The June 20th, 2014 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including ??? and much more…
The Story: Mike Scioscia explains his mind-boggling decision to have Cam Bedrosian close the game on Thursday.
The Monkey Says: I’ll get into this more in what should be an epic Second-Guessing Scioscia later today, but this reeks of Scioscia “playing his gut.” This was an epic screw-up and it might very well spell the end of Frieri getting any closing opportunities ever again although Scioscia insists that it is still going to be “situational.”
The Story: Ken Rosenthal believes the Angels could pursue Ian Kennedy and Dillon Gee at the trade deadline.
The Monkey Says: It is just speculation, but it makes sense as the Halos took a run at getting Kennedy from Arizona last deadline only to be outbid by the Padres. Gee has been linked to the Angels earlier in the year as well through other speculation. It may be a moot point though if Hector Santiago can get his act together, which would be preferable so that the Angels can use their limited trade assets on fixing the bullpen or properly replacing Raul Ibanez.
The Story: The Angels are said to be aggressively shopping for left-handed relievers.
The Monkey Says: It seems like a strong possibility that they will claim Josh Outman off waivers from Cleveland and audition him for a few weeks as Outman has a track record of success. Their stance of not looking for a closer might have changed as well after yesterday’s debacle.
The Story: Hector Santiago is a major factor in the Angels’ trade deadline decisions.
The Monkey Says: As mentioned above, if he sticks in the rotation, that should shore that part of the roster up. If he doesn’t it would be prudent for the Halos to convert him to relief for the rest of the season where he has been a high impact arm in the past. That would potentially solve the left-handed relief and maybe even the late-inning relief problem. Suffice it to say, they have some big decisions to make in the next few weeks.
The Story: Mike Scioscia continues to start Raul Ibanez at DH despite the numbers and the criticism.
The Monkey Says: Sosh is getting pretty frosty in his responses to questions on the topic. In his defense, Ibanez is showing some signs of life in the last two weeks, so he isn’t totally wrong to see if he might be coming around. I seriously doubt he is, but Scioscia is going to find out if it kills him. How much longer he plans on giving Ibanez to go from signs of life to actually living remains to be seen.
The Story: Handicapping players that have over- or under-performed their pre-season projections.
The Monkey Says: It is hard not to want the under on Freese. He has also shown signs of life, but he also seems to crater every time it looks like he might have finally figured it out. His average and OBP are just fine this month, but he is hitting for almost no power whatsoever which certainly suggests that he might still be dealing with back problems.
The Story: Jim Callis believes that Sean Newcomb is already the Angels #1 prospect.
The Monkey Says: I don’t think anyone is going to argue with him, but it feels weird saying that given that Newcomb hasn’t even signed yet.
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