Teixeira trade boosts Angels, scalps Braves

Mark Teixeira is on the move again, but this time he's doing much more than changing uniforms -- he's changing the perceptions of two franchises.
Teixeira's move from Atlanta to Anaheim (okay, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) signals the boldest decision that the Angels have made in their pursuit of an American League pennant and the end of the Braves' era as buyers at the trade deadline. Anaheim instantly upgrades its lineup with the switch-hitting first baseman, providing some added pop behind Vladimir Guerrero, and now has very few weaknesses at the plate to battle playoff-tested pitching.
Teixeira's greatest value to Anaheim will be his ability to pick up the slack when the free-swinging Guerrero inevitably struggles in the postseason. Opposing teams know that Guerrero will get himself out by swinging at sliders in the dirt and high fastballs, and that's why he's a career .183 hitter (11-for-60) in postseason play. Erase the grand slam that Guerrero hit against Mike Timlin in Game 3 of the 2004 ALDS and Guerrero has just three RBIs in 15 postseason games. He doesn't see meatballs and missed locations from the likes of Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling. Guerrero's missing thunder in the middle of the order made the Angels very ordinary, with an aging Garrett Anderson and a bunch of slap hitters (Chone Figgins, Howie Kendrick, Maicer Izturis, Kendry Morales) left to fend for themselves. Going first to third on a base hit can only do so much, and pitchers of that caliber will not beat themselves or allow three or four consecutive hits very often. Scoring runs became impossible for Anaheim. Teixeira goes a long way to changing all of that.
Atlanta traded a package of prospects to acquire Teixeira last season, but now the Braves have settled for Casey Kotchman and minor league pitcher Stephen Marek as consolation prizes in the Teixeira sweepstakes. With John Smoltz hurt (again), Chipper Jones on the DL (again) and Tim Hudson's elbow being mentioned in the same sentence as Tommy John surgery, Atlanta is done for this season and, maybe, for the foreseeable future.
Not that the Braves wanted the Teixeira situation to end this way. The Rangers offered him an eight-year extension believed to be worth $140 million just before the trade last season, a deal that Teixeira turned down, and Atlanta signed him to a one-year contract worth $12.5 million to avoid salary arbitration. The decision was a risky one (think Juan Gonzalez and the eight-year, $138-million deal he turned down from Detroit a few years ago or Latrell Sprewell's decent into bankruptcy) but it looks like it's going to pay off for Teixeira, who has overcome a slow start to get his power numbers headed back to where they usually are. He'll finish with well over 30 home runs and 100 RBIs, numbers that he has posted in each of the last four seasons. Throw in the fact that he plays Gold Glove defense and is only 28, and Teixeira will be one of the top three free agents in this year's class. He's sure to fetch something like a seven or eight year deal worth over $20 million annually, a contract that the Angels and billionaire owner Arte Moreno might be able to provide. The Braves were simply priced out of the equation despite the fact that Teixeira played college baseball at Georgia Tech and chose to go there instead of signing with the Boston Red Sox after being selected in the ninth round of the 1998 draft.
This officially ends Atlanta's inclusion with the rest of the elite in the National League. The Braves have been bypassed by Philadelphia and New York in the NL East, both clubs able to outspend Atlanta for key free agents, and talent-rich Florida is loaded with prospects that will allow the Marlins to keep the pace. The Braves are caught somewhere in between, a team in transition whose payroll is in the middle of the pack and whose minor league system isn't quite ready to produce the type of talent that will allow Atlanta to turn things around quickly. The Braves gave away a talented young catcher (Jarrod Saltalamacchia), their No. 2 prospect (shortstop Elvis Andrus) and a pitcher who has made it to the big leagues already (Matt Harrison) along with two other minor leaguers for what essentially amounts to a first baseman who can't hit for power (Kotchman hit 11 home runs in 2007, his first full season, and 34 minor league homers in parts of six seasons) and a 24-year-old pitcher who is 11-19 in four minor league seasons. It's not exactly the type of turnaround that nets a general manager Major League Baseball's Executive of the Year honors.
Anaheim, on the other hand, finally was able to pull off a big trade by releasing one of its overrated prospects. The Angels have held on too tight to homegrown players in recent years, a list that reads like a Who's Who of minor league busts. If Brandon Wood was so special, he wouldn't be playing full seasons at Triple-A and striking out more than 125 times each year like he has in each of the last two seasons. Dallas McPherson's time came and went -- he lost the third baseman's job to Figgins in 2005 and 2006 before having back surgery and missing all of 2007. McPherson was signed to a one-year deal by the Marlins and has hit 38 home runs in Triple-A so far this year, but his asking price could have been a frontline starting pitcher way back in 2004 when he was blocked by Troy Glaus. Shortstop Erick Aybar is a career .251 hitter in parts of three seasons in the big leagues, taking the shine off a reputation that once had him included in a potential deal for Manny Ramirez. Anaheim has finally realized that having the best record in the league didn't necessarily mean it was ready to win in the playoffs, and the Angels have taken a giant step forward towards erasing their disappointing ends to the 2004, 2005 and 2007 seasons.