hard to believe that was a good deal for the Angels.... I'd rather just pay him not to play I think...I mean they're going to pay him now to play against them?
The only deal worse than the deal out the door was the deal that brought him in the door.
The Players Association wouldn't let the Angels keep him in the minors all season and would file a grievance if they used a spot on the 25 man roster and sat him for three years (not to mention the clubhouse distraction). There was never any chemistry between Josh and the Angels management, and it's been a problem from day one that kept getting progressively worse. The final straw was when he waited until February to have his shoulder surgery, to be honest. The drug relapse the same weekend as his surgery was just icing on the cake that gave the Angels an out.
They had a deal to send him to the Diamondbacks but Hamilton vetoed it - he wanted to be back in Texas to be near his kids and handle his divorce - which also came out of that surgery/Coke filled weekend. The Angels had two options: Eat all of the salary and release him or get $13m back from Texas and move him on. If they kept him, they'd have to play him.