Holy Halos
With word that the Los Angeles Angels have taken themselves out of the running for free agent Mark Teixeira, analysts are left to wonder: what are the Angels planning to do?
A lack of offense has been the Achilles heel of the Angels for several years now with no one able to protect the potent bat of Vlad Guerrero. Teixeira filled the role beautifully and provided excellent defense at first base. One would think a team with the resources of the Angels would have gone to the extreme to ensure that Teixeira stayed with them. Nevertheless, they failed to improve their initial $160 million offer and, on Saturday, the Angels informed the media that they pulled their offer. Reportedly, Angels owner Arte Moreno felt that Tex’s agent, Scott Boras, was using the Angels to drive up the price. Moreno contends that Tex never had any intention of signing with L.A.
Now what?
Rumors abound that the Angels are actively searching for a new bat. Names associated with the team include Paul Konerko, Joey Votto, Jermaine Dye, Garrett Atkins and free agents Pat Burrell, Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn.
Each trade would cost young pitching, a commodity teams are always hesitant to part with. A top target for potential trade partners would be righthander Nick Adenhart. Trading Adenhart for a declining slugger like Dye or Konerko would be incredibly shortsighted. In fact, the Angels should abandon any trade thoughts and look at the available free agents.
The market for Adam Dunn is as low as it’s ever been. Dunn averages 40 homers and 100 runs batted in a year. He regularly posts on-base percentages over 385. The knock on Dunn is that he strikes out between 180 and 200 times a year. In addition, many in the industry believed Jays general manager J.P. Riciardi’s rant last summer claiming that Dunn was a lazy player who hated baseball. These factors have combined to drive the market for Dunn’s services well below the expected level.
The Angels should offer Dunn a modest three-year deal for about $33 million and bat him behind Vlad Guerrero. Defensively, the Halos can put Dunn at first base and fill the void left by Teixeira.
The loss of Big Tex hurts, but the Angels can keep their offense afloat by deftly moving to sign Adam Dunn. Otherwise, they are looking at another year of sub-par offensive production. With improving teams in Oakland and Texas, that’s not an appealing option.
