The April 3rd, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Weaver's velocity down even more, Angels bullpen showing early promise and much more…
The Story: Jered Weaver succeeded against the Reds despite his velocity dropping even further.
The Monkey Says: This wasn't in the article, but Pitch f/x had Weaver's fastballs averaging 85.8 MPH during his start. That's over 2 MPH down from his 2012 average and would've been the fourth-slowest fastball velocity amongst qualifed pitchers last year. The good news is that most pitchers see their velocity increase over the course of the first few weeks of the season, but Weaver clearly has a long way to go just to match his 2012 velocity, much less his career average velocity.
The Story: The Angel bullpen is showing some early promise and depth.
The Monkey Says: They were great on Monday, but let's not go planning the parade down Katella just yet. The increased depth of Richards, Lowe and Burnett will be a big help, especially with Madson out, but there is still legit concern over Frieri's consistency, Downs' health, Jepsen's possible regression and the general question marks that Richards and Lowe both are. Predicting bullpen performance is a fool's errand to begin with, but I remain skeptical mostly because they have burned us so bad the last few years.
The Story: C.J. Wilson gives the pros and cons of dating a supermodel.
The Monkey Says: Yep, you really have it rough, C.J..
The Story: An infographic on ticket prices around MLB.
The Monkey Says: A lot of people are griping about the increased ticket prices for the Angels this year due to their new dynamic pricing model, but let's not forget that they had been one of the cheapest tickets in the sport for the last several years. Even now, they are still in the middle of the pack, though things clearly fluctuate now based on the opponent. What is real interesting is that even with all their stars, the Angels do not merit much of a bump in pricing at opponing stadiums.
The Story: The aggregated Top 190 prospects in baseball.
The Monkey Says: Cowart checks in at #48 and Maronde at #171. There, I just saved you a lot of scrolling or a little bit of Ctrl+F.
The Story: A look at how Jered Weaver's ability to change speeds allows him to overcome his flagging velocity.
The Monkey Says: That defintiely worked for Weaver on Opening Day, but I can't help but wonder if he can really keep opponents off-balance constantly because that is what he is going to have to do if he is going to be stuck throwing in the mid-eighties.
The Story: Mike Trout should be fine despite lofty expecations.
The Monkey Says: Like Dan Haren said recently, Trout is cocky right up to the point of arrogance, a trait that should serve him well now that he is in the spotlight. This just isn't the kind of guy who is going to wilt under the pressure of lofty expectations.
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