The January 16th, 2014 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Moreno confirms no Tanaka meeting, Angels spoke with Garza, no progress on Trout extension and much more…
The Story: Arte Moreno confirms that the Angels have not met with Masahiro Tanaka but did talk with Matt Garza.
The Monkey Says: This is two top level denials now, so it is pretty safe to say that earlier reports of the Angels meeting with Tanaka were erroneous. My guess is that Garza will be an Angel by the end of the month.
The Story: The Angels have made no progress "to speak of" in terms of a Mike Trout long-term contract.
The Monkey Says: That isn't a surprise as the Angels aren't likely to start talking to him until after the resolve their arbitration cases, but with Kershaw signing his mega-deal, this was bound to become a topic.
The Monkey Says: Morosi was just a fountain of information yesterday. This is also not a surprise, although it is definitely interesting to hear that Moreno is moving more towards twenty more years in the Big A as opposed to building a new stadium on the nearby land that the city was going to give him for almost nothing.
The Story: Raul Ibanez will get paid about $250,000 for every 50 plate appearances, up to 400.
The Monkey Says: What that means is that Ibanez can still platoon and he will still likely make all of his incentives.
The Story: The missing link for every AL team.
The Monkey Says: A top of the rotation starter for the Angels? Oh, sure, no problem. Those are falling out of trees. I don't see how that could be a problem.
The Story: The Angels-Yankees game on 4/27 will be on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball.
The Monkey Says: I look forward to the totally impartial and not-at-all biased announcing of that game which I am sure won't mention once that Mike Trout's favorite player growing up was Derek Jeter.
The Story: Mike Trout's one weakness: hitting in the clutch.
The Monkey Says: That probably isn't worth worrying about, though I do think that Trout changes his approach to be more aggressive than he normally would out of a desire to "make something happen."
The Story: A look back at Don Baylor's history as a hitting coach.
The Monkey Says: Interesting even if it is anecdotal. I don't expect any miracles from Baylor despite his sterling reputation, if only because I don't think any hitting coach has the kind of magic touch that can turn around an offense without changing personnel.
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