The rich get richer: the Angels sign the best middle reliever in baseball @Adidas219

The Angels signed two marquis free agents in Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson, but they made another recent move that went almost totally unnoticed--they signed the best middle reliever in baseball.

LaTroy Hawkins / Icon SMI

Last week, the Angels signed 38-year-old LaTroy Hawkins away from the Brewers. All but the youngest baseball fans will remember that Hawkins was a starting pitcher for the Twins in the mid 1990s. He had sporadic success in that role, as well as the Minnesota closer in 2000 and 2001. When he was switched to middle relief in 2002, he suddenly became one of the most reliable pitchers in the game.

Other than a rather unsuccessful partial season with the Yankees in 2008 and a 2010 abbreviated by injury, Hawkins has been cash money since his shift to middle relief a decade ago.

Since 2002, here are the relievers with the best ERA+, minimum 500 IP and maximum 100 saves (to eliminate closers):

Rk	Player	ERA+	SV	IP	From	To	Age	G	GS	GF
1	LaTroy Hawkins	145	45	601.1	2002	2011	29-38	596	0	184
2	Rafael Betancourt	140	27	560.0	2003	2011	28-36	543	0	150
3	Damaso Marte	138	36	458.2	2002	2010	27-35	542	0	131
4	Scot Shields	137	21	686.0	2002	2010	26-34	483	15	108
5	Scott Downs	134	17	527.1	2003	2011	27-35	420	31	88
6	Octavio Dotel	132	90	573.0	2002	2011	28-37	565	0	243
7	Carlos Marmol	131	95	459.1	2006	2011	23-28	391	13	189
8	J.C. Romero	129	7	517.0	2002	2011	26-35	633	0	120
9	Matt Thornton	128	20	460.0	2004	2011	27-34	472	1	118
10	Mike Timlin	127	27	505.2	2002	2008	36-42	466	1	136
11	Matt Guerrier	123	6	538.1	2004	2011	25-32	463	3	103
12	David Weathers	123	68	607.2	2002	2009	32-39	564	2	213
13	Ryan Madson	123	52	630.0	2003	2011	22-30	491	18	150
14	Dan Wheeler	122	43	557.0	2003	2011	25-33	547	1	176
15	David Riske	122	21	456.1	2002	2010	25-33	424	0	151

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/13/2011.

This is a pretty good list of the very best middle relievers from the last 10 years, but none has been better than Hawkins.