Orange County Register

The Angels announced a “long-term contract extension” for General Manager Tony Reagins.

Here’s what Reagins has done since he was promoted in October 2007:

• Signed Torii Hunter (5 years, $90 million);
• Re-signed Juan Rivera to a three-year deal ($12.75 million);
• Signed Bobby Abreu (1 year, $5 million plus incentives) before 2009;
• Re-signed Abreu for two (and maybe three) more years;
• Traded Casey Kotchman for Mark Teixeira;
• Traded Sean Rodriguez and two prospects for Scott Kazmir;
• Exercised a $15 million club-option for Vladimir Guerrero in 2009;
• Signed Brian Fuentes (two years, $17.5 million);
• Found Matt Palmer on the scrap heap, got an 11-2 record from the emergency fill-in;
• Traded Orlando Cabrera for Jon Garland;
• Signed Ervin Santana to a long-term extension, buying out his arbitration years and at least one year of free agency;
• Let Garland, Teixeira, Garrett Anderson and Francisco Rodriguez leave as free agents, reaping a windfall of draft picks.
• Stood pat during early 2009 struggles, strengthening the bullpen and starting rotation from within;
• Oversaw the draft of a bundle of first-round picks in 2009 who largely excelled in shaort minor league stints this year.

Looking at that record, I like the extension a lot. I doubted the Hunter deal at the time and it has worked out so far. Same with the Juan Rivera deal.  Abreu was the steal of the offseason last year, unless you count Matt Palmer. Reagins has made two aggressive mid-season trades to strengthen the team going into the postseason. He understands the concept of sunk costs. He seems cool enough to say so long to veterans rather than overpay for them, and has only signed one player to a deal longer than three seasons.

Here’s the press release from the Angels:

ANAHEIM, CA - The 2009 A.L. West Division champion Angels announced Friday that General Manager Tony Reagins has received a long-term contract extension. Reagins became the 10th General Manager in Club history when he signed an initial three-year contract on October 16, 2007. Per club policy, no terms of the agreement will be released.

“I would like to thank the Moreno Family for their support and confidence as we continue our goal of winning World Championships,” said Reagins. “It is an honor to work with a tremendous group of professionals, both on the baseball and business side of our organization. The vision of this organization, and the dedication of our employees for improvement on a daily basis, makes my role extremely gratifying.”

Since taking over the General Manager position, Reagins has been active in making key personnel transactions including the acquisitions of pitcher Jon Garland (trade with Chicago White Sox), outfielder Torii Hunter (free-agent signing), first baseman Mark Teixeira (trade prior to the non-waiver trade deadline in July), outfielder Bobby Abreu (free-agent signing) and lefthander Scott Kazmir (trade). Along with West Division titles, the Angels have posted a 197- 127 record (.608 winning percentage) during his first two campaigns as General Manager, including a club-record 100 wins in 2008.

As the result of the Angels’ successful 2008 season, Reagins was recognized earlier this year as the recipient of the Andrew “Rube” Foster Award as the American League “Executive of the Year” at the 2008 Legacy Awards (sponsored by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City).

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• In the old and tired debate about whether the Yankees can simply buy their success, Joe Posnanski manages to add something new to it: “Baseball happens to be a sport where dominance can be obscured. It doesn’t look like dominance.” But, he writes, it’s dominance all the same, and the implications of that might reframe the discussion.

• Wezen-Ball looks at how the NY Times’ cover has reflected Yankee championships throughout the decades.

• Fans have until Monday to contribute to the Fan Scouting Report, a very cool way of using crowd-wisdom to rate defenders. The Fan Scouting Report is also one of the “judges” in the Fielding Bible Awards, which were announced last week.

• It always surprises me to see that, in addition to representing many of the costliest free agents,  Scott Boras represents some truly mediocre ones. Alex Cora? Rodrigo Lopez? Hank Blalock? Ron Villone? How’d these guys  convince Boras to take them on?

• Congratulations to Monkey With a Halo, who won a much-deserved award for his blogging.

• NY Times says Yankees’ win this year was just like in 1923. One difference, though: Can you find even one woman in the crowd?

• Bobby Abreu, all class:

Meet Joel Timmerman. For more than 20 seasons — the last 16 of which have led to no playoff appearances — he’s been a dedicated Toronto Blue Jays fan.  That might end soon, as Joel is shopping for a team that won’t “bail on the fans.” He has narrowed his search to four teams — the Dodgers, Tigers, Cardinals and Angels — and is soliciting reasons from fans of each why their franchise is best.

“I’ve been a Jays fan for more than 20 years, since I was old enough to know what baseball was,” he said by email. “ I haven’t 100% decided to give up on the Jays.  But if I do, it will be a full-out, nothing back, fandom switch.”

So, everybody, help Joel out: Tell us the best reasons for being an Angels fan.

We emailed Joel — a lawyer in Ontario, Canada — about fan disloyalty, bad times, and what he’s looking for in a new team. The interview is after the jump:

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The free agency filing period has begun. For the next two weeks, teams can negotiate with their own free agents, then anybody can negotiate with anybody.

Some Web sites to help you stay up to date on all the rumors, guess-work and innuendo:

• MLB Trade Rumors, which aggregates this information better than anyone.
• Cot’s Baseball Contracts, which has contract information for every Major League team.
• Ken Rosenthal, perhaps the best at breaking offseason news.
• Jon Heyman, Jayson Stark and Buster Olney, who are also in the conversation.
• Rumor Central on ESPN.

And, of course, we’ll be following along and getting you as much information as quickly as possible throughout the winter. Nobody needs to tell you it’s a huge winter for the Angels, possibly more than for any other team.

As the hot stove begins, here’s the first part of my “30 free agents who can help the Angels” list. Part 2 — No. 15 through No. 1 — tomorrow.

The Dodgers just rejected Jon Garland’s option, paying $2.5 million instead of $10 million.

Garland had an interesting season. In the first half, he walked as many as he struck out and was fairly lucky to get out of it with a 4.53 ERA. In the second half, he struck out 65, walked just 21, and had a 3.42 ERA. From June 13 on, he started 21 games and had a 3.20 ERA. Add it all up and he was worth just about $10 million, per Fangraphs.

Any interest in bringing him back to be the fifth starter? If so, name the price you’d pay.

(Via MLB Trade Rumors.)

• I was cool with calling Chase Utley the sport’s most underrated — I mean, he’s been the third best player in the game for years but has never finished higher than seventh in MVP voting. But calling him the best second baseman in history is just nuts. Utley’s OPS+ is 129. Joe Morgan’s: 132. Eddie Collins: 141. Rogers Hornsby: 175. And Utley’s entire career has taken place during his peak-age years.

• Look past the home runs, Utley probably shouldn’t be the series MVP.

• Is it time for Bud Selig or the players’ union to step in and take action against champagne goggles?

“It just seems like something the older, more hardened players of yesterday wouldn’t wear — not something you’d have seen on Babe Ruth or Pete Rose,” says Stimson, who lives in Los Angeles and works in online marketing. “There’s a notion that today’s players are coddled, multi-gazillionaire athletes, and maybe this is an outgrowth of that.”

• The Rays make room for Sean Rodriguez.

• Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors thinks the Angels will bring back Abreu and Figgins.

• NY Post doesn’t let up:

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• There are some naughty words in this Daily Show clip, but nothing you wouldn’t hear if you went to a game in Philadelphia or New York.

• A manager who admits his decisions are based entirely on “how I feel” is exposing himself to a lot of second-guessing if it doesn’t work out. Pray for a four-run lead, Phillies fans.

• George W. Bush was in Japan this week, where he was asked how to run a successful sports franchise.

Make sure the stadium has a pleasant environment. Hire “good baseball people” to make key decisions about which players to select. Treat the media “as an ally, not an antagonist.”

But the best marketing is winning, he said.

“Problem is, it’s not that easy,” the former two-term president said.

• Take a tour of Jimmy Rollins’ “ooh-ooh-ooh-ah-ah” room: