Gary Matthews like to juice it up

So, this past summer, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (convoluted moniker isn't it?) decided to make their big Free Willy sized splash in the summer free agent market. Well, except that the splash was less Free Willy and more Uncle Walt belly-flopping during the last Fourth of July - awkward and obtuse.

That "big" free agent signing was, of course, Gary Matthews Jr.

There are of course several problems with this signing, some of these problems being more obvious than the others. Firstly he cost 50 millions dollars! 50 million - for a player who is already on the wrong side of thirty. Anyone that believes that Gary Matthews Jr will, in five years, be worth 10 millions dollars must be myopic, or delusional and believe that this Jr, is actually Ken Griffey Jr circa 1995. Or they believe that this is the original Gary Matthews who was, at least, a fairly serviceable major league player.

They couldn't possibly believe that this Matthews, the Jr, is worth the cash. He's been in the Majors for 7 years, had one fairly good year (coincidentally enough the one right before he hit free agency), and plays, as far as I know a pretty solid CF. He's played for seven major league teams which, entertainingly enough, is almost as many home runs as he's hit in his career (well maybe not that close but you get the general idea). Hell, he can't even cover up his steroid use properly!

All I know is that this reeks of another Mo Vaughn - except Mo Vaughn actually hit more than 30 homers in on of his years as an Angel.

But, as the eternal Angels fan, I realize that there is a bright side to this situation. That bright side being...Hey, at least they didn't sign JD Drew.