The Angels went and got themselves all hot and heavy for Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay, but now it looks like all they are going to get is a nice big pair of trade deadline blue balls.
Earlier today, the Phillies beat the Halos to trading for defending AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee and now the Toronto Blue Jays are saying that they have all but given up on trading ace Roy Halladay. That leaves the Angels with approximately zero decent options at finding themselves a surefire upgrade for their flagging rotation. So the question must be asked what can the Angels do now?
Bronson Arroyo? Umm, no thanks.
Jarrod Washburn? Apparently not now that Mariners have turned into buyers instead of sellers with the acquisition of Jack Wilson and Ian Snell instead of sellers.
Jon Garland? Pass, we already tried that and it did not go well, to put it mildly.
When Aaron Harang and Doug Davis are the best rotation upgrades they have available, I can’t help but think the Halos are better off promoting Sean O’Sullivan for good and hoping that the three suck-keteers (Weaver, Santana and Saunders) work out their issues. Making a trade for the sake of making a trade is only going to cost the Angels prospects and money for a guy who has a high likelihood of not being very good in the American League.
Does this look like a playoff-caliber starter to you?
One option could be is one I suggested yesterday: abandon the chase for a starter and focus on the bullpen. It may not be the most popular option but at least the Angels are assured of upgrading one area of their roster and still maintain a decent amount of talent in their farm system. However it leaves the starting rotation incredibly vulnerable in the playoffs since there is no telling which starters, if any, will be on top if their game. As much as the Angels paint their pursuit of an ace as an insurance policy against John Lackey leaving in free agency, the chase is really about trying to find someone to pair with Lackey in the post-season since they have little faith in the rest of the staff, they just can’t say that publicly without pissing those guys off.
With that in mind there is no way that Tony Reagins stands on the sidelines in the starter search. They’ve shown themselves to be far too keen on upgrading the rotation in a big way to just up and quit their pursuit, for better or worse. This line of thinking can lead to some panicky moves but that shouldn’t be a problem for the Halos since having overly itchy trade trigger fingers is not something they have ever been accused of. Still, Reagins will have his work cut out for him trying to find a happy medium between the Brad Penny’s of the world and Roy Halladay and that is going to take some bold thinking.
While the Bill Stoneman regime and bold thinking were antonymous, Tony Reagins has shown an impressive flair for turning over every stone possible to find a good deal. Last year he pulled off the Teixeira trade and this year he has already made a run at Dan Haren even though there was little indication that he was even available on the trade market. Maybe that means taking a chance on Scott Kazmir (who just shutdown the Yankees) or trying to talk the Atlanta Braves out of Javier Vazquez or even making another pitch for Dan Haren. Heck, maybe Reagins even has some secret fallback plan that nobody has even thought of yet.
While there is no predicting exactly who the Angels end up targeting, I have little doubt that the recent slump of everyone in the rotation but John Lackey will certainly make the Angels motivated buyers. Let’s just hope they shop wisely.