Angels Pitching Needs Will Be Front And Center in Nashville

The Angels look like they are going to be a very active team during the upcoming winter meetings. There are reports coming out that the Angels are making Jordan Walden very available. They could use him for possible trade bait for a starting pitcher (package for R.A. Dickey? Jonathon Niese? Bruce Chen?) or maybe they will look to change something among their hitters.

September 16, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Los Angeles Angels pitcher

(51) delivers a pitch against the Kansas City Royals during the eighth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

To me, trading Walden only makes sense if you can add Kyuji Fujikawa, or another veteran reliever like a Mike Adams or a Koji Uehara. That would then make Walden expendable and an interesting target for a team that could use another arm coming out of the bullpen. Walden continued to have over a strikeout per inning, and his walks per nine slightly increased from 3.9 to 4.2Now to the starting pitching front, the Angels are after a target that I forgot to mention; Ryan Dempster. Dempster is apparently looking for a three year contact. He will be 36 in May, so giving him a three year deal may be a risky proposition, however, guys like the security. Dempster pitched for the first time in the AL with Texas and went 7-3, but had an ERA over five.

The thing is, there isn’t a lot of pitching available on the open market, which causes everyone’s price to go up. We’ll see if they go that extra mile to get Dempster, or maybe go with Anibal Sanchez if Zack Greinke leaves. The thing is, we won’t know until Greinke decides where he’s ending up.