The One Month Until Pitchers and Catchers Report edition of Los Angeles Angels news includes Justin Upton joining his sister in Detroit, the Halos remaining the best fit for Yoenis Cespedes, and more…
The Story: Tigers sign Justin Upton to six-year, $132.75 million deal
MWAH Says: Arte Moreno is running out of time to change his mind about the luxury tax. That yet another free agent has signed a deal that includes an early opt-out indicates that the Angels probably could find something that worked to their favor if they ever bothered to sit down to negotiate. Alas…
The Story: Yoenis Cespedes and Angels the ‘best match’, but still unlikely
MWAH Says: The only team so far to make a legit offer to Cespedes was the Orioles, and they ended up going with Chris Davis instead. Beyond that there’s the Mets hoping he’ll take a massive discount, the White Sox doing god knows what, and the Angels standing around with their hands sewed into their pockets. It’s incredible that Moreno still has a chance to get over his misgivings and not suffer for it at this point in the winter, and it’s incredibly unfortunate that he likely still won’t do anything.
The Story: What’s the point of being filthy freaking rich if you’re not going to spend it?
MWAH Says: I’m sensing a theme early on here. Jeff Passan dives into the Justin Upton signing from the angle that Mike Ilitch is the big-spending owner all fans wish their team had. I’m not sure Ilitch is any better than the legions of other super-duper rich dudes out there, but he did dole out two $100 million contracts this winter and blow past the luxury tax like the nothing it is. Just having an owner who didn’t pretend the CBT was some huge obstacle would be amazing, really.
The Story: Brandon Wood to manage Padres short-season club
MWAH Says: Happy to see that Wood gets to stick around in the baseball world after his career came to an end so unceremoniously. He’ll be the manager of the Tri-City Dust Devils this summer.
The Story: MLB settles class-action suit on TV rights before trial
MWAH Says: This is that big antitrust case mentioned here last week. That MLB reached a settlement means there could be a new options for watching in- and out-of-market games soon (good), but also that they get to survive a little longer with their antitrust exemption intact (bad). Thankfully, the latter could change very soon.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
