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Walk tall and carry a big stick How poetic that the final game of the season, the one we were all convinced would decide the AL West, was a complete waste? That it put the Rangers 10 games up in the division? That it put them 30 games over .500? That it gave them home-field, at least, in the ALDS?
If you wanted to paint a dark cloud over this Rangers season, you could argue the California Angels screwed up a lot. Enough to make a difference in how this division turned out and how the Angels' season went.
It goes back to overpaying for Torii Hunter and Gary Mathews Jr., two things the Rangers were not willing to do.
Fast forward to the winter. They trade Mike Napoli to Toronto for the heavily overpaid Vernon Wells. The Blue Jays then turned Napoli into Frank Francisco.
Also, the Angels did absolutely nothing in free agency. They whiffed on Adrian Beltre for sure. I'm not sure if they were in on anyone else. They basically went into this season under the assumption that Vernon Wells just needed a change of scenery and that Jered Weaver and Dan Haren would carry the team (Ervin Santana's season, I think, was a bit of a surprise).
That flawed. So, the trading deadline comes, the Angels are certainly in the division race and the wild card was not completely out of reach. What did the Angels do? Despite a massive need at the ass of their rotation, the need for another bullpen arm and probably two or three bats in the middle of that line-up, they did nothing. Not a thing.
It's one thing to put your eggs in the Jeff Mathis/Hank Conger basket by letting Napoli go, but to see where they were headed this season and not to make a move was utterly foolish.
Meanwhile, the Rangers addressed their weakest spot -- the bullpen -- by adding Mike Adams and Koji Uehara in addition to adding Mike Gonzalez on waivers.
Then, the Angels began to panic. A month ago, they started a series of moves that would pitch Weaver, Haren and Santana on three days rest. This, of course, goes back to their rotation being really bad in the Nos. 4 and 5 spots, something they should have addressed at the deadline or free agency.
Weaver posted ERAs of 4.28 and 3.15 in August and September, respectively. Haren's August ERA jumped to 4.20 and then 3.25 in September. Santana dropped off the most. His ERA spiked drastically to 4.26 in September and he basically had a 1:1 K/BB ratio.
At a certain point, you have to wonder what ownership and general management for the California franchise is thinking. I assume it's due to be cash strapped with those albatross contracts. Maybe there's a bit of ineptitude mixed in. Their inability to make smart signings and evaluate talent affected them all the way down to overpitching their really great starters the final month of the season when Boston and Tampa were begging someone to steal the wild card.
As it stands, the Angels can go fishing today. The Rangers are baiting their hooks for a different marine animal.
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