The Angels are closing in on a deal with Raul Ibanez, per MLB Daily Dish's Chris Cotillo (Twitter link). Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports adds (also via Twitter) that it will be a one-year deal. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets that the deal is expected to be for $2.75MM.

The 41-year-old Ibanez turned back the clock with a surprising 29-homer campaign with the Mariners last year. Ibanez slashed .242/.306/.487 and hit lefties equally as well as he hit right-handed pitching. However, the Mariners gave Ibanez a surprising 832 innings in the outfield, where his glove was poor enough for Fangraphs to grade him as a replacement-level player and Baseball-Reference to peg him at a mere 0.4 WAR despite his power.

In that sense, Anaheim is a logical fit, as they don't need to play Ibanez in the outfield given the presence of Josh Hamilton, Mike Trout, Kole Calhoun and J.B. Shuck.

This post was originally published on Dec. 18.