While it’s hard to top what happened with Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees, the Angels came out of nowhere and scooped up one of the free agent gems of the Hot Stove League. Similar to what happened when they signed Vlad Guerrero a few years back, the Angels kept things close to the vest but still go their prize by signing gold glove center fielder Torii Hunter to a five year deal worth somewhere in the range of $80-90 million. The money is huge, but having an outfield with Hunter and Guerrero makes them immediate favorites to repeat for the AL West title.
Now, it looks like Gary Mathews, Jr. is being relegated to either a corner outfield spot or as a backup for Hunter. It looks like they plan on using Vlad and Garrett Anderson more at DH so it should mean Mathews will be in the lineup more times then not. Still having Mathews in left, Hunter in center and Vlad in right is about as good as you can get for a defensive and offensive outfield.
