All the cool kids are leaving

Darren Oliver is cool. I’ve thought that ever since he put on an Angels uniform. His stroll from the bullpen to the mound, late in a game is a picture of absolute coolness. You would never guess he’s heading into a fire to tame the flames. Instead, he looks like he’s just taking a stroll to pick up the paper off the drive way.

He pitches with a quiet confidence and stays cool under pressure. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear he doesn’t even sweat. However, I do know better because this past spring training when Cheryl and I asked him to stop and pose for a picture, he was worried that he was a little too sweaty. We convinced him he was fine and he obliged us for photo.

Like I said; Oliver is just plain cool. What isn’t cool is the news coming out of ESPN via Jerry Crasnick, who claims Oliver is close to signing a deal with the Texas Rangers.

Excuse me while I scream because I’m clearly not as cool as Oliver.

The nightmare that is the Angels’ off season continues. It’s bad enough the Angels are losing Oliver, but to compound the issue, they’re losing him to a team within their own division. To make matters even more “peachy” – the Angels will not receive any compensation for Oliver since they did not offer him arbitration.

The Angels decided that they didn’t want to pay more for Oliver in 2010 than they paid for him in 2009 (which would have been a certainty had they offered and he in turn accepted arbitration.

There were rumors that Oliver might retire after last season. Word was that if he didn’t retire, he’d want to come back to Anaheim. It sounded good and I was sucked in.

Clearly, things aren’t as they seem. I don’t know, but it seems to me like Anaheim is not the premiere destination many people might have thought it was; unless, you’re heading to Disneyland for a family vacation. Then again, maybe that’s not even a sure thing.

Before you pack up the kids and head on over to the Magic Kingdom, you might want to make sure Mickey hasn’t left town. At the rate in which people are leaving town, anything is possible. Come to think of it, I think I might have actually seen Donald Duck heading south for the winter.

Maybe the Angels took Oliver for granted. Maybe they’re… well… like I said in an earlier post… too complacent.

There certainly wasn’t any news or reports that I’m aware of announcing any contract negotiations or even news of interest from either side.

This is not exactly what I wanted for Christmas. Clearly somebody messed up. I want to know which Angel fan out there was bad this year? I’m blaming you; whoever you are because you ended up on Santa’s poopy list and the rest of us are being made to suffer.

Good, left handed relievers don’t grow on trees. Apparently, they prefer the flat land that is Texas. Maybe Oliver is a bass fisherman. The reservoirs aren’t nearly as crowded there and they’re lakes are bigger and more abundant. Whatever the reasons are don’t really matter. All I know is the hot stove just got a little colder.