Vernon Wells

It's been a little over three months since Toronto Blue Jays GM, Alex Anthopoulos, dealt Vernon Wells and the remainder of his ridiculous $126 million contract to the Anaheim Angels. The move that shook up Toronto's baseball landscape is making the young Blue Jays GM look better by the day.

His Anaheim counterpart, Angels' GM Tony Reagins...not so much.

Every Monday I will be bringing you the Top 3 hot and cold baseball players from around MLB. The twist, I’ll also be providing a buy or sell recommendation on the cold players to help you decide if this is a guy to target in a trade offer or someone you should cut if they’re clogging a bench spot. I'll also give advice on those playing well, if you should sell high or buy the continued dominance.

For the last week, here are your Hot & Cold recommendations—

Los Angeles Angels (2010 record: 80-82)

The Angels had a rough offseason. It pales in comparison to the one suffered by the NY Mets (the Madoff effects, a lawsuit, a loan from MLB, cleaning house in the front office, etc.), but it was bad nonetheless.

 The next time Kendrys Morales takes the field in a game, his teammates and coaches aren’t likely to tell him to “break a leg.”

The L.A. Angels first baseman did just that late last May and hasn’t made a single appearance in a game since. Nearly a year removed from the injury that effectively killed his and the Angels’ season, Morales still isn’t quite ready for game time.

Every year, there seems to be some trendy prediction that everyone loves to make before the season. For example, last year, everybody (myself included) seemed to think the Mariners were looking like a playoff team. Or the year before that, when several people were convinced that the Royals had a shot to be that year’s Rays.

The Blue Jays have undergone great change the last few years and the franchise has taken on a new, fresher look for the 2011 season.

Gone are players like Vernon Wells, Lyle Overbay, Scott Downs, Kevin Gregg, and, from a season ago, Roy “Doc” Halladay. In their place are a younger, cheaper players who are hopefully the long-term solution for the Jays going forward.

Barry Zito, who has struggled in a San Francisco Giants' uniform, still has three years and $57 million left on his contract. There is a good chance that Zito will be boughtout by the Giants, who already have a deep array of starting pitchers

Since the offseason before the 1999 season, when Mike Piazza and Kevin Brown signed by far the two biggest contracts ever at that time, there have been many gigantic contracts, almost none of which worked as a whole.

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.

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.

With all the hype and hope the Blue Jays injected into their fans with their play of last year, there is one thing everyone is forgetting when looking forward to this year. The simple way of putting it: they are going to fail this year.

Generally, I'm one to stick to the team and players and project big years from all involved. However, it seems like the doom and gloom media and fans have all either had a change of heart with Anthopoulos' steady hand at the helm, or they have all finally given up.