The November 11th, 2011 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including DiPoto won’t pursue free agent Aramis Ramirez, Angels have strong interest in CJ Wilson, Tory Hernandez fired from front office and much more…
The Story: Jerry DiPoto ruled out signing free agent 3B Aramis Ramirez.
The Monkey Says: You have to take everything with a grain of salt in the off-season, but for DiPoto to so flatly rule out interest in a player seems pretty genuine. There is no real negotiating advantage I can think of for him to lie about not having interest. Considering the crazy money Ramirez, who can hit but has a bad attitude and worse glove, is going to make this off-season, I have on problem with the Halos not pursuing him.
The Story: The Angels also definitely have interest in CJ Wilson.
The Monkey Says: Now THAT is some genuine Grada A bull$#!t. Wilson does fit the pitcher profile DiPoto prefers, but I have an incredibly hard time believing the team has the money to outbid everyone for the best free agent pitcher on the market. However, it is smart for him to act as if they might make him an offer since it will help jack up Wilson’s price, thus potentially costing the Rangers extra money if they end up re-signing him, or, even better, pushing Wilson’s price out of Texas’ price range.
The Story: Manager of baseball operations Tory Hernandez has been let go.
The Monkey Says: There are sources that Justin Hollander will take over that job, but that isn’t confirmed. Also, Gary DiSarcina and scouting director Ric Wilson will be retained, though it isn’t clear if Wilson will stay in that position. This kind of sucks hard for Hernandez though as he was well thought of and a loyal soldier. He even received an interview for the GM vacancy, which makes me wonder if he was viewed as a threat by DiPoto. It is also possible that he and DiPoto just didn’t jive, so they let him go rather than reassign him to a lesser position where he wouldn’t be happy. As Tory says in the piece, the timing is terrible because most front office vacancies are filled by now, but if he really is as respected as reports suggest, some team will find a way to fit him in.
The Story: Mark Trumbo’s foot is healed and he is ready to try to transition to third base.
The Monkey Says: Even with the goal of him only being a part-time option at the hot corner, I think this is destined for failure. Yes, Mark graded out well in UZR at first base as he turned out to have decent range for a man his size, but he was at the bottom of the league in digs, which makes sense because watching him, it seems pretty clear that his hands are made of cement. I hope it works out, but I am willing to bet money that it won’t.
The Story: Mark Trumbo considers himself a longshot for the Rookie of the Year.
The Monkey Says: He definitely seems to be buying into all the criticism about his low average and OBP, but saying he is a “longshot” seems a bit much since he did win two versions of the award already.
The Story: Holy hell, Mark Trumbo swings at everything and now we have the stats to prove it.
The Monkey Says: Trade him. Trade him now before other GMs read that study. If there is a bright side to this, it is that Trumbo at least seems to be aware of the problem and working to fix it. There are plenty of free swingers out there who have been beyond unapologetic for swinging at everything even if it ultimately damned their careers.
The Story: With Jerry DiPoto back and Tony Reagins gone, the Angel front office is finally regaining respect.
The Monkey Says: As always, True Grich makes great points. We all focused on Reagins’ terrible moves, but he did generally seem to have a reputation throughout the league for being difficult to deal with. DiPoto still has to establish his own reputation, but since he isn’t Reagins, he already has a big leg up in the respect department.
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