On January 3rd, the Angels announced the team has changed their official name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The club obviously hopes to draw from a wider fan base by associating themselves with the second largest city in the United States. By tacking "of Anaheim" on the end of the moniker, the organization hopes to satisfy the stipulation of their stadium lease that requires that the word Anaheim be present in their name. The City of Anaheim attempted to obtain a restraining order to prevent the name change from going forward, but a judge declined to grant such an order yesterday. Consequently, the club may use the new handle while the city's lawsuit alleging lease violation proceeds. Therefore, we will adopt the abbreviations of LAA for the Angels and LAD for the Dodgers.

The Angels signed Orlando Cabrera to a four-year, $32M contract in late December. In addition to a $4M signing bonus that will be paid out over the four years of the contract, the deal sets his salaries at $5M in 2005, $6.5M in 2006, $7.5M in 2007, and $9M in 2008.