Daily Links for the LA Angels including Rangers showing interest in Beltre, Angels not the mystery team in on Lee, Matsui close to joining the A’s.
The Story: The Rangers are reportedly showing interest in Adrian Beltre.
The Monkey Says: Riiiiiight, sure they are. Texas may have some money to spend, but going after Beltre seems like a low priority for them, so if they are showing any interest, it is likely just for show so that they can drive up the price on Beltre for the Angels. Either that or Scott Boras, Beltre’s agent, is making it all up to try and get the Angels to bid against themselves.
The Story: The Angels are not the mystery team in on Cliff Lee and instead are “offensively focused.”
The Monkey Says: I never really thought they were anyway, but we all now know that the mystery team was the Philadelphia Phillies since they are the ones that actually signed Cliff Lee late last night.
The Story: Hideki Matsui is on the verge of signing with the Oakland Athletics.
The Monkey Says: Only a physical seems to be standing in the way of this becoming official. Let’s just hope Godzilla doesn’t continue the trend of Angel DHs leaving the Halos for a division rival and becoming an All-Star.
The Story: A look at how the Carl Crawford deal went down.
The Monkey Says: This is a few days old, but I needed to get my two cents in on this report. If this is true, and the Angels are disputing some of it, then I am even more baffled than I was before. I was actually kind of OK with the Halos deciding Crawford was too rich for their blood, but this makes it sound like they were willing to pay the price only they either hesitated too much in that decision or that they simply don’t know how to negotiate, which is even more frustrating than just thinking they were too cheap.
The Story: Scott Downs is not going to offer much help.
The Monkey Says: Or so says ESPN’s Keith Law. Law seems most concerned with Downs’ new contract and injury history. Those are fair concerns, but you have to take Law’s analysis with a grain of salt since he seems to hate… what’s the word? Oh, yeah… everything. Seriously, Law is a really sharp guy, but I don’t think there has been a single off-season move any team has made in the last five years that he hasn’t been critical of.
The Story: The Angels just don’t have it anymore.
The Monkey Says: I really want to disagree here, but since Tony Reagins is currently pretending that signing two middle-aged lefty relievers is a “big splash” move, I can’t seem to find the evidence to support a rebuttal.
The Story: A number of Angels have changed their jersey numbers.
The Monkey Says: Newly acquired Hisanori Takahashi will wear #21 and Kevin Jepsen will change to #40, which was most recently worn by former Angel closers Brian Fuentes and Troy Percival, so maybe Jepsen knows something we don’t know.
The Story: Alexi Amarista is showing surprising power in the Venezuelan Winter League.
The Monkey Says: SMALL SAMPLE SIZE WARNING!!! This is good news for Amarista, but he’ll have to carry it over into the minor league season before anyone starts getting too excited.
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