Farewell. Adios. Sayonara. After 2012, it's all over Angel fans.
If you read the blog at all during last year's baseball season, you know that I joked about Jered Weaver wanting the heck out of Anaheim pretty much every 5 days. He would go out, pitch one hell of a game, and then sit back and watch his offense choke, his bullpen blow it, or his manager make some questionable calls. He finished the season 13-12 with a 3.01 ERA, despite leading the league (the Major League) with 233 strikeouts. 13-12, with numbers like that. The way he pitched, he easily would have won 18 on a good team, and I don't think it's crazy to say he could have won 20.
After every game, however, he always said the right thing. "I just go out and do my best, and hope the rest of the team can back me up," was his regular response to media questions like, "Fernando Rodney just blew another game for you. Do you hate his guts more, or his beard more?" But for all of us who "know" Jered Weaver, we know what he's really thinking. Something along the lines of, "Every f-cking time!" would probably sum it up best.
Weaver is a great pitcher, and we've all watched him develop into such. But, he's also a big baby, evidenced by his nickname around these parts, "Big Baby." He models himself as a protégé of the late John Lackey (I say "late," because he's dead to Angel fans). Lackey has always been known as a "bulldog" to his fans, but once you don't have to back him up so much (in other words, once he defects to the Green Monster), words like "hot head," "overemotional," and "dick to his teammates," roll of the tongue with ease. How many times did we watch Lackey get mad about an error by Juan Rivera in the fifth inning, only to have him lose his cool, give up six runs, and make us all pray that Scot Shields had something left in the tank?
Over this last season, Weaver didn't have many in-game blow ups, but having his team blow up his nice start once he was sitting in the dugout, or score 0 runs in a game where he allowed 1 run on 3 hits, has clearly been wearing him down. After having, arguably, the best season of his career in 2010, it came time this offseason for Weaver to get paid. After all, Jeff "Baseball's Ryan Leaf" Mathis got a raise, and he couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat, let alone hit for more than a .149 average. So, what did the Angels do? Did they agree to match what Jered Weaver, their pitching ace, was asking for ($8.8 million)? Or, did they decide to stick to their offer ($7.365 million) and take him to court to shaft him that additional $1.4 mil? In the kind of offseason we're having, of course Reagins and company chose the later. In fact, when asked if the Angels offered to meet Weaver in the middle ($8.09), Tony Reagins said, "I would say no."
Rather than point out how some loser from the Pittsburgh Pirates recently won his arbitration hearing, I'll point out a problem that probably hits Weav a little closer to home. As stated, Jered is going to make $7.365 million after losing his arbitration. I'll provide the list of Angels players set to make more than Weaver in 2011, with their season salary, and you tell me how many of those players are more valuable than Weaver.
Vernon Wells- $23 million
Torii Hunter- $18 million
Dan Haren- $12.75 million
Scott Kazmir- $12 million
Bobby Abreu- $9 million
Joel Piñero- $8 million
Ervin Santana- $8 million
I think it kind of makes sense, the whole fact that Jered Weaver is going to be upset with the Angels on this one. With his attitude already brewing from last year, and his agent Scott Boras most likely already plotting for a November 2012 bidding war, I don't think there is a chance in the world that Jered Weaver will play for the Halos beyond what his current contract demands.
So, enjoy the next two sesons of Jered Weaver, fellow Angel fans, because on April 1, 2013, he'll probably be wearing pinstripes.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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