The November 7th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Trout wins Silver Slugger, Angels showing interest in Grant Balfour and much more…
The Story: Mike Trout won the Silver Slugger for the outfield.
The Monkey Says: He won last year too. This is no surprise at all and really not that interesting because I don't know that I have ever heard a player or fan brag about Silver Sluggers.
The Story: The Angels are one of five teams showing interest in Grant Balfour.
The Monkey Says: The Angels are going to "show interest" in a lot of pitchers this off-season, but most will be out of their willing spending range. Balfour will almost certainly be more expensive than Dipoto cares to spend on relievers. He'd be fun to have and he is honestly one of my favorite non-Angels, but this isn't going to happen.
The Story: Do the Angels have what it takes to acquire David Price?
The Monkey Says: No, we've already covered this. I'm starting to think you people aren't paying attention. Throwing in Richards at least makes it more realistic, but Tampa has a proven history that they only trade their stud pitchers for prospects, not guys in or approaching arbitration. There is no way they land price. Stop suggesting it. Stop even thinking about suggesting it.
The Story: The Angels signed pitcher Chris Volstad to a minor league deal with a spring training invite.
The Monkey Says: While you are at it, stop freaking out when the Angels sign a scrub to a minor league deal. Yeah, Volstad stinks, but he is just minor league depth and costs almost nothing. There is no reason to believe he is being signed to seriously compete for the rotation. The Angels got burnt a few years back because they had no starting pitching depth in the minors, Volstad helps solve that problem but he isn't going to be very good because no team has a pitcher that is 9th on their depth chart that is any good. The trick, of course, is making sure that Volstad actually is 9th on the depth chart and not 7th or 6th.
The Story: Is David Eckstein a candidate to join the Angel coaching staff or front office?
The Monkey Says: Pure speculation, but if he does want to get into coaching and wants to do so alongside his brother, this is about as good an opportunity as he is going to get.
The Story: A full lost of the 2014 minor league free agents.
The Monkey Says: Nothing special here, I just think it is fun to scan the list for names I recognize and then fantasize that the Angels scoop up someone like Kevin Kouzmanoff and have him finally realize his potential. That almost never happens, but every once in awhile there is a Ryan Vogelsong comes along.
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