The April 24th, 2014 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Santiago dealing with back problems, Frieri likely out as closer and much more…
The Story: Hector Santiago has been dealing with back issues all season.
The Monkey Says: First, I love the section where they casually mention that he has been treating the injury with heat, stretching and STEM-CELL THERAPY! That’s still controversial, no? Am I behind the times? Is that not a crazy thing still? It certainly seems like it shouldn’t be lumped in with “a lot of stretching.” Anyway, the back issues explain his struggles and lack of consistency. Let’s hope he gets healthy and doesn’t have this plague him all year long.
The Story: Ernesto Frieri probably won’t be the closer in the upcoming series in New York.
The Monkey Says: This is actually speculation from Mike DiGiovanni, but he has mentioned it a few times since Wednesday night which suggests that maybe he knows something that isn’t being made official. It wouldn’t be a surprising or unjust decision if it does come to pass.
The Story: A look at Ernesto Frieri’s early season struggles.
The Monkey Says: Interesting that his release point might be off a bit. That could explain the command issues. I wrote yesterday that a big part of his issue is that he relies exclusively on the fastball once he falls behind in counts, making him very predictable, which is a bad thing to be when you can’t hit your spots.
The Story: Looking at Mike Scioscia’s bullpen usage.
The Monkey Says: So, yeah. Everyone is getting pretty upset about the bullpen and how it is managed. They ain’t wrong.
The Story: The Angels need to put the BULL back in the PEN.
The Monkey Says: So punny. What they really need is Dane De La Rosa to get healthy. I’ve said all season long that I think he is actually their best and most versatile reliever. Not having him around all year has really tied Scioscia’s hands. I totally agree with all the takes above that it is high time the Angels start auditioning the likes of Mike Morin, R.J. Alvarez and Cam Bedrosian so they can add another impact arm to the pen.
The Story: At 41, Raul Ibanez is still going strong.
The Monkey Says: Ibanez has a 46 wRC+. I think that the author may not understand what “going strong” means. If he just means that Raul hasn’t yet keeled over and died on the field, then I guess he’s right, but anything more than that, I have to take umbrage.
The Story: Raul Ibanez is one of the hitters to start worrying about this season.
The Monkey Says: I think the author of the previous article is the only person who hasn’t already started worrying.
The Story: The 500 homer milestone still hasn’t sunk in for Albert Pujols.
The Monkey Says: Pujols barely slept the night after his 500th homer. That’s funny because I barely slept the night after Frieri took a dump all over the mound in Nationals Park.
The Story: C.J. Wilson talks about the rise in teams and players focusing on nutrition.
The Monkey Says: Considering all the money teams spend on players, it is staggering that it took this long for them to start taking control of their players’ nutrition. I mean, they can’t force it on everyone (see Butler, Billy), but it seems like a relatively cheap way to keep players healthy and lengthen their careers. Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to grab some donuts from the break room.
The Story: Hector Santiago is following his dad’s example in his charitable work.
The Monkey Says: This has been your weekly edition of “Hector Santiago is a better person than you.”
The Story: C.J. Wilson did a Q&A at Jalopnik.
The Monkey Says: Come for his opinions on cars. Stay for him deflecting all the Rangers fans trying to troll him.
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