The Angels are at it once again this season. They have acquired Milwaukee pitcher Zack Greinke. Greinke is a great pitcher who was 9-3 this season with the Brewers and had a 3.44 ERA. Greinke fills a big hole for the Angels who have seen starters Ervin Santana, Dan Haren, and Jerome Williams struggle as of late. They were desperate to try and find another quality pitcher to make a deep run in the playoffs. First things first though, they need to make the playoffs.
This trade means a few thing for the Halos. First, their minor league system is now completely depleted of any major talent. They are going to need to rebuild that system rather quickly and if they don't win a few titles in the next few years Angels fan will be wondering why they gave up so much young talent. A few years ago the Angels farm system was full of young talent ready for the big leagues and now many of those players can be found on the Angels roster or on other Major League rosters across the country. Luckily for the Angels they have the resources to bring in talent with free agent signings and such that a poor minor league system should not hurt them that much.
Second, this trade should mean that the Angels are the front-runners to make the World Series as the American League representative. The Rangers and Yankees will be the two teams that have the ability to take down the Angels. The Rangers were also in the running for Greinke and even better than signing Greinke might be that the Angels kept him away from Texas. A top tier starter could have made the Rangers an even scarier team. The Yankees are always going to be a good team, because they have unlimited resources and can outbid any team for any player. The Angels usually play well against the Yankees in the playoffs and therefore Texas is probably more likely to take out the Halos.
Finally, Greinke is a guy who is still rather young and the Angels should feel confident about trying to re-sign him in the offseason. That means they could possible have a solid rotation of Jered Weaver, CJ Wilson, and Greinke for the next few years. It is always nice to have three starters who can eat up innings and a manager can expect them to win fifteen to twenty games a year. With a solid rotation locked up and some great talent in the field every day, Angel fans should be wary of the lofty expectations this team will have. Remember that anything can happen in a playoff series.
I don't see why the Angels wouldn't continue to try and get better before the deadline, maybe try to improve the bullpen some more. Even if they don't improve any more as a team they should have the players to win a World Series. Moving Ervin Santana to the bullpen, I think, makes the most sense. He needs to find himself a pitcher right now and gain some confidence. Whatever happens with this team it should be an interesting end to the season. Angel fans have plenty of hope of seeing a repeat performance as their last title run. Zack Greinke makes that opportunity even more likely of happening.
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