The December 3rd, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Jepsen tendered, Williams, Hanson and Nelson cut loose and much more…
The Story: Kevin Jepsen was tendered a contract by the Angels yesterday.
The Monkey Says: This is not a surprise but there was at least some thought that the Halos could try and save a few bucks by cutting Jepsen loose. Instead, they will tender him a contract which is estimated to be about $1.4 million. This should give Jepsen a huge edge on the final spot in the Halo bullpen, though it is certainly possible he could be traded before the season if someone else in camp beats him out. This is a good problem to have. Jepsen might be incredibly frustrating, but he has good stuff and would be a lot easier to stomach as the last guy in the pen as opposed to a primary setup man.
The Story: Jerome Williams was non-tendered by the Angels.
The Monkey Says: He'll almost certainly land a big league deal somewhere, likely with a non-contending NL team in need of a guy to soak up innings. He might even get close to the $4 million that he was projected to earn in arbitration. That likely interest wasn't enough for the Angels to parlay into a trade though.
The Story: The Angels also non-tendered Tommy Hanson and Chris Nelson.
The Monkey Says: Nelson was a no-brainer. He just isn't worth a guaranteed roster spot. As for Hanson, I wish the Angels had kept him as a bullpen conversion experiment, but because of their financial mismanagement, they can't afford those kind of gambles anymore.
The Monkey Says: That and the third contract year that Cleveland wasn't willing to offer him. That probably helped a lot more.
The Story: The Angels are likely done making additions to their bullpen.
The Monkey Says: As mentioned with Jepsen, there is no more vacancies at the inn. The Angels actually have decent depth in relief now as Kohn, Morin, Maronde, Wall, Carson, Sisk and Alvarez are all viable options to be called up if/when injury strikes.
The Monkey Says: In the event of multiple teams bidding the max, they would both get to vie for the player. This is just a proposal though, so don't get too involved in it yet. However, this would prevent the Angels from getting blown away by a big money posting bid. Where it would hurt them is that the Angels don't have much to offer Masahiro Tanaka over other teams who can just make a bigger contract offer which the Angels would be hesitant to do because of their luxury tax situation.
The Story: The Angels are one of the potential contenders taking a low key approach to the offseason.
The Monkey Says: So far. I can't help but shake the feeling that the Angels might have one big bold move up their sleeve, perhaps signing Matt Garza.
The Story: Why the Angels won't just release Joe Blanton, yet.
The Monkey Says: It would make sense for the Angels to keep Blanton unless they can get something for him and/or save some money. They don't have the salary flexibility or rotation depth to just release him and eat his whole salary. At the same time, the well might be poisoned here and bringing Blanton back to an environment where the fans are so toxic towards him might not be a good idea for anyone involved.
The Story: Mike Trout makes a case for being the best ever at whatever age.
The Monkey Says: It is hard to see how he would fall off significantly in the next few years barring injury, but stranger things have happened.
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