Winter meetings have officially come and gone and unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot of action. The big winner with out a doubt is the motor city kitties. Out of nowhere they came in and pulled off a deal for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis that surprised everyone. Other then that, the only real significant move was the Los Angeles Dodgers over paying for the services of center fielder Andruw Jones.

Andruw is a good player, but lets face it, he's not as good as advertised. He's winning gold gloves off of name recognition and has been deemed "uncoachable" by a organization that is renowned for its coaching abilities. Every year he comes into camp a little heftier and a little cockier. His batting average is on a steady decline and that's no good when your best year is hitting .303 and you own a .261 career average. One would have to assume that even though he is still relatively young, much like Johnny Damon, his years of wall slamming and full extension dives are finally catching up with him. Unlike Damon, Andruw will not be able to be used as a DH to alleviate some of that wear and tear of a long season.

To me the big story should be the move that didn't happen. And no, I'm not talking about Johan Santana. It's the other team with Los Angeles in its name that leaves me scratching my head. This is a team that always has solid starting pitching and a fantastic bullpen, but never has enough thump to get back to the World Series.

I love the brand of baseball they play, and think that Mike Scioscia is the best manger in the game. He's the most aggressive manager out there, and he's not afraid to put the pressure on his opponent all the time. It's a style that works well given the personnel he has but it can only carry them so far.

The AL West should be the Angels division to loose over the next 2 or 3 years. They have enough starting pitching to get the job done. Jon Lackey and Kelvim Escobar are great and often overlooked anchors at the top of the rotation. Add the services of Jon Garland a former 18 game winner who has proved he can eat up 200 innings of your season, mix in a little Jarod Weaver, add a pinch of an emerging Joe Saunders, and you've got a recipe for success.

The problem they have when they get to the playoffs is the lack of real power threats. Once you get passed Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson, if any one hits one out of the park it comes as a surprise. Torii Hunter is a nice player, but he doesn't really scare enough pitchers to stop them from pitching around Vlad. And it's not as if there is a whole lot of power in front of them. Now factor in this year they will be without the services of Orlando Cabrera.

This is a team that last year hit a total of 129 homers narrowly beating out the Twins and the Royals, and tying the Nationals for 28th in the Majors. Once they get into the playoffs, they don't match up real well with the lineups that the Indians, Yankees, Red Sox and the Tigers will put out on the field.

They had all the pieces to satisfy the Marlins needs to bring Miguel Cabrera aboard. For the better part of 3 weeks they were perceived to be the favorites to land him, but were unwilling to part with prospects to acquire the best available young bat in the game. Cabrera is certainly young enough that after you trade a few prospects, you could shift gears and build your franchise around him.

But it's to late now. The Tigers have completed the deal and I don't think they'll be willing to trade him anytime soon. GM Dave Dombrowski did the right thing. He wasn't afraid to part with his prospects in order to obtain a proven player who looks to be Cooperstown bound. Now the entire American League is faced with the unfortunate task of dealing with it.

To the Angles front office I say this. I don't know what your next move is. But I have a good idea what it should have been.