First of all, I would like to mention what I expected the Angels to do: namely get rid of Jose Guillen and Ramon Ortiz, pick up some three players of this combination: a CF, a SS, and two SPs plus grab a reliever. The major moves Stoneman made were to let the Troys walk, trade Guillen for Juan Rivera and Maicer Izturis, trade Ramon Ortiz for Dustin Moseley, sign Steve Finley, sign Orlando Cabrera, release Eckstein, sign Paul Byrd, and sign Esteban Yan (excuse me if I missed anything), signing Kendry Morales and not signing Jered Weaver. I give him a C+ for the Troys, an A for his trades, a B for picking up Finley, a C+ for picking up OC, a C- for dropping Eckstein (which makes the whole OC-Eckstein affair a C), an A for picking up Byrd, and a D+ for picking up Yan, a C+ for signing Morales, and a B+ for not signing Weaver. Overall, I think he rates about a B+.

It seemed that all offseason he was striving for current success and future greatness at the same time, and then he went and signed OC to a four year contract. Doing this absolutely means that the Angels prospects at middle infield (the farm system's greatest strength right now) is being held back. That means they either need to trade some of those prospects (while they remain a strength) for some pitchers or OF prospects or they could be stuck with 6 big league caliber middle infielders in 3 years and no where to play them. By far the worst move was picking up Yan, but I still have hopes that will be adequate in mop up innings. Not signing Weaver (and for that matter, not chasing Carlos Beltran) took some guts and I think that the Angels played it correctly in showing Scott Boras, Agent of Evil, that they won't be pushed into outrageous contracts. The loss of Percy hurt only insomuch as it seemed that the Angels did not even offer him a contract, but I suppose that they decided to make Frankie the closer and did not want to have to demote Percy.

The Angels certainly addressed some issues that they had last year. One of these aspects was starting pitching, where their number five starters were worthy of playing for the Royals (as a matter of fact, a guy who would have been their number 5 starter, Appier, was playing for the Royals). Paul Byrd should improve this significantly, and if he doesn't, no hard feelings, he can go leave at the end of the year $4.5 million richer. Another aspect that the Angels arguably could have improved would be power. In some sense, they certainly regressed because they got rid of Guillen and Glaus, but they really should have more power with Finley hitting over 20 HRs, GA approximating his form prior to arthritis, the addition of OC over Eckstein, and the Big Mc taking over 3rd base full time.

The other major aspect the team needed to improve is defense (as Richard stated in the question). Even though defense is difficult to quantify, it is obvious that the 2004 Angels were not very good at it...quite a turnaround from 2002. They have certainly improved at SS, where OC replaces Eckstein, and probably at 3rd where a raw (but everyday) Dallas should be better than the revolving door of utility men were last season. At second, Figgins will likely be a slight dropoff and no one knows what AK will be like when he comes back. First base and right field should be more or less identical, although they weren't problem positions before. CF should be an improvement with the Ancient Steve Finley will take over for the Arthritic GA. In LF, it should be a crapshoot with a Post-Arthritic GA taking over for Guillen. Catcher should improve slightly, if only because Bengie Molina has lost some weight and should be quicker (not quick, though) and should bring his caught stealing percentage back up towards his career norms. The goal of the pitchers this year is to try to get opposing batters to hit the ball to the right side of the field and/or on the ground.

This year's club compares well with last year's team, although it depends on what month you are talking about. With all the injuries the team had last year, the lineup was always in motion and certainly had its ebbs and flows of the people in it. The beginning of this year's lineup is significantly worse than what was (or should have been) expected of last year's ideal lineup. The new lineup replaces Eckstein, a healthy GA, a healthy Glaus, Guillen, a healthy Salmon, AK, and a healthy Molina with OC, a post-arthritic GA, Dallas Mc, Steve Finley, a DaVanon/Rivera platoon, Figgins, and a Molina not expected to be healthy. This is a significant decrease in run scoring potential. However, compared to last season's final lineup of Figgins, Erstad, Vlad, arthritic GA, Dallas, DaVanon, Molina, Eckstein, and no real DH it is head and shoulders better. Also, this lineup is way more prepared to weather an injury storm than last year's team, especially with several prospects ready to come up at a moment's notice to start contributing. Starting pitching should be significantly better, which is helped by the improved defense, hopefully more consistency, and a better 5th starter. The bullpen is the only location that can be considered obviously worse, and that is mainly because they haven't been able to adequately fill the final piece or two for a complete pen.

Overall, the Angels should certainly be a better team than the one that finished last season, but not better than the one that started it. Barring several major injuries, like what occurred last season, the team should win 90+ games. Also, the team has a lot more depth and the only two players that could be considered clearly non-expendable are Mr. The Impaler and Frankie K. Any other individual injury (or combination of a few) should be well weathered by the team and not seriously affect their win total. They appear to be the fourth best team in the AL, but all that matters is making the playoffs. The problem is that the fifth, sixth, and seventh best teams in the AL might be in their division, which means that it could be very difficult to reach the playoffs as a Wild Card. They must play to their potential in order to make the playoffs, unlike last year where they only played to their potential the first month and a half and the last half month. All of that said, they should win their division and seriously challenge the other playoff teams for a chance at the World Series.