Ervin Santana

In years past we've seen plenty of pitchers sign big-time free-agent deals only to fizzle with their new teams. Names like Barry Zito and Mike Hampton come to mind when thinking of starters who didn't live up their albatross contracts, and teams will be trying to avoid similar situations this offseason.

The offseason ahead will potentially be one of immense surprise for the Philadelphia Phillies, for a few reasons. First and foremost, the oft-mentioned television contract situation will near its climax, as the Phillies are expected to sign their new, multi-billion dollar TV deal within the next month, according to CBS Philly.

Players want to have their names in the record books—but not for records like this. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have had very few things to celebrate this season, and on Friday night they set a record that would have been better left unbroken.

The Los Angeles Angels went just 80-82 last season, finishing third in the American League West. Los Angeles had been to the playoffs six times in the previous eight seasons, including each of the last three, but midseason injury to Kendry Morales really put them in a tough spot.

Ah, the time has come.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we now stand just weeks away from what looks to be another memorable opening day for Major League Baseball.

After a confounding postseason in which we crowned the San Fransisco Giants world champions once more, many teams find themselves in a promising situation heading into the regular season.

However, let's not get ahead of ourselves.  This is just spring training, as we all know.

So as preparation for the regular season begins to heat up, let's take a look at each team's status.

Ervin Santana has been good but not great. He was 17-10 last season, with a 3.92 ERA, 1.320 WHIP and he chewed up 222.2 innings. At 28 years old, he isn't likely to improve very much, but he could hold those numbers for some years. The Yankees lost Andy Pettite this week, who had a career 3.88 ERA, so Santana could be a logical replacement. But why would the Angels deal a valuable piece of their young rotation? 

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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that Jered Weaver was very, very quietly having a Cy Young-caliber season.

The season is long and right now it's coming down to the wire for the top owners in their respective leagues.  These few players that are poised for either a huge week or a week you will want to avoid.  Pay attention, this could mean winning or not winning your league.

Start 'Em:

While lefty starter Joe Saunders came out strong through eight innings on Friday night at Angel Stadium, Brian Fuentes was not able to slam the door on a 1-0 lead with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. 

Kansas City's Mike Aviles was able to break through the shutout attempt with an RBI hit, his second hit of the ballgame, forcing the Angels to extend into extra innings where the Halos would fall short 2-1 to the Royals in Game 1 of a holiday weekend in Southern California.

At 26-27, the L.A. Angels have been a disappointment thus far. Although they haven't lived up to popular expectations, the Angels only sit 2.5 games behind the first place Oakland A's in the AL West.

A large reason for the Angels lack of production this season has been their inconsistent hitting, led by sub-par pitching. The Angel's pitching staff currently sits at 24th in the MLB with a 4.63 ERA. Their starters have produced a combined 4.56 ERA and gathered 18 of the Angles 26 wins.

The Angels pitching hasn't been awful, but they certainly haven't lived up to expectations.