The November 18th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Pujols says his foot is '99.9% healthy,' Bill Ballou (poorly) explains his MVP vote and much more…
The Story: Albert Pujols says his foot is '99.9% healthy.'
The Monkey Says: That is terrific news. What is less terrific is that he says he is still doing rehab work on the balky near that he had surgery on last off-season. That the knee is still an issue despite all the rest it got certainly suggests it could become a problem again down the line.
The Story: Bill Ballou and other AL MVP voters explain their ballots.
The Monkey Says: There is a fair mix of voters who gave Cabrera extra credit for being on a playoff team even though many of those voters said they realize it wasn't Trout's fault the Angels were bad. That doesn't make sense to me, but whatever, I can live with it. Others acknowledged Trout's defense and baserunning advantages but simply didn't think it outweighed Miggy's offense superiority, a perfectly defensible argument. Then there is Bill Ballou who thinks non-contending players shouldn't even be allowed on the ballot. That seems like the kind of made-up rules that could get him a talking to from the BBWAA. Even worse, he fails to enforce his own rules by voting Trout seventh and Encarnacion ninth while Ortiz was eighth and Longoria tenth. Basically, he had his moral high ground for the first six spots on the ballot and apparently got bored of it. What a maroon.
The Story: Joe Posnanski nitpicks Bill Ballou's ballot and subsequent explanation.
The Monkey Says: What a great point he makes on people hiding behind the semantics of the word "valuable" and how they really just use it as a way to justify their vote rather than the other way around.
The Story: Peter Gammons would have voted for Mike Trout if he had an AL MVP ballot.
The Monkey Says: If Posnanski and Gammons are for us, who can be against us?
The Story: The apathy of the Trout vs. Cabrera vote.
The Monkey Says: I've seen some writers talk about the vitriol of this debate, but it definitely felt more muted to be this year over last year. I was definitely in the group that just didn't get worked up this time around because the conclusion was inevitable and all the arguments were going to be pretty much the same. Nothing new was going to be introduced to the situation that was going to change any minds. Let's see what happens next year.
The Story: Projecting the 2014 MLB award winners.
The Monkey Says: Oh, so we are going to do this again? Drat.
The Story: Jordan Bastian addresses the specious Trumbo-for-Kluber trade rumor.
The Monkey Says: Dipoto already shot it down, but Bastian points out how little sense the trade makes for an Indian team that could well lose Jimenez and Kazmir to free agency. Yet the Cleveland podcaster who started the rumor continues to perpetuate it. I'll give the guy credit for sticking to his guns as he at least doesn't appear to be the new Scott Swaim who just made stuff up.
The Story: The fan's guide to crafting trade proposals.
The Monkey Says: I hate trade proposals, yet sometimes I can't help but feel compelled to make them and once I do, all I do is await the forthcoming scorn. Still, these are good rules. Rules that certain other sites that keep proposing impossible, lopsided three-way trades that involve half the roster would do well to read.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
