In the epic movie, "It's A Wonderful Baseball Life," Clarence tells George Bailey that every time an American League team in Southern California signs a catcher who can hit, it means an Angel has just gotten his wings.
That would be new general manager Jerry DiPoto, who quickly went about undoing the single stroke by former GM Tony Reagins (or engineered by manager Mike Scioscia, it's not clear) that cost Anaheim the West in 2011.
Last winter, Reagins/Scioscia jettisoned catcher Mike Napoli, who had bashed .260/.350/.500 with awful backstop defense in his first five years. Scioscia, a former catcher himself, couldn't abide the tradeoff. So they traded Napoli off to Toronto with Juan Rivera for the stinking carcass of Vernon Wells' five-year, $105 million contract, a swap universally reviled as among the worst in history. Many pundits agreed with the pronouncement of this space that any team willing to accept Wells' albatross of a contract should have been receiving players as a price of their largesse, not relinquishing a receiver, and one of the league's best-hitting ones at that.
The Jays then flipped Napoli to Anaheim's main rival, Texas, for reliever Frank Francisco, allowing Scioscia to enjoy the other side of the Napoli relationship. And here's how it went: like watching your ex-girlfriend hook up immediately with the former star quarterback who now owns all the local car dealerships.
Napoli got busy tearing up AL pitching (.320/.414/.631) and banking five wins of value to the pennant-fated Rangers. His replacements in Anaheim -- whoops! we're supposed to have replacements? -- managed a putrid .192/.252/.302, costing the Angels a couple of losses. In short, that trade flipped the Rangers and Angels in the standings. For icing on the cake, Wells clogged up an outfield spot with his .218/.248/.412 and at $26+ million probably prevented the team from acquiring a Major League catcher.
Evidently, DiPoto, who was hired after Reagins abruptly quit following the season, was paying attention. Job one: landing Chris Ianetta, the Rockies' offense-first catcher. Ianetta (.235/.357/.439) is no Napoli behind or beside the plate, so maybe Scioscia will stomach him better. In any case, he's 230 points of OPS better than the sludge that oozed behind the plate for Anaheim after Napoli's departure.
The upgrade cost DiPoto a fungible arm -- rookie long reliever Tyler Chatwood. All of which means things are looking up for Orange County during that time of year when Angels are purported most often to sing.
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