ESPN

The Texas Rangers were in need of a No. 1 starter after the Angels snatched C.J. Wilson from the top of their rotation. Wednesday they got their man, agreeing to a six-year, $60 million deal with the most dominant pitcher in Japan, Yu Darvish.

What does it say about the way the Rangers evaluated Wilson? They were unwilling to match the Angels' offer of $77.5 million, so they spent more than $111 million on his replacement?

Maybe it says more about the way they valued Darvish. The Rangers have scouted the Pacific Rim as earnestly as any team in the major leagues, with the guy who figures to start Opening Day for them, Colby Lewis, their most high-profile find until this Darvish deal. They had a scout at nearly all of Darvish's 2011 starts, according to ESPN Dallas' Richard Durrett.

Darvish, 25, struck out 276 batters last year with a league-best 1.44 ERA. He throws seven pitches and has pinpoint command, according to scouting reports.

"We saw a guy that we felt was built to pitch innings and has a classic pitcher's build," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels told reporters. "He has a real commitment to his conditioning and work ethic. We think he can pitch innings at a high caliber for a large amount of time."

The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Darvish pitched in the 2009 World Baseball Classic and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In his second year, he was 12-5 with a 2.89 ERA and 115 strikeouts. He's gone 93-38 with a 1.99 ERA in his career since then.

Pitching was a much bigger part of Texas' success last year than most people realize, with the Rangers' starters posting a combined 3.65 ERA, just a few ticks behind the Angels' staff, and they had to work in a much more hitter-friendly home ballpark. If Darvish transitions as well as Daisuke Matsuzaka did, he could make things surprisingly close again between the AL West rivals. Injuries and heavy workloads caught up with Matsuzaka, but according to Fangraphs.com's Wins Above Replacement stats, Matsuzaka lived up to his salary in the first two years of his six-year deal.

So what will the Angels do to respond? Probably nothing, according to general manager Jerry Dipoto as recently as Wednesday, which is reasonable considering owner Arte Moreno has already spent more than $330 million this winter. They'll take their chances behind a beefed-up offense led by Albert Pujols and a rotation featuring Wilson, Jered Weaver and Dan Haren at the top. Now they just have to hope Texas doesn't have the money to sign free-agent slugger Prince Fielder.

The Angels landed their blows early in this off-season fight. Now, they're in a defensive position, taking body shots and hoping to win on points in the end.

Timing is so crucial in sports. Ask any kicker.

As the Angels wrap up their winter business heading into spring training next month, they'll be contemplating whether to spend on another seasoned bullpen arm to go with LaTroy Hawkins and the remnants of the Angels' 2011 bullpen. One reason they're still looking into it is how Jordan Walden's rookie season ended.

Walden was on the fringes of Rookie of the Year talk and cruising toward an impressive debut season when things fell apart. In Walden's final three appearances, he allowed five of the 20 earned runs for his season, his ERA shooting from an impressive 2.34 to a marginal (for a closer) 2.98.

The Angels were in the thick of the wild-card race (thanks, mostly, to Boston's collapse) before Walden fielded an Adam Rosales grounder and sailed it into center field on Sept. 25, part of a brutal meltdown against Oakland that effectively stubbed out the Angels' season.

Walden, one of the hardest throwers in baseball, said he has managed to put that rough finish behind him.

"I took it as a good season," he said Thursday. "I've tried to forget all the bad times and just kind of build on it, looking forward to this new year."

Walden said he hasn't spoken with anyone in the Angels about his role for 2012, but unless the team signs an expensive closer like Ryan Madson or Francisco Cordero in the coming days, it looks like the job will be his to lose. Hawkins is 39 and has spent most of his career as a setup man. Lefty Scott Downs will be 36 by opening day and has just 17 saves in 10 major-league seasons.

Walden made the AL All-Star team and finished seventh in ROY balloting last season.

"Oh yeah, that's what I want to do, but I'm just happy to be part of the team and help us win," Walden said.

Walden, 24, said he changed his off-season routine and hired a personal trainer to help him deal with the rigors of a major-league season. He has already begun his long-tossing regimen. Walden appeared in 62 games last year, two seasons after he transitioned from starting to relieving.

"You learn a lot about how long a season is, what's expected of you and how your body's got to be in shape," he said.

Dan Szymborski of ESPN's Baseball Think Factory breaks down the remaining needs of every team in the majors in this post. Here's what he says about the Angels, who he ranks 30th out of 30 in terms of pressing needs:

They got their holiday shopping done early, giving out $334.5 million to free agents this winter. That's more than the next three biggest spenders (Miami, Philadelphia, L.A. Dodgers) combined at $326 million. The AL West should be a whole lot more fun, but the Angels will probably have a quiet January and February.



Outside of stealing a third baseman like Taylor Green from the Brewers, the Angels will give Mark Trumbo every opportunity to try to handle the hot corner.

I agree that the Angels don't have much more business left to conduct, but I still think they'd like to add an experienced closer and give Jordan Walden the opportunity of learning while he pitches the eighth inning for a while. Also, I'm less optimistic about Trumbo being able to play third base regularly based on conversations with him in the past. Plus, they have spare parts they'll likely trade away, including Bobby Abreu and one of the utility infielders (Maicer Izturis or Alberto Callaspo), though it might make more sense to wait until spring training, when other teams' needs tend to become more acute because of injuries.

With the Angels and Rangers suddenly neck-and-neck, at least on paper, the future of the AL West could be decided by the next moves Texas makes.

The Angels are still on the lookout for bullpen help, but the bulk of their off-season activity was wrapped up before Christmas. As ESPNDallas colleague Richard Durrett reports here, it appears the Rangers are inching closer to tipping the balance in their favor once again. Japanese pitching sensation Yu Darvish is in Arlington visiting the Rangers' facilities, which might suggest he's closer to signing a contract.

Texas posted the highest bid with Darvish's Japanese team to secure exclusive negotiating rights, but must get a deal in place by Jan. 18.

If Darvish signs and transitions to U.S. baseball well, the Rangers' rotation won't be much worse than the Angels and they figure to score more runs and play comparable, if not better, defense. Plus, there are still six weeks left to conduct off-season business before spring training.

It's funny. As much as last season felt like a return to contention for the Angels, they still finished 10 games behind the Texas Rangers, who advanced to the World Series.

Same as the year before.

But owner Arte Moreno apparently had seen enough of that, because -- flush with money from a new TV deal -- he splurged, signing the best free agent hitter, Albert Pujols, and the best free-agent pitcher, C.J. Wilson. And that guarantees him?

Well, frankly, nothing. On paper, the Angels now look like one of the top few teams in the American League, but Texas returns virtually intact (minus Wilson) and just won the right to bargain with Japanese sensation Yu Darvish over the next month. Texas spent $51.5 million just to get to the bargaining table with Darvish's people, which tells you what they think about Wilson (who signed for $77.5 million) and what they think about Darvish (who had a 1.44 ERA and 276 strikeouts for the Ham Fighters last year).

For a player-by-player "tale of the tape" between the two teams, check out David Schoendfield's breakdown of what he calls "maybe baseball's best rivalry," here.

Oh, and by the way, one of the premier sluggers of this era, Prince Fielder, is still out there and indications are the Rangers will be major players for his services.

"We believe we have the best team," Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler told Texas reporters shortly after the Angels' winter shopping spree.

Until the Angels unseat Texas, Kinsler is probably right. The Rangers don't have as many proven commodities in their rotation, but if Derek Holland continues to improve and if Neftali Feliz does as well moving from the bullpen to the rotation as Alexi Ogando did, they have the makings of a formidable staff.

Josh Hamilton may not be quite as good as Pujols, but he's a frightening slugger when healthy and the rest of Texas' lineup is deeper and more powerful than the Angels'. The bullpens are comparable.

What we have are the makings of a Yankees-Red Sox-style spending war shifted thousands of miles west, with one team mirroring another team's off-season moves. It's probably the last thing small-market owners want to see, but it's made the AL West a more exciting place and, in a few months, we get to see all that firepower go at it.

Get the Houston Astros jokes out of your system, Angels fans.

If you haven't heard by now, the Astros are joining the AL West. Is this a good thing or a bad thing for the Angels? Depends on your time horizon.

For a year or two, the Angels can probably count on a few more wins per year against a team that lost 106 games last season. Coupled with the extra wild-card berth, that might means the Angels have a better shot at the playoffs in 2013 and 2014. Maybe even 2015.

Beyond that, things get dicey.

I was talking recently to a prominent agent, who brought up -- unprompted -- what a bad thing this is going to be for the Angels. Houston is a major market, the No. 6 metropolitan area in the United States. The Astros figure to eventually sign a mega-dollar TV deal. They also have a new owner and those guys tend to want to spend lavishly when they first get their new toy.

We've already seen the rise of the Texas Rangers, under new ownership and a good management team, led by Nolan Ryan. The Astros, playing in the same division, figure to compete like crazy to out-do, or stay with, their in-state rivals.

The state of Texas is already a major headache for the Angels. Before long, they might be in for double the pain.