The Angels are convinced their season isn't over, certain that their offseason isn't about to begin.
Of course they are.
When you put this much into getting here, overcome as much as they did to make it, you don't give in after two quick losses in the American League Championship Series. And when it's just as likely you'll get worse next year as it is you'll get better, you don't turn the page on the calendar until you have no other choice.
This isn't the Angels' last chance to win, not with owner Arte Moreno's competitiveness and willingness to spend, not with the creativity of the front office, not with manager Mike Scioscia's drive. But it may well be the last chance with this group, and it may well be that the chance this year is a lot better than it will be next year.
General manager Tony Reagins says only that "every offseason is going to be" filled with big moves and big decisions, but the Angels realize that the months to come will be different and difficult.
If the Angels have often been a match for the Yankees on the field, they can't match them in resources. You can sum up the difference quite easily: If John Lackey was the Yankees' top starting pitcher and they wanted to keep him, there would be no doubt that they would.
Instead, Lackey is the Angels ace, one of two players remaining from the 2002 championship season, and it's almost a given that he'll leave this winter for bigger free-agent bucks elsewhere. Not only that, but it would surprise no one if Chone Figgins -- the only other player left from 2002 -- finds more money elsewhere as well.
And while first-year Angel Bobby Abreu told SI.com's Jon Heyman that he'd like to stay, Abreu could also leave after rejecting the Angels' initial two-year, $16 million offer.
Abreu left the Yankees as a free agent last winter, but only because the Yanks showed so little interest in keeping him. Now the Angels wouldn't mind having him stay, but they may be forced to let him go.
One Angels person suggested that the team might make the biggest effort to retain Figgins, with Abreu next and Lackey almost certainly gone. In fact, Lackey's likely departure was one big reason the Angels made their August trade for Scott Kazmir.
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| John Lackey is almost certainly leaving the Angels this offseason. (AP) |
• Series: Yankees 2, Angels 0
Reagins seemed to be expressing hope for the future when he said "the best is yet to come" in talking about three or four of the Angels who will definitely be back. Reagins used those words about Kendry Morales, the first baseman who had a breakout 2009 season, and also about shortstop Erick Aybar and even closer Brian Fuentes.
Aybar is best known this week for his mistakes, the dropped pop-up in Game 1 against the Yankees and his failure to touch second base on what should have been a double-play ball in Game 2. But some who watched the Angels this year actually thought he was the key player in their lineup, because he was always in the middle of everything they did right.
"Erick Aybar is very talented, and in a few years, I think you'll see his name mentioned among the better shortstops in the league," Reagins said. "We saw the seasons he would have in winter ball the last few years. He just had to get comfortable here.
"I think the best is yet to come."
It's harder to make the same case for Fuentes, who is already 34 years old and in his ninth big-league season. But it's understandable that Reagins would want to make that case.
Fuentes led the majors with 48 saves in his first year with the Angels, but he wasn't exactly dependable. In September, manager Mike Scioscia sometimes let rookie Kevin Jepsen begin the ninth inning, and other times he removed Fuentes while a save was still possible.
If the Angels go on to lose the ALCS, the 0-2 pitch Fuentes threw Alex Rodriguez in the 11th inning Saturday night will remain in their memory. But Fuentes, with a $9 million contract for 2010 (and a vesting option for 2011) will be back.
Morales and Fuentes are proof of the Angels' ability to adapt to offseasons that don't go as planned, because both owe their 2009 positions in part to the Angels' failure to sign either Mark Teixeira or CC Sabathia on last winter's market. The Angels adapt as well as any team, and they tend to quickly go after what they want and then just as quickly move on if Plan A doesn't pan out.
"We're going to make every single one of [the big decisions], and make them to the best of our abilities, and then move forward," Reagins said. "And have no regrets. If you do your best and if you prepare and try to make sound decisions without emotions and be objective, then I think you have a chance to be successful.
"We'll tackle every decision that we have to make, one by one."
They've discussed them already, obviously, but the big focus has been on games, on beating the Red Sox and now on trying to beat the Yankees. That's still the focus, at least for the next two days and maybe longer.
The offseason issues will be there waiting for them.
"They're not going away," Reagins said with a chuckle.
But the Angels offseason hasn't yet begun. They're determined to put it off.
Can you blame them?
