The September 10th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Richards earns 2014 rotation spot, more Trout-Cabrera MVP debate and much more…
The Story: Jerry Dipoto has said that Garrett Richards "absolutely" earned a spot in the 2014 rotation.
The Monkey Says: Richards has posted a 2.96 ERA, .634 OPS allowed, 6.59 K/9, 3.13 BB/9 and 0.49 HR/9 since returning to the rotation. Those peripherals don't really match up to the ERA, but even once that regresses, he should still be pretty good as his FIP of 3.34 suggests. That gives the Halos three rotation members for sure, possibly four if they re-sign Vargas. That is a solid but not spectacular rotation. Who fills the final spot (assuming Vargas stays) will be a huge decision for whoever the GM is next season.
The Story: Jon Heyman debates the Trout-Cabrera MVP battle and the merits of WAR.
The Monkey Says: The long and short of it is that Heyman doesn't trust WAR partly because he doesn't seem to fully understand it and partly because he falsely assumes that it is supposed to be an ironclad end all-be all metric. There is noise in WAR, even the creators admit that. The question is how much noise can there really be when the gap between Trout and Cabrera is so big like it was last year.
The Story: The Trout-Cabrera debate is really more about RBIs.
The Monkey Says: This jumps off of the Heyman column and is more a commentary on slavish devotion to old school stats. To be honest, I haven't heard a lot of people point to RBIs in this debate, though I think some of that is columnists knowing that they are just going to get shamed for doing so. As I have been saying for weeks, the real issue is the Angels suck and the Tigers are pretty good.
The Story: Howie Kendrick will be activated from the DL at some point this week.
The Monkey Says: But he probably won't play until the Houston series so that he doesn't have to run around on the concrete in Toronto. Once he is back, it will be interesting to see how Scioscia uses Grant Green. They have a hole at third with Jimenez ailing, but the team has said Green isn't ready for that yet. But what harm could it really do?
The Story: John Hester has been called up to the active roster.
The Monkey Says: With a third catcher in place, expect Scioscia to pinch-hit for his starting catcher even more freely now. The rest of the September call-ups will have to wait for at least another few days as both Bees, Travs and 66ers have all advanced to the next round of their respective playoffs.
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