Checking in from vacation, but without stealing the thunder of your loyal Deputies Street and Jason (so I'll leave the game recap to one of them), I was watching SportsCenter last night, and overshadowed by Roy Halladay's perfect game (funny comment: I don't know who said it - or where - but I did read that the way to distinguish baseball commentors/bloggers/writers is by their ability to correctly match "Halladay," "Holliday," "Roy," and "Matt." Genius.) was Kendry Morales' Gramatica-esque injury at home plate.
Why is this important to us? Because the LA Times' Mike DiGiovanna lists Lance as a possibility to replace Morales at 1B:
The Angels should have plenty of outside options to replace injured first baseman Kendry Morales, who suffered a lower left-leg fracture in a freak mishap while celebrating his walk-off grand slam on Saturday, and the two most attractive may be Chicago White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko and Houston Astros first baseman Lance Berkman...
...The problem for the Angels is that, with other teams knowing they will be desperate to add a middle-of-the-order bat, the Angels will have little leverage in trade negotiations and might have to wait until closer to the July 31 trade deadline, when asking prices usually come down, to make a deal.
The Angels also don't have many high-end prospects, especially in the upper levels of their farm system, so the caliber of player they trade for probably will hinge on how much they are willing to deplete their farm system for a first baseman they might only need for this season.
Que interesante! What say you, dear reader?
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
