Pujols and Wilson and Hawkins, oh my !

Here are some quick thoughts on the Angels' flurry of activity in the last 48 hours.

• Albert's contract is an overpayment that will look pretty bad in four or five years.  And that being the case, who the hell cares?  It's not my money, and Arte has pretty clearly shown that the worst contract in baseball (Vernon Wells) is not going to keep him from spending money on excellent players who want to come to Southern California.  If he delivers a championship somewhere over the course of this contract, it's worth it.
• CJ Wilson would make serviceable #1 starter, but he'll be a pretty terrific #4 starter on the Angels.  And while he's 30 years old, he's only been starting in the majors for two years, so he doesn't have a tremendous amount of innings on his arm.  
• Latroy Hawkins is going to feel really out of place at that press conference.  
• How would you like to be Jerry DiPoto?  You finally get your first real GM job, and take over a relatively solid team with some holes to fill, a team with a pretty decent farm system, arguably the best prospect in all of baseball, and oh yeah, the owner also has given $40 plus million to spend in the off-season.  
• I have a lot of friends who are Cardinals fans, and so far I haven't sensed much animosity towards Pujols.  My friend Dayn says that Albert will continue to be one of his favorite players.  And while I understand that they're disappointed right now, they are just coming off a World Series Championship.  Given the option of losing the WS, or winning it and being forced to give up my team's best player, I'd probably choose the latter.  Flags fly forever.  
• These are pretty great moves to make right before you sign a new television contract.
• If there was ever a question about whether Arte Moreno cared about winning, I think it has been answered. Talk about a breath of fresh air, this is a guy that absolutely could not handle missing the playoffs two years in a row.  Long time Angels fans have been conditioned to survive at least 16 consecutive years with no post-season baseball. 
• I love it when teams add to their strengths.  Everyone talks about balance, and sure it's important, but the Wilson signing reminds me a lot of the Braves in the 1992 off-season.  Everybody expected the Braves, coming off two straight WS losses, to go after free agent Barry Bonds.  He was a perfect fit, and would have given them an outfield of Bonds, Otis Nixon, and David Justice.  Instead, the team with the best pitching staff in baseball at the time signed reigning Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux.  They took their best part and made it better.  All that did was get them into the playoffs for the next decade.  
• Really fun day to be an Angels fan coming off the disappointments of the Teixeira and Crawford misses.