The September 29th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Scioscia defends the Napoli-Wells trade, Scioscia also deflects criticism for his lineup choices, Morales hopes to be ready for Opening Day and much more…
The Story: Mike Scioscia defends the decision to trade Mike Napoli for Vernon Wells.
The Monkey Says: I don’t even think Scioscia believes his own explanation, which is funny because most everyone assumes it was his attitude towards Napoli that provoked him to be traded in the first place.
The Monkey Says: This one I believe. Seriously, who cares about homefield advantage between the #2 and #3 seed teams. If it was for a playoff spot, I might feel differently. Besides, Detroit is a bunch of whiny, showboating jerks, so screw them.
The Story: Kendrys Morales hopes to be ready for Opening Day.
The Monkey Says: Hope is great, but I don’t think hope is enough for the Angels to heavily factor Morales into their plans for 2012.
The Story: The Angels still have a high payroll commitment heading into 2012.
The Monkey Says: I’ve mentioned this before. Depending on arbitration, the Angels figure to have $20-25 million to spend this off-season, unless they dump a salary or two via trade. That does give them room to land one big money free agent like Prince Fielder, but I suspect they will opt to make a series of “little splashes” on mid-level free agents to plug roster holes.
The Story: Keith Law leaves Jered Weaver off, but includes Dan Haren on, his AL Cy Young ballot.
The Monkey Says: We now live in a world where BABIP, FIP and xFIP play a big role in Cy Young ballots for some voters, so I guess this was inevitable. On one hand, it seems odd that Weaver was snubbed, but I do like that Haren finally got some love.
The Story: Adrian Beltre claims he begged the Angels to sign him last off-season.
The Monkey Says: I call BS. The Angels made him an offer, so he could have accepted it if he really was so desperate to be an Angel. Frankly, I think he begged them to make an offer so that he and Boras could actually start a bidding war because at the time there wasn’t many teams interested in his services.
The Story: Former Angel Ricky Adams is battling cancer.
The Monkey Says: Not going to lie, I have never heard of him, but I wish him well nonetheless.
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