Fin

Let me preface this by saying there is nothing wrong with being a cheerleader. It's just not for me.

Especially for this team. The Angels have the 4th highest payroll in baseball and they need to be accountable for it. I don't care if the players didn't negotiate their contracts or the Angels added up bad contracts; they need to play every single night.

Front office, you're definitely accountable on this... but I'll get at you at the end of this rant.

There were way too many games that they lost this year to bad, bad teams. I've said it all along, you don't win a division by beating up on bad teams, but you definitely lose it by losing to bad teams.

I'll tell you what, though. The young players stepped up and played their hearts out for this team. Starting with Peter Bourjos. Any time you're replacing an annual gold glove recipient you're going to have pressure on your shoulders.

And the kid stepped up without flinching. Prior to the season I didn't see him playing as well as he did this year. Petey gets an A.

Mike Trout. What can I say. 20.Damn.Years.Old. That's all I can say. And scary, this kid is going to be damn scary in the coming years. He provided a jolt to the team that was so sorely needed and got them back in the race.

It's going to be amazing to watch this kid grow into an all-star.

Which leads us to the rookie of the year. Mark freaking Trumbo. Bourjos' pressure was nothing compared to what was on Trumbo. And he exceeded any expectations to fill the shoes of Kendrys Morales. Hell, plenty of times I saw "Morales, who?!?" on my timeline.

Trumbo was supposed to be the guy that held down first base while Morales got better. Instead, he turned into the heart of the team. Whenever the Angels needed a homerun, his named was uttered by the announcers. When no one wanted to step up, he took the job.

And the pitchers.

Without the grit and guts of Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, Ervin Santana and Jerome Williams in rotation these Angels would not have competed. And as bad as the bullpen is, Scott Downs proved to be a reliable arm (which proved me wrong; I hated his contract).

But mainly the starting pitchers kept these Halos afloat. No thanks to Kazmir, who decided to give up on the bigs.

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Bad news bear time.

First, the thing that pisses me off the most.

Vernon freaking Wells. Where's your heart, guy? First year jitters? I better not hear that during the offseason. Don't promise us fans anything, either. We just want to see results.

Get in the cages, shag balls, do some HGH, whatever. Figure it out... because we know we're stuck with your contract. Like any work situation, we know we don't like each other, let's just get the job done.

Mike Scioscia. Ever heard of consistency? For two years running now you've been playing spin the wheel-o-lineup. How about letting your players adjust to their spot in the lineup.

The injury excuse couldn't be used because you had the majority of your guys every night. You're shuffling obviously isn't working, so stop.

And don't take a "we're glad we competed" line from Tony Reagins or Arte Moreno. These guys expected to win the AL West. Don't tell let them tell you any different. They can't say different because they took on a contract from an aging outfielder they didn't need. They can't say different because they paid a lot of money to "revamp" the bullpen.

They can't say because they passed up the chance to bring back Vladimir Guerrero.

Out of all excuses I hear during the offseason, the excuses out of Moreno's and Reagins' mouth won't touch the earwax on the outside of my ear. I don't want to hear it.

With time, this team will be at the point you two expected. And the expectations you created in our minds will be met.

Until then, I'll appreciate the players effort but I won't "ra-ra" them. Not this year. Not for what's expected of them.

I'll see you at the yard.

We Hold the Power

You hate how you're producing. Hate the way you're being treated. Sick of reading about how horrible you are in the paper. Why stay?

Vernon Wells is human. He has emotions. Let him hear us.

That's what Angel honks have to do to at least try to get Wells to leave. Yell. Email. Post. Tweet at him (@VernonWells10). Make him bag his own groceries. As Herm Edwards put it once, "put your name on it!" Don't be scared, what's he going to do, retweet a negative comment?

Who's going to back him up? Nobody.

Wells has an opt-out clause at the end of this season. And how does a man walk away from $60+ million? By not feeling welcomed.

It's a little mean, yes. But if you truly love your team you'd want to see them alleviated from the handcuffs that Vern's contract has put the Angels in. And yes, it's a little mean since it's not his fault that the Toronto Blue Jays gave him a ridiculous back-loaded contract. And it's especially not his fault that the Angels were stupid enough to trade for said contract.

But he has to have it in the back of his mind that he doesn't deserve this money. He's human.

Guilt is a strong feeling. Guilt from stealing is even stronger. Guilt from stealing while hearing about it from 50,000+ fans is the strongest.

Wells has to have brass stones to walk away from $60 million, but weirder things have happened; never underestimate a human's feelings.

And why not make Arte Moreno smile a little as he is hating himself about having to pay an aging outfielder $20+ million dollars for 3 more years. Let Moreno hear that we have his back. Let him know his general manager has used his last face card in the deck.

Not resigning Darren Oliver hurt. Not resigning Vladimir Guerrero and watching him become an all-star with your rival hurt more. And trading for back-loaded contract of an aging outfielder has hurt the Angels the most.

I didn't even want to bring him up because it stings so bad, but Mike Napoli, a player involved in the Wells trade could be the difference in this AL West chase. With Napoli, the Angels are leading the AL West right now. No doubt in my mind; instead, he's personally killing the Angels.

So please, please let Wells know how you feel. He doesn't care about you, why care about him? Do you think he cares if you made rent this week?

Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy off the field with his work in the community. But his $80+ million contract calls for work in the yard.

He's not the right guy for the job. Baseball fans know it. He knows it.

It's not personal, it's baseball.

Make it easier for all the parties involved. Leave Vernon. Leave. We'll act like it never happened. Just a bad dream.

A very expensive bad dream that helps Moreno realize Tony Reagins needs to go, too... but I'll get into that later.