Is anyone else a little surprised at the news that the Angels traded slugger Kendrys Morales for Mariners lefthander Jason Vargas?

The latest from the Hot Stove is that the Braves have traded righthanded starter Tommy Hanson to the Angels in return for righthanded reliever Jordan Walden. Why would the Braves trade a 26-year-old starter coming off a career-high 13 victories for a middle reliever?

As much as I prefer to see the Mets lock up R.A. Dickey for the foreseeable future as soon as possible, from a cold-hearted business perspective, it may behoove the Mets to wait until Zack Greinke signs before extending their knuckleballer. Why? Because

A few days ago we asked “Where is Jason Isringhausen?”

Well, he found a job a few days ago — with the Angels.

Izzy signed a minor-league deal but is expected to have a significant role with the Major League club. Per manager Mike Scioscia:

“Jason is going to slot in with LaTroy Hawkins and Scott Downs [in a setup role],” Scioscia said. “We talk about that pyramid of guys getting to the closer [Jordan Walden]. It’s a little broader right now.”

After signing C.J. Wilson and Albert Pujols, the Angels didn’t have much payroll flexibility to fortify the back end of the bullpen. But, that became an opportunity for Jason Isringhausen, who perhaps because of his advanced age and injury history wasn’t getting much attention from other clubs this winter.

Good luck, Izzy!

Angels 7 Mets 3

The Mets remained gritty through the final inning, and had a little rally going, but like Friday night, it was too little, too late. A disappointing result for all the dads who are Mets fans.

Mets 6 Angels 1

A surprising outburst by the Met offensive coupled with solid starting pitching allowed the Flushings to even up the series.

Angels 4 Mets 3

Inning late, base hit short.

The moment we’ve all been waiting for since July 30, 2004 has finally arrived: Scott Kazmir is available, free and clear, after being released by the Angels.

Kazmir was going to be the lefthanded Tom Seaver until Rick Peterson thought ten minutes could fix Victor Zambrano and the Wilpons believed the Mets were still in the pennant race — despite the fact that they were in fourth place with a 49-53 record and 7 games out of first.

We know how it turned out; Zambrano was awful before going down with an elbow injury, and Kazmir went on to have a few good seasons before struggling with injuries himself (which GM Jim Duquette expected).

Now that Kazmir is out there for the taking, do you want him back in the Mets organization? He’s still only 27 years old.

Hat tip to loyal, longtime MetsToday reader / commenter “Mic” for the link.