The September 5th, 2014 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Rasmus to get another start, Hamilton gets cortisone shot for shoulder and much more…
The Story: Cory Rasmus will get the start on Saturday.
The Monkey Says: They might try to push him four innings, but he’s going to have to pitch really well for that to happen. Otherwise, it is going to be another bullpen day, which is actually OK since their top relievers didn’t work much due to the losses in Houston.
The Story: Josh Hamilton is out for at least one day after getting a cortisone shot for a sore shoulder.
The Monkey Says: I smell some bullshit. Hamilton was clearly clutching the thumb he hurt earlier in the year when he was pulled last night. Now they are saying he’s been dealing with shoulder pain. This is a situation well worth monitoring. Brennan Boesch and Collin Cowgill figure to pick up the slack for however long Hamilton is out.
The Story: Joe Thatcher is about a week away from returning to the active roster.
The Monkey Says: The Halos might try and sneak him into a minor league playoff game if they can. Otherwise, he’ll be rehabbing during a big league game. Thatcher isn’t a big piece for the stretch run, but they need to get him fine tuned so that he can be used as an effective specialist in the post-season.
The Story: David Freese is taking his fluctuating playing time in stride.
The Monkey Says: He should still see the lion’s share of playing time, but nobody can blame Scioscia for using Beckham during Freese’s recent slump. I am actually wondering more if it is that Freese is just dealing with a nagging injury. He DH’d a few times earlier in the year when he had a minor injury as well. Perhaps that injury or his old back injury has flared up and Scioscia is just trying to give him some rest before the post-season.
The Story: Matt Shoemaker has found success by becoming less predictable with his pitch location.
The Monkey Says: That certainly helped, though I wonder how much of it was intentional and how much of it was just him refining his command. I am dubious that he was actively trying to throw the ball down the middle earlier in the season. Only Shoemaker really knows.
The Story: John McDonald is open to playing in 2015.
The Monkey Says: He’s about to turn 40 and sounds like he is more likely to retire though. He really doesn’t offer much as a player at this point, so finding a gig might be a problem. It sure seems like he has a future as a coach though, so perhaps he’d be better off in the long run trying to get that portion of his career going. Then again, even the league minimum player salary is more than he’d make as a coach, so you can’t blame him if he tries to bank one more year of a nice paycheck.
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