Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Adios Hillenbrand

The Angels announced today that Shea Hillenbrand has been designated for assignment. The Angels now have 10 days to trade him or he will become a free agent.

He had recently voiced his displeasure with his role in an article in Wednesday's LA Times. (Link)

To be polite, Hillenbrand never found his groove with the Angels. He batted .254 with 3 home runs in over 200 plate appearances.

Coming off a career year, where he hit 21 home runs, Hillenbrand was signed to fill the void left by Juan Rivera's Winter Ball broken leg. The signing was never popular with Angels fans who were unaware at the time that their desire for a big bat would be filled (so far) by Casey Kotchman and Reggie Willits. The decision to sign Hillenbrand was defended in a post on May 5. (read here)

Hillenbrand continues the trend of the Angels acquiring off-season free agent busts. Jeff Weaver, Steve Finley, Edgardo Alfonso, etc.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Gary Matthews Jr.
Justin Spier
Paul Byrd go against the trend.

27 said...

Good point. I wasn't trying to bash Stoneman, it's just that it seems like one free agent per year is a total dud.