With less than six days now remaining before the 2010 MLB trade deadline, another name is coming off the market after a trade has been completed on Sunday. The Los Angeles Angels have acquired SP Dan Haren from the Arizona Diamondbacks for SP Joe Saunders, two minor leaguers and a player to be named later.

The Diamondbacks higher-ups pulled Haren aside during Sunday’s game against San Francisco and actually asked him to guess where he was going. Haren said his first guess was the Yankees, noting that he really wasn’t sure …

What a crazy couple of days for the Anaheim Angels ballclub and their fans.

Originally, I was going to do a post strictly focused on Kendry Morales’ injury following his walkoff grand slam on Saturday. I planned on saying plenty about how ridiculous the injury is based on how it came about and question what would happen in future celebrations by the Angels and other teams in the league.
Well, we were able to find out how the Angels would celebrate (for now at least) only about 24 hours later, but I …

Big Papi Frustrated w/Reporters Reminders of ’09

Two games in, zero hits. Reason to worry? No, unless you have a history of slow starts apparently.
Red Sox DH David Ortiz went hitless after two games, and when reporters reminded him of last year’s early struggles, he flipped:
“You guys wait ’til [expletive] happens, then you can talk [expletive]. Two [expletive] games, and already you [expletives] are going crazy. What’s up with that, man? [Expletive]. [Expletive] 160 games left. That’s a [expletive]. One of you [expletives] got to go ahead and hit for me.”
Now, …

Braves 16, Cubs 5

Carlos Zambrano got LIT UP in the first 1.1 innings of this game.  My boy, Big Z, gave up 8 ER in that 1.1 inning span including a 3-run home run to rookie phenom Jason Heyward in his first Major League AB.  The Braves offense was led by Escobar, who had 5 RBI and Heyward, who whad 4 RBI.  Lowe didn’t pitch great and gave up 5 ER in just 6 IP but the bullpen was perfect for the next 3 innings to shut down the Cubs.
Giants …

Joel Pineiro is off the market folks.  Pineiro was probably the best remaing free agent starting pitcher who pitched last year (Ben Sheets did not).  He was 15-12 with the Cardinals with a 3.49 ERA and pitched a career high 214 innings.  In those 214 innings, Pineiro walked just 27 batters as he displayed pin point control throughout the year.  The deal is worth $16 million for 2-years and Pineiro will be a starting in a rotation featuring John Saunders, Scott Kazmir, Jered Weaver and Ervin Santana.  All these guys …

Fernando Rodney and the Los Angeles Angels have agreed on a 2-year/$11 million deal.  The Angels currently have Brian Fuentes under contract and slotted in that closers role, but Fuentes was so shaky last year, especially in the 2nd half when he posted a 4.81 ERA and also had a 5.47 ERA at home.  Those numbers are what forced the Angels to sign Rodney as their set-up man and potential closer.  If I was managing that team Fuentes would absolutely be OUT as the team’s closer.  He just isn’t that …

The Angels are set to add Hideki Matsui to their ballclub as their primary DH.  The deal is for one year and no terms have been disclosed as far as money is concerned.  This means that Vlad’s time with the Angels is all but over unless they feel he is healthy enough to play RF and not demand an outrageous $16 million or something obsurd for a player who is declining.  Last year, Matsui hit 28 homers and drove in 90 RBI.  For his career he is a .292 hitter, …

Well in case you didn’t know, or an obnoxious Yankee fan didn’t boast to you about it at a bar, or on twitter or on facebook, the Yankees won the series vs. the Angels four games to two with a 5-2 win in game 6.  Andy Pettitte got the win for the Yankees to give him 16 postseason wins which is #1 all-time, passing John Smoltz.  Pettitte deserved the victory in this game and pitched very well.  Him and the Yankees were down 1-0 after the 3rd on a Abreu single that scored …

Oh Yankee fans, how I love this.  Every Yankee fan has already punched their ticket to the World Series to play the Phillies and have an east coast battle, but Thursday night’s game 5 just shows the Angels haven’t given up quite yet.  The Angels made a statement by scoring 4 runs in the 1st inning of the game on a 2-run single by Torii Hunter followed by an RBI hits by Vlad and Morales.  John Lackey looked very impressive and held the Yankees scoreless until the 7th inning.
John Lackey …

As much as I want to deny it, you can basically put it in the books that 2009 will be an east coast World Series featuring the Phillies and Yankees.  While the book is open, you might as well just pencil the Yankees in for their 27th World Championship because this team looks UNSTOPPABLE.  I just hate admitting that in writing.
This game was so lopsided and if you didn’t take a look at the box score the game wound up being a 10-1 Yankees win with CC nearly going the distance …