Yankees to Jeter: "Test the Market"

Jeter to Yankees: "Yeah? Well **** You!"

Not really, but man, wouldn't that be awesome? Let me preface this post by saying I love Jeter, and like the Yankees, but the Angels take precedence, and my dream world is completely nonsensical. Oh, and the Yankees did, in fact, tell Jeter to test the market, because they think he is asking for too much money, and while that might be true, the Yankees need Jeter more than Jeter needs the Yankees.

Its like telling Babe Ruth or Joe DiMaggio to take a hike, just because they are getting older. Granted, Jeter's 2010 was not a typical "I'm going to be a Free Agent, I need to play better" season. But his worth to the Yankees over the last 15 years is not to be ignored. 1/3rd of the seasons Jeter has been in a Yankee uniform, the Yankees have won the World Series. A Third! Any given season Jeter has been in Yankee Pinstripes, the Yankees have had a one in three shot of winning it all! Not to mention, they have made the world series 7 of those 15 seasons.

Regardless, if the Yankees dont want him, and for whatever awful reason we can't sign Carl Crawford, the Angels should go after him. Well, him and Jayson Werth, because we will still need someone who can actually still hit a baseball. Jeter would be a fantastic fit on the Angels, and a great reason to finally get rid of Erick Aybar, my nemesis.

Jeter is a great clubhouse guy, a team leader on and off the field, and is clutch in September and October. Not to mention it solidifies the Shortstop Position defensively. Even if he doesn't have the range or the arm of Aybar, he is far less prone to stupid throwing errors, or simply giving up on plays. Even if his bat isn't as potent, it can't be any worse than some of the sub-.250 hitters we had last season (Aybar included).

Also, consider this: In 69 Career Games in Angel Stadium, Jeter is hitting .344 with 10 Home Runs and 42 RBI's... Need more convincing? I didn't think so.

I 100% believe that Jeter will still be in a Yankee uniform next season, but if he isn't, for whatever reason, I hope to god its an Angel Jersey.

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More congratulations are in order for the 2010 AL/NL MVP's, Josh Hamilton of the Rangers and Joey Votto of the Reds. I won't pretend to understand why Votto was the NL MVP. He had a really good year on a really mediocre Reds team that happened to have the most wins in a terrible division. Josh Hamilton makes more sense, although he owes a lot to Vladimir Guerrero. Once people found out Vlad could hit again, Josh started seeing a good amount of hittable pitches. Regardless, congrats on the new hardware.

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In some non-Yankees related Hot Stove news, Catcher/First Basemen Victor Martinez (formerly of the Indians and Red Sox) has agreed to terms on a deal with the Detroit Tigers.

Also, the door has almost completely been shut on Hideki Matsui's Angel career. The Angels have not offered the 2009 World Series MVP Arbitration, and it would appear he will be testing the Free Agent market himself.

Say It Aint So, Scott!

Rumors are running rampant that the Colorado Rockies would be interested in trading for Left Handed Pitcher Scott Kazmir. Uh... I'll throw in 20 bucks to sweeten the deal. Is this the Rockies really trying to improve their team? Is this them making up for sending us Brian Fuentes? (kind of a "No hard feelings"deal?)

No matter why the Rockies had this lapse in judgment, lets take advantage of it. I dont care if they want to send us a Turkey Sandwich and a bag of baseballs, if they are taking Kazmir and his contract, let them at it.

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In other news, former Angels Pitching Coach Bud Black won the National League Manager of the Year award. This is great news for Ron Roenicke, who will become the third former Angels Coach under Mike Scioscia to become a manager for another team. The first two, being Black and Rays Manager Joe Maddon, who won the AL Manager of the Year award in 2008.

Everyone here at Angels Nation is incredibly happy and proud for Bud, and wish the best for him in the future.

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In other, other news, Felix Hernandez was announced as the AL Cy Young Award winner today. While its rare that I'm happy for a Division Rival in such a way, its kind of nice. The 24-Year-Old had a stat line of 0-3, 4.13 ERA in 32.2 Innings Pitched against the Angels this past season. Thats right, one of the worst offensive teams in baseball slapped around the Cy Young Winner in 5 starts. Its not the best thing about this season for the Angels, but it will something nice to throw in the face of gloating Mariners fans.

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In More other news, Angels Nation would also like to congratulate the following:
Ron Gardenhire for winning AL Manager of the Year (after being the runner-up 5 times, twice to Mike Scioscia)
Roy Halladay for winning NL Cy Young (Duh..)
Buster Posey and Neftali Feliz for winning Rookie of the Year in their respective leagues.
Dan Uggla for getting the hell out of Florida (I bet Braves fans wish this move would have happened about 4 months ago)
Vladimir Guerrero for winning an AL Silver Slugger award. (No hard feelings, chap)

Slow News Month...

Yeah, I could have talked about the Gold Gloves or the Silver Sluggers, but an Angel didn't win either of those (nor did they really deserve to). I could also go in depth on the Rookie of the Year award, which is about to be announced, but again, no Angels rookies are really in the running, nor should they be (Paul McAnulty was THAT close).

The Free Agency period is already (kind of) here, but most moves wont start happening for a few weeks. The GM meetings are tomorrow and Wednesday, but most of what happens there will be build-up towards the Owners meetings from December 6th-9th. Thats when the Hot Stove really starts to heat up (ugh, what a cliched phrase, shoot me now).

Regardless, when any news breaks about the Angels, or any Angels players (aka former Angels players, aka hopefully Bobby Abreu), I'll post it here about 3 hours after I heard about it on twitter!

Meet The New Boss...

Angels Bench coach Ron Roenicke has been hired as the new Manager of the Milwuakee Brewers. The news came as a shock to Angels and Brewers fans both. For the most part, with the backdrop of the World Series, Angels fans were unaware Roenicke was even in the running. Many Brewers fans thought former Mets skipper Bobby Valentine was a sure thing.

However, Brew Crew fans shouldnt fret. Ron Roenicke has managerial experience in the minor leagues, and has spent the last 5 seasons picking the brain of one of the best managers in baseball in Mike Scioscia. Roeknicke also becomes the third former Angels coach under Scioscia's reign to become a big league manager, with Bud Black in San Diego and Joe Maddon in Tampa Bay being the first two.

I must say, I'm incredibly happy for Roenicke to finally have control of a big league club all his own, and in the weak NL Central, with an already impressive lineup including perennial all-stars in Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, he could be poised for a division championship in the very near future. Taking Scioscia's brand of small ball to a small market club like the Brewers makes great sense, and has worked wonders so far in San Diego and Tampa Bay (San Diego hasnt turned that into a playoff team yet, but they came VERY close this year, only losing out on the last day to the eventual world champion Giants).

Suffice to say, Angels Nation will probably have at least some coverage of Roenicke's first week in Milwaukee, and will probably visit in a couple times during the 2011 campaign. We wish nothing but the best of luck to Ron in his new endeavors, and hope he decides to take Mickey Hatcher with him.

Only The Losers.

I almost feel bad for Rangers Fans... almost.

They have had to endure one thing the Angels never have.

We have both shared the 40+ years of play without a postseason series win, or a world series appearance, but now, the Rangers have the ultimate shame. A feeling that now only the Rockies, Rays, Padres (Twice!) and Astros understand. Having made it to a World Series, only to end it without a victory. No champagne (or Ginger Ale for Hamilton), no banners, no streamers, no roaring crowd. Just that awful feeling in the pit of your stomach that you were so close, but couldnt get the job done.

I think the Rangers will get back here in the near future, maybe not next year (because Torii, Carl and the crew are going to take us back to the promised land in 2011), but soon. They have a great core of young, home grown talent in guys like Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus, Nelson Cruz and Colby Lewis, to name just a few. Also, rumors are going around that unless the Yankees absolutely overpay for Cliff Lee by an astronomical amount, the Cy Young Winner will stay in Texas.

Today starts a very interesting Hot Stove Season to say the least. Maybe tomorrow or the next day, I'll go over the big free agents and who I think will be switching uniforms in the next 4 months before Pitchers and Catchers report.