The March 18th, 2015 edition of Los Angeles Angels news Wilson scratched again, Trout the most coveted player and much more…
The Story: C.J. Wilson was scratched from his start yesterday due to illness.
The Monkey Says: He’s now missed his last two starts which puts his availability to start the season in question. That might just mean he gets skipped the first time through. An injury and an illness allegedly ruined Wilson last season, so I guess they should be careful with him… I guess.
The Story: Mike Trout is the player MLB execs would most want to build their team around.
The Monkey Says: I only link to this because at the end of the article, one National League GM says he prefers Adam Jones over Mike Trout. I have to think that he is either trolling us all via his anonymity or he is Ruben Amaro.
The Story: Tony Reagins has been hired by the league office as the senior vice president for youth programs.
The Monkey Says: When the next generation of American kids fails to develop and baseball dies a slow death, we will look back on this day and know that Tony Reagins was to blame.
The Story: The Angels traded Jackson Williams to the Giants for cash.
The Monkey Says: I guess they didn’t think they needed G-Rich’s old battery mate around anymore.
The Story: The Angels have options at DH with Matt Joyce and C.J. Cron.
The Monkey Says: But really it is more Collin Cowgill that gives them options. He was too good last season and is red hot this spring, so the Halos have to get him in the lineup with some regularity. They have made noise about not platooning Joyce, but that seems inevitable now. The real question is if they platoon Cron, too. Theoretically, they could have Joyce and Cowgill platoon in left and have Cron platoon with Navarro or Krauss at DH. I think they’d like to see Cron take over the job full-time, but he has to earn that first.
The Story: The Angels are confident Andrew Heaney will be in the rotation.
The Monkey Says: They clearly want him to win a spot, even if it is just the spot that is being kept warm for Garrett Richards. They gave up a big piece to get him and need to see some ROI quickly.
The Story: Chris Iannetta was surprised to learn he is terrible at pitch framing.
The Monkey Says: Somehow Stabby McStabberson didn’t realize that he stinks at framing, so he’s working on it. Hopefully the old dog can learn some new tricks.
The Story: Offense is the key to Taylor Featherston making the MLB roster.
The Monkey Says: He’s been terrific defensively and the coaches are raving about him. He really doesn’t even need to hit all that much to earn a bench spot, he just needs to hold his own. There is a chance that a very strong offensive performance could move him to the top of the second base depth chart, but given how little time he’s spent at that position, the Halos likely consider him a better fit as a utilityman.
The Story: Ryan Wheeler is a budding entrepreneur.
The Monkey Says: Good for him. Not to be mean, but having a fallback career seems like a good idea for him.
The Story: Each team’s rotation according to cost-effectiveness.
The Monkey Says: The Angels have plenty of good cheap help, but their expensive help hasn’t been all that good, especially one lefty in particular.
The Story: Can C.J. Wilson find the strike zone again?
The Monkey Says: I think he means the edges of the strike zone, but let’s not nitpick. That release point data is pretty damning and not exactly inspiring, though he did have long stretches of success during the period after his dramatic release point change.
The Story: How MLB profits from players with addictions.
The Monkey Says: Wow, billionaire owners finding loopholes to recover money from bad investments? I’m shocked. The easy solution here seems to be that the suspended player’s salary should be donated somewhere, thus not letting the owner off the hook for a bad signing. That’s what is so funny about people being angry that Moreno didn’t get language in Hamilton’s deal that would void his contract if he got busted for drugs (which would violate the CBA, oh by the way). Even without that language, Moreno gets to save money for Hamilton getting suspended, so there actually isn’t all that much of a disincentive to sign such a player.
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