Jered Weaver - sweet news to all Angels fans

So Jered Weaver and the Angels have agreed to a contract paying him around $85 million for the next five seasons - with the way he has been pitching over the last few seasons, it is nice to see Angels general manager Tony Reagins get something done to lock him up for the long haul.

A professional athlete in his prime, looking for that next long-term contract that is going to take his relative wealth to a whole new level is understandable - but sometimes the athlete doesn't experience the same level of success and despite being paid more than he has ever had before, alters the course of his professional career in a downward spiral.

As a potential free agent, Weaver may have gotten a minimum of $120 million or more as a starting point - it maybe refreshing to assume he has had it good in Anaheim and didn't want to drastically change his lifestyle.

It seems like Weaver has really built up an ardent fan base and while he may not come across as being having a superstar persona - he gets fans interested by his performances as the ace pitcher of the Angels staff.

Hopefully Weaver is still a pitcher on the rise and the Angels investment will pay off - there have been pitchers [like Brandon Webb, Jake Peavy, Johan Santana] who have broken down and stumbled in their early 30s, after enjoying much success through their prime years like Weaver has had.