beatlesrule

Meh, It's not a bad deal for either team. Grichuk is not some type of uber-prospect from what i gather.. He can't take a walk to save his life, and his upside might be a 4th OF who can PH vs lefties. Thinking he's some trade-chip that was wasted that could have gotten David Price or another ace is clueless.
 
Petey was the Angels 4th OFer. He was traded for a starting 3B, which was needed. They both have one really good year mixed in with some meh years and a bunch of injury-riddles years.
 
It's kinda a wash, IMO. It makes sense for both sides, which is why, of course, they actually completed the deal.

He said, "that'll be the day," Mr. Flugleman.

LOL!  I wish I was that creative. 

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/etc/4147825877.html
 
Pretty creative.  You have to pay $25.00 to post a job offering so this fan obviously felt it was worth it.  Funny stuff.

He doesn't need to be benched, just moved down in the order to at least 5 but hopefully 6 or 7. 

This is to serve as a reminder of where JD started relative to where he is new
 
-He took over a team that finished 2011 with 86 wins.
-A farm system that was deemed as mediocre mostly due to one player yet was otherwise bottom 3rd.
 
-They had a starting pitching core intact that he supplemented with the signing of Wilson making them one of the most formidable rotations entering the 2012 season
-Their offense had scored 667 runs and lack MOTO power so he brought in one of the greatest hitters of all time most likely on behest of an owner who had coveted him for many years.  He also upgrade the catcher position.
-The bullpen was subpar but serviceable at best. 
Downs and Walden were the best options with Takahashi, Cassevah, Thompson, Bell and Rodney getting the lions share of innings the year before
He brought in a couple of vets to provide depth on limited remaining resources after two other big FA signings.  Shortly after the season started, he recognized the pen as a weakness and upgraded with Frieri who started gangbusters and faded a bit late in the season, but their was just limited talent and resources for him to work with.
 
The SP staff failed miserably with all but one guy under performing relative to the previous year.
Pujols tanked in april as did most of the rest of the offense so he fired the hitting coach, released a malcontent and brought up a phenom that inspired the play of everyone.
 
With the struggles of the starting staff, he tried to help by trading for a strong SP FA to be in Greinke.  A questionable move that certainly made the team better at the time yet at the cost of the halos best prospect not named Trout and two AA arms that further weakened the depth of the system.  In my mind, also a move that was made to improve the chance of bringing back Greinke as a FA the following year. 
If not for a bullpen collapse that included poor second half performances even from the previously reliable players, the move would have worked. 
The team ended the year with 3 more wins than the previous
 
So, to start the off season:
The offense was intact but the pitching staff was in shambles
They were left with
Weaver
A 15.5m option on Dan Haren who had another year of declining velocity and bad peripherals to go along with a mediocre performance with several 'injuries'.  All signs pointed to a declining or declined player.  Not someone worth 15.5mil.
A 13mil option on Santana who was coming off a dreadful year as one of the worst starters in baseball.  JD was still able to get AAA/pen depth in a trade.  Another guy not likely to be worth the money.
Wilson - turns out he was injured and needed surgery.
Williams - a AAAA guy serviceable as a long man.  Not a major league starter
Downs - horrible second half
Frieri - mediocre to not good second half and concern that the league had figured something out
Jep - a strong second half yet a guy that had never been reliable and can't get lefties out
Walden - decent middle of the pack reliever.  Propensity to fold under pressure. 
Richards - great stuff.  very inconsistent.  hadn't performed well as of yet at the major league level.
 
That's 1 good starter.  1 potentially good starting coming off surgery. 2 decent reliever with question marks and 3 others with just question marks.  Half of the pitching staff was missing, and 6 of the other seven had significant concerns attached.
 
Again, arguably at the behest of his owner, he signs the biggest name bat available after realizing that there was no chance at resigning Greinke with the dodgers deep pockets cornering the market.
With limited resources once again, he gets three starting pitchers Vargas (8.5mil), Blanton (6.5mil), Hanson (3.7m), and two relievers Burnett (3.5mil), and Madson (3.5mil) while subtracting Morales (5.3mil) and Walden (500k). 
 
Adding 3/5s of a rotation and 2 pen arms while subtracting one pen arm and a bat for 20mil in payroll for the 2013 season.  With the pen still needing help and little farm or financial resources to come to aid, he is forced to he reliever scrap heap to find Tdwag clean peanut.
 
You absolutely have to take into account the starting point and the lack of player performance in judging where this team is right now.
 
Aside from the blanton deal and maybe the greinke trade, what else was he supposed to do when in all likelihood the Pujols and Hamilton signings were as much ownership driven as anything. 

Here in San Diego, I can watch the Lakers and Kings and Ducks but not the Dodgers or Angels unless they are on MLB Network or ESPN or WGN or Fox Saturday baseball.  They will black out both the Angels and Dodgers on FSW and PT.  Very frustrating.