What. The. Hell?

[Chicagofan76]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Nope. He can only opt out after 2011. But, as you say, he'd have to be absolutely nuts to do so. About as nuts as Tony Reagins looks right about now.

Not disagreeing with u but the contract status at the bottom of Baseball ref has "can opt out" after his contract for each of teh next 4 yrs.

Jays= Expos what u dont believe that? trade good players for good prospects and still find a way to be competitive..for now.....or they r gonna turn into the NY Yankees of the 50's...with great homegrown talent.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Chicagofan76

Toronto Blue Jays turned into the Montreal Expos.

If we accept that as true, I personally would put much of the blame on Maple Leaf mania, which appears to be getting worse in this town with each passing year, and in spite of the hockey team sucking on a regular basis.

The Jays these days do have one big advantage over the Expos: a Canadian dollar at par with the U.S. The poor 'ol Expos had to deal with a Canadian buck worth a lot less in American coinage.