The September 24th, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Moreno says Scioscia will return, reports of front office tension, Hunter expected to re-sign in Anaheim and much more…
The Monkey Says: Well, that should be the end of that. Clearly Arte felt forced to make this statement after the flurry of reports that emerged in the last few days stating that Scioscia's job was in jeopardy (more on that soon). You all know that I am Team Scioscia, but I believe this is absolutely the right move. Scioscia has earned himself a long leash and, frankly, a lot of the problems this team faced were not remotely his fault. That being said, the Angels clearly can't be pleased with the way the season has unfolded and wouldn't and shouldn't stand for it if it happens again, no matter what. So let Scioscia give it another go next season and see what happens after he and Dipoto have finally had a year to get on the same page.
The Monkey Says: This report came out just a few hours before Moreno dropped the "everyone is safe" hammer, so, umm… oops! Even with that, there is clearly some juicy stuff in here, especially about Scioscia daring Dipoto to fire him at one point. After days of reports speculating on Scioscia's job security, this is the first one to offer any real evidence other than the Hatcher firing. And with Rosenthal being the reporter that broke the Pujols deal, we can almost certainly trust him as having a well-placed source. Some of this certainly sounds damning, but it also sounds a lot like one would expect any organization to function when there is a whole new front office working with an incumbent coaching staff and then not having the results that were expected. You might find this hard to believe, but people tend to not act happy in sports when thay aren't winning, even if they've been working together for years. At this point, I wouldn't worry about the Angels having a dysfunctional power structure too much, but it is at least something to keep an eye on next year.
The Story: Torii Hunter met with Jerry Dipoto and the feeling is that he will be re-signed after the season.
The Monkey Says: This is great news, but I reserve the right to reneg on that statement if it turns out Hunter is going to get too much money and/or too many years. The real intrigue now is what will the Angels do with Peter Bourjos now that he is presumably blocked again before the 2013 season even begins? One can only assume that he will be prime trade bait this off-season.
The Monkey Says: That doesn't mean it isn't MVP-worthy, just that it isn't unprecedented for it to be bested.
The Story: Mike Scioscia is glad to put the speculation about his job to rest.
The Monkey Says: This is just another foray into the mediasphere by the top Angel brass to put to rest the rumors that there were problems in the front office. To a man, they are all shooting down those reports as wildly inaccurate which either means they are wildly inaccurate or they just had a really good media strategy session.
The Story: Mike Scioscia has no regrets about lfiting Zack Greinke in his recent start.
The Monkey Says: I'm not going to beat a dead horse on this, but I suppose we can all look forward to this happening again since Sosh is sticking to his guns.
The Story: Jon Heyman believes that Zack Greinke will command a deal of six years, $125 million in free agency.
The Monkey Says: That, unfortunately, sounds about right which is why the Halos should take full advantage of trying to get Greinke locked up before he hits the open market.
The Story: The Angels will use a closer-by-committee until further notice.
The Monkey Says: The thing about that is that I don't believe he ever officially named anyone the closer. Frieri and Downs were sharing it before Downs got hurt, so I guess Frieri sort of got promoted by default.
The Story: Maicer Izturis wants to return to the Angels but knows he will get to test the market first.
The Monkey Says: I actually hope the Angels sign him and non-tender Callaspo instead so that they are more free to pursue an upgrade at the position but still have an in-house fallback plan.
The Story: Can Mike Trout maintain his level of play in 2013?
The Monkey Says: This article doesn't mention it, but with him falling off in the second half a little bit, I do believe that there is at least some question as to whether or not he really can recapture his incredible first half form now that the league has "the book" on him.
The Story: Hank Conger is ready to rebound in 2013.
The Monkey Says: But where will that be? Will the Angels let Iannetta walk and turn to Conger or will they sign Iannetta long-term and flip Conger via trade this off-season? Personally, I think this is going to be one of the more underrated storylines of the Angel off-season.
The Story: The Angels will have Zack Greinke start Tuesday and C.J. Wilson on Wednesday.
The Monkey Says: There was some thought that Wilson might be skipped, but instead he will just get moved back one day so Greinke can stay on normal rest.
The Story: Torii Hunter's son committed to playing football for Notre Dame next season.
The Monkey Says: This is Torii Jr., not Darius, who is also a football star but had to deal with allegedly unfounded sexual assault charges earlier in the season. Not that it should matter, I just know some of you are going to bring it up.
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