The February 24th, 2014 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Trout discussing six-year, $150 million extension, Pujols looking to 'shut a lot of mouths' and much more…
The Story: Mike Trout and the Angels are discussing a six-year, $150 million contract extension.
The Monkey Says: There are a lot of mixed signals on this one. Some reports say the proposed extension would start in 2014, others in 2015. Still others claim the Angels want to tack a year on while other say the difference right now is money. There is also talk of a signing bonus in there which makes the luxury tax angle of it even more confusing. The real takeaway is that the sides are talking real numbers and appear to at least be in the same ballpark. Trout Extension Watch is now officially at DEFCON 1.
The Story: Albert Pujols is looking to "shut a lot of mouths."
The Monkey Says: Whether he is physically capable of doing that remains to be seen, but I can't say that I hate having a Pujols that is playing with a chip on his shoulder. That can only help.
The Story: Kole Calhoun is embracing the chance to play everyday.
The Monkey Says: Scioscia seems genuinely impressed with him now and all but says that Kole will be the primary leadoff man, which is a great relief.
The Story: C.J. Wilson talks about his stats and what they mean to his game.
The Monkey Says: Before you get excited and think that this is a cool story about a player embracing sabermetrics, know that Lyle Spencer is involved and was the one that cherry-picked the stats. Naturally, he starts out talking about winning percentage. He then tries to boast about Wilson leading the league in pitcher per game as if that is a great accomplishment and not a red flag about how inefficient Wilson is on the mound. I need to go lie down because reading the whole thing made my head hurt.
The Story: David Freese changed his jersey number to 6 in honor of Stan Musial.
The Monkey Says: The Angels have been blatantly ripping off everything the Cardinals are doing, now they are trying to steal their heroes.
The Story: Luis Jimenez finally reported to camp after dealing with visa issues.
The Monkey Says: He'll now begin the process of trying to become a utilityman, making him a dark horse for a bench job.
The Story: Ian Stewart worked with Rod Carew this offseason.
The Monkey Says: He worked with Carew last winter as well and it didn't produce much in the way of results, so don't expect it to this time around either. There is only so much a hitting coach can do.
The Story: The Angels may have to rely heavily on their bullpen this season.
The Monkey Says: Indeed they might given that Weaver might be breaking down and that Richards, Santiago and Skaggs have not come to a 200 inning season in any of their careers at any level. The good thing is, the Angels might actually have the requisite bullpen depth to pull it off this year. The quality of their relief corps can be called into question, but they definitely have quantity.
The Story: Raul Ibanez won the worst tool award for his fielding.
The Monkey Says: Remember this when you see Scioscia foolishly putting him out in left field 20+ times this year. I can live with Ibanez at first base, though he stinks there as well, but there is zero reason for him ever to be in the outfield. Too bad Scioscia doesn't seem to know that.
The Story: Each team's lineups and rotations according to Google autocomplete.
The Monkey Says: Why would someone search for "Raul Ibanez looks like a turtle?" I mean, what results do they hope to find? Also, he looks more like a mummy to me.
The Story: The Razzball 2014 fantasy preview for the Angels.
The Monkey Says: Featuring me answering questions!
The Story: Why haven't the Angels added another starting pitcher yet?
The Monkey Says: Because Jerry Dipoto likes to live life on the edge? Also, they apparently have confidence in Santiago and Skaggs, so they don't want to give guaranteed money to a veteran. As such, they are waiting out the market for someone to take a minor league deal, preferably without an opt-out, which has apparently been a sticking point for them. Basically, they want slave labor.
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