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Angels avoid arbitration with pitcher Jerome Williams

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After a whirlwind week in which the Angels acquired slugger Albert Pujols and pitcher C.J. Wilson for a combined $331.5 million, General Manager Jerry Dipoto turned his attention to some lower-profile moves on Monday.

His first was to secure pitcher Jerome Williams, a leading candidate for the fifth spot in the rotation next season, to a one-year, $820,000 deal, avoiding arbitration with the 30-year-old right-hander.

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Williams went 4-0 with a 3.68 earned-run average in 10 games, six starts, after being called up by the Angels on Aug. 17. The journeyman began the 2011 season with the Lancaster (Pa.) Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League before signing a minor league contract with the Angels on June 10.

Williams, who is expected to compete with young right-hander Garrett Richards for the final rotation spot behind Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, C.J. Wilson and Ervin Santana, went 7-2 with a 3.91 ERA in 11 games for triple-A Salt Lake. His victory over Baltimore on Aug. 21 was his first major league win since Sept. 25, 2005, when he was with the Chicago Cubs.

The nearly six-year gap between major league wins is the longest by an Angel since Dave LaRoche went six years and one day between victories from 1974 to 1980.

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Owner Arte Moreno takes pulse of Angels fans and gets it racing

— Mike DiGiovanna

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