The Angels are in first place in the AL West and have a fine record of 52-34, third best in the majors behind the Rays and the Cubs, but they are going to be hard pressed to maintain that pace if they don’t start getting more offense.

Although they Angels are 6th in the major leagues in ERA, they are way down at 23rd in runs scored. And the biggest reason is their underperforming, overcrowded outfield/DH situation.

When the Angels tried to cram Torii Hunter into what was already an overcrowded situation, we knew that some guys would get left out, and predictably the Angels have gone with a rotation of highly-paid established veterans Hunter, Vlad Guerrero, Gary Matthews Jr., and Garrett Anderson.

Guerrero has shown some signs of emerging from an unusual early season slump, but Matthews and Anderson have been handed starting roles and 300 at-bats each, and have posted OPS figures of .678 and .697, respectively. Matthews’ OBP is only .319, and Anderson’s is even worse, at only .297. And these numbers are being put up in crucial corner outfielder/DH at-bats, where a team really needs to get a sizeable proportion of its offense.

In some sense it is understandable why the Angels keep running these two out there. Anderson has been a franchise centerpiece for more than a decade, and Matthews was awarded a huge 5-year $50 million contract two years back.

But it is time for the Angels to face reality and cut their losses by sending these guys to the bench. Anderson has been in steep decline at the plate for many years now, and is no longer even adequate on defense, while Matthews has never been more than a fourth outfielder at best, except for that one fluky, hGh-fueled free-agent walk year with the Rangers.

Meanwhile, Reggie Willits posted a .391 OBP last season, and Juan Rivera batted .310 and OPS’d .887 in his last full season in 2006. While it is uncertain whether either player would match those numbers if given an everyday starting job, both would almost certainly best what Matthews and Anderson are currently providing.

The Angels organization has been a model of stability and has not fired any of its front-office personnel in 9 years. But while that sort of patience and stability in the front office is an asset, major league ball players need to be evaluated more objectively.

If the Angels really want to get back to the World Series, the need to stop basing their lineup on sentimentality.

- What They Need Index -

The revelation that Gary Matthews, Jr. has purchased HGH has inspired a lot of reactions.

His dad is remaining loyal (as dads do).

His new team is pissed ($55 million down the drain?).

His old team is relieved (that he’s somebody else’s problem).

Me? I can’t believe I never suspected him.

We’re talking about a 32 year-old guy with eight seasons and seven teams under his belt who couldn’t hit a lick until two years ago. How could I not have suspected he was on steroids? This guy was Brady Anderson, the sequel.

Upon further review, I think a big reason I never suspected Matthews had to do with his reputation as a “character” guy. Matthews, after all, is a baseball lifer, the son of legendary National League slugger Garry “Sarge” Matthews. How could a guy who has been a part of the game all his life do something that would risk his place in it?

What a silly question. As SI writer Jon Heyman points out, it’s the juniors who are using steroids the most:

Matthews and Jerry Hairston, another player reported by SI.com to have been linked to alleged HGH sales on the Internet, both are former Orioles. Baltimore’s Rafael Palmeiro, of course, famously tested positive for steroids in 2005. One reason that the Orioles didn’t pursue Bonds, in fact, was to avoid another potential scandal. It’s also interesting to note that like Bonds, both Matthews and Hairston are sons of major leaguers.

Oh, and this just in: David Bell has been busted for using HGH, too! That’s right, David “son of Buddy” Bell.

I don’t know why these sons of former players are so quick to use steroids. Or why they’re so easily caught. I just pray that Ken Griffey, Jr.’s name doesn’t turn up on any illegal pharmacy lists. That would be a dark day indeed.

This is part of a series of posts in which we call out all 30 teams for their wily offseason moves and tragic offseason blunders. 

Angels GM Bill Stoneman has one of those really apt names Sarah was talking about in one of her comments. Much like a stone, he never says anything, never shows any emotion, and never does much of anything either.  Stoneman is legendary in LA for never trading anyone for anything, so any time you hear a trade rumor involving the Angels, you can usually just discount it entirely and proceed with your merry little life.

Not surprisingly, then, most Angels “offseason reports” range from “short” to “miniscule” in length.  But Stoneman has been known to sign a free agent from time to time, and like the return of a rarely seen comet, this was one of those years.

Stoneman made waves this November when he awarded a 5-year, $50 million contract to erstwhile Rangers centerfielder Gary Matthews, Jr., in the most roundly criticised deal given to any player this offseason who wasn’t named Gil Meche.  Among numerous ominous portents for Matthews’ future performance, only once in 8 seasons (with 6 different teams) has he hit more than 17 home runs, collected more than 59 RBI, or even accumulated more than 475 at-bats.

Any guesses which year all those things happened? (Hint: it rhymes with, um, ”blue cow sand and sticks”).

I also feel compelled to point out that Matthews’ .313 average last year was 50 points higher than his career mark.  So either the guy mysteriously figured it all out at the age of 32, and suddenly transformed overnight from journeyman into superstar, or the Angles are going to be paying $50 million for one of the biggest flukes in recent memory.

Other than the Matthews signing, Stoneman only made three real moves all offseason.  He signed noted pitching ace Darren Oliver and bullpen Titan Justin Speier, and mysteriously gave a one-year deal to the vastly overrated Shea Hillenbrand to play first base despite having a huge logjam of first-base types in the organization, including Casey Kotchman, Robb Quinlan, Kendry Morales, and Dallas McPherson.

For now, the logjam will be somewhat lessened while Juan Rivera recovers from a horribly broken leg, Garret Anderson plays leftfield, and Hillenbrand DH’s, but once Rivera returns Hillenbrand will be taking at-bats away from burgeoning slugger Robb Quinlan, and that is not a good thing.

In a classic non-move, it looks like Stoneman will not resign free-agent fan favorite Darin Erstad, despite Erstad’s inability to find a job anywhere else.  You get the feeling that Stoneman would actually want to sign Erstad to somekind of deal as a backup outfielder, except that that would require him to actually do things like speak words or rise from a supine position.

The Angels used to be one of the most hyper, overreactive organizations in baseball (remember Jim Edmonds for Kent Bottonfield, anyone?) until the 2002 offseason when Stoneman tried doing absolutely nothing and the Angels wound up winning it all. Stoneman has tried to do as little as possible ever since, but sometimes owner Arte Moreno finally gets fed up and demands that Stoneman sign a big free agent, as happened with Vladimir Guerrero (whose contract was largely negotiated by Moreno), and happened again this year with Matthews after Moreno promised the fans the Angels would sign an “impact player” this year.

Nevertheless, the Angels remain in contention year after year thanks to a farm system that continues to produce reliable, if not necessarily spectacular major leaguers.  With the emergence of Juan Rivera in the outfield and Howie Kendrick at second, the departures of Erstad and Adam Kennedy will not be missed much (and both were highly overrated in any case), and the Angels still have one of the more solid pitching rotations in the game, led by mulleted magician Jared Weaver, so the Halos are a good bet to challenge the A’s for the division crown despite a typically stone-like offseason from Stoneman.

Offseason Grade: F

Acquisitions: Gary Matthews Jr., Shea Hillenbrand, Darren Oliver, Justin Speier

Losses: Darin Erstad, Adam Kennedy, J.C. Romero, Brendan Donnelly, Kevin Gregg

Projected Lineup, Rotation, and Closer

3B Chone Figgins - .267/.336/.376, 52 SB

SS Orlando Cabrerra - .282/.335/.404 27 SB

RF Vladimir Guerrero - .329/.382/.552, 33 HR

DH Garret Anderson - .280/.323/.433, 17 HR

LF Juan Rivera - .310/.362/.525, 23 HR

CF Gary Matthews Jr. - .313/.371/.495 19 HR

1B Shea Hillenbrand - .277/.313/.451, 21 HR

C Mike Napoli - .228/.360/.455, 16 HR

2B Howie Kendrick - .285/.314/.416, 4 HR

RHP Jared Weaver - 11-2, 2.56

RHP John Lackey - 13-11, 3.56

RHP Kelvim Escobar - 11-14, 3.61

RHP Ervin Santana - 16-8, 4.28

LHP Joe Saunders - 7-3, 4.71

CL Frankie Rodriguez - 47 SV, 1.73

- Hot Offseason Action Index -

Gary Matthews signed with the Angels today. He got $10 million a year over five years. That’s right, the Angels paid a 31-year old centerfielder $50 million. A guy who, until this year, hit .250 over his career.

Matthews is a fine player. He was an all-star this year. Seems like a real good guy. Comes from a baseball family. And maybe he really has turned a corner as a hitter. But $50 million?

“Guys learn at different times in their careers,” Angels GM Bill Stoneman said. “Gary’s coming into his own.”

Okaaaaaaaaay. Sure he is. Just like Adrien Beltre came into his own a few years ago. When are GMs ever going to learn that it’s a bad idea to hand out monster contracts to guys who put together one solid year after 10 years of mediocrity?

Even if Matthews can put together a couple more .300 seasons, $10 million per is a real stretch. I mean, really, $50 million? That’s a ton of money.

Plenty of players have parlayed fluke years into monster contracts. Many of those players, we’ve come to find out, did so with the benefit of some designer drugs. But Matthews may be the first that I can remember to score a big deal on the strength of one spectacular play. You know the one I’m talking about.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzp6ny0rtAA[/video]

You know what? On second thought, if I were a GM, I think I might shell out $50 million to Matthews on the off chance that he might make a catch like that again, this time for my team. Wow. Wowie, wow, wow, wow.

In other hot stove news, the Carlos Lee sweepstakes seems to be heating up. And, really, your guess is as good as mine as to who will end up with Lee. Everybody seems to think it’ll come down to three teams, but nobody seems to be able to agree which three teams. I’ve heard the Orioles, Astros, and Phillies are all serious contenders. But the Giants and Rangers have also been mentioned as possibilities, and you’ve got to think the Giants are more of a player after losing Moises Alou and then losing out on Matthews. An AL team would almost certainly be a better fit for Lee, who is growing fatter by the day. At the rate he’s going, he’ll be forced into DH duty buy July. If he signs with an NL team, he’ll eventually be too fat to play anything but first base. You’d think that would prevent the Phillies from signing him, since they already have a pretty good fat firstbaseman. But then again, Pat Gillick seems desperate to sign a slugger.

From the “don’t hold your breath” department, rumors persist that the Red Sox will try to convince Roger Clemens to become their closer, and that the Angels will trade for Andruw Jones. First of all, Clemens isn’t a closer. Second he likes to spend off days with his family, and closers need to be available everyday. So it just isn’t going to happen. As for Andruw, he’s got a no trade clause and doesn’t seem interested in going anywhere until after this season, when he will become a free agent and should command money similar to what Alfonso Soriano just got.