The March 26th, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Bobby Abreu mouthed off about his lack of trust in Angel management, Halos are rumored to be the frontrunners for Roy Oswalt, Morales hits his first homer since returning and much more…
The Monkey Says: Urge… to kill… rising… Seriously, Bobby?!!?! You have to be kidding me. It is possible that these comments are a little off since they are being translated from Spanish, but I kind of doubt it. This is a new level of disgruntled for Abreu, which is why I now link to the next story…..
The Monkey Says: Welcome to damage control. Abreu is claiming that the comments were a few weeks old, which only makes them slightly less infuriating. He also appears to have convinced the reporter to remove the first quote in which he claims “to not have much confidence in these people” from the story, but you can’t put that genie back in the bottle. In light of these comments, I don’t see any other option here than for the Angels to release Bobby Abreu. Oh, by the way, this is me trying to be calm about this. I have a much more angry rant on the topic scheduled for later today. This should be fun.
The Story: Jim Bowden claims that Angels are “suddenly” the frontrunner to sign Roy Oswalt.
The Monkey Says: I have no doubts that the Angels are keeping tabs on Oswalt, but I get a sense that this might be more of an agent-generated story. The Halos are the new team with deep pockets that agents are going to pit against other teams to drive up the price, so I think their mild interest is being overblown so Oswalt’s agent (who is also C.J. Wilson’s agent) can get more money from the Cardinals who actually have a dire need to sign Oswalt.
The Monkey Says: JeDi can never just give a simple yes or no, so I don’t think this will make the speculation go away. It also doesn’t make sense for their to be a frontrunner of any sort for Oswalt since he isn’t going to play until June. By then, the level of interest from every team could change drastically.
The Monkey Says: Pauley is a swingman type, so he is a nice addition for overall pitching staff depth. However, he was released by the Tigers earlier this spring, so he is well behind in training, which is why he didn’t even get a camp invite. He’ll assuredly start in Salt Lake, probably in the rotation so that he can be stretched out in case the Halos ever need him. It is worth noting that Pauley is coming off an odd season in which he was pretty good (and pretty lucky) for the Mariners before he got traded to Detroit where he was just terrible.
The Monkey Says: It never hurts to ask, right? Zimmerman is young, cheap and very good which is why the Nats allegedly shot the Halos down.
The Story: Kendrys Morales absolutely crushed a homer in his second game of Cactus League action on Friday.
The Monkey Says: It was his first homer and extra-base hit since returning to action. The fact that it was a bomb and not just an eeker is a great sign that he still has great power, which has been my biggest concern for him. He’ll obviously need to do it some more to give us all confidence in his abilities, but he continues to give Halo fans more reason for excitement every time he takes the field.
The Story: This is a make-or-break year for Kendrys Morales.
The Monkey Says: Well, duh. My only disagreement with this piece is that the Angels would be so quick to cut him after the season if he struggles to produce or stay healthy. The Angels have money to spend, so if he has a bad season but still leaves reason to believe he can improve in 2013, then the Halos could afford to hold onto him for another year if his salary stays close to $3 million.
The Story: Sports Illustrated predicts the Angels will win the World Series.
The Monkey Says: Aw, crap! Now we’re screwed.
The Monkey Says: This is not unexpected since they don’t need a fifth starter until April 15th. There is now an extra bench spot open for a position player. My guess would be that it goes to Alexi Amarista rather than Ryan Langerhans or Jorge Cantu since the latter two would need to be added to the 40-man roster. Right now, the Angels have only one spot open and that is likely going to go to Jason Isringhausen. However, they can create another spot by placing Jeremy Moore on the 60-day DL now that he is getting major hip surgery or they could release Bobby Abreu. Even with that, it might not be worth it to carry either veteran if they know that they might release them two weeks later when they do need a fifth starter. Of course, since Mike Scioscia is involved, he’ll probably opt to keep Hank Conger and carry three catchers for no apparent reason.
The Monkey Says: That’s not going to happen. He’s too far behind and Kevin Jepsen has been too impressive. Even if Cassevah starts pitching in Cactus League games right now, he is highly unlikely to make the Opening Day roster.
The Story: Mike Scioscia says Jerome Williams still has time to earn the fifth starter job back.
The Monkey Says: Assuming he is healthy, there is no reason not to go with Williams, even if he can’t go deep into games at first. He is out of options, so they can’t really keep him off the roster unless he is on the DL. Plus, it isn’t the worst idea to let him go 75 pitches and then hand it over to the bullpen, which won’t be too taxing if they continue to carry seven relievers when they need a fifth starter.
The Monkey Says: One great play does not a good defender make, but it does show that he is getting more comfortable with the position and that he could quickly become good enough to not be a liability.
The Story: The Angels should know better than to continue to allow beer in the clubhouse.
The Monkey Says: No, the LA Times should know better than to shamelessly tug at the memory of Nick Adenhart every time a beer-related story involving the Angels comes up because this isn’t the first time they’ve made a similarly stupid point. Yes, it is a shame what happened to Nick, but it has NOTHING to do with the Angels allowing beer in the clubhouse because they are all capable of acting responsibly, like most grown men are. The reason Adenhart and two other people died is because Andrew Gallo is a despicable human being, who had a history of reckless alcohol-related behavior, willfully ignored his suspended license and obvious drinking problem and went out, got tanked and then drove. Banning beer does nothing. In fact, alcohol was not allowed in Andrew Gallo’s father’s home, where Andrew lived. Yet he still found away to put away enough booze to have three times the legal blood alcohol limit at the time of the accident. The best way to honor Nick isn’t to make some meaningless gesture of banning beer in the clubhouse. It is all the Angel players handling their alcohol consumption responsibly, whether it was in the clubhouse, team plane, a nearby bar or in their own home. The same goes for all fans too, though I am sure the LA Times will eventually figure out a way to claim that beer sales in Angel Stadium should be banned too.
The Monkey Says: One thing the piece overlooks is that the ball carries much better during the day at Angel Stadium, which makes the home run splits presented even more interesting. I still don’t know what it all means, but it is more interesting.
The Story: Jason Isringhausen talks about his career and many, many elbow injuries.
The Monkey Says: Frankly, I’m just impressed that his arm is still attached to his body.
The Story: Looking at Mike Trout’s timetable to reach the majors and stay there.
The Monkey Says: I think getting sick and a little bit hurt this spring is the best thing to happen for Trout since it eliminated the possibility of him being considered for the Opening Day roster, thus removing all the calls for him to replace Vernon Wells already (OK, almost all the calls. I’m talking to you, Mr. Falla). Now he can go to Triple-A for a little while and work on some things without any real public pressure on him or the team.
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