It finally happened. Jerry Dipoto granted the wish of many an Angel fan by making Vernon Wells disappear.
No, not like that. Instead, Dipoto found himself a sucker in the form of the New York Yankees who are so desperate for healthy players that they not only acquired Wells via trade but have supposedly agreed to pay $13 million of his remaining $42 million owed.
#yankees are to pay $13M of the $42M on wells deal thru 2014.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) March 24, 2013
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For what it is worth, Ken Rosenthal is saying it is only $10 million, but either way it is a bigger chunk of change than we could've hoped for which kind of makes me wonder if Tony Reagins was serving as a special advisor to the Yankees on this deal. In fact, that amount is so sizeable that it could actually free up enough payroll space for the Angels to go out and acquire some relief help right now or a biggish contract at the trade deadline. This all but assures that Kole Calhoun will remain on the roster to serve as the Angels' primary back-up outfielder, though it does mean that the Halos have pretty much no veteran presence on the bench, which may not sit well with Scioscia. But that is more than off-set by no longer having a perennial punchline on the roster, even if he did have that "veteran presence."
Well, done, Jerry. Well done.
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