"You have to hand it to Angels owner Arte Moreno. He can pack a strong message into a short amount of time.

"I had five seconds to talk," manager Mike Scioscia said, recalling how he learned the Angels had signed Albert Pujols. "I was on a plane, we were about to shut the door to fly back from Dallas to Southern California. It was from Arte. I said, `I better take this one.' He filled me in in about 10 seconds."

On Tuesday, Moreno called Pujols' agent and requested five minutes on the phone with the free-agent slugger. Two days later, the Angels announced a 10-year, $254 million contract for Pujols and a five-year contract worth a reported $77.5 million for left-handed pitcher C.J. Wilson, who also wasted little time deciding where to sign.

So when the Angels announced a full 24 hours in advance Pujols and Wilson would be introduced to the public Saturday, the message got out in plenty of time.

An estimated 4,200 spectators gathered outside Angel Stadium to see the players don their new caps and jerseys and create a rare buzz appropriately fueled by chants of "Ar-te, Ar-te!"

Other than the 254 million obvious reasons for Pujols to sign in Anaheim, what bait did Moreno hang from his hook during that initial conversation? "