Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

On July 27, 1994, a 22-year-old outfielder named Garret Anderson made his MLB debut with the California Angels. Now, 17 years and 2,228 games later, he is calling it a career.

Angels fans will also remember Anderson as the owner of the franchise record books. In his fifteen years with the Halos, he set club records in almost every major offensive stat, including hits (2,368), RBI (1,292), runs (1,024) and total bases (3,743).

In his 15 seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, Garret Anderson was the unassuming leader of a team that won its first-ever World Series title during his tenure.

Now Anderson has extinguished the flame on his great baseball career.

Albert Pujols has dominated much of the baseball news in St. Louis this offseason, but he may not hold the key to the Cardinals' success in 2011

One of baseball's brightest and most underrated pitching stars, Adam Wainwright, will undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery this spring, leaving a gaping hole in St. Louis' rotation.

Wainwright, the Cardinals' co-ace, has the game's lowest ERA over the last two years and finished second and third in Cy Young voting during that time.

Legendary New York Yankees Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle was without a doubt one of the best center fielders that ever played the game of baseball. His five-tool skills, combining hitting for average, hitting for power, base running skills and speed, throwing ability and fielding abilities were matched only by Willie Mays and Ken Griffey Jr.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim made a significant move in the offseason by signing to what should be considered to be an overly inflated contract and an incredibly bone-headed move.

What makes this move bone-headed is the simple fact that the Angels not only gave up two wonderful players in Juan Rivera and Mike Napoli, but also the fact that the Halos are hoping Vernon Wells will duplicate his 2010 performance, which isn’t likely.

Angels right-hander Matt Palmer feels like a new man after undergoing successful knee surgery last October. 

Palmer was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 2002, and started his career by having a 1.83 ERA while with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. He spent three years in Double-A before being promoted to Triple-A Fresno in 2006. 

Palmer was called up by the Giants in August 2008, and after making three starts was sent back down to Triple-A. 

When Vernon Wells was told by Los Angeles Angels general manager Tony Reagins and manager Mike Scioscia that he would be switching positions in Anaheim, Wells barely batted an eye. He was just happy to be playing on a contender again.

Gene Autry, the silver screen cowboy legend and the gentleman responsible for bringing the Angels franchise to life, adored his team.

In the 1950s, Autry was a minority owner of a minor league baseball team called the Hollywood Stars. In 1960, when Major League Baseball expressed its desire to add an expansion team to the Los Angeles area, Gene sought to acquire radio broadcast rights to the team’s games.

Baseball executives were so impressed by this that they encouraged Autry to become the owner of the franchise rather than a broadcast partner.

It is certainly hard to argue against the success of Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia as he enters his 12th season at the helm, the longest tenure of any manager in the American League and second longest in the majors behind Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals.

He has a career 3.66 ERA and a sparkling 1.19 WHIP to go with it.

Not yet 31 years old and a top 10 pitcher in both leagues at one point or another, Dan Haren has already proven his mettle. A typical year for Haren is a 5-plus WAR and 2011 should be no different, even with a fluky 2010 thrown into the mix. 

Haren had a 4.60 ERA in the launching pad that is the D-Backs yard, he allowed 23 jacks in less than 150 NL innings (before his trade and subsequent sub-3 ERA with LAA).