The October 26th, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Angels unlikely to sign Hunter, Trout wins Fielding Bible award, Orioles could pursue Greinke and much more…
The Story: Reports claim the Angels are unlikely to re-sign Torii Hunter.
The Monkey Says: This one is tough to digest. On one hand, the "source close to the situation" is almost certainly Hunter's agent, who is likely trying to rankle the fan base and get them to pressure the Angels into improving their offer. On the other hand, I kind of believe it is true anyway. By the end of the season, the Torii and the team seemed close to striking an accord, but things have stalled since the season ended, which leads me to believe the Halos are lukewarm about bringing him back unless he agrees to a sweetheart deal. I think it is probably safe to assume that if he doesn't re-sign before free agency opens, then he is as good as gone. Now, what is interesting about that, is it gives the Angels a sizable chunk of budget space to use that maybe they hadn't been planning on spending (or maybe they did and this has always been their plan). Cutting Hunter loose would give them the financial flexibility to possibly sign Greinke AND another top-tier free agent. You know, now that I think about it, enjoy Texas, Torii.
The Story: Mike Trout was the Fielding Bible Award winner in center field.
The Monkey Says: The award is voted on by a panel of stat experts and/or saber-friendly writers. The Gold Glove gets the most press, but I personally consider this a much more legitmate award since it relies on scouting, research and metrics rather than the "eyeball test."
The Story: The Baltimore Orioles could target Zack Greinke in free agency.
The Monkey Says: That makes sense for them, but their GM also said he wasn't anticipating raising payroll very much, so I don't think they are a credible threat. I would also consider the line about the O's never giving a pitcher more than three years in a contract something of a red herring, because they sure as heck tried (I can recall at least A.J. Burnett) to give longer contracts out, but have always been spurned.
The Monkey Says: I wouldn't go so far as to call this a denial of the MLBTR report so much as the very beginning of JeDi letting the fans down easy when it comes to Hunter's potential exit.
The Story: Mike Trout was a unanimous selection to the Sporting News' end-of-season AL All-Star team.
The Monkey Says: The ONLY unanimous selection, by the way. Not that it really means anything, but I find it interesting that Cabrera is the front-runner for MVP, but MLB GMs and AGMs only gave him 20 of 30 votes while Trout got them all. If Miggy isn't even the unanimous best player at his position, how can he be MVP? I'm just saying.
The Story: The off-season outlook for the LA Angels.
The Monkey Says: This article suggests Angel fans go into the off-season with low expectations for what the Halos might do, which is probably best. In fact, having low expectations is a good idea for everything if you averse to being disappointed. I do very much dislike that the name Chris Perez was invoked here though. That little rumor just won't go away and I kind of wish it would.
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