5 Reasons Jered Weaver Deal Was Great for Los Angeles Angels

Last Monday the Angels locked up their future by inking ace Jered Weaver to a five-year, $85 million extension through the year 2016. It is a signing ranging the Angels future and predicting the movements of their currently poor-hitting small-ball circus established by means of dominant pitching.

Though it is difficult to contend Weaver at $17 million a year is cheap, it is fair to deem the deal as prudent determination by Angels management in need of rebuilding Angel fandom, who, turned off by recent high-priced failures like Gary Matthews Jr. and now Vernon Wells, have grown somnolent with cynicism.

Despite current offensive prospects Mike Trout, Hank Conger and Peter Bourjos, the calamitous injury peculiarities of young but fragile slugger Kendrys Morales have sent them tailspinning into a forced redefinition of the team's identity.

Weaver is putting up numbers like never before.

Despite wariness about inking young and big-name pitchers entering their prime, it is inappropriate to ignore the star heater for sake of fear.

His presence is a duplicitous stratum that routes the Angels in a positive direction.

Since watching one-time ace and fan favorite John Lackey escorted to the land of wearing Red Sox, the Angels have lacked a true tell numero uno, and because of this they were missing the franchise face for a future that until this season had looked rather dingy and for the first time in 10 years compass-less.

1. No Mark Priorynisms Here

Before I make a positive point regarding Weaver and his health, take into consideration the list below:

Carlos Zambrano

Barry Zito

Jake Peavy

A.J. Burnett

John Lackey

Justin Verlander

Jason Schmidt

Felix Hernandez

Derek Lowe

All of these have contractual agreements to an ample parallel to Weaver. But only two of these pitchers—meaning 22 percent of those one-time aces—Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander, are worthy of franchise dollars.

Yet before we include Weaver in this sorrowful les miserables of talented underachieving folk, let us investigate why the cards work most favorably on his behalf.

If we delve into the above names, we will see three colossal factoids determining their dismantling as a dominant athlete: injuries, mental instability and one-year (or three- or four-) wonderment like an '80s electronic band.

Fortunately for Weaver, the first of these is deficient evidence to lay waste his emergence into one of the league’s most valuable young stars.

Since 2007 the starter has been on the disabled list only once, proving he is a sure sell as a durable longtime veteran.

His straight up and down throwing motion and mechanical use of body control for brute power is a natural gift that can ease up memories of players like Mark Prior, who because of poor mechanics were lost too early to retirement.

2. "We Didn't Start the Fire..."

We didn’t, but Weaver did.

As immaturely boyish as throwing a pitch at Alex Avila's head was one month ago, the 27-year-old proved he has a belly that burns for victory and a passion for the game like no other.

With a roster that currently boasts ear-to-ear grinning Torii Hunter, indifferent Ervin Santana and a concoction of 19- to early 20-something teeny bobs, the team does not necessarily bubble over like a volcano with desire.

Inking Weaver insures Angel fansmanship that rioting, hoots, hollers and an expectation for winning and nothing less is the new normal.

3. A Disruption in League Politik

The Weaver signing is like a small stone dropped in a large glassy lake.

At entrance, the miniature splash generates cigarillo smoke-sized ringlets, but within minutes, the growing disproportion between the small stone and the mounting waves at dockside dissolves the notion that not everything matters.

This matters—a small stone was dropped, and at least in some way, the league politik is at a slow, discombobulating lilt.

Though others are guilty of flaunting dollar signs in exchange for World Series titles, none other than the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox do it with such brazenness.

Every year it’s like believing your one-time wife would stay with you through thick and thin, but each and every year, to your shameful surprise, she leaves you for the cosmopolitan dollar-tree-lined boulevards and celebrity of Brad Pitt.

Unlike so many before him, Weaver decided to stay with his origination, and that is more than honorable—it’s a counter sign of the times.

Both the Yanks and Sox are powerhouses, no questions asked. But both are imperial dictators who overspend, overspend and overspend to get what they want, yet in the end are forced to reconcile bloated contracts and cities that anticipate titles each and every year.

For Halo baseball and Weaver, the match symbolizes a micro shift of power in the American League.

4. No Longer Like a House Built on Sand

No longer is Ervin Santana an enigmatic house built on sand.

Imagine: a weathered beach house sitting on a browning mound of sand and crab grass. As the zigzagging shift of wind sparks hillside, the left-leaning house creaks and hollers for support. Waves come hurling in like fists of whitewashed fury, and the house collapses into the great blue Pacific like a dilapidated rowboat with a vat of fine china and host of glowing static-lined TVs.

What good is it?

Ervin Santana is the answer.

No other pitcher in all of baseball has tickled critics yet lacked the emotional wherewithal to piece together a dominate stretch of seasons like Ervin Santana.

One night the no-hit maestro is dropping his stunning slider to perfection, and the other he’s ousted in three innings, giving up two or three four-hundred-foot knives to left-center.

But maybe what works best for Ervin is staying out of the spotlight. Maybe the man is less Frodo Baggins and more his sidekick Sam.

Since June 27th the Angels' third starter is putting up Frodo numbers at 7-1 with a 2.11 ERA.

We are definitely used to this type of supremacy from a guy who, as classically known for performance insecurity as he is, somehow holds a solid 86-64 career record as a starter.

With the signing we can look forward to many years of having the talented Santana calmly sitting behind two premier aces in Weaver and Dan Haren.

5. New Direction

A great quote from a great book reads, “a people without vision will perish," and the same applies to Major League Baseball: A front office without vision will perish.

I’m sure many in the buzzing tan-land of Orange County wish the Tony Reagins era would perish, and a new direction might conclude the team’s future.

After last season’s 80-82 playoffs-less experience, the rally monkey grew downtrodden and slack with disappointment.

This season, most assumed the worst: the haunting of Luis Polonia’s Jheri curls.

To the surprise of many, the Angels have enacted small-ball syndrome backed by a fine pitching rotation—a rotation that Weaver anchors and sets in motion.

Since 2006 he has posted the same era as Roy Oswalt and since last year on a similar number to current Philly Roy Halladay.

He has quietly and without question asserted his talents into the upper echelon of aces and is primed to continue his maturation into a ongoing AL Cy Young candidate.

With this said, the Angels made sure to give fans and league officials an idea of Angel baseball for the next five-plus years, one in which they win games by means of pitching, error-free fielding and bellicose baserunning.