Angels acquire Tommy Hanson

[Zaunnie]

@JonHeymanCBS
Angels trade for tommy hanson

[iamaj]

Did not see that coming so quickly. Wonder what the return was.

[Zaunnie]

Did not see that coming so quickly. Wonder what the return was.

Mike Trout or bust

[flea]

A good young reliever in Jordan Walden. Would have thought the haul would have been better, but I guess the rest of the league is just as wary of Hanson's shoulder problems, velocity decline, and mechanics as we were.

[iamaj]

In a perfect world...

Walden is the return. The Braves' pen will be striking out a ton of batters this season.

[Wrench]

Woah that was fast. Jordan Walden is a nice young righty.

[Bravo95]

I like it. We all know Hanson has been on the decline since his rookie year and those arm issues were dangerous for a guy who was clearly in the mood to get paid via Boras. (Remember him whining about not making the Super 2 cut?). The rest of the league probably knew what was up with him and wouldn't bite when Wren called. Walden is a good arm and slots in as the new set-up man, or behind Gearrin as the 2nd RH guy. If our offense didn't keep bailing Tommy out in his mediocre starts, he was going to end up getting removed from the rotation like Jurrjens.

[iamaj]

I think Wren is freeing up money for another move. Nothing against Walden, but I only thought Hanson would get traded for a position player, prospect or salary relief. Looks like salary relief.

[flea]

With the bullpen problems the Angels had I'm frankly sort of surprised they traded such a valuable reliever. I guess they'd rather spend FA money on relievers than starters.

[iamaj]

Even though Walden is a righty, I wonder if this is the end of EOF's time in Atlanta.

[chipurmunki]

wow, last thing i expected when i signed in this morning. this move is quite awesome, we're shoring up our pitching staff by getting rid of a huge question mark and acquiring a very nice rhp reliver. i think our staff just got better, and the salary stuff is a bonus. i think he would have made that deal regardless of if he's priming for another big FA acquisition or not. shaping up to be a very nice offseason!!!

[Atl Bill]

I dont see who we would go after, unless we plan on signing greinke and packing our farm to trade for stantion or justin upton.

[Bravo95]

Damn, how sick is our bullpen though?

Kimbrel
EOF
Gearrin
Venters (assuming he gets back to being unhittable in 2013)
Avilan The Great
Walden

The league's best pen gets even better.

[flea]

It certainly looks like our pen is going to be up there with the best again. If anything it's great to have depth. We did need another hard thrower.

[Bravo95]

Even though Walden is a righty, I wonder if this is the end of EOF's time in Atlanta.

Time will tell, but if that's the case, Avilan showed he could step right in as our lefty setup man.

It certainly looks like our pen is going to be up there with the best again. If anything it's great to have depth. We did need another hard thrower.

Also true.