BTW, based upon the comments made by Moreno at the press conference, I wouldn’t be surprised if the trade for Cabrera doesn’t get made. He made it sound as if agreements in principle were made (twice), then the Marlins upped their demands.

If so, then Moreno may exit altogether. As Hunter said, Moreno put a deal on the table for him with a 24 hour lifespan. He didn’t want to get played against other teams. As it turns out, Hunter liked the terms and the team. Benifest may find out that the Angels won’t allow themselves to get jerked around much longer, especially with the Winter Meetings coming up next week. Fewer players in trade yields Tejada, not a player of Miguel Cabrera’s class (anymore, anyway), but still an upgrade over the 2007 Angels offense, and Tejada may be reborn playing on a team with a legit chance of winning a championship after those years in Baltimore. The Angels would most likely get to keep Kendrick as well.

With the addition of Hunter, whose five-year, $90-million deal includes a $2.5-million bonus and calls for him to make $16 million in 2008, $17.5 million in 2009 and $18 million in each of the final three years of the contract, the Angels’ projected 2008 payroll is about $125 million.

Moreno said that is “over budget,” but he did not rule out boosting the payroll for an impact player. In addition to Cabrera, the Angels are pursuing Baltimore shortstop Miguel Tejada and Minnesota pitcher Johan Santana.

“Everybody makes a budget; it’s my call whether we exceed it,” Moreno said. “If you’re doing something for the short term, a Band-Aid thing, to me, it’s not worth going over budget. If you think it’s going to make your business better in the long term, then you make the investment. We want to get better every year and to compete at the highest level. Our focus is on winning championships.”

LA Times (Most of the story is about Florida jerking everybody around, asking the moon for Cabrera).

Best of luck to you.

The problem is Aybar did not hit when he was playing SS in Salt Lake or with the Agnels in 2006 either. And per THT, Aybar was below average at SS in 2006 and below average at SS, 2B, and 3B in 2007. Even assuming he is a league average SS, he is still a significant liability overall.

Viable? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

I believe his game will improve if he is allowed one spot to focus on and grow at. As such, as long as his defense is equal to or better than Orlando Cabrera’s, he is a “viable SS” in my book.

No, you said more than that. He said he was “a viable SS” and that he “showed his stuff in AAA.” His AAA numbers, when park adjusted, are bad, and he was downright terrible in the majors. Saying he is “better offensively than his 2007 showed” is a pretty empty statement considering that he would need significant improvement just to catch the AL’s worst hitting regular SS, Tony Pena Jr. And while Aybar may be fast, he is not a very good baserunner (only 65% success rate in the minors), and the old adage “you can’t steal first base” applies.