The February 11th, 2015 edition of Los Angeles Angels news including Angels financial flexibility, Richards runs unassisted and much more…
The Story: The Angels have some financial flexibility for in season moves.
The Monkey Says: They have enough tax room that they should be able to acquire just about anyone without having to worry about paying luxury tax. Granted, they don’t have much of a farm system to trade from, but at least their won’t be financial limits. So that’s something.
The Story: Garrett Richards is running unassisted and reflecting on his recovery.
The Monkey Says: He is taking his recovery well and seems to be on track to not miss very much time, though he still is gunning for Opening Day. Hopefully the Angels make sure he doesn’t try to push to hard to make that date.
The Story: The 2015 draft order is now set.
The Monkey Says: James Shields had been holding everything up. The Halos still have the last pick in the first round, but that is now pick #26 due to other teams forfeiting their first rounders to sign free agents. They have fifth-smallest signing bonus pool though, so it isn’t as if the bump to #26 helped them that much.
The Story: Signing bonus pools if it were inversely proportional to big league payroll.
The Monkey Says: That’s an interesting idea as it would really incentivize teams to win on the cheap as they can continue to add more top talent in the draft. Even in this scenario the Angels would still be damned to a bad farm system.
The Story: The Angels get a “B” grade for their offseason.
The Monkey Says: Can’t argue with that as the roster changes were minor enough to still make them the favorites in the AL West.
The Story: Burning questions for each of the AL West clubs.
The Monkey Says: The answer to the questions are as follows: it is going to end poorly, Josh Rutledge primarily but with Green and Featherston each getting decent looks, and well enough to be pitching at a high level by mid-May.
The Story: The franchise bests and worst for the Angels.
The Monkey Says: Incorrect, the Josh Hamilton free agent signing is proving to be even worse than the GMJ signing, though I suppose Hamilton still has a chance of salvaging a tiny bit of value before everything is said and done.
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