Halo Headlines: panel split on Hamilton suspension, Richards takes fielding practice

The March 5th, 2015 edition of Los Angeles Angels news including panel split on Hamilton suspension, Richards takes fielding practice and much more…

The Story: A four-person panel tasked with deciding the Josh Hamilton suspension is split on what to do with him.
The Monkey Says: Oh boy, this is getting hairy. An arbitrator will now split that tie, but it sounds as is MLB ultimately still has jurisdiction and could make its own decision. There is no timetable for a decision, but it sounds like a full year suspension is still very much a possibility.

The Story: Garrett Richards took pitcher’s fielding practice for the first time.
The Monkey Says: This was the last hurdle he needed to clear to be able to move onto camp as if he were a normal pitcher. We should see him taking normal bullpen sessions soon and likely even see him in a game before too long.

The Story: The Angels set their initial spring training rotation.
The Monkey Says: It goes Santiago-Weaver-Wilson-Shoemaker with Jered lined up for the expected Opening Day start. They’ll have to figure out how to work Heaney, Richards and Tropeano into the mix still though, especially later in the spring when the starters need to work more innings and thus can’t really appear in relief.

The Story: Huston Street and the Angels will exchange contract proposals soon.
The Monkey Says: They keep talking about tearing up his contract for 2015 in a proposed extension, but with a $7 million salary this year, it would be better to tack keep that intact so as to drag down his luxury tax number going forward.

The Story: MLBPA head Tony Clark hopes Josh Hamilton gets some “support.”
The Monkey Says: A subtle plea for leniency for Hamilton, but also one where Clark shows that the union may not be willing to go to bat for Josh unless his punishment is clearly excessive.