The August 19th, 2015 edition of Los Angeles Angels news including Angels call up Cowart, DFA Gillaspie, Trout meets Nina Agdal and much more…
The Story: The Angels called up Kaleb Cowart and designated Conor Gillaspie for assignment.
The Monkey Says: The comeback has now come full circle for Cowart who will be the starting third baseman for the Angels until David Freese returns and is once again the heir apparent at the position. With Freese not far from returning, this is a great way to break Cowart in, get his feet wet and see just how MLB ready he really is. If it goes well, he can platoon a bit with Freese down the stretch and will definitely serve as a defensive replacement. If not, then maybe Kubitza re-enters the picture next year. Gillaspie gets the boot to make room for Cowart, which is no great loss. He was a defensive liability and wasn’t helping the offense much. Cowart might just turn out to be a spark. It is also worth noting that Cowart had been playing a fair amount of shortstop lately, so he could also be the primary utility infielder down the stretch. Hmm, I wonder if he can play second?
The Story: Mike Trout took some promotional photos with supermodel Nina Agdal.
The Monkey Says: This is a cheap marketing campaign, but here I am linking to it in the Halo Headlines, so I guess it worked. People must like looking at pretty ladies or something. Who knew?
The Story: An idiot nearly dropped his daughter trying to grab a home run ball at Monday’s Angels game.
The Monkey Says: The worst part is that Rojas and Gubi noticed it happen and still sent him an autographed ball during the game because they thought it was unfair that the usher tossed the home run ball elsewhere.
The Story: C.J. Cron is thriving at the plate.
The Monkey Says: He’s making a pretty good case to play everyday and David DeJesus is making a good case for Cron to play everyday too. He’s swinging a bit less, mostly at fewer fastballs which seems like a key. Cron still has problems chasing breaking balls, but his bigger problem was that he was chasing fastballs out of the zone and instead of missing them, he just made weak contact. He’s cut down on that some and suddenly looks much better.
The Story: Huston Street doesn’t want people to count the Angels out.
The Monkey Says: He’s clearly sensing that fans are doubting the team. That’s apparently the fault of the fans and not of the team that has won one road game in the second half.
The Story: Tim Brown handicaps the AL Wild Card field.
The Monkey Says: He doesn’t like the Angels’ chances, but a lot of that feels like recency bias because it isn’t as if any of the teams competing for the second Wild Card are playing well right now, except maybe Texas. The Angels just happen to be playing the most poorly at this moment, but that could change quickly. That’s what I keep telling myself at least.
The Story: Keith Law ranks the best hitting and speed tools among MLB players.
The Monkey Says: Trout didn’t get rated the best at anything, but he’s in the top three for both hit tool and power. That’ll just have to do.
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