Halo Headlines: Trout nominated for Hank Aaron Award, determining a price for Dan Haren, Scioscia facing make or break 2013 season

The October 11th, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Trout nominated for Hank Aaron Award, determining a price for Dan Haren, Scioscia facing make or break 2013 season and much more…

The Story: Mike Trout is the Angels nominee for the Hank Aaron Award.

The Monkey Says: This is the award for the best offensive player and Miguel Cabrera will probably win it for the AL.  I won't be nearly as annoyed by that as Miggy winning the MVP, though a very strong case can still be made that Trout is a better offensive player.

The Story: What is a fair price for Dan Haren?

The Monkey Says: Anything more than a two-year deal for Haren scares me given his age, arm mileage and recent back problems.  I think the annual value suggested is fine, but the Halos would have to be very confident in the medical reports to make that kind of commitment to Haren.

The Story: Expect Mike Scioscia to be firmly on the hot seat when the 2013 season begins.

The Monkey Says: I was firmly in the camp of keeping Scioscia for next season, but I have no problem with him being ousted if the Halos struggle again.  I think he's a great manager but if he can't get the most out of the roster, then it must be time to move on.  That being said, barring an outright catastrophe like this last April, any managerial change probably won't come until the end of the season.  Arte Moreno simply has too much respect for Scioscia to fire him mid-season.

The Story: A look at the leaderboard of WARi, a new metric that consolidates the various WAR measurements.

The Monkey Says: Guess who is still in first place by a mile?  Yup, Mike Trout (nudge, nudge, wink, wink BBWAA members).

The Story: ESPN did a political poll of pro athletes and MLB players generally had the most conservative views out of any of the majors sports groups.

The Monkey Says: I'm not starting a political debate here, I just find it interesting.  That's as much as I am going to comment on it.  Behave yourselves.  I will say one more thing, actually.  You'll surely notice that this news item is not Angels-related.  I try to keep the Halo Headlines exclusively limited to Angels news, but the off-season can be a slow time, so rather than post two or three stories, I'll try and beef up the news with some more general MLB news.