Los Angeles Angels Win Battle, But Will Lose War With Jered Weaver

I thought SI.com’s Tom Verducci had a pretty good take on the Jered Weaver situation the other day. It’s a take that I 100 percent agree with.

For those of you not familiar with the situation I am talking about, here is a brief overview.

Weaver was arbitration eligible this offseason. He earned $4.6 million in 2010. For that $4.6 million, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim received a pitcher who had a 3.01 ERA, 9.3 Ks/9, 1.07 WHIP and logged 224.1 innings. Those numbers earned Weaver a top-five finish in the American League Cy Young award voting.

Weaver filed for $8.8 million in salary arbitration back in January while the Angels countered with $7.37 million. Now normally when teams are this close in salary with the player, they don’t go to arbitration. They usually settle out of court, per se.

But the Angels and Weaver did go to arbitration.

The Angels and Weaver went to arbitration for a measly $1.4 million. The Angels wouldn’t give their best pitcher $1.4 million extra, but were willing to take on the albatross contracts of Scott Kazmir and Vernon Wells.

That makes no sense to me.

Verducci mentioned that this is a bad sign toward a long-term relationship between the Angels and the Scott Boras client. He is once again 100 percent correct. Weaver will be a free agent after the 2012 season and I don’t think there is a chance of Weaver staying in Anaheim. Players, and especially agents, don’t forget things like this.

The Angels might have won their $1.4 million battle with Weaver, but when he leaves as a free agent after the 2012 season, they will lose the war.

The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg