The March 16th, 2015 edition of Los Angeles Angels news including the decline of Albert Pujols, Newcomb and eight others sent down and much more…
The Story: Behind the decline of Albert Pujols.
The Monkey Says: There is a lot of detail here, but the real thrust of this is that we shouldn’t expect him to rebound.
The Story: The Angels sent Sean Newcomb, Trevor Gott, Stephen McGee, Nate Smith, Atahualpa Severino, Eric Stamets and Jackson Williams down to minor league camp.
The Monkey Says: They join Albert Suarez and Edgar Ibarra who were reassigned earlier. The Angels now have 51 players in camp.
The Story: Can Garrett Richards keep it up?
The Monkey Says: It is a misleading title as this story is more about Richards discovering his cutter and maintaining a positive attitude during his recovery.
The Story: Roberto Baldoquin finally arrived in Angels camp.
The Monkey Says: He likely won’t be around long, but the team has promised to play him in one Cactus League game. That makes sense given that they want show off their shiny new toy.
The Story: Roberto Baldoquin shows maturity beyond his age.
The Monkey Says: Because the hype machine can never start too early.
The Story: Jered Weaver remains unconcerned about his velocity and is instead focusing on refining his delivery.
The Monkey Says: I wonder if this story is actually new or just recycled from the last few years of Spring Training.
The Story: Optimizing Jered Weaver’s schedule.
The Monkey Says: An interesting though completely unrealistic idea, at least with the way current MLB rosters are constructed.
The Story: The Angels want Tyler Skaggs to pitch in instructional leagues if he’s able to towards the end of the year.
The Monkey Says: He won’t pitch in the majors, but they clearly want to get a look at him before the year is out to determine how to factor him into their 2016 plans.
The Story: David Freese likely won’t be removed for defense late in games this year.
The Monkey Says: That’s partly trust of Freese but partly a lack of trust in the bench options. Featherston has defensive potential, but is no ace. If anything, I expect Freese to be pinch-run for a lot more this year since Featherston and Rutledge actually have decent speed, unlike McDonald last season.
The Story: Hector Santiago will not miss his next start despite being struck by a comebacker.
The Monkey Says: With his rotation spot so tenuous, I suspect that the comebacker could have severed Santiago’s arm at the wrist and he’d still claim to be fine.
The Story: Considering Las Vegas as a potential location for the Angels to build a new stadium.
The Monkey Says: An interesting idea, but moving out of Southern California would be like Moreno killing the golden goose. He’s a virtual lock for 3 million in attendance now, something he could top in Vegas, but he might also not come anywhere close. More importantly, I imagine moving out of the market would throw a monkeywrench into the lucrative regional TV contract the Halos signed the other year. Arte ain’t walking away from that windfall.
The Story: C.J. Cron is pegged as a potential breakout star in 2015.
The Monkey Says: I’m not touching this one. You all know how I feel about Cron by now.
The Story: Joe Smith threw the best pitch in baseball in 2010.
The Monkey Says: Suck on that, everyone else.
The Story: Long-time LA radio personality Joe McDonnell passed away at age 58 on Friday.
The Monkey Says: If you grew up more in LA than Orange County as I did, you certainly remember Big Joe. Even then, towards the later part of his career, he did spend more time covering the Halos. Regardless of what sport or team he covered, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more well-regarded media personality in Los Angeles.
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