Angels ready to heat up Winter Meetings
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort is an 87-acre, lakefront behemoth, complete with 17 restaurants, 2,267 guest rooms and four 60,000-pound concrete statues depicting the animals within its name.
Somewhere in there, the Angels may find a pitcher.
Welcome to the 2013 Winter Meetings, where general manager Jerry Dipoto, skipper Mike Scioscia and most of the Angels' front office, scouting department and coaching staff will gather amid executives, agents and media members from all over the country with one goal in mind: Beefing up the starting rotation.
This past week had a Winter Meetings-like feel to it, with Robinson Cano (Mariners), Jacoby Ellsbury (Yankees), Carlos Beltran (Yankees), Curtis Granderson (Mets), Joe Nathan (Tigers), Jarrod Saltalamacchia (Marlins), Justin Morneau (Rockies), A.J. Pierzynski (Red Sox), and Scott Kazmir (A's) among the free agents finding new homes.
But starting pitching remains on the board -- particularly Matt Garza, with whom the Angels would love to work something out -- and several teams would still be willing to trade cost-controlled pitching for some of the pieces the Angels have dangled.
The Angels have been very productive in the last two Winter Meetings -- signing Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson in 2011, laying the groundwork for Josh Hamilton in 2012 -- but in no way feel obligated to make a major move over these next four days.
Dipoto is slated to meet with the media at 4 p.m. ET on Monday and Tuesday, Scioscia will take questions at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday and the Rule 5 Draft will take place Thursday morning. Through it all, MLB.com will have you covered on all things Angels -- on the site, via the blog and through Twitter.
Fans are encouraged to take part by filling the comments section with their own suggestions for how the Angels should go about improving a rotation that ranked 11th in the American League last year. Should they throw big money at the few top-tier arms still looking for a home? Make Mark Trumbo available in a trade? Cling to the faint hopes of landing Masahiro Tanaka? Fill the staff with two low-cost arms and keep the rest of the team intact? Skip the Meetings altogether and go to Magic Kingdom?
Let your voice be heard. Who knows, maybe the Angels will listen.