C.J. Wilson Will Also Join The Angels

Soon thereafter, details of Wilson’s contract emerged. He will earn $10 million in 2012, and then his salary climbs all the way up to $20 million in 2016. It is, therefore, heavily backloaded.

And so, it turns out, is Albert Pujols’ contract. From Jerry Crasnick:

Before that, it was all rainbows and unicorns and helpful leprechauns. But since Game 6 went so terribly wrong, the Rangers have gone from almost World Champions to (now) second place in the American League West.

Let’s just work through the basic math, though. Maybe this isn’t as serious as we think.

While he was the top pitcher available on the free-agent market this offseason, he isn’t an ace in the true sense of the word. He’s had two high-quality seasons as a starting pitcher for a high-quality team, after spending much of his career in the bullpen. He has a ton of value as someone who can throw over 200 valuable innings a year, despite not being a dominant force like some past free-agent hurlers. While he will be 31 in the first year of his new deal, his arm doesn’t have a ton of mileage on it thanks to his time as a reliever.

The Angels also get to avoid the potential pitfalls of Wilson’s exit from Texas, as well, as they are setup in much the same way -- if not better. Wilson has been great, as mentioned, but he has had a few boosts that make him look better than he is. For one, Wilson has faced the softest lineups of any starting pitcher (minimum 100 innings pitched) each of the last two seasons. Baseball Prospectus measures just how good (or bad) the opposing lineups a pitcher faces are, by Quality of Opponents OPS. Wilson ranked 147 and 144 out of the same number of starters in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Wednesday evening in Dallas, Wilson arrived at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas -- site of this year’s Winter Meetings -- and within hours we knew he was deciding between offers from the Angels and the Marlins. And Thursday morning, we had puffs of white smoke: Christopher John Wilson -- @str8edgeracer to his biggest fans -- will ply his trade next season for the Angels. And quite likely, for the next five seasons.

Wilson reportedly had a six-year offer from the Marlins, but the lure of pitching where he grew up -- Wilson was born in Orange County, nearly 32 years ago -- might have played a part in his decision. Tuesday in his Winter Meetings press conference, Angels manager Mike Scioscia made it clear what his club’s priority was this winter. Asked if he would prefer a power hitter or a pitcher, Scioscia said, “We need to get stronger pitching.”

One of the bedrock principles of free agency is that a given free agent will almost always accept the biggest offer. It doesn’t often matter so much who’s doing the bidding - it matters more how much is being bid. It’s not even a criticism. It’s just kind of true.

This is supported by a similar tweet from Jim Bowden. Nothing is official yet, but odds look good that C.J. Wilson will shortly become the newest Angel.

Now, according to Jeff Wilson, it seems one of those desires has been met.

The identity of the aggressive suitor is unknown. The dollar figure attached to that six-year offer is unknown. Whether it’s six years guaranteed or five and an option is unknown. But this is still something. It’s an indication that Wilson could very well end up getting what he wants, and perhaps even then some.

Wilson, by the way, is 31 years old. That is a fair bit older than it seems like.

Wilson didn’t have a great postseason. In fact, he had a pretty bad postseason; in six appearances (five starts) he issued 19 walks in 28 innings and posted an overall 1.71 WHIP and 5.79 ERA in those innings; he also served up six home runs. Has that made him worth less? Has that stopped Wilson and his agent from thinking big? Heavens, no:

One presumes that $100 million request was split up among, say, six years and not just one. Heyman’s tweet notes that Wilson grew up in Southern California. Sometimes that makes a difference for players, sometimes not. The Marlins are hoping not: