the halo bridge

Since Dec. 14th, the news of the offseason for the Halos has be relatively ho-hum. I've mostly been trying to get my fill of Angels news by scanning blogs, comments and message boards in the halosphere and I've been left with the feeling that Halo fans are primarily split into two groups.

On one side, are those that lament the loses of Lackey, Figgy, Vlad and Oliver, rail against Tony Reagin's inaction, and blame Arte for his failure to pony up the money. And they believe that the Angels won't make the playoffs, let alone win the west. They argue that the Angels are a big-market team (the LA name having made it so), so they should spend on free agents accordingly. That the Angels are an elite team and so they should do what it takes to make a splash in the offseason - free agents or trades, whatever. The Angels are weaker coming into next season and they didn't even make the World Series! And that since all of our rivals poached our top free agents (and the Mariners are the darlings of this offseason) while the Angels basically stood pat, that well, is completely unexceptable.

I'm not in that camp.

I'm with those that say that the Angels are the AL West favorites until they are de-throned. That it sucks to lose those players but some were necessary, and others were overpaid. None of the Halo signings were inspiring and frankly, it sucks to see our rivals improve so drastically. But we trust that Arte will pay when its worth it and that Reagins was right in passing on the players he did. And well, we're excited to see what the team can do.

It's obvious that this team is one in transition.

This feels borderline blasphemy, but what comes to mind is a term Theo Epstein uttered at this past Winter Meetings: bridge period. Epstein was basically trying to explain his plans for the offseason and that he was trying to mitigate two factors - the present and the future.

"We talked about this a lot at the end of the year, that we’re kind of in a bridge period," [Epstein] said. “We still think that if we push some of the right buttons, we can be competitive at the very highest levels for the next two years. But we don’t want to compromise too much of the future for that competitiveness during the bridge period, but we all don’t want to sacrifice our competitiveness during the bridge just for the future. So we’re just trying to balance both those issues."

Epstein has a good point. The RedSox aren't the team that they once were (no Manny-Papi tandem!). Their old core is aging (see Ortiz, Lowell, Varitek) and a younger core is taking the reins (see Pedroia, Ellsbury, Lester, Papelbon). I'd say that this younger core doesn't shine as bright or strike as much fear as the old core once did, though they certainly have time to prove me wrong. The point Epstein was trying to make is that with the hyped re-enforcements in the minors and the progression of their young core, the RedSox are close to regaining a championship-caliber team. Of course, the comment blew up in his face. Kinda funny. Okay, very funny. But what happened was pretty predictable: the fans/media had a big ol' tantrum and Epstein half-surrendered. He kept his prospects, but got name-brand signings and spent a good deal of money (five years to Lackey!) without improving their supposed greatest weakness (offense).

The Angels likewise will be weathering a bridge period. We've seen some big name players leave Anaheim the past two years, and a lot of them were big parts of the franchise and true Angels: GA, K-Rod, Vlad, Lackey, Figgy. But what we're going to see in the next years is the emergence of the next Angels Generation. I'd say that most of them are already in Anaheim, ready to blossom into the stars that they are poised to replace. Lyle Spencer has already pegged Weaver as the frontrunner for staff ace. The article has a bit of hyperbole, but the reasoning rings true. How do you put together a great team? By developing your own stars via the cheap farm system. Lackey became a star and the timing and tools are there for Santana/Weaver/Saunders. Not to mention K-Mo/Aybar/Kendrick, and maybe even Wood/Napoli/Jepsen (though I have a feeling I'm reaching a bit there). Those that clamor for big name free agents need to realize that the Angels are not the Yankees and should thank their lucky stars that the Angels aren't the Mets. (The poor Mets. They can't seem to realize that the FA market is the least efficient.)

The halo bridge that Reagins has been constructing this offseason has its holes. But I think he has done a good overall job. Reagins is waiting for the emergence of the players already in the Majors which equates to a shorter period. So he's avoided big contracts (in money and years), while adding veterans that are still fairly productive. The added bonus is the windfall of draft picks from the departed FA to restock the farm and bring in the future Angels Generation. Major props to Reagins (and Arte) for being smart and to the fans/media for not being like Boston.

Anyways, I'm actually excited for the next few years of Angels baseball. I'm curious to see how this new core is going to respond and grow. I'm excited for the draft when the Halos will once again have 5 picks in the top 50. And I'm excited to see who will be the new faces of the Angels franchise (besides Torii and Sosh, of course).

Yeah, this bridge period may be rough on the automatic AL West title we fans have grown accustomed to. It may be even harder to bear in the playoffs. But I'm sure we'll all enjoy cheering for our next breakout star (ala K-Mo). And especially when all of the young core put it all together.

And if that doesn't placate the fans, hopefully they realize that
the halo bridge > the redsux bridge