Angels Give Fans Reasons To Celebrate

My head is still spinning a bit. Just a year ago, the Angels fan base felt they were let down by the Front Office after losing out on the bidding for Carl Crawford and Adrian Beltre. The Vernon Wells consoliation prize from GM Tony Reagins was and coninues to be mocked. As the Winter Meetings were wrapping up this year, owner Arte Moreno and new GM Jerry Dipoto delivered some gifts to Angels fan that won’t soon be forgotten.

The Angels signed top free agents Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson early Thursday, stunning most of the baseball world. I, of course, have mixed emotions about all of this because of the contracts. Pujols, soon-to-be-32-years-old, inked a 10-year, $254 million dollar deal to rival only Alex Rodriguez who actually signed two of them. Wilson, soon-to-be-31-years-old, signed a 5-year, $77 million deal. But for today, I’ll put the writer/critic/pessimist side away and just be an Angels fan.

As an Angels fan, you can’t help being elated. They have sorely missed an impact bat so why not just acquired the best hitter since Barry Bonds. Already with three MVPs, 424 home runs and a career .328/.420/.617 (AVG/OBP/SLG) slash line, Pujols is on his way to being one of the greatest hitter of all-time.

Wilson, a converted reliever, is coming off of two very good years as a starter, pitching over 200 innings with a 3.35 ERA and 3.56 FIP (fielding independent pitching) in 2010 and a 2.94 ERA and 3.24 FIP in 2011. The lefty will slot into a rotaion that already boasts co-aces Jered Weaver and Dan Haren plus Ervin Santana who showed off his no-hit stuff by throwing a no-hitter last season.

With my future blinders on, this is a great day for the Angels. Pujols is a franchise altering signing. For now, it’s time to celebrate. Brag about Pujols and Wilson to your non-Angel friends. Shrug off their bitter texts. Break out the Carvel Fudgie the Whale and ginger-ale. C.J. Wilson is straight edge so I’m not sure how normal people celebrate without booze. I always assume ice cream cake in those instances.

Enjoy this day, Angels fans. I can’t promise I’ll play this nice in the future.