Josh Hamilton to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Last year the Rangers let starter C.J. Wilson leave via free agency and he signed with the Angels.

This year the Rangers let outfielder Josh Hamilton leave via free agency and he signed with the Angels.

I'm sensing a strong rivalry here. We can't forget that the Angels have lost 60% of their starting rotation, so it's not safe to say who's best team in the division. Which is also kind of funny to say because the A's won the division last year. 2013 is going to be fun. 

The Rangers might feel this way after hearing
the news.

Alex Anthopoulos and Brian Cashman get a lot of credit for being ninjas, making large offseason moves without anyone expecting it, but Angels GM Jerry Dipoto is as ninja as they come. The Angels have now signed the best available free agent hitter (and likely best overall player) the last two offseasons, and nobody saw it coming. Now, whether or not signing Josh Hamilton to a $125 million contract for five years is a smart decision remains to be seen but what we can see is that the Angels have a lot of money to spend. 

We can also see that the Angels have a terrific lineup. What ever happened to pitching and defense? I guess Scioscia will have to adjust. For now, their lineup might look something like the following:

1. Mike Trout - CF
2. Howie Kendrick - 2B
3. Albert Pujols - 1B
4. Josh Hamilton - RF
5. Kendry Morales - DH
6. Mark Trumbo - LF
7. Alberto Callaspo - 3B
8. Chris Iannetta - C
9. Erik Aybar - SS

That's not bad. In fact it's pretty fantastic. Albert Pujols has been the best hitter in baseball for a decade, Mike Trout was the best player in baseball last year and when healthy and not swinging at balls out of the zone, Josh Hamilton is one of the best in the game as well. All three of these guys now hit in the same lineup. This is some pretty remarkable stuff, and I'm on the edge of my seat wondering what Texas' next move will be. Something tells me Nick Swisher is glad he hasn't signed yet.

Back to Hamilton. Josh Hamilton is about as risky as a position player can come. In fact, if Hamilton had no history of drug abuse, he'd still be considered a significant risk as he's no longer young at age 31 and hasn't played a full season in four years. As I mentioned, the Angels lost 60% of their starting rotation (Haren, Greinke, Santana) so one could consider signing Greinke to be a safer or smarter play. If anyone could be considered a greater risk than a pitcher it would be Hamilton, right? While that may be so, I'd still rather put my eggs (or money) in Hamilton's basket over someone relying on their pitching arm. 

Since 2010 Hamilton has averaged 5.8 fWAR and 5.1 rWAR per season. As for Greinke, people can't seem to make up their mind how valuable he's been averaging 4.7 fWAR, 3.1 RA9-Wins and 2.6 rWAR over that time. However, judging just the last three years is pretty arbitrary considering it includes Hamilton's MVP year while conveniently missing out on 2009 where he only played in 89 games, the same year that Greinke had the year of his life with a 2.16 ERA and worth well over 9 wins by any measure you would care to use. 

I chose numbers from 2010-2012 to show Hamilton as being a slightly better player recently. You could just as easily choose numbers from 2009-2012 on to show Greinke being a slightly better player. Greinke's contract pays him $24.5 million per season and Hamilton's pays him $25 million per season but the kicker for me is that Hamilton signed for five years while Greinke signed for six. Both have to be considered risks, I'll take the shorter contract.  

We know the Angels have money to spend and if they're going to spend it I've made a case for Hamilton being a smarter play than Greinke. They do still need starting pitchers behind Jered Weaver and whatever remains in Tommy Hanson's right arm so I don't believe their work is finished. Peter Bourjos and Mark Trumbo are some intriguing trade chips that should fetch the Angels someone to throw 180 average innings if they desired to go that route. Regardless of what they do next though, they now have a terrific lineup, arguably the best in the biz and hurt their division rival in the process. That shouldn't be considered just a small bonus, it's quite large. The Rangers know this, have a lot of money of their own to spend and are likely gearing up their counter-punch as we speak. I'm excited to see what's next - Justin Upton, Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher anyone? 2013 is definitely going to be fun.