It's Not That Bad, Angels Fans

I admit, I lost a lot of faith in Anaheim's Los Angeles squad once the Angels lost Mark Teixeira to the Yankees and stood by its stance not to sign Manny Ramirez. The team made no major moves to improve an offense that sputtered around and came to a halt for the second consecutive year against the Boston Red Sox.

Sure, they signed Bobby Abreu and Brian Fuentes, but does that make them better than when they had Francisco Rodriguez and Teixeira? Call me crazy, but I say yes.

Tony Reagins is putting his trust in the young farm players who have been raised under the Angels' mottos: work hard, run first to third, and keep the drama out of the clubhouse and dugout. And I like it.

This Angels team doesn't have a superstar who has an ego (K-Rod was a little over the top for my tastes) nor one who doesn't seem out of place (as much as I loved Teixeira, he just never seemed good teammate to be around—someone who is there cheering you on no matter what). Teixeira never sold me on the fact that he wanted to be with the Angels, even during the time he was playing with the team. He was a risky rental, but one the Angels gambled on because they had a 25-year-old Cuban ready to burst onto the baseball scene.

And as sad as it was to see Garrett Anderson, the franchise's most successful player and highly under-appreciated, leave, it was time to give Juan Rivera the at-bats to become the player he is capable of being.

Now look at their clubhouse. Young players eager to prove themselves like Morales, Howie Kendrick, Brandon Wood, Erick Aybar, Sean Rodriguez and Matt Brown. Coupled with quiet superstars like Vladimir Guerrero, Bobby Abreu, and John Lackey. Some will argue they have one of the top pitching staffs in the Majors with the emergence of Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders, and their always strong bullpen. And don't forget Kelvim Escobar is fast on his way to returning to the team, some saying as early as late April.

And most importantly of all, they have players such as Torii Hunter and Lackey who carry a clubhouse presence invaluable to a team.

Anchoring it all is the Angels rock, Howard's TVs finest, Mike Scioscia. There's a reason the Angels locked him up through 2018. He runs a tight ship, and players love his style of play and no-nonsense attitude.

I think this Angels team is exactly that, a team. A group of individual parts coming together to create a baseball atmosphere where they have one common goal. And you can see that in the team's excitement to have Abreu return from his stint in the World Baseball Classic.

I wasn't able to see that when this offseason began. All I saw were dollar signs and heard talks of contracts. And now that the season is a couple weeks away and the winter fog has cleared, it's time for the Angels to return to what they were in 2002: a quiet bunch of baseball players who play loud on the field.

On Opening Day 2009, Scioscia will have a 25-player roster to work with, and he will need all 25 of them to work together to be able to ride down Katella Avenue carrying the 24-inch World Series trophy.