The February 3rd, 2014 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Angels pulled offer to Garza, settled arbitration cases with Freese and Jepsen and much more…
The Monkey Says: This was back at the Winter Meetings when there was a rumor that the Halos were expected to close on Garza within 48 hours and never did. This explains why. Criticize Moreno if you want, but teams don't just leave offers out there forever, allowing the player to use it as leverage with other teams. At the time, Arizona was said to be very interested too, so you can't blame Moreno for not enabling Garza's agent to start a bidding war that Moreno wanted no part of.
The Story: David Freese settled his arbitration case with the Angels for $5.05 million.
The Monkey Says: Right at the midpoint. There was a big gap between the sides, so it is nice to see they got this settled amicably.
The Story: The Angels avoided arbitration with Kevin Jepsen with a one-year, $1.4625 million deal.
The Monkey Says: I'd rather they just avoided Kevin Jepsen in general. Another midpoint settlement on this one too. With that, all the Angels arbitration cases are now taken care of.
The Story: Yorvit Torrealba signed a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training with the Angels.
The Monkey Says: He is strictly depth and likely to spend the season in Triple-A. Part of the reason for this is that John Hester is out of options, so he will have to be sent through waivers at the end of training camp and might get claimed or elect free agency to find an organization where he might be able to work his way onto the big league roster. Also, John Hester isn't very good. Torrealba isn't that good either, but he is solid defensively and can throw runners out, unlike Hester.
The Story: The Angels middle infield is set except for who will get the utility infield spot on the bench.
The Monkey Says: For depth purposes, they need someone who can play shortstop, which means it will be Romine or McDonald. Neither can hit though, so they won't play much. However, Emilio Bonifacio has just been designated for assignment. He can handle shortstop on a limited bases and plays just about every other position. He hit poorly last season, but does have a record of success and is a weapon as a pinch-runner. I wouldn't mind seeing the Angels acquire him to put in that slot instead, even if he is a bit expensive.
The Story: Evaluating Mike Trout's throwing arm.
The Monkey Says: The alternate title should be "Something Mike Trout is actually just average at."
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
