The March 1st, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Buttercup not going away, Cassevah outrighted and much more…
The Story: The singing of "Buttercup" during the seventh inning stretch at the Big A will return this year.
The Monkey Says: Great decision by the Angels stadium staff and PR team. That song is universally loathed makes a lot of sense. Oh, wait, I'm sorry, I got confused. It makes no sense, unless the real aim here is for the song to drive people out of their seat and to the concession stands to spend money just so they can escape the song. Basically, the PR staff is either very stupid, a bunch of trolls or brilliant business minds.
The Story: Bobby Cassevah has been outrighted to the minors.
The Monkey Says: Unless he rejects the assignment and elects to become a free agent. This creates an opening on the 40-man roster, but we don't know what if any move this was a prelude to. It could just be the Angels trying to clear out Cassevah early enough in the spring that he thinks twice about leaving the organization or it could be that they have a move they want to make, but in these cases the move usually comes before the roster spot is cleared, so don't go getting too excited.
The Story: Mike Trout's versatility gives the Angels options in the lineup.
The Monkey Says: I don't think I ever want to see Trout bat third, but I don't have problem batting him second. However, I see no point in messing with him now. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Part of that has to do with the Angels not having a viable leadoff man to replace Trout, much like they don't have an ideal two-hole hitter either. However, their options in the two-hole are better than their non-Trout options at leadoff, so let's just not mess with it, OK? OK. I'm glad we had this talk.
The Story: A retrospective on Vernon Wells' days as a prospect.
The Monkey Says: It is uncanny that he had the same highs and lows in his brief time as a prospect that he had throughout his major league career. Vernon gonna Vernon.
The Story: Expect a bounceback season from C.J. Wilson in 2013.
The Monkey Says: I think we all are, which is good I suppose because it suggests that there is certainty behind it. I'm not actually sure there is because, as I mentioned in my projection of him last month, his first half wasn't as good as it looked. I remain positive (PMA!) with C.J., but I don't know if it is based on factual evidence so much as hope and wishes.
The Story: Mike Scioscia is not sold on the idea of banning collisions at home plate.
The Monkey Says: At first I assumed it was because blocking the plate was kind of his claim to fame, but instead he raises the salient point that it would be difficult to police. That's not a good enough reason to me to not enact such a rule though, but it points out the difficulty in crafting the rule for it.
The Story: Chad Cordero's comeback makes him a guy woth rooting for.
The Monkey Says: I'm rooting for him, but I really don't think he has much of a shot of making the Opening Day roster. Hopefully he can keep working and getting stronger and put himself into position to make the team mid-season.
The Story: Mike Trout rates as ESPN's projected top player in 2018. http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8996160/mike-trout-bryce-harper-best-players-baseball-2018-mlb
The Monkey Says: I really can't wait to dig this up in 2018 to see just how wildly wrong ESPN is on this list, provided Trout isn't one of them. If that happens, let's just pretend we never talked about this.
The Story: Albert Pujols is set to start running on the field. http://www.foxsportswest.com/02/26/13/Pujols-to-begin-running-preparing-for-op/landing.html?blockID=870357&feedID=3707
The Monkey Says: Move along, nothing to see here. This is just the next expected step in his rehab progression. He remains on pace to appear in spring game in mid-March.
The Story: Andrew Romine has a leg up on the competition for the reserve infield job. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130228&content_id=42095870¬ebook_id=42095902&vkey=notebook_ana&c_id=ana
The Monkey Says: I think he is a lock. He is easily the best defender and one of the few that is actually a competent shortstop as well as really the only one with any kind of upside.
The Story: The Angels rank 12th in ESPN's Future Power Rankings. http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8967507/mlb-future-power-rankings-2013-nos-15-1
The Monkey Says: They were fourth last year but apparently ESPN only just figured out how terrible their farm system is.
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