Halo Headlines: Richards resumes running, explaining the Percival Hall of Fame vote

The January 13th, 2015 edition of Los Angeles Angels news including Richards resumes running, explaining the Percival Hall of Fame vote and much more…

The Story: Garrett Richards began a running program on Monday.
The Monkey Says: This comes on the heels of news that Richards is expected back at some point in April. All this really means is he remains on track, not that much was expected to change in the last few days.

The Story: The guy who voted for Troy Percival for the Hall of Fame claims East Coast Bias.
The Monkey Says: Yes, he truly believes Percy belongs in Cooperstown and didn’t get any consideration because he played most of his career in California. Even if there is a little bit of regional bias, there just is no convincing case that Percy is a Hall of Famer. Barely any relievers are in the Hall and a big part of that is that the save just isn’t a stat that has a long history. Nor will it ever as a lot of the sabermetric-minded folks realize that the save is a very flawed stat. There are a lot of better closers than Percival who aren’t going to get into Cooperstown.

The Story: A look at the Angels eight arbitration eligible players and their expected salaries.
The Monkey Says: The settlements are starting to trickle in from around the league, so don’t be surprised to see the Angels making some deals this week. The only one that I see as potentially contentious is Hector Santiago, but he’s in his first year of arbitration, so that might be premature.

The Story: Keith Law bashes the Kubitza-Sanchez trade for the Angels.
The Monkey Says: Law is pretty down on Kubitza, wondering if he can even be a fringe starter. He seems to be more dubious of his glove than some of the other prospect gurus out there.

The Story: Vladimir Guerrero said he would like to go into Cooperstown as a Montreal Expo, if elected.
The Monkey Says: Welp, that should pretty much seal it. He was with the Expos longer and compiled more gaudy numbers. The Hall ultimately makes the call on what cap a player wears, but the player’s opinion is taken under consideration. Sorry, folks, he’s not going in as an Angel.