The January 16th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Williams avoid arbitration, Wilson '0% concerned' about being ready for training camp and much more…
The Story: Jerome Williams avoided arbitration with a $2 million contract.
The Monkey Says: Jerome was lucky to get tendered a contract and even still might have to fight for a roster spot, so he was wise to settle early.
The Story: C.J. Wilson is "0% concerned" about being fully ready for training camp.
The Monkey Says: He is already playing long toss, so this is great news. An additional interesting tidbit he shared is that he started losing range of motion in his elbow back in July, which would definitely explain away his second half struggles, which should inspire even more confidence that he will have a nice rebound season in 2013.
The Monkey Says: Very few cases go to a hearing anymore, so I'd imagine they have a good shot at accomplishing that goal. Hanson and Callaspo are both coming off bad seasons, so they will probably be eager to settle rather than take their chances in a hearing. Jepsen should be in the same boat since he has spent a lot of time in the minors the last few years, his strong second half not withstanding. My big concern would be Vargas since he is coming off a solid campaign and also has no real allegiance to the franchise. He is going to be expensive, which doesn't help either. I don't know that he'll go to a hearing, but I'd be willing to be a healthy sum that he is the last guy out of the four to resolve his contract.
The Story: Fangraphs rolled out their top 15 Angels prospects for 2013.
The Monkey Says: This list goes to show how differently prospects can be valued depending on the person. Hulet clearly values upside, which is why he has Austin Wood and Mike Clevinger so high. Wood could be awesome, but he could also flameout in a hurry. Clevinger has a ton of potential too, but he was downgraded in the MWAH Top 30 Prospect Countdown since he will miss 2013 with Tommy John surgery. I'm not saying Fangraphs is wrong or anything like that, just pointing out that all these prospect rankings can be wildly divergent, especially in a shallow system like the Halos have.
The Story: The sneaky good season of prospect Matt Long.
The Monkey Says: Long is very interesting. I kind of like him before but wasn't sure if his bat would play in the outfield. However, now that they've shifted him to second base, he kind of has this whole Ryan Raburn thing going on which makes him intriguing as a utility guy in the near future.
The Story: An excerpt from John Sickels' prospect book on R.J. Alvarez.
The Monkey Says: He's hopefully going to be closing for the Angels by 2015, so you best get to know him.
The Story: Ernie Young has been hired as the hitting coach for the Arkansas Travelers.
The Monkey Says: This probably doesn't matter much other than the Dipoto regime installing another new coach more in line with his philosophy but I include it here because I am always excited to see the Angels hire a hitting coach that isn't named Mickey Hatcher.
The Story: A video preview you to get you primed for the upcoming 2013 Angels season.
The Monkey Says: Nicely done, but I sure hope he got the express written consent of Major League Baseball before he put that together. I smell a copyright infringement lawsuit!
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