The August 30th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Angels still dysfunctional no matter who gets fired, Nelson likely done for the season and much more…
The Story: No matter who gets fired the Angels will still have problems.
The Monkey Says: Things likely would be much more harmonious if Dipoto was given total control. I don't think Moreno trusts him enough for that. One alternative that hasn't been discussed is firing them both. In that instance, the team would kind of be rebuilding for a bit, but they could go hire some big powerful team president type who has autonomy to hire his own GM and manager. This is not unlike what the Cubs did with Theo Epstein. The problem is that there isn't really a worthy candidate for such a big role out there. Instead, Arte will probably make the wrong decision, fire Dipoto and install some puppet GM for Scioscia and his beloved coaching staff (who he wants contract extensions for. MORE BUTCHER!).
The Monkey Says: That, my friends, is want.
The Story: The Angels are not expecting to call up many players when the calendar turns to September.
The Monkey Says: Ironically, many of their minor league teams are vying for the playoffs and the Angels are being a good parent organization by not screwing up their roster during the minor league post-season. The Bees are the biggest issue as they could clinch the playoffs tonight but have the most guys the Angels would want to promote. Tommy Hanson, Ryan Brasier, Jeremy Berg, Matt Shoemaker, Daniel Stange, John Hester, Tommy Field, Efren Navarro and Scott Cousins are all candidates to be called up whenever Salt Lake's season ends, especially Hanson and Hester. The Travs are also in good position for the post-season, but there is only an outside shot that the Halos would call up Mike Morin, Taylor Lindsey, Randal Grichuk or C.J. Cron. Michael Roth and Nick Maronde, however, are very likely to be promoted.
The Story: Bobby Knoop will be inducted into the Angels' Hall of Fame on September 5th.
The Monkey Says: Knoop was renowned for his glove, but I like to think that he is being inducted because the 'K' in his name is NOT silent. I do wonder what they will do about retiring his number though as Rod Carew also wore 29 so it is already retired.
The Story: The August update of Matt Klaasen's catcher defense rating.
The Monkey Says: Conger still fairs quite poorly here as this does not factor in framing but does expose his lousy pitch blocking. Chris Iannetta moves up a notch from next-to-last to next-to-next-to-last. Progress!
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