The October 2nd, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Moreno might not fire anyone, Trout a finalist for AL Outstanding Player and much more…
The Story: There is growing speculation that neither Mike Scioscia nor Jerry Dipoto will lose their job.
The Monkey Says: Though Ken Rosenthal isn't sure he believes it and he is one of the most well-connected rumor mongers, so he might know more than those rumors let on. Or maybe he just knows that nobody really has heard from Moreno yet, so it doesn't matter what the speculation is. My suspicion is that we should get an answer soon since the organization meetings begin October 10th. It would be odd to go into that meeting without clarifying the job status of the coaching staff and front office first.
The Story: Mike Trout is a finalist along with Miguel Cabrera and Chris Davis for the AL Outstanding Player.
The Monkey Says: This is the player voted award, so they will likely vote for Miggy since players are even more beholden to old counting numbers like RBIs. Alas, the players did not appear to be swayed by J.B. Shuck's grittiness as an AL ROY candidate, so maybe they are becoming more progressive.
The Story: Buster Olney bemoans the precedence in MVP voting of giving too much weight to team record.
The Monkey Says: This is exactly why the BBWAA is screwed up. Olney rights this missive about the precedent needing to go, but he ultimately feels that he is bound to vote according to that precedent unless otherwise instructed. That is just asinine since the precendent itself is a written rule. He has all the leniency in the world to try and set new precedence, yet he isn't willing to because of the groupthink nature of the BBWAA.
The Story: Jonah Keri makes the AL MVP case for Mike Trout without invoking WAR.
The Monkey Says: I a way he kind of still does because he talks about the value gap between the player with the bat, on the bases and in the field, which is basically what WAR attempts to summarize. Still, to break it out that way might make it more accessible to people who don't fully grasp what WAR is meant to do and how it is calculated, which is really one of the biggest reasons that some writers are so against the WAR metric.
The Story: Mike Trout is the greatest young player since Ted Williams.
The Monkey Says: Not that I am complaining, but can we all just get together and determine which all-time greats Trout hasn't been compared to yet and knock them all out in one big column? I just think that would be more efficient.
The Story: Who to root for if your team is not in the playoffs.
The Monkey Says: Apparently I have to root for the A's. That makes me kind of uncomfortable. For the record, I am picking the Rays over the Cardinals, which almost assuredly means the Rays will lose tonight. Sorry, Rays.
The Story: The 20 longest home runs of the season in one video.
The Monkey Says: Man, I love that Mark Trumbo homer near the end. I can't get over that it not only went so far, but it was out of the park so dang fast and not one of those arcing moonshots. He hit that thing 476 feet on a line you could hang laundry from.
The Story: Randal Grichuk won a MiLB Gold Glove.
The Monkey Says: I can't even begin to figure out how credible a MiLB Gold Glove is considering what a joke the MLB Gold Gloves are, but Grichuk has made a lot of strides defensively. He probably isn't a guy who is going to be looked at to man center field in the majors, but he should be an excellent defensive right fielder if/when he breaks into the bigs.
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