The September 26th, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Trout the 'rational' AL MVP choice, Halos unlikely to pick up options on Haren and Santana, appreciation of the Angels great defense amongst least biased announcers and much more…
The Story: Keith Law declares Mike Trout the rational choice for AL MVP.
The Monkey Says: That's a great endorsement, especially since Law pokes holes in all the points supposedly in favor of Cabrera. The only problem is that most BBWAA voters do not seem to be very rational people.
The Monkey Says: Keep in mind it was also "believed" Scioscia would get fired if the Angels miss the playoffs and that has been proved wrong already. That being said, this comes from Alden Gonzalez who has been very reliable. This is a risky strategy for the Angels because it leaves them very vulnerable if they don't re-sign Zack Greinke. However, they kind of need to dump Haren and Santana if they want to be able to afford Greinke. They could probably keep one of them and still pull it off, but it would make it harder for them to upgrade elsewhere. Personally, I'd keep Haren as I think he is poised for more of a breakout season, but paying either him or Santana eight figures after the wildly inconsistent seasons they are now completing is always going to be a hard pill to swallow.
The Story: The Angels defense has quietly been a major factor in their September surge.
The Monkey Says: The pitching has been pretty great for the Halos in September, but this piece shows how the defense has made the pitching so much better. This is one thing I love about this particular Angel roster. They are a great defensive, especially with Wells or Bourjos in the outfield instead of Trumbo, but it hardly ever gets mentioned.
The Story: Victor Rojas rate as one of the least biased announcing crews in baseball.
The Monkey Says: I tend to agree, but I also question the methodology of the study since Rojas and Gubi got the same score as the Mariners crew which is headed up by notorious homer Dave Sims (something even Sims will cop to, if not brag about). Also, it is worth noting that the bias score is not meant to imply quality or lack thereof, but look at the list and there sure seems to be a strong correlation, in my opinion.
The Story: The Angels shuffled the rotation to maximize their usage of Weaver and Greinke.
The Monkey Says: A great move by Scioscia as it lines up Weaver to start the final game of the season and also has Jered and Greinke slated to start in Texas. My only qualm about it is that C.J. Wilson gets two starts while Santana gets just one more and would've had Scioscia flipped them in the rotation.
The Monkey Says: Those seem unlikely to actually come to pass, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if there was a tie atop one of the divisions or even for the second Wild Card. These races are all so close that you would think at least one would finish in a tie. Even with a normal two-team tie, the scheduling gets pretty ugly.
The Story: The Angel players are begrudgingly pulling for the Rangers to beat the A's.
The Monkey Says: So say we all. Too bad the Rangers seem to be secretly trying to conspire against the Halos. Take for example Texas scratching red-hot pitcher Yu Darvish from his start last night with a "stiff neck." Riiiiiight.
The Story: The Burlington Bees are the new Low-A minor league affiliate for the Angels.
The Monkey Says: Good news if you are an Angel fan in Iowa as the Angels stay in state after losing the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Even better news if you are a big fan of teams named "Bees" because now the Angels have two such minor league teams in their farm system.
The Story: If MLB allowed for a contractual amnesty provision.
The Monkey Says: This will never happen, in fact, I'm pretty sure this whole post was written as a thinly veiled excuse to rip on Vernon Wells.
The Story: The Angels players favorite basket auction runs through the end of the week.
The Monkey Says: Place a bid and help out some charities. Buyer beware, most baskets include music CDs and movies, so be sure you pick a player that has good taste (hint, don't pick Ervin Santana's basket unless you are a Tom & Jerry fan.) Also, apparently Zack Greinke is a big World of Warcraft guy. That seems about right.
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