The May 18th, 2015 edition of Los Angeles Angels news including Hamilton denied access to Moreno, Angels one of Tulowitzki’s preferred destinations and much more…
The Story: Josh Hamilton says he was repeatedly denied an opportunity to speak with Arte Moreno.
The Monkey Says: This is supposed to make the Angels sound heartless and mean. I got news for you though, there are a lot of companies run by billionaires where getting access to the owner/CEO isn’t exactly an option for everyone. Granted, Hamilton was the type of employee where you’d think he’d be given that access, but the fact that he thinks it is some sort of miscarriage of justice speaks more to his sense of entitlement than anything else.
The Story: Troy Tulowitzki would prefer to play for the Angels, Dodgers, Giants or Yankees.
The Monkey Says: He wants to win and he’s a former Long Beach State Dirtbag so this list isn’t at all surprising. The Rockies front office is now saying that all of this trade demand stuff is media created, but that’s what he’s supposed to say. The story originated from an interview with Tulo’s agent. I doubt he ends up with the Angels, but it is nice to see they at least made his list.
The Story: The Angels are wary of the new turf in Toronto.
The Monkey Says: This is an especially pressing concern with Pujols tweaking his leg injury again. The plan sounded like it was originally going to be focused on getting Trout, Pujols, Calhoun and maybe Aybar or Freese a day off or at DH. Now it sounds like it will mostly be about DHing Pujols.
The Story: Mike Trout is striking out less by swinging more.
The Monkey Says: He’s seen a big rise on in-zone swing rate and a smaller rise out of the zone. He’s clearly trying to be more aggressive and it is clearly working. However, he is also seeing fewer pitches in the zone than ever. I’m not actually sure that is a bad thing though, not so long as he doesn’t overdo it when it comes to being more aggressive about swinging.
The Story: The Angels pitchers are controlling the zone more and succeeding.
The Monkey Says: This has been a big organizational pillar for Dipoto from the first day he joined. Interestingly, the Angels rank 24th on pitches that were actually in the zone. This doesn’t necessarily translate to strikes though as generating whiffs and deceiving hitters can have a lot to do with that. After all, the Angels have the ninth-best walk rate this year too, so the lack of balls in the zone isn’t exactly causing them problems.
The Story: Garrett Richards is spinning his way to success.
The Monkey Says: This was teased as a Statcast article, but the video is just a normal highlight video. Still, the info is pretty cool as stuff like spin rate has not been available before (as far as I know) and it is a strong performance indicator.
The Story: Chris Iannetta is taking his demotion in stride.
The Monkey Says: That’s awfully big of him seeing how he is going to be a free agent after the season and is getting what will likely be his last chance at a decent-sized contract. His value dwindles each day, but it doesn’t seem to bother him.
The Story: Looking at some over-unders for players by using PECOTA.
The Monkey Says: The Mike Trout WAR watch is already on.
The Story: Nate Smith has been great for the Angels.
The Monkey Says: Paywall. Smith has been really good though and is definitely a guy a lot of Angels prospect dorks like that other outlets haven’t really been on much.
The Story: The Twins signed Ryan Wheeler to a minor league contract.
The Monkey Says: Which is interesting because he’d been in the Angels farm system and I didn’t realize they released him. This is not a loss worth worrying about. It probably isn’t even worth the pixels needed for me to write this.
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