Uh oh, part 2

Author's note: I'm new here, for those of you who still haven't "met" me. This will be my second AN FanPost. I've been a regular at Niners Nation and McCovey Chronicles, but I live in Oakland and go to an Oakland middle school, so it's about time I joined this blog. I'm 13, I play on my basketball team and I hit a lot of threes, I'm 5'9", I speak fluent  English and Arabic, and high school level Spanish, and people at my school still think I'm a nerd for getting straight A's. Can't please everyone. Also, I like baseball. Maybe a little too much. Also, this is considered a journal entry for my English class. Every FanPost I post goes into my journal. It's really a great way to fill it up. Also, does Billy Beane ever visit this blog? Because if he does, that would be awesome.

The Los Angeles Angels surprised everyone last year. They were expected to make the playoffs, but most had them losing to the Red Sox in 4 or 5. The Angels had other ideas. They swept the Red Sox and advanced to the ALCS, where they put up a strong fight against the Yankees. That Game Six was epic. Game 7, however, was where the Yankees pulled off a 4-2 victory, and went on to win the World Series. In any case, however, the Angels dominated the AL West and went deep in the playoffs, one of the Angels' best teams in their history. But they did lose some of their essential parts to free agency.

Vladimir Guerrero, the Angels' longtime DH, will hit for the Rangers, so LA has lost a fan favorite and future Hall-of-Famer to free agency. Chone Figgins, their 3rd base speedster who had a tremendous 2009 with a .298 batting average, a .363 OBP, 42 stolen bases, and the best K:BB ratio of his career, signed with the Mariners, but I feel that some of those stats were due to an inflated BABIP, and getting 101 walks when you've never had more than 65 in a season before is cause for concern. Figgins is still a very valuable piece for any team looking to build a contender, and he definitely was in 2009. John Lackey, who signed a huge deal with the Red Sox, was arguably their most significant loss, however. Unlike Figgins, who really only put it together in 09, Lackey had pitched consistently for the Angels for 8 seasons, compiling an ERA of 3.83, a WHIP of 1.27, 11 wins to 8 losses, 7.1 K/9, and a complete game shutout in 171 innings pitched.

The Angels did counter with some additions, though. Fernando Rodney, who had 37 saves, 7.3 K/9, and an ERA of 4.40 in 1 innings, will be a very good setup man for the Angels, and will also serve as the closer-in-waiting, in case Brian Fuentes goes down or needs a rest. They also inked Joel Piniero to a deal to try and fill the void left by Lackey. Piniero had a 3.49 ERA, 15 wins to 12 losses, a WHIP of 1.15, a K/9 of only 4.4, and 3 complete games, with 2 shutouts in 214 innings pitched. On paper, he looks better than Lackey, but this was his best season in a long time, so caveat emptor. The last major signing the Angels made so far was signing Hideki Matsui to become the new DH. This was an idiotic move, in my opinion. Matsui and Guerrero arguably would have made the same contribution for the same money ($6 million), so why get rid of the team icon and fan favorite and risk disrupting chemistry? Unless Guerrero himself wanted out, they should have kept him for at least one more year. Oh well. More power to the A's.