Ranking 3 best LA Angels trades in franchise history

No. 2 best LA Angels trade in franchise history: The Rod Carew trade (1979)

Rod Carew was truly a remarkable player for the LA Angels. He's the type of player that's impossible not to like. We traded pitchers Paul Hartzell and Brad Havens, along with outfielder Ken Landreaux, and infielder Dave Engle for Carew.

With all due respect to those names, I'm taking the Hall of Famer. In the first six years of Carew's Angels career, he made six straight All-Star Games. He hit .314 and got on 39.3% of the time.

Sure, Carew didn't have a lot of power, but the 3,053 hits makes me forget about that pretty quickly. Carew was a bit better on the Twins than the Angels, but nobody will ever forget what he brought to Anaheim. Besides, while he didn't bring any of his batting titles here, he still brought a great swing that was still in its prime.

His 119 OPS+ with Anaheim was solid, and it's safe to say we won the trade. Carew remains a fan favorite of this fan base, despite retiring after the 1985 season. Carew hit over .300 in five out of his seven years with this club.