The last time the Angels did not make the playoffs (2006), owner Arte Moreno assured Angels fans and the media at large that the Angels would definitely acquire a big bat in the offseason.
They did not. They put all their eggs into the Gary Matthews Jr basket, and Moreno lamented Alfonso Soriano signing with the Cubs and Aramis Ramirez re-upping with them (talk about dodging two out of three bullets!). Well... Moreno is one year away from being out from under the Matthews mistake and the brave, bold talk is, almost predictably, back.
By the spring of 2007, Moreno was left offering the excuse that he could not afford to jeopardize the future of the franchise by putting all of his eggs in one long-term contract basket.
Two days of a Twitter rumor tornado later have left us right back to the future. The Angels are rumored to be in on the big four free agents: Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford, Adrian Beltre and Rafel Soriano.
Mike Scioscia laments that they were close to Victor Martinez and Joaquin Benoit. They sign Hisanori Takahashi before General Manager Tony Reagins even leaves Southern California for the Florida meetings. He is the last GM to arrive, is called "fashionably late" by a suck-up press, all on top of his plane getting delayed along the way. His first statement on Tuesday is that the Angels have not made any offers at this point. Should we assume that he will visit Disney World and the Don Johnson Miami Vice Museum on Wednesday before getting down to business sometime before New Year's Eve?
The silence you hear is the Angels operating under the radar. At SBN's Angels blog Halos Heaven, Reagins earned the nickname "The Ninja" after his surprise back to back acquisitions of Orlando Cabrera and Torii Hunter. Will we see that stealth bomber deliver heavyweight contracts? Or will the echo of this offseason be a springtime reminder from Arte assuring us that a championship budget is as desirable as a championship team.