A Couple of Transaction Notes

Things are fairly quiet around Angelopolis right now, with everything sort of in a holding pattern until Spring Training (15 days until the first Spring Training game!). That said, there have at least been a couple of transactions recently worth at least noting, though neither are likely to have much of an impact on anything.

Robb Quinlan
The Angels agreed to terms with Robb Quinlan, for some amount of money over some time frame. I don’t really care about either, and unless it’s tens of millions over multiple years, you shouldn’t either. He actually had one fairly productive season with the Angels, posting an OPS of .836, but that was clearly a fluke and no one should be expecting anything like it again from him. What that leaves us with is a player that can play all the corner positions (1B, 3B, LF, RF) and give people a day off, but should never, ever see more than 150-200 PA in a season. He’s basically a 0 WAR player, meaning with his hitting and fielding he neither adds or subtracts wins, or even partial wins, from the team. He’s just a guy to hold a glove or a bat while someone rests for a day, and that’s about it. Thankfully, we’ve seen four straight seasons of declining Plate Appearances for him, so hopefully Scos & Co. realize this as well. We just have to pray that he isn’t the planned replacement if Brandon Wood can’t cut it at 3B.

Dustin Moseley
Dustin signed with the Yankees , ending his time with the Angels, and having almost no impact on either team. Perhaps he gives the Yankees a bit of depth in their rotation and/or pen, perhaps he takes a bit from the Angels, but with people like O’Sullivan, Loux, Palmer, Jepsen, and Thompson hanging around at various levels, depth won’t be a major issue for the Angels. They have people that can and will take the ball, either in the rotation or out of the pen. How well they’ll do with that ball is another question entirely. Moseley’s deal with the Yankees is a minor league one with an invitation to Spring Training, so he’ll have a chance to show them he’s healthy after last season’s surgery, and at least initially provide them with some Triple-A depth. I do, at least, wish him good luck with the rest of his career, but I’m not going to say I’m sad to see him go either.

(Nate Proctor is the lead writer for Halo Hangout.  You can stay up to date on all of Nate’s work by following him on Twitter, Facebook, or by way of the Halo Hangout RSS feed.)