Ranking 3 worst LA Angels trades in franchise history

No. 2 worst LA Angels trade in franchise history: The Vernon Wells trade (2011)

The LA Angels trading for Vernon Wells really couldn't have gone any worse than it did. Wells was coming off of his third All-Star season, so the Halos thought it was a great time to go ahead and bring him aboard. And on the bright side, due to it being a trade, we didn't have to pay the entire 7-year/$126 million contract.

We did, however, have to pay for the last four, and sure enough he only played with us for two years. He was awful in those two years. Wells hit .222/.258/.409 (.667 OPS) with the Angels, and had a total of 36 home runs, 95 RBIs, and 96 runs.

Just embarrassing. It turned out to be an awful move, and when he went to the Yankees for that third year, we had to pay for most of the money on his contract for that season.

We traded Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera to get Wells. Napoli hit .320/.414/.631 (1.046 OPS) in his first year removed from the Halos, and was an All-Star in just his second year removed from the franchise. To make matters worse, he did this for the rival Texas Rangers.