According to Mike DiGiovanni of the L.A. Times, the Angels front office plans to contact John Lackey’s agent on a possible long-term extension before the start of the regular season. He is open to re-signing with the Angels, but also stated that free agency is intruiging.

John Lackey should be expecting a contract extension soon.

“There are a lot of guys who worked hard for us to have that right,” said Lackey, who has a 91-63 career record and 3.81 ERA in 6 1/2 big-league seasons. “A lot of guys would like to check it out at least once.”

Personally, I don’t think the Angels can afford to let Lackey sign with another team during the offseason. I’m expecting the Angels to confront Lackey on a deal somewhere between 4-5 years and around $10-$12 MM per (5 yrs, $60 MM) season.

I’m no fantasy baseball expert, but, let’s take a look at what I project for the 2009 Los Angeles Angels for you fantasy junkies.

Let’s start with the starting pitching. One of the most underrated pitchers in the game is SP John Lackey. He doesn’t get much recognition anywhere. He led the league in ERA in 2007, and pitched 224 innings that year. He’s averaging over 7 strikeouts per 9 innings in his career. Because he only started 24 games last year, he may be lower in some draft projections. Look for him, he’ll be a sleeper.

Ervin Santana, who spent time in the minor leagues during the 2007 season, had an All-Star 2008. The guy has so much upside. His blazing fastball and tight slider along with 214 k’s over 219 innings had him finishing with a 16-7 record. In 2006, his .241 BAA was second best in the AL to, yes, you guessed it, Johan Santana.

So, here’s what I think the pitchers statistics will look like for 2009.

John Lackey: 18 W – 7 L, 3.15 ERA, 200+ IP, 200+ K’s

Ervin Santana: 17 W – 8 L, 3.30 ERA, 200+ IP, 220+ K’s

Joe Saunders: 15 W – 10 L, 3.75 ERA, 180+ IP, 125+ K’s

Jered Weaver: 15 W – 11 L, 4.00+ ERA, 180+ IP, 200+ K’s

Dustin Moseley/Nick Adenhardt (combined): 13 W – 10 L, 4.50 ERA, 125+ IP, 100+ K’s

Vlad is looking healthier than ever as he enters the 2009 season.

As for hitters…..

3B Chone Figgins - .280 AVG, 5 HR, 50 RBI, 100+ R, 50+ SB

DH/OF Bobby Abreu – .300 AVG, 20 HR, 100 RBI, 100 R, 20 SB

DH/OF Vladimir Guerrero – .300 AVG, 25-30 HR, 125 RBI, 80 R, 5 SB

CF Torii Hunter – .275 AVG, 25 HR, 80 RBI, 90 R, 20 SB

DH/OF Juan Rivera – .280 AVG, 20 HR, 80 RBI, 70 R, 10 SB

1B Kendry Morales – .275 AVG, 15 HR, 70 RBI, 70 R, 10 SB

C Mike Napoli – .255 AVG, 35 HR, 80 RBI, 60 R, 15 SB

2B Howie Kendrick – .325 AVG, 10 HR, 60 RBI, 70 R, 25 SB

SS Erick Aybar – .270 AVG, 10 HR, 50 RBI, 60 R, 30 SB

To some, these may be biased. But, as a true Angels fan, I if anyone, know what these players are capable of. And it’s not too far fetched to see these guys achieve these numbers.

Hi all. I’m a new author here, and I’ll be covering mainly Angels baseball. Let me introduce myself first. My name is Anthony, I live in the beautiful Southern California, and I am absolutely obsessed with baseball. Specifically, Angels baseball. I want to thank Jeffrey for giving me the opportunity to post Angels news, rumors, and information on his wonderful website. Now, let’s talk Angels baseball.

Who’s new to an Angels uniform?

After letting record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez walk away and sign a lucrative contract with the New York Mets, Los Angeles thought they could use players on the inside to fill the void. However, after hearing former Colorado Rockies lefty Brian Fuentes express his interest in returning home to Southern California, the Angels looked in to it. The two sides agreed on a two-year, $17.5 MM deal. Fuentes isn’t looking to perform like K-Rod did, he’s looking to just do his job, close games. I’m looking at Brian Fuentes having a good year. Something like 35 – 40 saves, with an ERA from the 2.00 – 2.75 range.

Another new player, that came to a surprise to some of us, was outfielder Bobby Abreu. Just after you thought the Angels had enough Major League outfielders, 5 at the time, they added another. Abreu is projected to start in left field.

Abreu will be hitting 2nd, in front of Vlad in the lineup.

However, after resigning Juan Rivera to a 3-year, $12.75 MM deal, someone is going to have to start at DH. 8-Time Gold Glove center fielder Torii Hunter, for one, surely won’t get many starts at DH. Vladimir Guerrero has openly stated that he has no desire to take that role either.

So with the rotation of Abreu, Guerrero, Hunter, and Rivera, this leaves out OF Gary Matthews Jr. Matthews may miss the start of the season due to offseason knee surgery, and he struggled through knee trouble all year en route to a season that saw him hit .242 with just eight homers and eight steals despite appearing in 127 games. We can give him a little bit of a mulligan for that, but at 34 and coming off of knee surgery, we can’t expect a big bounce in his numbers. The signing of  Abreu renders him potentially just a fifth outfielder, so playing time could be really hard to come by, lessening his chance of a rebound.

Matthews, highly overpaid, is a possible trade candidate come July. The Angels have absolutely no use for him, and his no-trade clause ran up at the end of last season.

Kelvim Escobar’s phenominal spring training came to a halt on Monday, when the righty began to feel tightness in his left calf during morning stretches. The veteran right-hander shouldered past two significant hurdles on Friday and Saturday, throwing comfortably from a mound and waking without pain the following morning. “I was worried about how I was going to feel today,” Escobar told MLB.com on Saturday afternoon, “and I felt great. I had good range of motion and no problems at all when I went out to do my long toss today. That was big, very important. You usually find out the next day where you are, and I’m really excited.

More Angels news to come soon. I hope you enjoyed my first post as an author of Major League Blogging. Have a great evening everyone.