The March 28th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Trout in GQ, Angels sign Mark Lowe, trade Geltz and much more…
The Story: The Angels signed reliever Mark Lowe to a minor league contract with a invite to spring training.
The Monkey Says: It looks like the Angels are getting really nervous about the bullpen's performance. It seems the plan is to evaluate Lowe, who had been with the Rangers but was just cut by the Dodgers, to see if he is worth a quick add to the roster, otherwise they could stash him in the minors if they think they need a longer evaluation period. He definitely throws hard, but he has not been healthy recently, so this is really just a flier.
The Story: Steve Geltz was traded to the Rays for reliever Dane de la Rosa.
The Monkey Says: Another roll of the dice by Dipoto. Geltz is 25 and has some potential, but it is pretty clear there is something about him the organization didn't like. They get back de la Rosa, a 30-year old flamethrower with all of 12.1 innings of big league experience, so this really seems odd. However, de la Rosa is one of those weird guys that quit baseball for a few years and came back to rack up a bunch of whiffs but also a bunch of walks. Dipoto did find Frieri, so maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt here.
The Story: The Angels bought pitcher Elvin Ramirez off of the Mets.
The Monkey Says: Ramirez is 25 and like de la Rosa, throws hard but has command issues. He will take up a 40-man roster spot with the Angels, but they still have three open spots (really four though once they put Brandon Sisk on the 60-day DL), so they can still add more players if needed.
The Story: Mike Trout is featured in the upcoming issue of GQ.
The Monkey Says: Because a men's fashion magazine is where I go for all my baseball stories.
The Story: The Angels are rumored to have interest in veteran pitcher Chris Young.
The Monkey Says: Presumably to work at Salt Lake as rotation depth, but Young might still be looking for spot on an MLB roster.
The Story: Forbes values the Angels at $719 million but says they lost $13 million in 2012.
The Monkey Says: Interesting, but these Forbes valuations are known to be specious. I wouldn't worry too much about the negative profit. Let's not forget, Moreno bought the team for $180 million, so he'll make out just fine whenever he sells the team.
The Monkey Says: He saw some others too but he seemed particularly impressed by Wood, but the book on Wood is that he can look wildly different each time a scout sees him.
The Story: A recap of Fangraphs' positional power rankings.
The Monkey Says: I chose to link to this rather than each position ranking. The Angels generally made out quite well here, even though they surprisingly came in second in left field behind the Brewers. The #17 ranking the bullpen is pretty questionable too, but in the other direction.
The Story: The Angels announced their TV schedule with 150 games showing on Fox Sports West.
The Monkey Says: All (or almost all) of the remaining games will either be on Fox, MLB Network or ESPN.
The Monkey Says: Thanks to the Wells trade, they have the money to pull that off, I just don't know that they have the prospects, especially if they make Cowart off limits or have to deal with a team that views C.J. Cron as strictly a DH.
The Story: A look at park factors and batted ball connections for each stadium.
The Monkey Says: I am not quite sure what to do with this, and I like this stuff. I mean, it is interesting, I just don't know how to apply it.
The Story: Things the Angels could buy with the $13.9 million they got for Vernon Wells.
The Monkey Says: Yes, but $13.9 million doesn't even buy you one full season of Vernon Wells himself. Did I just blow your mind?
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