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Angels: Five things to know
TEMPE, Ariz. -- You looked at Miguel Cabrera in a Detroit uniform this spring and imagined the possibilities. A bat that will have a lethal impact on the American League race. A hard, lean body that should produce a career year. A more mature demeanor that may keep him on a Hall of Fame track.
And you wondered how badly the Los Angeles Angels blew it by not jumping through every hoop Florida held up during trade talks this winter.
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| The Angels hope Nick Adenhart can step up and fill the void. (AP) |
Ace John Lackey, third in Cy Young voting last season, out until at least early May -- and possibly later -- with a right biceps strain.
Kelvim Escobar, maybe just as important as Lackey to last year's AL West division winners, also expected out until at least May, with shoulder fatigue.
And you see clearly, this is why they would not turn over right-handers Ervin Santana and Nick Adenhart and others in a Cabrera deal with Florida.
Smart?
Let's see how 2008 plays out before making the ultimate determination on that.
Fortuitous?
The way spring camp suddenly has gone far south on the once pitching-rich Angels, you bet.
Maybe there will come a time this summer when the Angels will be struck by regret that they didn't sell the farm to acquire Cabrera.
But with 37 wins suddenly subtracted from their rotation, that time is not now.
If anything, with the once indestructible Lackey shuffling off for a month of treatment and their once seemingly insurmountable grip on the AL West suddenly quite vulnerable, Saturday's developments only served to validate the Angels' decision to hold the line in the Cabrera talks.
