The January 30th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Madson might not be ready to start the season, Wells still wants to prove himself and much more…
The Story: Ryan Madson might not be ready for Opening Day.
The Monkey Says: Don't panic, it sounds like he might only be a week off from that. Still, this is discouraging since just last week Dipoto was saying how Madson was possibly ahead of schedule. The more concerning aspect of that isn't that he won't be available, it is that when he comes available, he will still need a few weeks to shake off the rust before assuming late-inning duties.
The Story: Vernon Wells still wants to show Angels fans what he can do.
The Monkey Says: Vernon, we've seen. We've seen it and we don't like. We don't like it one bit. I'm glad you have the right attitude about your struggles and your reduced role, but at it is getting dangerously close to crossing the line from optimistic to delusional.
The Story: Albert Pujols is… IN THE BEST SHAPE OF HIS LIFE!
The Monkey Says: According to a reporter, so this isn't quite as good as the normal proclamations. This is an interesting comment to here though given the recent reports that Albert's knee surgery prevented MLB and the MLBPA from approving him for the World Baseball Classic.
The Story: Speaking of Pujols, he is still hoping to join the Domincan in the second round of the WBC.
The Monkey Says: I guess I spoke too soon. The Angels would need to approve Albert playing in the WBC now, which seems unlikely to happen even if they are telling him now they support him in his quest.
The Story: The Angels avoided arbitration with Kevin Jepsen with a one-year, $1.181 million deal.
The Monkey Says: And now they are done with all their cases. Jepsen stands to make quite a bit more next season if he can finally put together an entire, consistent season of strong performance instead of the usual half season of awfulness mixed with half season of dominance with an outside chance of a demotion to the minors.
The Story: Omar Vizquel has been hired as a roving infield instructor.
The Monkey Says: Well, that came out of nowhere. The dude certainly has the credentials for the gig. However, part of me can't help but wonder if he is going to try and weasel his way on to the roster at some point.
The Story: Kaleb Cowart at #67 was the only Angel on MLB.com's Top 100 Prospect list.
The Monkey Says: Off the top of my head, that is the lowest I have seen him, though not by much. He was also the only Angel on the list, which should probably be a sign to those of you who are convinced that C.J. Cron is somehow going to come in and be a stud DH in 2014. It is also another sign of just how bad the Halo farm system is, not that we weren't already aware.
The Story: Pitcher Robert Coello was signed to a minor league contract and invited to training camp.
The Monkey Says: He will take Jo-Jo Reyes' spot in camp as a guy who has no chance of making the roster and is really just around to soak up innings for the Salt Lake Bees.
The Story: Mark Teixeira is the 14th best acquisition in Angels history.
The Monkey Says: Um, I am going to disagree (X gets the square!). Tex played less than half a season for the Angels and he really didn't provide much indirect benefit. The Angels probably would've promoted Morales to compete with Kotchman anyway. They would've still drafted Trout since they had back-to-back picks in that first round (so it would've been Grichuk not getting selected). And I don't see how the Pujols thing is related at all.
The Story: Mike Trout's rookie baseball card is a popular item on the collector's circuit.
The Monkey Says: This was a news update about baseball cards. This is what gets written in a real newspaper on a slow news day.
The Story: Pictures from the 2013 Angels Fan Cruise.
The Monkey Says: Same paper. Same slow news day. Also, people paid several hundred dollars to go on a cruise so they could meet the Angels' bullpen coach. Living the dream!
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