The Last Vernon Wells Mike Napoli Trade Post Of The Year…I Promise

Hindsight is always 20/20.

You can always look back at life’s events and say ” I shouldn’t have drank so much or “I should have never  bet on the Rams to beat the Eagles last week.” For Tony Reagins and the Angels we can now with certainty add ” We should have never traded Mike Napoli” to the list of hindsight regrets. Reevaluating  situations after the fact is always easy to do. You never know what the future holds until the most nearest present actually occurs. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way.

Boy did the Angels make a huge mistake by trading Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera for Vernon Wells.

This topic was kicked around all off season and has been dragged across the floor for most of this regular season but a recent article by Fangraphs again sheds light on just how detrimental this deal has been for the Halos. The difference in performance  between Napoli and Wells/ Mathis alone is enough to make up for the 3.5 game gap in the AL West if you give WAR any credence. With Napoli currently sporting a .312/.411/.613  slash line – imagine if you plugged that into the Halos anemic lineup and subtracted Wells and Mathis.

• Peter Bourjos – CF
• Maicer Izturis – 3B
• Howie Kendrick – 2B
• Mike Napoli – C
• Torii Hunter – RF
• Mark Trumbo – 1B
• Bobby Abreu – DH
• Mike Trout – LF
• Erick Aybar – SS

Not murders row by any stretch –  but this version of the Angels is easily a better offensive club merely by subtracting the two automatic outs better known as Wells and Mathis. Yes hindsight is always 20/20 – and no one could have imagined Napoli being this good or Wells being this bad. However this is one the Angels got wrong from the start. Sadly this singular move is likely what holds them back from reaching the post season.