This off-season has marked one of the largest turnovers in Angel’s history. Lackey to the Red Sox, Figgins to the Mariners, and Vlad and Oliver to the Rangers. In response, the Angels quietly brought in three so-called “band-aid” free agents in Hideki Matsui, Fernando Rodney, and Joel Pinero. We have heard all off-season about how there are really no clear-cut “stars” on any part of this team. Torii Hunter is the favorite in the line-up, but even with his spectacular defense he usually struggles to hit .280. Weaver is the guy in the starting rotation, but he has yet to win more than 16 games in a season. And finally the bullpen, well, we’ll let Alex Rodriguez tell you who the star is there. Baseball Prospectus has the Angels finishing in last place in the AL West which is pretty difficult to swallow for Angels fans. So how will the Angels win without an ace, a dominant closer, or a big bat?

I seem to recall a World Championship caliber starting rotation that consisted of Jared Washburn, Ramon Ortiz, Kevin Appier, Aaron Sele, and young John Lackey. This mediocre rotation managed to sneak into the playoffs and take down the prize of the National League, the San Francisco Giants, who just so happened to be lead by dominant starting pitcher Jason Schmidt. Ok ok, I hear you. That was a magical year, but was it repeatable? Take a look at some other recently successful starting rotations.

2008 Tampa Bay Rays – Scott Kazmir, James Shields, Matt Garza, Andy Sonnanstine
2007 Colorado Rockies – Jeff Francis, young Ubaldo Jimenez, Josh Fogg, Aaron Cook
2004 St. Louis Cardinals – Woody Williams, Matt Morris, Jeff Suppan, Jason Marquis
2003 Florida Marlins – Brad Penny, Mark Redman, young Josh Beckett, Carl Pavano
2002 – Angels – See above

A couple of things to note: most of these teams lost in the World Series, and many of these pitchers would later become aces, but the point in all of this is that you have to give them a chance. Did anyone expect young Josh Beckett to destroy the Cubs’ hopes of a World Series title with his 100 mph fastball, or Justin Verlander to shut down the rest of the AL Central in his first full season? The Angels are filled with young, live arms who can do some major damage in this division. This is also an Angels lineup who is mostly still intact, and who were second to only the New York Yankees last year in runs scored. Scot Shields is back and healthy, and Fernando Rodney comes in after only blowing one save last year. Also, don’t forget guys like Kevin Jepsen, Brandon Wood, Kendry Morales (future MVP), or Howie Kendrick. In my view, there is not a team in the league with this kind of depth. (Sorry Red Sox fans)

Now as many of you know, I was pretty upset this off-season. I felt Figgins should have been brought back, that there were better, cheaper relievers available other than Fernando Rodney, and that the disposal of Rex Hudler was wrong. But no off-season is perfect in the free-agent era, and all-in-all, the Angels are a better team. This team of two’s will soon be remembered as great.

Rotation: Jered Weaver, Joe Saunders, Ervin Santana, Joel Pinero, Scott Kazmir
Bullpen: Brian Fuentes, Fernando Rodney, Scot Shields, Kevin Jepsen, Jason Bulger, Matt Palmer
Line-up: Erick Aybar, Bobby Abreu, Torii Hunter, Hideki Matsui, Kendry Morales, Juan Rivera, Howie Kendrick, Brandon Wood, Mike Napoli

- Tony C