The March 24th, 2014 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Romine traded for Alvarez, Pena, Tracy and Torrealba released and much more…
The Story: The Angels traded IF Andrew Romine for LHP Jose Alvarez.
The Monkey Says: This was a very nice mover from Dipoto. Romine is out of options and appeared to be losing the battle for the reserve infielder job to John McDonald, meaning he was going to get put on waivers. The Tigers, however, were desperate for help at shortstop after losing Jose Iglesias for the year. Jerry took advantage, with the help of former Angels coach and new Tigers coach Omar Vizquel recommending Romine, and finally landed some legitimate rotation depth in Alvarez. Alvarez has options left, so he could be sent to the minors, but it seems far more likely that he sticks in the majors as a long man and left-handed relief option.
The Story: Carlos Pena, Chad Tracy and Yorvit Torrealba were all cut from the Angels yesterday.
The Monkey Says: They all had contract language that mandated they be given the option to walk away or be on the 40-man roster by Sunday. None of them did enough to earn that spot, apparently, so they Halos gave them their freedom. Torrealba seemed genuinely upset that he never got a real chance to make the team, but that blame should fall on him and his agent for not realizing what the Angels catching depth chart looked like when he signed. The battle for the final bench spots is now down to Shuck, Cowgill, Stewart, Long and Boesch. My guess is it will be Shuck, based on his 2013 success, and Stewart, based on his positional flexibility including recent games playing first base.
The Story: Sean Burnett had a small setback in his rehab after he had an adverse reaction to an injection.
The Monkey Says: It is frustrating that Burnett had yet another setback, but at least this seems to be just a small fluke and not an actual issue with his arm.
The Story: Brian Moran is going to be out for "a while."
The Monkey Says: He will definitely be on the DL to stat the season and by the sound of it, could miss several weeks of action.
The Story: Joe Blanton's status with the team is looking shaky once again after he had a rough outing.
The Monkey Says: His rough outing combined with the addition of Alvarez as a better guy to keep around as a long reliever makes it a near certainty that Blanton will be traded or released. His only saving grace at the moment is that the Angels have three relievers that are likely to start the season on the DL, creating a bit of space for Blanton if the team isn't ready to lose him as depth just yet.
The Story: Jose Alvarez says he never had arm surgery.
The Monkey Says: Someone else with a similar name had surgery, apparently, but a reporter got confused and said it was this Jose Alvarez and the bad report has followed him ever since. I hereby note it in the official Monkey Pitcher Injury Record Book.
The Story: Jon Morosi reports nothing is imminent on the Mike Trout contract extension front.
The Monkey Says: Early reports had the sides relatively close, so it would seem odd if talks stalled, but somebody could be driving a hard bargain. I imagine by Opening Day one side will either call the talks dead or an agreement will be reached.
The Story: Erick Aybar is trying to make drawing walks part of his game.
The Monkey Says: The last time he did that, he developed what I now call Aybaritis, which is taking pitches just for the sake of taking pitches and completely screwing up your approach. I don't think that this leopard is going to change his spots no matter how hard he tries.
The Story: Garrett Richards prefers to pitch to contact.
The Monkey Says: That's nice and all, but strikeouts are better. Richards has the stuff to generate more whiffs, so it would be nice if he could find a happy medium. That is what would take his game to a whole new level.
The Story: Scott Servais has finished his 300-page organizational manual.
The Monkey Says: It apparently took him five months to copy and paste everything that was in the Cardinals operational manual that he "borrowed." I kid, I kid. Honestly, this is a great thing to have to make sure the organization is totally in sync top to bottom. Plus, now Scioscia and Dipoto will know exactly which page they are not both on the next time the media accuses them of having an adversarial relationship.
The Story: In a poll of 18 scouts and executives, Mike Trout was voted the best position player in baseball.
The Monkey Says: To which the BBWAA responded by issuing a statement of, "LA! LA! LA! WE CAN'T HEAR YOU!!" It was delivered by a spokesman who had his fingers plugging both of his ears and his eyes clamped tightly shut.
The Monkey Says: Only 4 of the 37 experts thought the Halos would win the division with another three predicting they'd win the Wild Card. None of them thought the Angels would win the World Series.
The Monkey Says: Which is exactly what Simers wanted because it let's him paint Moreno is a bad guy. Meanwhile, had Arte taken the interview, Simers would've done what he always has done and made him look bad in the interview. At least this way, Arte doesn't have to spend an hour in the same room as that troll.
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