They add another legit power bat to their lineup. Combine that with solid starting pitching and a lights out bullpen they are a very good team.

Kotchman is good but he’s never going to be an elite 1st baseman. Marek isn’t much at all. Anaheim didn’t even have to give up one of their better prospects.

this is bad news.

The Angels are the only AL team not to visit Wrigley Field. I’d love for that to change this October in the World Series.

They just became a very good team.

.... believe it or not, there are more than a few Angel fans who aren’t all that happy about this trade. They would disagree, and frankly so would I, that Kotchman won’t be an “elite” first baseman. I’d suggest that from a fielding standpoint, there’s no one better. There are some who are as good, but none better. He’s like Lee in that he bails out his infielders on many a bad throw. As for his hitting, granted, he’s not a pure power hitter or a switch hitter, but he’s a left handed doubles hitter who hits for average and doesn’t rattle. A lot like Grace, actually.

The unhappiness comes from the fact the Angels don’t seem to be employing long-term thinking. Kotchman was theirs for a while yet, while there’s no guarantee Teixiera sticks around after this year. They were already very good before this trade and given their overall make up, don’t need to be in a “win now” mode because some players are getting old. One of the doubts people had about the Angels was their ability to handle Boston. They recently swept them in Anaheim and the last two nights have thoroughly punked them in Fenway, much like the Cubs have done to the Brewers. Lackey had that no-hitter for 8 and a 1/3. And this was BEFORE the trade.

So yeah, they got better, but they could have won it all this year without this trade. People here in Southern California were already envisioning an Angels/Cubs series as it was.