This is one of a series of posts in which we eviscerate each team’s lambastable offseason blunders and laud their miraculous hot-stove coups.

The Angels again made the playoffs in 2007, and again were escorted to an early exit. Last year, the Anaheim squad did a great job of making the most of what they had—speed. Taking advantage of every opportunity to go first-to-third on a single, their aggressive baserunning served them well during the regular season when their small-ball style of play masked their lack of power hitting. But the injured Anaheim ballclub did not last long in October, and scarcely had the season ended when the Angels front office got to work.

In November, they acquired pitcher Jon Garland from the White Sox for Gold Glove shortstop Orlando Cabrera and cash. A few days later, they signed free agent center fielder Torii Hunter, one of the gems in an otherwise weak market. However, Hunter’s only an average fielder and is already 32. Plus, this gave the Angels a glut of outfielders: Hunter, Gary Matthews Jr., Garret Anderson, Vladimir Guerrero, Juan Rivera and Reggie Willits. (Could they have made a deal for Miguel Cabrera with the Marlins instead? The world will never know. On the one hand, the Angels’ farm system, though still good, isn’t what it once was—but on the other, the Marlins didn’t get nearly enough for Cabrera anyway. The two sides did some talking, but the deal fell apart.) Those of us expecting the Angels to continue their frenzy of activity with a move to exchange one of those outfielders for an infielder or a relief pitcher or, well, anything, were disappointed. If the Angels can’t find a way to get Reggie’s .391 OBP and speedy legs into the lineup somehow, they’ll be missing out on his productivity while also diminishing his trade value. I would rather see him start in left field over Gary Matthews, Jr. any day. (Well, any day except for when the Angels are playing the Red Sox, of course.)

So it is that the Angels will begin 2008 hoping that Erick Aybar can fill in for Orlando Cabrera. The 24-year old Aybar is the definition of a light-hitting infielder, though his offense should improve a bit once he’s getting regular at-bats. While he doesn’t have much experience at shortstop in the majors, it was his usual position through the minor leagues, so I don’t foresee a problem there. Plus, the Angels will be able to rotate their outfielders through the DH slot, keeping their bats in the lineup while giving their legs a rest. And Torii Hunter will provide the long-needed protection for Guerrero in the lineup. Finally, the addition of Jon Garland will give the Angels another solid arm behind staff ace John Lackey, which they’re no doubt doubly glad of now that 18-game winner Escobar has reported to camp with a sore shoulder.

Acquisitions: Torii Hunter, Jon Garland

Losses: Orlando Cabrera, Dallas McPherson, Bartolo Colon

Projected Lineup, Rotation, and Closer:

1. 3B, Chone Figgins, .393 OBP, 41 SB
2. LF, Reggie Willits, .391 OBP, 27 SB
3. RF, Vladimir Guerrero, 27 HR, .403 OBP
4. CF, Torii Hunter, 28 HR, .287 AVG
5. DH, Garret Anderson, 16 HR, .297 AVG
6. 1B, Casey Kotchman, .372 OBP
7. 2B, Howie Kendrick, .322 AVG
8. C, Mike Napoli, 10 HR, .351 OBP
9. SS, Erick Aybar, 1 HR, .237 AVG

SP1 John Lackey, 3.01 ERA, 224.0 IP
SP2 Kelvim Escobar, 3.40 ERA, 195.2 IP
SP3 Jered Weaver, 3.91 ERA, 161.0 IP
SP4 Jon Garland, 4.23 ERA, 208.1 IP
SP5 Joe Saunders, 4.44 ERA, 107.1 IP

CL Francisco Rodriguez, 2.81 ERA, 1.25 WHIP

Grade: A-

The Angels accomplished two major goals this offseason: acquiring a dependable starting pitcher and picking up a bat for the middle of their lineup. Their roster heading into 2008 is deep, with last year’s injuries having given some of their younger players and utility guys more experience. Their rotation looks solid—Weaver and Saunders are both young pitchers who should see a step-up in workload this year. Their lineup is stacked, too. My only reservation ist that Torii Hunter might not have been the best possible guy to get to protect Vladimir and, that by acquiring him, the team now has too many outfielders. But if the biggest problem a team has is too many good players, that’s an enviable problem to have. The Angels should make it to the playoffs again this year, and, if they stay healthy, have the roster to get a bit further this time.

-Hot Offseason Action Index-

It’s not secret that baseball GM’s have preferred business partners, and if we were to look at White Sox GM Kenny Williams’ track record, we could almost bet on the kind of trades he’d make.The past three years, for instance, he’s traded a starting pitcher (Garcia), a number of relievers (Gio Gonzalez, among others), a center fielder (Rowand), and a second baseman (Iguchi) to the Phillies in four different occasions.

Then there’s the knack for picking up former Yankee starters (Contreras, Hernandez, Vazquez, Wells).

One team Williams has negotiated with in the past, the Angels, just became another notch in his trade gun belt.

Williams sent Jon Garland to the Angels for short stop Orlando Cabrera and some cash.

By trading Garland to the Angels, Williams finally rid his team of one of its most dependable and consistent starters in the past three seasons to the team that really wanted him. As some of you may know, a Garland-to-Angels deal was in place in 2002 for a then all-star, Darin Erstad.

Of course, Erstad was picked up the ChiSox last year when the Angels wouldn’t find a spot for him.

But really, the crux of this trade is the cash the Angels are sending along with the original OC, Orlando Cabrera.

The White Sox have an opening at center, and there have been rumblings that Williams wants to pry Hunter off the Twinkies’ baggies in the Metrodome. (Williams does have a history of acquiring players once belonging to division rivals - See Colon, Bartolo). Here’s hoping we sign someone other than Hunter. Bringing back Rowand would be nice, but I feel he’d ask for too much money.Of course, there’s Andrwu Jones…hmm, then again, let’s just move on.

In reality, this deal was a must for Williams. The Tigers have already pulled two big trades with nary a month since the last out of the World Series.

Is Cabrera an upgrade over Uribe at short? Yes. Did the White Sox just sign Uribe to a $4.5 mil one-year-contract? Yes. Will Uribe continue to underachieve now that he’s bound for the utility role no veteran covets? Most Def.

Cabrera, however, is in the final year of his contract, which means the Sox might be simply be renting him for 2008. Which could also mean he’ll have a career year.

And then, what’s in it for the Angels?

After emaling back and forth, two UmpBump staffers said it best:

Coley Ward: I’m guessing Garland’s addition will allow the Angels to part with Colon and Ervin Santana.

Their staff would then look like this: Jered Weaver, Garland, Lackey, Escobar and Saunders. Nasty, nasty nasty.

But who will play SS? Chone? I bet they sign Eckstein.

Paul Moro: Not sure if I’d call Joe Saunders “nasty”. He’s pretty damned hittable. But Garland should have an easier time away from The Cell and away from the AL Central.

And while I can’t underestimate the knack for MLB scouts/GMs to overestimate Eckstein, I’d like to think that people realize the guy’s a pretty bad SS. Granted, 2007 was his worst defensive year, but at his age I don’t see it improving much year-to-year. He has the arm of a first baseman for god’s sake. To me, he’s a utility middle-infielder.

Maybe they’ll put Chone there, but he’d be terrible. Maybe they still see Brandon Wood as a SS?

Coley Ward: Paul, I agree that Saunders isn’t “nasty”. But he’s got pretty good numbers for a number five starter. And Weaver, Lackey, Garland, Escobar is a really good top four.

Like most of the blogosphere, I think Eckstein is wildly overrated. And I think the fact that he’s chasing a four year $36 million is hilarious. But I also think he’s the kind of player MIke Socia loves and I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up in Anaheim.

As everyone knows, the White Sox won the World Series in 2005 primarily on the strength of their lights-out starting rotation. The front four starting quartet of Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia, Jon Garland, and Jose Contreras all won at least 14 games and all had ERAs of 3.87 or lower. The dominance of the quartet was underlined most clearly when each pitcher tossed a complete game in order in the Sox’ 4-1 triumph over the Angles in the ALCS.

In 2006 the rotation was supposed to be even stronger thanks to the addition of one-time ace Javier Vazquez as the 5th starter, but whether you want to call it regresion to the mean or fatigue from all those innings they threw in 2005, the original quartet all regressed in ‘06, as all four  saw their ERAs into the 4’s and threw much fewer innings.

But don’t look now (or *do* look, if you are a White Sox fan like Alejandro), because the White Sox rotation is getting back to its ace-laden look of the 2005 world champions. Freddy Garcia is gone now, having been shipped to the Phillies in the offseason, but Javier Vazquez is looking more like the pitcher that dominated as the ace of the Montreal Expos than the pitcher of recent years who looked very mediocre in stints with the Yankees and D-Banks, and rookie John Danks (acquired from Texas for Brandon McCarthy) is pitching much more like a veteran  third starter than a rookie fifth starter.

Last season, White Sox starters had a 4.65 ERA, but this year they are a full run lower, at 3.65. Garland’s 8 1/3 innings against the Royals last night marked the 17th game in a row that the White Sox starter went at least 6 innings. Indeed, so far this season the White Sox are second in the American League only to the Red Sox with 6.25 innings pitched per start, and trail only the D-Backs, Giants, and Reds in the National League, despite the fact that NL starters don’t have to face the designated hitter.

Perhaps most amazing of all, all five White Sox have allowed fewer hits than innings pitched, and as a whole they have allowed the fewest hits and the lowest batting average against in all of baseball. And it’s not like they are walking a lot of guys either, as they have yielded the fourth fewest walks of any rotation.

Although the Sox have gotten off to a somewhat lackluster start in the extremely competitive AL Central, if their rotation can keep this up all year, they will have a good shot at turning it around and making a run.