The Angels have done it again.
ESPN.com reports that the Angels have signed free-agent outfielder Josh Hamilton, despite not being linked to the slugger all offseason. This comes just one season after Los Angeles seemingly came out of nowhere to sign Albert Pujols.
The deal is reportedly a five-year deal worth $125 million.
The reported signing is a huge one for an Angels team that had been pushed aside in the Los Angeles baseball market. The Dodgers had seemingly jumped back into the fray as the top baseball team in the L.A. market after new ownership bought the club and has been spending ever since. The Dodgers continued their spending onslaught last weekend when they signed Zack Greinke to a monster deal.
With the Dodgers spending and spending and spending on their way to landing the top free-agent pitcher in Greinke, the Angels have now responded by nabbing the top free-agent position player. This gives the Angels a potentially historic offense, with Hamilton joining Pujols and Mike Trout. The Halos also have a surplus of outfielders now, too, which means they could look to trade some of their “extra” outfielders — guys like Peter Bourjos and Mark Trumbo — for pitching help. R.A. Dickey‘s name has already been floated around by some.
It doesn’t sound like Hamilton’s relationship with the Rangers had a very nice end, though. According to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Hamilton and his people never gave the Rangers a chance to match the Angels’ deal.
[tweet https://twitter.com/JeffWilson_FWST/status/279307160922517504 align=’center’]
