- The Story: Angels sticking with Aybar through thick or thin. The Monkey Says: Or until Maicer Izturis gets healthy. Aybar still has potential as a leadoff man but can’t find the happy medium between patience and aggressiveness, so having him move to ninth while Izturis hits first (and takes over for Wood at third) is looking like an increasingly appealing option. I still think Aybar can be a top of the order threat, but he needs more time to figure things out.
- The Story: Scott Kazmir believes he is tipping his pitches. The Monkey Says: Kaz’s latest excuse is that he isn’t going a good job of adding some deception to his delivery. He shouldn’t get too down on himself though as he did make real progress in his last start and while he still has a ways to go, he should be encouraged and not discouraged by that outing.
- The Story: The Angels are looking to replenish their farm system. The Monkey Says: They hope to do that next month in the draft, but if they keep losing, they’ll get some added prospects when they start trading away veterans at the trade deadline since they are well on their way to not being in contention by then.
- The Story: ESPN’s Keith Law rates Mike Trout as the 14th best prospect in the minors. The Monkey Says: Trout is destroying at Single-A Cedar Rapids in his first full minor league season and seems to be on the fast track to stardom. Of course we said the same thing about Brandon Wood after he had a big year in Single-A not so long ago.
- The Story: The lineup is too crowded for Reggie Willits. The Monkey Says: His patience and speed have some bandying is name about as a solution to the leadoff hitter problem, but unless Sosh plans on benching Rivera or Matsui, which isn’t going to happen, their simply isn’t anywhere for Reggie to play.
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