In defense of Tony Reagins

At the end of the 2010 season if you could have added a player who could give you 20 Home Runs, 78 RBI, a .300 AVG, and 840 OPS, the Halos should have jumped all over it.  Remember where the team was in 2010.  The Angels finished third behind Oakland and the eventual ALCS Champions the Texas Rangers.  When Kendrys Morales was carried off the field, the Angels needed to add more offense into the line up.  And with the Angels coming into the 2011 season adding another 20 home runs with a player like Morales would have certainly matched the offense numbers that their Texas Rivals were putting up. 

So in defense of Tony Reagins, making the trade to add Vernon Wells wasn't entirely a bad idea.  Had Wells regained his 2008 form (which was entirely possible considering he was coming off a year with an injury), the Halos would have had a lot better 2011 campaign.  Rivera's defense in left field had become a liability.  Vernon's defense as advertised would have made for a better outfield.  Of course the contract alone should have prevented the Halos from making that deal, but regardless, I can at least see what Reagins was thinking when the deal was made.  In what was believed to be one of the worst contracts in baseball, a contract that was in no way movable, was moved last winter when Tony Reagins shipped out beloved Angel's catcher Mike Napoli and under achieving left fielder Juan Rivera to Toronto for Vernon Wells and his morbidly obese contract.  The moment it happened, Angel fans every where were prepared to riot.  Napoli was beloved, providing more pop at the catcher position than any other catcher in recent memory and had the ability to fill in at first base when Morales went down.  Alex Anthopoulos would stab the Halos in the back when he'd deal Napoli out of baseball obscurity to Arlington.  But when you examine that trade was the move as bad as we think?  Realistically, Napoli was slotted to be a back-up, Left Field was a defensive liability, Morales was set to return to First, and Wells in previous years was a power threat.  With big IFs in question, IF Kendrys returned, wouldn't have Wells benefited from a line up with a power switch hitter? 

There is a lot of negativity surrounding Reagins, but lets look at some of the positive Regains did.  Signed Torii Hunter who has easily become the face of the franchise when the reluctant hero Vladimir Guerrero wasn't willing to be that face.  Hunter's contribution on the field were matched by his contributions off the field.  Enter the final season of the contract, he wants to retire an Angel.  Even in his later age, he's been producing and helping to keep this team in contention.  Also mentoring young outfielders like Mike Trout and Peter Bourjos,
Hunter's contributions to this team will be felt long after he's left the organization.  The trading for Mark Teixera for Casey Kotchman and Steve Marek helped get the Halos into post-season play in 2008.  Nobody knew at the time that Tex would be destined for New York, but the move was exciting and made the team a threat in the 08 post-season.  Dealing for Alberto Callapso for Will Smith and Sean O'Sullivan was also a positive move.  Callaspo had been a spark all season and O'Sullivan has been somewhat of a bust for the Royals.  The Dan Haren trade has been tremendous.  And cash saving moves like dealing Gary Matthews Jr. and Brian Fuentes was beneficial to the team.  Even the Scott Kazmir deal at the time looked to be a good move, although Kazmir all but fell apart in Anaheim.

In defense of Tony Reagins, I believe his moves have been mostly good, but that Wells deal will certainly haunt this team for seasons to come.  Of course, if Wells bounces back... we'll all be singing a different story.