Free Agent Signing – CJ Wilson

The Los Angeles Angels reeled in CJ Wilson just hours after landing Albert Pujols. Wilson was inked by the Angels to a 5 year, $77.5 million dollar deal. Adding the 31 year old lefty deepened what was already a very strong starting rotation for the Angels, and catapulted it to arguably the best one in the American League. With the Angels landing both the best player in baseball and the best starting pitcher on the free agent market, it’s safe to say they are the biggest winners of the off season. It would take some amazing moves before spring training for me to say another team improved more.

CJ Wilson has only been a starting pitcher for two years but he has shown he has what it takes to be a frontline pitcher (he was a reliever his first 5 seasons). To make things even sweeter for the Angels, he only has to be their number 3 guy! CJ has had two straight very solid seasons but he still has to work on his control, as he gets wild at times. He actually led the AL in walks in 2010 (with 93 in 204 innngs) though he did improve considerably last year.

Adding CJ to Jered Weaver, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana makes the Angels rotation incredible! The Angels will be able to round out the 5^th spot with either the traveled Jerome Williams or their top young pitching prospect Garrett Richards. Jerome Williams, even though he is only 30, has already played for; 4 different major league teams, 2 years in the Puerto Rican league and a season in Taiwan!

Angels’ Starting Pitchers 2011 Season:

Jered Weaver (R), age 29
33 GS, 235.2 IP, 198 K, 18-8 record, 1.01 WHIP, 2.41 ERA

Dan Haren, (R), age 31
34 GS, 238.1 IP, 192 K, 16-10 record, 1.02 WHIP, 3.17 ERA

CJ Wilson (L), age 31
34 GS, 223.1 IP, 206 K, 16-7 record, 1.19 WHIP, 2.94 ERA

Ervin Santana (R), age 29
33 GS, 228.2 IP, 178 K, 11-12 record, 1.22 WHIP, 3.38 ERA

Jerome Williams (R), age 30
6 GS, 44 IP, 28 K, 4-0 record, 1.36 WHIP, 3.68 ERA

Garrett Richards (R), age 23 (Richards’ stats are his AA numbers):
21 GS, 143 IP, 103 K, 12-2 record, 1.14 WHIP, 3.15 ERA

Being the top pitcher in the free agent market, CJ Wilson was looking, initially, for a 6 year contract at $90 million dollars. CJ basically was just looking for the biggest contract he could get his hands on, but things changed dramatically for him when the Angels contacted his agent. CJ Grew up only minutes from Angel stadium and played Junior College ball just down the road. Probably the only factor that could have swayed CJ from not taking the most years and money was being close to home. In the end he took some 23 million less to play with the Angels, as he had a 6 year, $100 million dollar deal on the table from the Marlins. You don’t see that happen too often, but objectively speaking, how many millions is enough?

The move also makes sense for the Angels, if only to make sure their division rivals, The Texas Rangers, weren’t able to keep him. It is still too early to declare if the Rangers or Angels are now the favorites to win the American League West division. I am sure there are a few moves to still be made by both teams. But if I had to pick one right now, I would probably still pick the Rangers by the slimmest of margins. The Angels’ rotation is definitely stronger then the Rangers’ counterpart, but the Rangers still have strong edges in the bullpen and their offense. Even with the addition of Albert Pujols, the Rangers’ lineup is still deeper and stronger.

Either way, though, it looks like the AL West is going to be a fun ride this year!