welcome back callaspo...what were you thinking tony?

My internship has been working me hard and there's been little time to keep up with angels news and angels&aimee. I didn't hear about the trade until Terry mentioned it on the radio broadcast. My first thought was "Uh-oh, who did they trade?!"

I briefly saw the report by Mark Saxon about the FO's attempt to trade for Callaspo but didn't think much of it. I didn't think (I still don't think) that it would be a great pickup for the Angels and I didn't really see the upside of picking up another infielder with Izzy close to being back. Well now that its been done and the price is known, I still hate the trade.

My opinion is no disrespect to Callaspo. He's a nice everyday/super utility infielder, but I just don't get it, Tony. Sure, the Angels need offense, but the infield is full. Do the Angels really need seven (Izzy, Callaspo, Franderson, BWood, Aybar, Howie, Naps) infielders? Furthermore, I think a platoon of Izzy/Franderson would be almost as good as Callaspo at third. This isn't much of an upgrade. Callaspo is a nice piece, but he isn't going to put the Angels in the playoffs. I get that, in hindsight, it's usually the little moves that matter the most. But there are so many more things that are wrong with the Halos that adding him figures to be a small, if any, boost.

The consolation is that I may be missing something here. Callaspo being a former Angel farm player and Tony being a former farm director, must mean that Tony knows Callaspo pretty well. Reading futureangels.com, its clear that Callaspo was very well thought of. Trading him away seemed to be more of a move to separate him from Aybar to facillitate both their development, rather than any reservations about his talent. Perhaps the Angels worried about Callaspo's maturity (and his impact on Aybar). And maybe now, after 4 1/2 years, two organizations, and some legal troubles, he's matured and the Angels are ready to benefit from his talent.

But I can't help but wonder what is going through Tony's head. On the surface, this looks like a trade just to make one. The fact that Callaspo is still under team control (1st arbitration is this offseason), makes it all the more puzzling. What becomes of Brandon Wood? I don't care what you say to the press, Tony, but I don't buy that from a tight-lipped organization like the Angels. What's going to be Izzy's role? I get that Izzy has shown to be fragile this season, but Callaspo is basically another Izzy. Does this mean that Frandsen is on his way back to Salt Lake?

I think a telling sign is that Sean O'Sullivan was in this deal. Whereas Tony is building up the infield depth, he is pulling from the pitching depth. As evidenced by SOS pitching in New York on Tuesday (in place of Kaz), he was our #6 starter. After him is obviously Trevor Bell, but then who comes after that? The Angels are two injuries/ineffectiveness from having a black hole in the #5 spot for the second season in a row. So it's quite apparent that Tony has a healthy confidence in Kaz (and in some respects, Saundo too). Otherwise, why would he deplete the already thin MLB-ready pitching depth?

Another puzzling piece of this trade is the inclusion of Will Smith in the deal. Per futureangels.com and halosheaven, Smith started his major career with a bang, but has since faded in favor. The interesting thing was that even though Smith has continued to struggle, he was still highly regarded in the Angels' FO. It's plausible that Smith's temporary promotion to AAA from A+ was a product of that regard, and even though his stats show an ugly picture, he was incredibly young (20) for that level. It may seem that the Angels gave up peanuts for Callaspo, but the FO actually really liked Smith. Sure, neither Smith or SOS are at the top of the Angel prospect lists. But keep in mind that both are quite young. Most don't realize that SOS is only 22 and his struggles last season can be partially explained by the FO rushing him (and Bell) as the pitching problems dominoed in the organization. The Angels actually gave up two solid prospects.

And I'm not sure why.

I've been plenty wrong before and Tony's done a lot of good things - Pineiro happened to be a steal. But I hate this trade. I hate that the Angels got a redundant player. I hate that they gave up substance to get it. And I hate that it won't get the Angels into the playoffs.

But it may be that I hate it most because I just don't understand it.