Vladimir Guerrero returned to Angels stadium last night, and Angels fans were very respectful. The experience, however, was filled with mixed emotions. Part of me wonders why Vlad decided that this season, he would lose weight and perform to his full ability. Another part of me tries to rationalize the situation by seeing his success with the Rangers as inflated due to the ballpark he plays in. But mostly, I feel anger. In terms of running an organization, I believe the Angels are the greatest in all of sports, but I’m also not afraid to point our when they are wrong.

As I said when the deal happened, if given the same salary, Vladimir Guerrero is more valuable than Hideki Matsui. Although Matsui’s numbers have been fairly consistent throughout his years in the majors, he has bad knees (which was our major concern about Vlad), and he has never even been close to being a league MVP. I like Matsui, and his clutch postseason hitting may help us this year, but that doesn’t mean this was the right decision. Money talks, and Matsui brings a lot of attention from the Japanese market. Arte Moreno is a great owner and usually deserves the benefit of the doubt, but not here. This was a purely business decision, just like partnering with ESPN, and we shouldn’t be happy about it. Typically, I understand these kind of moves if it is for the betterment of the team. That is not the case here. Judging from his comments before the game on Tuesday night, Mike Scioscia is also not happy about seeing him on another team in the same division.

It’s ok to be upset about this. We don’t have to defend ever move this organization makes. In fact, I think we are worse off if we do. Vladimir Guerrero should have been the Angels first Hall-of-Famer, but now he will likely enter as an Expo. But when the dust settles and the game of baseball no longer includes Vladimir Guerrero, I know that all Angels fans will welcome him back as one of the greatest players in the history of the franchise.