Angels rumors: Finding Jered Weaver's replacement

Following the announcement that Los Angeles Angels ace Jered Weaver will miss four to six weeks with a broken elbow, there has been speculation surrounding his replacement. According to Jim Bowden of ESPN, the Halos will not look outside the organization to someone such as Aaron Harang, but they will instead go with in-house options Garrett Richards.

Bowden endorses the decision, noting that starting Richards in place of Weaver "is the right move."

Weaver's injury is to his non-throwing arm, but it is still severe enough that the Angels expect him to miss at least his next handful of starts. There is pitching to be had from outside the organization, and the Angels don't even have to look outside of California for options. Even after trading Harang to the Colorado Rockies, the Dodgers still have a surplus of arms -- including Chris Capuano and Ted Lilly.

But rather than acquire an arm to fill in for Weaver, LA appears poised to stretch out Richards -- who's currently a reliever for the club. The 24-year-old has appeared in four games for the Angels this season, allowing one run on four hits with one walk and five strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings.

Over four seasons with the Angels, Richards owns a career ERA of 4.74 over 41 games -- including 12 starts.

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