Fans probably will love this trade:
Angels give up Casey Kotchman and minor-league pitcher Stephen Marek … and get Mark Teixeira.
Sounds sexy.
Sounds wrong.
The Angels have been consistent contenders in the American League West in this decade, and one of the biggest reasons is this one:
They rarely make trades like this one.
They gave away a solid contributor and a solid citizen, a guy who came up through their system, Casey Kotchman. For Mark Teixeira — whose contract not only is up after this year, he is represented by the rapacious Scott Boras. Which means the Angels just traded for a two-month rental — unless they are prepared to lay out Alex Rodriguez-type money to sign Teixeira.
Meanwhile, Kotchman, who has been steadily improving, can’t be a free agent until after the 2011 season. Making him the sort of outstanding value that has made this team so good.
The Angels’ thinking here is fairly obvious: They believed they needed one more big hitter to win another World Series. And batting Maicer Izturis in the “3” hole in several recent games almost seemed orchestrated to get normally cautious owner Arte Moreno to sign off on this deal.
I believe the Angels had enough to win a World Series — before this trade. Particularly with the Red Sox and Yankees struggling, and the AL Central looking like nothing special. Especially with the Angels already owning the best record in baseball.
No, the Angels weren’t among league leaders in team offense, but they had been scoring better of late, and pitching is still where it’s at — and the club is fine there.
Now, this club has to win a World Series. That’s what this trade is about: “We want to win now, and we’re mortgaging our future.”
That’s the sort of move we expect from boom-and-bust teams like the Marlins, Padres and Diamondbacks. The Angels are supposed to be about ongoing competence.
Mark Teixeira doesn’t give them that, unless he signs with them, and that will come two years after the club committed $50 million to Gary Matthews Jr. and $80 million to Torii Hunter. And with Vlad Guerrero’s contract up this fall, as well as Frankie Rodriguez’s and Garret Anderson’s.
I’m guessing the club won’t bother any of those three, now, if they plan to keep Teixeira. That changes this club significantly. And is that what you really want when you’re about to go to the playoffs for the fifth time in seven seasons?
I liked the Bill Stoneman Angels. Keep costs and egos under control. Make it about the team, not about individual players. OK, you had a couple of tough postseason matchups with the Red Sox, but how much of that was about guys being hurt or sick? (A lot.)
This trade apparently is a Tony Reagins thing, and it just kinda creeps me out. It’s seems as if the neighborhood’s well-run ball club just did something shaky and short-term. I don’t like the way it feels.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Eugene Fields // Jul 30, 2008 at 1:04 PM
“Winning” formula? As a long-suffering Halos fan, I am grateful for all of the division titles and 90+ victory seasons.
With that said, I am so happy that the Angels went out and got arguably the #2 or 3 1st baseman in the game.
Stoneman TRIED to get Tex a year ago, Tejada 2 years ago, Manny Ramirez 3 years ago, etc. – but the deals weren’t right (well, in hindsight, I would have traded Dallas McPherson, Jeff Mathis and Darin Erstad for Manny in ’05)
My point is that even though none of those “big trades” went through, Stoneman at least tried to improved the team, just not at a large cost to the future of the franchise.
The cost here is low, even if the Angels don’t re-sign Big Tex. Kendry Morales -who has shown some power – could get a shot at 1B; If Conger can’t catch, he could eventually move up into that spot; Heck, even Juan Rivera could be an option and fill the stereotypical power-hitting 1B (and yes, he did take reps at the position in spring training).
Yes, losing Kotchman’s three more years might hurt – but Tex is a better hitter, has 2 Gold Gloves and gives badly-needed protection for Vlad that neither Kotch, Hunter or Anderson never did.
Other than getting rid of Guillen for Izturus and Rivera, this might be listed at the best trade in Angels history
2 John Hollon // Jul 30, 2008 at 3:25 PM
Best trade in Angels history is easily the deal that sent a fading Jim Fregosi to the Mets for a decent outfielder named Lee Stanton and a pitcher you might have heard of — Nolan Ryan.
So, don’t start ringing the gong that this is the best Angel trade ever. Trades always need a few years of perspective to properly evaluate.
That having been said, I can hardly believe that ANYONE is questioning this deal given how much crap the Angels have gotten in years past for not pulling the trigger to get a big bat to go with Vlad and get them back into the World Series.
If the Angels don’t sign Frankie Rodriguez — and they probably won’t given that he turned down $37 million from them last spring and is having a record-breaking year — they can use that money toward Teixeira.
Vlad will be back, but Anderson won’t unless he takes a massive cut in pay. So, the Angels will have the bucks for Tex if they want to deal with the devil (Boras) to get him.
As much as I like Kotcman and the year he’s having, he was hurt last year and sick with mono the year before that. Plus, I think you are seeing him at his best. He’s never going to have the pure power that Tex has.
So, maybe Tex gets them to the Series, maybe he re-signs for along-term deal. Who knows? At last for once, the Angels are getting serious about winning a championship and not just happy with making the playoffs.
3 Eugene Fields // Jul 30, 2008 at 4:41 PM
Agreed –
I also have to point out a trade that I didn’t like then, but turned out to be good. Jim Edmonds to St. Louis for Kent Bottenfield and a guy named Adam Kennedy who a few years later hit 3 HRs in Game 5 of the ALCS to send the Angels to their 1st (and only) World Series
4 George Alfano // Jul 30, 2008 at 9:31 PM
This is a good trade for the Angels. As a Yankees fan, this makes the Angels a tougher team, which I don’t like.
Say what you will about Kotchman, but he is not as good an offensive player as Teixeira. This makes the Angels stronger and more of a force in the playoffs.
A couple of comments of the points made by Paul O.
Salary – if the Angels don’t make this trade, that doesn’t improve their chances of signing Rodriguez. Vlad will probably re-sign no matter what.
Scott Boras – No team has ever gone broke because Scott Boras represented a couple of their players. Scott Boras has never held a gun to any team’s head – he takes advantage of the market just as teams do – Boras just does it a little better than most agents. We should all be so lucky to have someone like Scott Boras represent us against management.
Teixeira is not going to get A-Rod like money. Nobody but A-Rod has ever got A-Rod type money.
This trade is all about the World Series now. This is the way it should be. The Angels are in a better position to win now than they were in 2002. Look at what happened to the Angels pitching. They lost Escobar for the season and Lackey was out for the first two months. A couple of pitching injuries in the next year, and you fall back in the pack. When you have the reasonable chance to win it all, you have to take it.
5 Damian // Jul 31, 2008 at 7:08 PM
I don’t get why the consensus knee-jerk reaction is to say Tex is a rental and the Angels have no chance of re-signing him. The Angels have the funds and the organization, starting the owner, is committed to winning. This is an organization considered among the classiest and best-structured in baseball.
Does anyone really think the Angels are going to give away a quality, young 1B in Kotch for a guaranteed 2-month rental when the Angels don’t have a clear-cut option at 1B next year in the minors? Don’t you think Tex would want to stay with the best team in baseball, a perennial playoff team and get his money?
Do you really think an organization known for not pulling the trigger on deals for that power bat they’ve needed the last couple years is not going to think a trade through like this and not give thought to re-signing Tex, who is a top-3 1B in baseball? Certainly, they are cautious about giving to get and are not trade trigger-happy..
Everyone wants to whine about Scott Boras being a sticking point. Well, it’s not like Tex isn’t going to play next year because he’s repped by Boras. Someone is going to sign him. Why can’t it be the Angels? The Angels have the ability to sign him just as much as the payroll-happy teams. The money the Angels aren’t going to spend to re-sign K-Rod and G.A. can easily cover Tex’s deal.
It would have been nice to see if the Angels could’ve won it all without aking a deal, since they already had the best record in baseball and are the clear-cut best team out there.
They didn’t need Tex to win World Series this year. They have all the ingredients of a champion already. They have the league’s best pitching and defense.
They’re 8-1 vs. the Red Sox this year.
They will win the season series vs. the Yankees like they always do. The Angels take a dump on the Yankees’ tradition. The past means nothing. Yankees have never beaten the Angels in the postseason.
The Rays are too young and inexperienced to win. The AL Central is weak.
Scioscia is the best manager in baseball. Few will argue.
The Angels are 42-18 vs. teams .500 or better, so there’s no problem in matching up against and beating the better teams.
The Angels are 36-19 on the road, which is far and away baseball’s best road record and better than almost everyone’s home record. The Angels may clinch home field throughout but they don’t need it.
The Angels are 14-0-2 in their last 16 series vs. the AL, dating back to May 11. That’s nearly 3 months ago. They’ve only lost 4 series vs. the AL all season. That’s a mark of consistent dominance, not just riding a hot last couple of weeks.
Angels are 47-5 when they score first. Amazing. That tells you they are not prone to collapse or mental lapse and that their pitching knows how to play with a lead.
These facts tell you that the Tex deal is for the long term. They have a premier offensive weapon in his prime and see him as the power threat of the future with G.A. soon to retire and Vlad set to enter the downside of his career. Yet, Vlad’s still a presence and posts the numbers that will encourage the Angels to re-sign him.
The Angels have had plenty of years in the past to warrant criticism and negative vibes. Karma is evening itself out.
6 George Alfano // Aug 1, 2008 at 6:52 PM
Yeah, the Angels have won two playoff series against the Yanks. If they win every World Series for the next quarter century, the will have tied – not surpassed, but tied – the New York Yankees.
The Yankees losing on Friday has not made me pleasant.
7 Joseph D'Hippolito // Aug 2, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Arte Moreno did not get into the position he’s in by being stupid. Neither did Mike Scioscia. Neither did Tony Reagins. If you want an example of how the Angels dealt with Scott Boras, just look at the negotiations for Jered Weaver. By waiting to sign Weaver, the Angels forced his value to decline. Weaver had to sign to have a viable career. Now, the situation w/Teixeira is different, since the Angels owned Weaver’s rights and they won’t own Teixeira’s after this season. But they can deal with Boras effectively.
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