Josh Hamilton Agrees To Contract With Angels

Finally, after much debate and speculation, the biggest prize of the 2012 Major League Baseball off-season has found a home. According to sources, Josh Hamilton and the Anaheim Angels have agreed to a 5 year deal worth $125 million.

For the past few months, thee has been much debate over the value of Josh Hamilton, given his talent, his injury history, and his past record of drug addiction. The 2010 MVP hit 43 home runs and drove in 128 last season, but has played under 140 games in three of the last five seasons, missing nearly half of the year in 2009. In addition to that, many clubs had expressed hesitation in investing such a larger amount of money into a player whose career was heavily set back due to drug addiction, and who has been involved in a couple minor relapses since getting back on track. Reports last week that the Seattle Mariners were serious contenders with a 3 year offer further fueled speculation that the 31 year old offensive juggernaut would not get the long term deal that he was hoping for.

The signing adds a big time bat into the LAA line-up, and also helps the Angels compete for fans with the cross-town Dodgers, who have been the biggest spenders of the off-season so far. Between this move, and last year’s addition of Albert Pujols, the Angels have invested a shocking $365 million into two players.