The January 23rd, 2014 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Dipoto explains lack of pursuit of Tanaka, predicting what the Angels do next and much more…
The Story: Jerry Dipoto explains why the Angels did not get seriously involved in the pursuit Masahiro Tanaka.
The Monkey Says: The crux of the explanation is that they didn't want to pay the luxury tax. If that is true, then they can likely rule out Matt Garza as well since they only really have no more than $12 million in room before they hit the tax (if you assume Ibanez makes all of his incentives, which he should). It also sounds like the Diamondbacks are going to pull out all the stops to get Garza, so he could get priced out of their range even if they were willing to go over the tax line.
The Story: Jonah Keri predicts that the Angels will sign Ubaldo Jimenez.
The Monkey Says: I don't know that I believe that the Angels won't pay the luxury tax, but I do believe they won't forfeit their draft pick, so I highly doubt they even consider Ubaldo.
The Story: Jim Bowden expects the Angels and Arizona to compete for Matt Garza.
The Monkey Says: This is much more the consensus. I suspect Arizona will win out as they really went all-out to get Tanaka, so they might lose their mind a little to make sure they don't get skunked twice in one week.
The Story: The Angels are among the many losers for having missed out on Masahiro Tanaka.
The Monkey Says: Well, duh. But I don't think they are that big of a loser as the contract Tanaka signed is really pretty unfriendly.
The Story: The Angels and Matt Garza appear to be made for each other.
The Monkey Says: It is hard to argue with that, but I think the one area in which they aren't a perfect match is that the Angels won't overpay Garza, but Arizona might.
The Story: Jerry Dipoto says the Angels are not in the market for a reliever with closing experience.
The Monkey Says: That means no Balfour, despite them being linked to him a few weeks ago. I don't think adding Balfour is the worst idea, but it also isn't necessary.
The Story: The Angels signed Ian Stewart to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training.
The Monkey Says: Stewart bottomed out in 2011 and never recovered. He has a slim shot at making the Opening Day roster. He'd have a better shot if he was right-handed, but he isn't, so that sucks.
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