Angels In The Infield.

With all the talk about the Miami Marlins' shopping spree at this year's winter meetings, the dealings of most other teams were thrown into the background. But now, the Los Angeles Angels have slammed into the Marlins as the busiest team this offseason, signing both Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson within a few hours on the last day of these meetings.

While the Halos had been one of the favorites for Wilson since the World Series ended, they hadn't even contacted Pujols' agent until the last 2 days. While everyone was focused on whether the Cardinals or Marlins could one-up each other for Pujols, or whether or not the Cubs were a legitimate contender for him, the Angels quietly entered the fray as a "mystery team" and managed to win the Albert Sweepstakes. While we all slept, LA owner Arte Moreno and Pujols were both praying, Pujols praying for God to show him the way, Moreno praying that the way ended in Los Angeles. Shocking doesn't begin to describe this morning's events.

Pujols leaves behind a home, a legacy, and a couple of popular restaurants behind in St. Louis. It's expected that the Cards will make Lance Berkman their full-time first baseman, with an outfield of Allen Craig (who will become the full-time right fielder), Jon Jay and Matt Holliday. Even though they will miss his bat at the plate and his positive influence in the clubhouse, the defending World Series champions still project to be serious contenders going forward, as they still have a dominant rotation with Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia and a healthy Adam Wainwright, and a lineup that contains a revitalized Berkman and Holliday, as well as NLCS and WS MVP David Freese. So, although Pujols leaves a devastated St. Louis fanbase in his wake, it doesn't seem like people in Missouri will be mourning for too long.

Wilson joins a rotation that contains Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, and Ervin Santana. 5 years ago, none of them were starters, and Weaver and Santana were just starting in the majors. Separately, they're solid pitchers who eat innings and throw strikeouts at an amazing rate. Together, they comprise what could be the strongest rotation in the American League. They all have low to average ERAs (the highest ERA last season of any of the 4 was Santana's with 3.38, which most pitchers would kill to have), high innings counts and high strikeout rates, overall and on average through 9 innings. Similar feelings towards the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies rotation are already being applied to the hurlers in Anaheim: that the Angels could allow a fan to pitch every 5th day, and they'd still win 100 games. The best part about these boys, aside from their consistency, is that they all stay healthy. Over the past 3 years, only Santana has missed some time due to injury. A healthy, consistent rotation is what wins championships, and the Angels certainly have that.

As we learned last year, we can't predict what will happen in baseball based solely off of the teams on paper, but if we could, the 2012 World Series would appear to be the Los Angeles Angels vs. the Miami Marlins. But that's why they play the game.