The March 14th, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Aybar steps up extension negotiations, Morales experiencing calf tightness, Haren dominates Arizona and much more…
The Story: The Angels defeated the Diamondbacks 3-0 behind a stellar effort from Dan Haren.
The Monkey Says: Haren fanned seven in just three innings of work. Alexi Amarista also homered as he continues his stellar spring. Depending on how many pitchers the Angels carry or if Abreu gets traded, Alexi has a real chance at winning a bench spot out of camp or maybe even convincing the Angels to trade Maicer Izturis at some point.
The Story:Erick Aybar’s agent is in Arizona to discuss an extension face-to-face with Jerry Dipoto.
The Monkey Says: Nice to see that they are giving it one last good try. And I do mean last try. These two sides have already taken a few runs at extension talks, so it is hard to imagine them ever reaching an agreement if they don’t do it now. With as impressive as Jean Segura has looked this spring, it will be curious to see if the Halos are still eager to lock Aybar up long-term.
The Story: Kendrys Morales is experiencing some calf tightness after his recent attempts at running the bases.
The Monkey Says: This is supposed to not be of any concern, but considering Morales’ history, I don’t think any physical problems he has can be considered “to not be of any concern.” It is encouraging though that the Angels still expect him to resume activity on Wednesday after taking Tuesday off.
The Story: Jordan Walden is feeling confident in his changeup.
The Monkey Says: I’d still rather he be focusing on making his slider a more effective pitch, but the changeup can give him more options early in the count so that he doesn’t have to rely on his fastball so much.
The Story: Reliever Loek Van Mil was reassigned to minor league camp.
The Monkey Says: Van Mil looked awful in camp and was even willing to admit it. He is an older prospect but given his relative inexperience, he is considered to still be an unfinished product. He really has fallen out of the good graces of the front office though, so he is going to need a big year in the minors to get back on the radar for ever being a part of the Angel bullpen.
The Story: Jack in the Box and Chronic Tacos will be moving in to Angel Stadium.
The Monkey Says: I’ve never had Chronic Tacos, so I don’t know if this is a good thing. I do know Jack in the Box and the only thing I can say about them is JUMBACO!
The Story: Jim Bowden believes the Angels should pull the plug on moving Trumbo to third and just trade him.
The Monkey Says: Bowden is probably right, but to pass this judgment after Mark getting all of one week to play the position in live ballgames seems incredibly premature. His idea of letting Trumbo spend some time in the minors is one I fully endorse but he is correct in his assumption that the Angels won’t do it because it will be hard to justify demoting a player coming off a 29 home run season. It upsets me greatly to agree with anything Jim Bowden says.
The Story: The new veteran relievers in the bullpen are giving Jordan Walden plenty of advice.
The Monkey Says: It seems like a lot of the advice he is getting is pretty logical and simple, which makes it even more of a shame that Tony Reagins never had the foresight to acquire a veteran mentor for Walden last season when he was learning to close on the job.
The Story: Fangraphs rates the Angels DH position 10th in their positional power rankings.
The Monkey Says: Which they admit is pretty meaningless since nobody on earth knows how to project Kendrys Morales in 2012.
The Story: Brandon Wood might be on the comeback trail for the Colorado Rockies.
The Monkey Says: This is a wonderful piece on Wood and I do truly hope that things work out for him on some level, but I think every Angel knows that Wood performing well in spring training means absolutely nothing.
The Story: Kevin Jepsen is starting to return to form.
The Monkey Says: Having his velocity back is great, but the bigger concern for him is his control. He couldn’t hit the broadside of his own giant head last season, lest anyone forget about the intentional walk wild pitch he threw to lose a game in extra innings last season.
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