What were your first reactions?

[STLCardinalsFan]

Move: Signing Pujols. 

Losing Pujols...I hated you guys for taking him. I hated the fact the Cardinals let the best hitter of our generation walk out the door. It did take me some time to see the Cardinals master plan brewing in the background. I am now quite happy he is off the Cardinals books. That allowed so many other players to be resigned and allowed more of our players from AAA to be brought up. Did I believe that he would ever crash and burn this hard this fast? No not in a million years.

 

Move: Signing Wilson

No feelings on this

 

 

Move: Trading for Greinke

I was happy that you guys took him off the Brewers roster. It made the Brewers less of a threat to the Cardinals.

 

Move: Trading Santana

I did hear about this one, but again it didn't concern me since we aren't playing the Angels on a regular basis.

 

Move: Signing Blanton

No feelings on this one

 

Move: Dumping Haren

No feelings on this one.

 

Move: Trading for Hanson

No feelings on this one.

 

Move: Trading for Vargas

No feelings on this one.

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Move: Signing Hamilton

After our victory over the Rangers in 2011 I was amazed at his Power and his ability to be almost like Pujols with monster homeruns and a worthy threat to the Cardinals. When you guys signed him I thought holy crap...how can anyone compete against the 1-2 punch of Pujols and Hamiliton. I figured we would be seeing you guys in the post season with us. Again (I blame the Marine layer haha) I would have never guess Hamilton would crash and burn as well.

 

As I do watch an Angel game here and there to check out AP and crew it's very sad to see what predictable at bats both have. Pujols hard grounder to third or popout. Hamilton...well strike out....and I really feel bad for the Angels because they are now handcuffed by these two mammoth contacts for a long time.

[JB Abell]

Pujols:

Thought this was a bad signing. I have always been against the Yankees and their high payroll with overpaid aging players. Now we are the Yankees of the west coast, minus all the world series titles and straight to the sucking. With the contract they got from Fox i understood though so wasn't upset with it. Plus pujols is pujols, so our was easy to get over...until he started playing...

Wilson:

I thought this was a good signing, but did not agree with the price. I liked the thought of a Weaver-Wilson 1-2 punch.

Grienke:

Thought this was good, especially because there was a chance to resign him. And we needed another starting pitcher.

Hamilton:

Thought this was terrible. I have always disliked Josh Hamilton. He is a streaky-hitting, whiny, annoying baby of a man and always has been. You don't want someone that inconsistent on your team. Period. Not to mention he replaced Torii. Nobody can replace him in my mind.

Santana and Haren:

Thought we should have kept them both. Once Trout was in the team, the angels had one of the top records in baseball (excluding the games pre-Trout). Meaning, once they started clicking they were a top tier team. All this turnover in the team is making it hard for them to get a rhythm. Haren has said so himself.

Vargas, Hanson, and Blanton:

I would have been for either Vargas or Hanson for the fifth spot in the rotation granted they had kept Santana and Haren.

We definitely should have kept Torii. The only one of those I have since changed my opinion about is Grienke. As much as CJ has sucked, he could still be an overpaid 3 or 4 starter.

[Punk]

Move: Signing Pujols:  

 

Move: Signing Wilson:  

 

Move: Trading for Greinke:  

 

Move: Trading Santana:  

 

Move: Signing Blanton:  

 

Move: Dumping Haren:  

 

Move: Trading for Hanson:  

 

Move: Trading for Vargas:  

 

Move: Signing Hamilton:  

[HaloFan85]

Move: Signing Pujols.

MFR:  Why?  With Morales coming back and Trumbo emerging as a true power hitter, this signing seemed completely unnecessary.

 

Move: Signing Wilson

MFR:  Meh.  I understood we needed another starter, but for a guy who was supposed to be a #1 in Texas, it never seemed like he could win a post-season game despite always having one of the best offenses in baseball.  I also didn't like giving him 5 years.

 

Move: Trading for Greinke

MFR: Even though Segura was highly regarded by the organization, we had Aybar locked up for the next few years.  I didn't know much about the other 2 prospects, so I was okay with the trade.

 

Move: Trading Santana

MFR: Mixed in the sense that there were slim pickins on the market and I thought we needed to keep at least 1 of Haren/Santana, if not both.  I understood they most likely weren't keeping both, so I figured Haren was the better choice of the two to keep.

 

Move: Signing Blanton

MFR: Horrible deal any way you look at it.

 

Move: Dumping Haren

MFR: Didn't like this move with Santana already being traded.  Thought he had a real good chance to bounce back from his back problem.

 

Move: Trading for Hanson

MFR: Indifferent.  Didn't think much of Walden, and Hanson, more SP depth.

 

Move: Trading for Vargas

MFR: I was okay with this deal since we needed starting pitching and Morales was running out of room to play.

 

Move: Signing Hamilton

MFR: Same as the Pujols signing; why?  We have Trumbo, Wells, and Calhoun also waiting in the wings.  Even for 5 years, it seemed like a huge risk.  I was completely content with having Trumbo and Wells rotating the OF/DH spots with Calhoun on calls notice if Wells stunk it up again.