All ProSports

The Agels have to be praising new general manager Tony Reagins for the move that he just pulled off 1 day before MLB’s trade deadline. In a swift maneuver to add more protection to their lineup the Angels acquired slugging first baseman Mark Texira from the Atlanta Braves and sent rising star Casey Kotchman and a minor league pitcher to Atlanta.

Teixeira now an Angel.

It’s becoming a mid-summer tradition to “rent” Teixeira for an October run and this year is no different as Texiera is on the final year of his contract and will be a free agent at seasons end. Teixeira could demand as much as $20 million a year because he is by far the best first baseman available in the upcoming free agent market and should have a number of suitors if the Angels are unable to workout some type
of contract extension with Texiera by the end of the season.

Yet, the Angels have to be happy with the move, mortgaging a little bit of their futurte for the prospect of winning right now. The Angels already have one of the best rotations in the major leagues, they own the leagues best record , have an 11 1/2 game lead in the AL West and are now poised to correct one of their most glaring post-season problems…their offense.

Since winnning the World Series in 2002 the Angels have claimed three division titles, but won just one playoff series. During that stretch they were swept out of the playoffs twice, including last October by
the Boston Red Sox. The main problem has been finding a hitter dangerous enough to give Vladimir Guerrero some protection in the lineup, and now they have that in Teixeira.

Guerrero, the man who the Angels have relied on to provide their post-season pop, has produced poorly since claiming the World Series title in 2002. He’s batted just .183 with one home run in the 16 playoff games since 2002, most likely a result of the immense amount of pressure placed on him to perform in the post-season.

A number of other teams were interested in Teixeira but could not provide the Braves with the same type of package that the Angels were offering. The Arizona Diamonbacks who seemed an early frontrunner in acquiring Teixeira offered up Chad Tracy as possible trade bait, but Tracy is only under contract until 2009 while Kotchman is under contract for three more seasons. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays were also in the hunt for Teixeira, but could not put together a promising enough package either, leaving them some major offensive issues heading into the stretch.

The acquisition of Teixeira automatically makes the Angels one of baseball’s top contenders to capture the World Series. Their rotation has been dominant throughout much of the season, their key players are producing and have remianed healthy and with the addition of the switch hitting Teixeira they now have one of basbeall’s best lineup’s. Angel’s fans could find themselves in basbeall heaven at the end of the year.