Angels Sign Speier, Matthews

Thanks to the Angels, two sons of former major league players now have fatter wallets. Right-handed reliever Justin Speier and outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. both have agreed to terms with the team that plays its home games in Anaheim.

Justin Speier

Speier, who had spent each of the past three seasons pitching for the Blue Jays, signed a 4-year, $18 million deal. Compared to the Danys Baez signing, this isn’t terrible, but there are more efficient and effective ways to build a bullpen. The key is identifying pitchers who possess talent but who haven’t yet “popped” (to borrow a term from the the investing world).

The trouble with Speier is that he’s already popped. He’s not likely to improve, and there’s a strong possibility that his performance will decline over the duration of this contract, at the end of which he’ll be 36 years old.

Gary Matthews Jr.

The Angels inked Matthews to a 5-year, $50 million deal. I’ve been following Matthews since his days as a prospect in the San Diego organization, and I’m thrilled to see him cash in on a fine 2006 season with the Rangers.

That said, how do you throw $10 million a season at a 32-year-old who was on the waiver wire as recently as 2003? Matthews is a decent defender in center field and can play on either corner as well.

Although he enjoyed a career year in one of the most favorable hitting environments in all of baseball, Matthews generally is a league-average hitter who will be hard pressed to come anywhere close to repeating his 2006 success. It could happen — hey, the sun might not rise tomorrow — but the guess here is that the Angels will be desparate to unload Matthews by the 2009 All-Star break, if not sooner.