"The Addition of Mark Teixeira Makes the Angels Clearly the Team to Beat"

This is the time of year most baseball fans revel in.  Whether you’re a fan of a pennant-chasing team looking to add that all-elusive final piece to the puzzle, or a team that’s been out of it since Memorial Day (sorry Royals fans), the trading deadline is baseball’s way of granting many baseball fans very early Christmas gifts.   

With more than two days left before the trading deadline, Los Angeles Angels fans are the clear winners of this baseball holiday season.  Despite moves by the Cubs and Brewers to add aces to their already better than average staffs, the Angels acquisition of the switch-hitting first baseman Mark Teixeira has catapulted them from World Series contenders to the World Series favorite. 

Already sporting the league’s best record carried by a mixture of season veterans like Vladamir Guerrero, Garret Anderson and John Lackey combined with the youth of players like Howie Kendrick, Ervin Santana and Francisco Rodriguez (remember he’s still only 26) the Angels team now exists as the most complete 25-man roster in baseball. 

No matter what deals are made in the next two plus days, it is unlikely, if not impossible, to believe that the Red Sox, Rays, Yankees or White Sox will be able to snag the player (or players) it will take to contend with the bolstered Angels. 

It cannot be underestimated how much of a ripple effect this deal will make on the rest of the teams in the American league.  The Red Sox, recently thought of as having some interest in trading their moody and often painfully wacky cleanup hitter Manny Ramirez, will most likely cease such talks knowing how much more important Manny’s bat now looms against the highly potent Angels pitching staff. 

The Yankees, who have had their own share of problems against the Angels over the past decade, now have to worry as much about the threat the Angels pose this season, as well as the frightening possibility that the Angels may possibly re-sign the highly anticipated free agent. 

With Bronx Bomber fans already fantasizing Teixeira wearing pinstripes for the 2009 campaign, the Yankees could possibly be the biggest losers of the Braves/Angels blockbuster deal. 

The Rays, who to some extent have been playing with the house’s money all season now find themselves in the position of needing to make a deal if they have any interest in contending in what would be the franchise’s first postseason appearance.  Although the Rays had shown some interest in dealing for the talented first baseman, Rays General Manager Andrew Friedman was not able to pull the trigger on what would have been the organizations biggest acquisition in it’s brief 11-year history. 

The Central Division White Sox, Twins and Tigers have not shown much interest in landing any big names before the July 31^st deadline. 

With the Wild Card seemingly locked up somewhere in the AL East, the battle for the stretch run in the central division may weaken the victor to the point of existing as only a lamb brought to slaughter at the hands of their first round rivals.  

Yet, no matter how good the trade may look on paper for the Angels, American Leaguers should not yet give up their hopes for the pennant by beginning to look at next season.  The games must still be played and injuries combined with other intangible factors always leave a glimmer of hope for baseball fans that anything could happen during the waning months of the season, as well as the playoffs.  With that being said, it should be a fun October in Anaheim/Los Angeles.