The March 23rd, 2015 edition of Los Angeles Angels news including Rasmus out 6-8 weeks, Hamilton decision by Opening Day and much more…
The Story: Cory Rasmus is out 6-to-8 weeks after surgery to repair a core injury.
The Monkey Says: This makes the final bullpen spot conversation interesting. It functionally opens up two spots, which you’d think would go to both Vinnie Pestano and Matt Lindstrom who were the frontrunners for the final spot before Rasmus got hurt. However, Rasmus was going to be counted on as a longman in the pen, so that will factor in. Technically, Ramos can be a longman, but he’s needed more as a LOOGY. Instead, it could be Drew Rucinski, Nick Tropeano or Jose Alvarez swooping in to steal a roster spot not unlike what Shoemaker did last year.
The Story: A decision on Josh Hamilton’s suspension is expected by Opening Day.
The Monkey Says: It sure would be nice if he’d make that decision sooner. It’s not like he hasn’t had plenty of time or anything.
The Story: Matt Lindstrom needs to be added to the 25-man roster by March 31st.
The Monkey Says: If he isn’t, he can elect free agency, which he would surely do. As such, I’d be surprised if he didn’t win the roster spot.
The Story: Alex Yarbrough, Alex Sanabia, Sherman Johnson, Ryan Wheeler, Charles Cutler and Jett Bandy have been sent down to the minors.
The Monkey Says: They are down to 42 players in camp, only a handful of which are non-roster invitees.
The Story: The Angels are not looking to make any roster upgrades before the season.
The Monkey Says: They have payroll flexibility, but they want to let things play out to see if Cron takes a step forward at DH and if any of the second base candidates turn out to be any good. That makes a fair amount of sense as any deals this time of year are going to be for salary dump players. Impact players won’t be available until around the deadline.
The Story: Matt Joyce says he will be ready for Opening Day despite his injury issues.
The Monkey Says: He can swing, but he can’t run. If anything, I wonder if this won’t lead to him DHing more than planned when the season starts which surely influences who wins the final bench spot.
The Story: Mike Trout is working to refine his two-strike approach.
The Monkey Says: That’s nice, but the bigger issue is just how many two-strike counts he ends up in. It’s all part of his game, so just how much anyone really should try and change him remains to be seen.
The Story: C.J. Wilson is trying to make the changeup a bigger part of his arsenal.
The Monkey Says: This is bad news because his changeup isn’t very good and he started using it more already last season. Now he wants to throw it even more and based on his comments, it sounds like he is doing it to preserve his elbow thus intimating that he’s already battling elbow issues and just not telling us about it. Great.
The Story: The Angels see a lot of promise in Scott Snodgress.
The Monkey Says: He won’t make the team out of camp, but it is highly likely that he’ll spend time in the majors at some point this season.
The Story: A look at the teams that could have interest in Ryan Howard if the Phillies eat $50 million of his contract.
The Monkey Says: A Cron-Howard platoon DH is at least worth considering, but giving two roster spots to guys that only play first base and play it poorly really inhibits roster flexibility.
The Story: Considering Santa Clarita as a potential new home for the Angels.
The Monkey Says: I guess some folks just need the Angels to play near a major amusement park no matter what.
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