The Angels have lost 31-year old righty starting pitcher Joel Pineiro for the next 6-8 weeks due to a left oblique strain. This is a huge blow to the Angels as they recently acquired Dan Haren to make the starting rotation one of the best in baseball from top to bottom. Pineiro has started 20 games for the Angels this year and he is 10-7 with a 4.18 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. The best case scenario has Pineiro coming back for the last couple of weeks in 2010.

The Angels have acquired 29-year old righty starting pitcher Dan Haren from the D-Backs for 29-year old lefty startiner pitcher Joe Saunders, 21-year old lefty starter Patrick Corbin, 25-year old righty reliever Rafael Rodriguez and a player to be named later. Haren gives the Angels another quality workhorse for the top of the rotation. He has pitched in 21 games (all starts) for the D-Backs this year and he is 7-8 with a 4.60 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. He’s much better than he has pitched this season which is evidenced in his career stats. Haren has pitched in 217 games (208 starts) in his 8 years in the majors and he is 86-70 with a 3.71 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. Joe Saunders has been a solid pitcher for the Angels but he has not been to good this year. He has started 20 games for the Angels this year and he is 6-10 with a 4.62 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. In his six years with the Angels, Saunders has pitched in 115 games (all starts) in which he was 54-32 with a 4.29 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. Patrick Corbin was the Angels’ #12 prospect heading into this season according to Baseball America. He has pitched in 20 games (all starts) in A-ball this year for the Angels and he is 13-3 with a 3.87 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. Corbin has now pitched in 33 games (32 starts) in his two years in the minors for the Angels and he was 17-5 with a 4.20 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. Rafael Rodriguez started this season as the Angels’ #22 prospect according to Baseball America. Rodriguez pitched in 37 games in AAA-ball for the Angels this year and he was 5-3 with 10 saves, a 3.04 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. He also pitched in 1 game in relief for the Angels this year and he was 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. Rodriguez pitched in 19 games (0 starts) in his two years for the Angels and he was 0-1 with a 5.51 ERA and a 1.81 WHIP. The player to be named later is expected to be one of the Angels’ top prospects. The Angels certainly paid a big price for Dan Haren but he’s a clear upgrade on Saunders and the Rangers are a pretty damn good baseball team so this was a deal the Angels had to make.

UPDATE: (7/26/2010) - The Angels will reportedly will send 19-year old lefty starting pitcher Tyler Skaggs to the D-Backs to complete this deal as the player to be named later. Skaggs was the Angels’ #8 rated prospect coming into this season according to Baseball America. Skaggs pitched in 24 games (16 starts) in his two years in Rookie+A-ball for the Angels and he was 8-4 with a 3.41 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP.

28-year old righty swinging C/1B Mike Napoli is having a solid year for the Angels. He started out the season behind the plate but he moved to 1B when Jeff Mathis came off the D.L. and starting 1B Kendry Morales went down for the year with a broken ankle. Napoli has played in 87 games for the Angels this year and he is 74 of 284 (.261 avg, .837 OPS) with 40 runs scored, 18 homers and 44 RBIs. He’s still a free swinger though as he has 86 whiffs this year. Still, that’s nitpicking and that Angels won’t care how many times he strikes out as long as he’s productive. Napoli has career highs of 60 runs scored, 20 homers and 56 RBIs in his major league career and I look for him to set new marks in all three of those categories as long as he can stay healthy.

The Angels have acquired 27-year old switch hitting 3B Alberto Callaspo from the Royals for 22-year old righty starting pitcher Sean O’Sullivan and 21-year old lefty starting pitcher Will Smith. Callaspo played in 88 games for the Royals this season and he was 96 of 349 (.275 avg, .718 OPS) with 40 runs scored, 8 homers, 43 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He has now played in 396 games in his five years in the majors and he is 375 of 1,324 (.283 avg, .738 OPS) with 152 runs scored, 19 homers, 145 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. Callaspo will without a doubt be the starting 3B for the Angels because they paid a hefty price for him. This move will allow Maicer Izturis to play all over the field which is a role he’s pretty good at. Sean O’Sullivan pitched in 5 games (1 start) for the Angels this year and he was 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP. He pitched in 17 games (11 starts) in his two years with the Angels and he was 5-2 with a 5.15 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. Will Smith came into this season as the Angels #15 prospect according to Baseball America. Smith has pitched in 19 games (all starts) in A+AA+AAA-ball this year and he was 5-8 with a 5.53 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP. Smith pitched in 55 games (52 starts) in three years in the minors for the Angels and he was 23-15 with a 4.24 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. The price was kind of high to land Callaspo but he will fill the Black Hole that has been 3B for the Angels this year.

The Angels will likely have to beat out the Rangers if they want to make the playoffs. That means it’s time to ante’ up or get out of the game. With that in mind I would be calling the Cubs and offering them 1B Mark Trumbo, OF Chris Pettit and righty relievers Kevin Jepsen and Francisco Rodriguez for 1B Derek Lee and 2B/3B Jeff Baker. I would then stick Lee and Baker (at 3B) right into the starting lineup. I would then flip catcher Bobby Wilson to the Pirates for lefty reliever Javier Lopez to give them a situational lefty. Getting Lee, Baker and Lopez would make the Angels a much better team for the rest of the season but the price would be high.