Halo Headlines: High school renames their field after Mike Trout, Hall not likely to make the roster

The March 14th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including a high school renames their field after Mike Trout, Hall not likely to make the roster and much more…

The Story: Mike Trout's high school alma mater renamed their baseball field after him.

The Monkey Says: Up next, Millville will just become MikeTroutville. I do like though that they haven't decided on the exact name of the field yet which gives me hope that they will pick a name that is some horrible fish-related pun.

The Story: After suffering a setback with his calf, it is looking like Bill Hall will not make the Opening Day roster.

The Monkey Says: I had him down as a favorite for the final bench spot, which he might get later in the season once he is healthy. Given this news, I'd guess that the competition is now between Brendan Harris, Kole Calhoun and Luis Jimenez, who curiously played first base yesterday, a telltale sign that the team is looking to expand his positional flexibility so that he is a more useful bench candidate.

The Story: Albert Pujols ran for himself (sort of) for the first time yesterday.

The Monkey Says: Jogged might actually be a better term to use, but it is progress. The team is hoping to get him in the field in the next seven to ten days.

The Story: Sean Burnett made his spring debut yesterday and it did not go well.

The Monkey Says: I didn't realize Burnett was such a hothead.

The Story: Re-evaluating the Zack Greinke trade.

The Monkey Says: I definitely hate the trade now that he is no longer an Angel. I even said that at the time that the only way I'd be cool with the deal was if they re-signed him, which I very much thought they would and still don't fully understand why they didn't make more of an effort to do so. Given how much they traded away and how thin their farm system is now, it is hard not to view that trade as a very large misstep.

The Story: Reliever Andrew Taylor has a small labrum tear in his throwing shoulder.

The Monkey Says: This explains his absence and figures to sideline him for a few weeks at least. The good news is surgery isn't needed, so he can still get back and work his way back into the depth chart as the first southpaw reliever to be called up if the Angels need one.

The Story: Vernon Wells could be earning himself playing time with his strong spring.

The Monkey Says: What bothers me about this is Scioscia says there is "playing time to be won." Is there really? If Bourjos and Trumbo both hit, there is NO playing time for Wells unless injury strikes. That is unless Scioscia still doesn't trust Bourjos or Trumbo, which truly frightens me. I'd really feel a lot better if Wells went into the tank the rest of March.

The Story: There are TWO Angels in John Sickels' Top 150 prospects.

The Monkey Says: That's right, TWO Angel prospects! Cowart is unsurprisingly in there, but so is Nick Maronde. Granted, Sickels had to expand to 150 to get him in there, and he only barely sneaks in at 149, but at least the Angels finally got two prospects on one of these lists. The future is finally looking bright!

The Story: Tommy Hanson is the only starting pitcher not taking batting practice for the Angels.

The Monkey Says: Which strongly suggests he is going to be slotted as the number five starter. That probably doesn't mean much other than Scioscia is trying to space out Vargas from C.J. Wilson in the rotation and that he think Blanton is a better hitter than Hanson (both are actually quite awful). Then again, Hanson has not pitched well this spring, so maybe Scioscia is making a statement by making him the #5 guy.

The Story: The All AL-West pre-season team.

The Monkey Says: How in the world is Joe Nathan not the closer over Frieri when Frieri isn't even really the Angels' closer?

The Story: Searching for the optimal Halo batting order.

The Monkey Says: I did this same exercise with the same tool and got completely different answers. I didn't use ZiPS projections though. I really can't get my head around any lineup that has Trout batting fifth. That makes no sense to me or any of the research I've read about optimal orders. I guess I'm saying that I think that tool is a bit flawed or my understanding of the research is flawed. I will let you decide for yourself.

The Story: Angels farmhand and Team Mexico member Efren Navarro reflects on the WBC brawl with Canada.

The Monkey Says: Let's see Navarro, the Angel, doesn't see anything wrong with the bunt and kept a cool head about things. Luis Cruz, the Dodgers, went apeshit over the bunt and sparked an international incident. Hmmm.