The January 8th, 2015 edition of Los Angeles Angels news including Angels show no interest in Scherzer and Shields, McDonald retires and much more…
The Story: The Angels continue to show no real interest in Max Scherzer and James Shields.
The Monkey Says: Dipoto once again trots out the line that he has not engaged with any free agent pitcher, which is pretty hard to see as doublespeak, even for Dipoto. Rumor mongers keep trying to lump the Angels into the races for those guys, but there is no fire to that smoke.
The Story: John McDonald has decided to retire.
The Monkey Says: Incredibly, McDonald played in parts of 16 seasons despite compiling a cumulative 0.8 WAR. It really goes to show what being an elite “clubhouse guy” can do for your career. He will almost assuredly slide right into a coaching position, probably with the organization of his choosing.
The Story: Re-signing Gordon Beckham is looking less and less likely.
The Monkey Says: Looks like Beckham isn’t dropping his price enough to be worth bringing back. Dipoto was hot and heavy to re-sign him a few weeks ago, but the rhetoric is much different now. I still wouldn’t be surprised if the Halos added a veteran (Kelly Johnson?) on a minor league deal before training camp.
The Story: The signing of Roberto Baldoquin is now official.
The Monkey Says: They “signed” him a few weeks ago, but the commissioner’s office had to sign off to make it fully official.
The Story: Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw were names L.A.’s Sportsmen of the Year.
The Monkey Says: See? Even the L.A. Sports Council is buying into the Angels’ name change.
The Story: The missing link for every AL team.
The Monkey Says: Bowden thinks the Angels need another veteran starter. Meh. I’d rather let them give Heaney and Tropeano real shots at the rotation rather than committing money and a roster spot to a known mediocre veteran like Colon or Niese. If the kids aren’t working out, then go get a veteran upgrade at the trade deadline.
The Story: Predicting the first Hall of Famer for the Angels.
The Monkey Says: The answer settled on was Trout, but that was only after inadvertently(?) failing to consider Vladimir Guerrero. Vlad has a shot at making it to Cooperstown and there is decent chance he would go in as an Angel if he did get inducted. Trout certainly would be the first otherwise, but I think the case for Vlad is much more interesting to try and dissect.
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