Tony Reagins

The non-waiver trade deadline passed Sunday without the Angels making a move, largely because General Manager Tony Reagins found the asking price for the players he coveted to be too high. "We didn't match up," he said. "We had discussions that were interesting. But when you looked at what you had to give up to get what was out there, it just didn't make sense for us. "There were teams that set their sights on a certain level of prospects and didn't really waiver from it. " Although Reagins wouldn't talk about the players he was interested in, the Angels were reportedly looking for bullpen help and a power bat, preferably one that could play third base.

The Angels worked their way quickly through the unavoidable charade Friday and sent the loudest message possible to their fans. Being a late-season contender isn't enough. Sitting at home in October, watching pinstripes and Texans on TV, won't cut it. Having the ever-present great fan experience and welcoming 40,000 to every home game is nice, but not the whole goal. General Manager Tony Reagins resigned Friday. The announcement came at 2:18 p.m. PDT. The official face-the-music was handled in a hastily arranged conference call with Reagins and team President John Carpino at 3. There was no face to face.

Are the Angels pursuing Carl Crawford? General Manager Tony Reagins wouldn't say. Would they prefer upgrading their lineup with a good-fielding speedster or a slugger? Again, Reagins wouldn't say. In fact, there was very little Reagins would discuss in specific terms during baseball's annual general managers' meetings Tuesday. But he did make one thing clear: he didn't enjoy sitting home during the playoffs. "It wasn't fun," he said. "I'd rather be working at that time.

The reviews are in, and they are not kind. "One stinker of an off-season," is how one Internet columnist sized up a winter in which the Angels failed to land their top free-agent targets, left fielder Carl Crawford and third baseman Adrian Beltre. "Not only have the Angels shown they're not prepared to compete financially with the big boys," wrote another, "but they can't even compete financially with the big boys in their own division. " General Manager Tony Reagins, who said he still "likes the club" despite his inability to upgrade it offensively, is defiant in the face of such criticism.

Tony Reagins vows to approach this off-season the way the Angels like to run the bases. He will not be passive. He will not be shy. "We're going to try to be creative, aggressive, and see where things shake out," the general manager said Thursday, one day after the Angels closed a season in which they failed to make the playoffs for the second straight year. "We're not going to sit back and let things come. We're going to try to improve the club. " The needs are clear. The Angels must upgrade an offense that scored 667 runs, 188 fewer than the Texas Rangers, who won the American League West by 10 games and appear built to dominate the division for years.

As night fell in the west Tuesday, Roy Halladay remained a Toronto Blue Jay, Cliff Lee remained a Cleveland Indian, and Tony Reagins remained a general manager in pursuit of both, even though the Angels' chances of acquiring either ace seem remote. "I've had extensive conversations with several teams," Reagins said Tuesday of his search for a front-of-the-rotation starter. "If there was a match, we'd have a deal done. Right now, there hasn't been a fit."

The Angels are looking more and more like the teenager who has to sit at the kids' table for the holiday meal while teams like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are at the grown-ups' table enjoying the feast. They couldn't hang with the big boys again this winter, swinging and missing at their top free-agent target when outfielder Carl Crawford agreed to terms on a seven-year, $142-million deal with Boston on Wednesday. Since the big-splash signings of Vladimir Guerrero, Bartolo Colon and Kelvim Escobar before 2004, the Angels have become perennial bridesmaids, coming up short in negotiations for Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia, John Lackey, Chone Figgins and Paul Konerko and in trade talks for Roy Halladay and Miguel Cabrera.

Tony Reagins emerged from two days of organizational meetings with an assessment of the Angels that might surprise followers of the team. "I don't know that the offense has been the biggest shortcoming of the club," the general manager said before Wednesday night's 2-1, 12-inning loss to the Texas Rangers. "There have been several areas we haven't performed well in. "The offense sticks out because of the numbers, but the bigger aspect of the game we have to get better in is all-around baseball, whether it's fundamentals, defense, pitching or getting into the type of game we do well.

Tony Reagins did not check out of the Indianapolis Marriott on Thursday with a front-of-the-rotation starter such as John Lackey or Roy Halladay. He did not leave with a proven bat that could bolster his offense. In fact, the winter meetings this week were a net loss for the Angels general manager, who left town minus his leadoff batter and third baseman, Chone Figgins, who signed a four-year, $36-million deal with the Seattle Mariners. But the winter meetings were not a total loss for Reagins, who is confident his work here will bear fruit this month.

The Angels made lucrative contract offers to John Lackey and Chone Figgins last winter and had substantive talks with the agents for Vladimir Guerrero and Darren Oliver , but they were unable to retain any of the four free agents. The common thread in negotiations: The Angels lost each player because they were unwilling to add an extra year to their offers, in the form of guaranteed years for Lackey and Figgins and option years for Guerrero and Oliver. Lackey signed a five-year, $82.5-million deal with Boston; the Angels offered four years, $60 million.