Anyone remember that horrible movie Angels in the Outfield, you know the one, when a boy prays for a chance to have a family if the California Angels win the pennant, and then angels are assigned to make that possible. Awful really, but who am I to judge, perhaps if I was an Angels fan I would have a different appreciation for that movie. My point is……….when are the real Angels coming?

Right now the Los Angeles Angels are sitting dead last in their division, not only that, this is the same division in which arguably the two worst teams in the American League reside. Trailing Texas by 4.5 games is nothing to be ashamed of as the Rangers are one of the best and most consistent teams in baseball over the last three years. But trailing Oakland and Seattle is just, well just disgraceful!

This off-season the Angels sure were busy signing Albert Pujols to a monster 10 year contract. They were also able to ink C J Wilson from their division rival Rangers. By doing this they incresed their payroll to 152 million this season. That’s 30 million more than Texas, 66 million more than Seattle and 100 million more than Oakland. When you spend that sorta money you need immediate results, your team can’t be middle of the pack in runs scored and near the bottom in runs allowed.

Sometimes when you change leagues like Albert Pujols did, ther may be  a bit of a learning curve that might take place. However perennial all-stars like Pujols are supposed to deliver the goods immediately. It doesn’t help that Prince Fielder who also switched leagues this off season is mashing the ball for Detroit early on this season.

Right now Tori Hunter, Albert Pujols, Kendry Morales and Bobby Abreu have combined for zero home runs on the year. No joke, the heart of this Angels line-up have zero dingers on the season. I have as many home runs as those guys do, and in less at bats, think about it. This is a good indication of why the Angels are struggling so bad. The leading home run hitter on the team is Mark Trumbo, who at this point in the season is just a part time player. Since his move to third, Trumbo can’t stay on the field because his deffence is just that bad. He has already commited 3 errors and has a feilding perctentage of .625. That is awful. Tony Danza, Danny Glover, and Christopher Lloyd couldn’t even make Trumbo look good defensively, I guess that would be Angels in the Infield.

I realize that we are only nine games into the season, but a 3-6 start is no guarantee that come October these Angels will doing anything more than booking their fall vacations. Last year on paper the Boston Red Sox had one of the best teams put together, making two of the biggest splashes in the off season acquiring Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, however they stumbled out of the gate going 2-12 to start the season, and I’m sure most of you know they missed the playoffs by one single game. The game isn’t played on paper, and just because the Angels appear to have all-star at most positions doesn’t mean a World Series Championship is all but a lock! I’m sure it feels early, but I assure you that an April win is just as big as a September win, because if you start April 8-20 then it doesn’t matter how many games you win in September because your season is most likely already finished. You can’t win a championship in April but you sure can lose one!