Angel Things to be Thankful For

With Thanksgiving now come and gone and by tryptophan-induced coma wearing off I think it is important to take a little time to reflect on things I am thankful for this year.  I suppose I could talk about my family and world peace, but I think we all know that the Angels take real priority, so here are all things Angel to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season:

• The new contract for Bobby Abreu.  It is pretty clear the impact he had on the Angel line-up this year and letting him even think about getting away would have been the worst Thanksgiving ever.  Now the Halos have Bobby locked up for at least two years at a very reasonable salary.
• No more Boston jinx.  That alone makes this a wonderful holiday season.  Finally the Boston monkey is off the Angels’ back and won’t be haunting them all season long like it did the last few years.  Now the Angels just need to worry about that whole World Series jinx.
• I know it is mean to give thanks for something bad that happened to other people, but I am really thankful that the Angels dismissed the broadcasting duo of Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler.  Physioc was an absolutely horrid play-by-play announcer by any measure and Rex Hudler while highly positive and enthusiastic was very polarizing and could sometimes let his antics take away from the game.
• For Arte Moreno not being a cheap bastard.  He isn’t increasing payroll but at least he isn’t slashing salary like almost every other baseball club.  More importantly, he is one of the few owners in all of sports who puts winning before profits and Angel fans should be thankful every day that he is the owner of this franchise and not the old giant mouse-eared corporation that used to own them.
• Having a quality owner would be of no use if the Angels didn’t have a general manager that was willing to use that financial backing to make some bold moves.  After living through the Bill Stoneman era, Angel fans have to know how much better things are with Tony Reagins running the show and wheeling and dealing in an aggressive but smart manner.
• The evolution of Kendry Morales.  K-Mo was far and away the most pleasant surprise of the season and his progression from a project into a bona fide slugger probably just moved the Angels ahead two years in player development while simultaneously saving the team millions of dollars on another free agent gamble to beef up the middle of the order.