With pitchers and catchers due to report to Spring Training this week, the race to find the next ace for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim is about to heat up.
Typically a strength in Anaheim, it was the Angels' pitching staff that set an ominous tone at the start of the 2009 season.
John Lackey injured his shoulder just weeks before Opening Day. Ervin Santana was sidelined after straining his forearm early on in Spring Training. Kelvim Escobar, in his haste to fill the Angels' rapidly depleting staff, suffered further setbacks in his recovery from shoulder surgery.
And of course, barely three games into the year, rookie stud Nick Adenhart was killed in a tragic drunk driving incident.
Questions hung heavy alongside grief around the mound at the Big A.
This year, the grief has subsided but questions still remain.
Lackey returned last season to anchor an Angels staff that essentially lacked a fifth starter for much of the year. He was so successful, in fact, the Boston Red Sox rewarded him with a brand new five-year deal this offseason.
With their ace on his way to Fenway, the Angels were involved in numerous trade and free agent rumors throughout the Winter Meetings and beyond.
But despite making a very public push, Angels GM Tony Reagins failed to acquire either Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee, the two biggest names on the trade block. It wasn't until mid-January that he was finally able to strike a deal with what looks to be the next best option.
Joel Pineiro, a key part of the St. Louis Cardinals rotation last year and a veteran of the AL West after spending several seasons with the Seattle Mariners, will return to the American League to round out the Angels' starting staff.
Now, with a veteran hurler thrown into a decidedly youthful mix headed up by Jered Weaver, the Angels look to sport one of the strongest starting rotations top to bottom in all of baseball.
Take a look at how the how the Angels' starting pitchers will shake out in 2010.
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