The August 27th, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Pujols out until at least Tuesday, Takahashi traded to the Pirates, more talk on Trout's MVP case and much more…
The Story: The Angels are hoping Albert Pujols can return to the lineup on Tuesday.
The Monkey Says: Still not a guarantee, which is unfortunate because the lineup is starting to falter a bit. At the same time, they are right to protect him if he isn't healthy, but they just can't afford to have him not playing in a crucial series.
The Story: Hisanori Takahashi was given to the Pirates via waivers.
The Monkey Says: Yes, the Angels basically traded him for nothing. The Pirates put in a trade waiver claim for him and the Halos simply said they could have him. Don't be pissed though, Hisanori was awful and having the Pirates pick up the remaining $1 million or so left on his contract is worth more than any scrub prospect that will never amount to anything.
The Story: Mike Trout's MVP odds could take a hit if the Angels miss the playoffs.
The Monkey Says: Some voters have already rightly gotten away from this line of thinking, but others haven't and would only vote for a guy on a non-playoff team if his season was truly incredible. Trout is close to that, but Miguel Cabrera is getting close enough that the more old school voters could be swayed to vote for him should the Tigers make the playoffs and the Angels fail to do so.
The Story: Trout's relatively quiet August is not cause for concern.
The Monkey Says: I love that a month in which he carries an .894 OPS is considered a "quiet" month. For some rookies, wearing down late in the season is cause for concern, but Trout seemingly went thought that last season and, in fact, that seemed to be one reason they have him play in the Arizona Fall League. Theoretically, he should be used to the long season as a result.
The Story: Howie Kendrick has been sporting an interesting mustache.
The Monkey Says: Hey, if Michael Jordan can pull off the Hitler-stache, why can't Kendrick?
The Story: Looking at Santana's struggles with allowing homers and his faulty slider.
The Monkey Says: Very interesting, as I would've blamed his fastball since his lack of command with that pitch led to a lot of walks and much of his bigger struggles early in the season. Turns out it was a combo of him walking guys with his fastball then hanging his slider for the death blow home runs.
The Story: Chris Iannetta is trying to make up for lost time.
The Monkey Says: His bat has been hot of late, but I'm still waiting for his defense to catch up. He's allowed several passed balls since coming back and has had even more instances where he has had crossed signals with the pitcher.
The Story: Is Dan Haren slumping or declining?
The Monkey Says: It seems pretty clear that it is his back, which doesn't equate to a slump to me. Unfortunately, that leaves declining thanks to that bad back and bad backs don't always get better by themselves. That is the the multi-million dollar question the Angels will have to answer this off-season when they are faced with picking up or declining his team option for 2013.
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