Halo Headlines – 2/8/10

• The Story: Why Mike Scioscia is the best manager in the game.  The Monkey Says: If last year’s success with an injury and tragedy ravaged roster doesn’t tell you why Sosh is the best, then you just aren’t ever going to figure it out.
• The Story: Injury expert Will Carroll predicts the Angels to be one of the healthiest teams in baseball in 2010.  The Monkey Says: Please be sure to tell that to the arms of all our starting pitchers because they apparently missed that memo last year.
• The Story: Tony Reagins and Mike Scioscia gives the Angels power at the top.  The Monkey Says: But what good is that power if the duo can’t deliver a World Series title in the next few years?
• The Story: Brandon Wood is getting ready for his shot at a full-time job.  The Monkey Says: I’ll be honest, I think that him having to compete for the job at all is horse crap.  Wood has been a good soldier for years and it is time he be given his due.  At a minimum, Wood should get the full-time gig for the first two months before the Angels bench or platoon him.
• The Story: Baseball Intellect’s profile of prospect Garrett Richards.  The Monkey Says: Anything featuring a guy named “Garrett” makes the links any day.  The report comes with video of Richards’ mechanics, which makes it more interesting than most profiles out there.
• The Story: The Angels bench has a lot to prove.  The Monkey Says: I tend to disagree, the bench isn’t really any thinner than it was last season.  They’ve still got Mighty Maicer and the other guys that fill out the bench can’t be any worse than Gary Matthews and Robb Quinlan were last year, so if anything, they have nowhere to go but up.

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Tags: Brandon Wood, Daily Links, Garrett Richards, Gary Matthews, injuries, Maicer Izturis, Mike Scioscia, prospect, Robb Quinlan, Tony Reagins

You Make the Call: Who’s the New Face of the Franchise?

For the last six years, Vladimir Guerrero has been the unquestioned face of the franchise.  Anytime the team had a key game it was always marketed as “Vlad and the Angels take on [insert opponent]!”  But now that Guerrero has moved on to Texas, who will take over as the public face of the team?

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Tags: Chone Figgins, Discussion, Erick Aybar, John Lackey, Kendry Morales, Torii Hunter, Vladimir Guerrero, You Make the Call

Halo Headlines – 2/5/10

• The Story: The Angels look to the future with promise.  The Monkey Says: The Angels have loads of young talent and few salary obligations beyond 2011, so they certainly have flexibility, but what about the present?  I want a World Series now, dammit!
• The Story: Joe Saunders interviewed with Jeff Biggs on AM 830 KLAA yesterday.  The Monkey Says: I like that Joe didn’t even tell his wife that his shoulder was hurting him last season.  You have to admire that kind of toughness even though it turned out to be a really stupid decision.
• The Story: The Angels have a few connections to the current Caribbean Series participants.  The Monkey Says: None of them are the interesting, but it is a really slow news cycle in baseball right now, so I will take any Angel news I can get.
• The Story: A few potential breakout Angel prospects.  The Monkey Says: They must be real dark horse candidates, because Mason Tobin is the only I have ever actually heard of.

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Tags: Daily Links, Joe Saunders, Mason Tobin, prospects

Halo Headlines – 2/4/10

• The Story: The Angels announced their 27 non-roster Spring Training invitees.  The Monkey Says: The list includes nothing but Angel prospects like Trevor Reckling and Hank Conger and a handful of Quadruple-A type players.  Barring an unforeseen injury to an established player, none of the invitees have a legit chance at breaking camp with the big league club.
• The Story: Which Angel great deserves the bronze statue treatment?  The Monkey Says: The Halos are one of the few teams without such a monument at the stadium, but nobody really jumps out at me as a logical choice.  Maybe Tim Salmon, but I don’t really feel like he had the kind of legendary career that is deserving of such an honor.
• The Story: What to do about filling out the bench?  The Monkey Says: I tackled this issue a last week and disagree that the Angels are going to carry three catchers, nor do I think the Angels keep Matt Palmer on the roster as the safer option is for him to stay in the minor league rotation so he can remain stretched out should injury strike.
• The Story: The Angels are loaded at catcher.  The Monkey Says: Deep, yes, loaded… not so much.  Napoli can hit but can’t catch, Mathis can catch but can’t hit, Wilson is nothing more than a back-up, Budde is a very poor man’s Napoli and Conger isn’t ready.  The franchise is well set-up to have a quality backstop or two down the line, but right now, things are a little more suspect.

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Tags: Bobby Wilson, Daily Links, Hank Conger, Jeff Mathis, Matt Palmer, Mike Napoli, prospects, Ryan Budde, Spring Training, Tim Salmon, Trevor Reckling

Monkeying Around

My brain is still fried from watching the season premier of “Lost,” so I don’t think I am going to be able to come up with a cogent bit of analysis or any clever satire today.  So, I figured I would take advantage of the fact that my mind is skipping around from thought to thought like the Lost island jumps around in time and just spit out some of the random thoughts that have been running through my mind about the Angels:

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Tags: Alfredo Amezaga, Brian Fuentes, Fernando Rodney, Gary Matthews, Jeff Weaver, Jered Weaver, Joel Pineiro, John Lackey, Kendry Morales, Kevin Jepsen, Mike Napoli, Monkeying Around, Ramon Ortiz, randomness, Scot Shields, Tony Reagins

Halo Headlines – 2/3/10

• The Story: The Angels have tough decisions to make with so many players out of options.  The Monkey Says: Actually, the decisions aren’t that tough.  The only players really in trouble are Bobby Wilson and Terry Evans (assuming the team carries 12 pitchers or he gets beat out by Chris Pettit).
• The Story: The Halos are ready for the lefty-heavy AL West.  The Monkey Says: The Angels do have plenty of right-handed pop, but if Kendry Morales and Hideki Matsui struggle against southpaws, the middle of the order isn’t going to look very good when facing lefties.
• The Story: A profile of prospect Alexia Amarista.  The Monkey Says: With Howie Kendrick already in place, Maicer Izturis signed for three years and Jean Segura likely higher on the prospect totem pole, Amarista is going to have find a new position if he is going to be a major contributor in the big leagues.

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Tags: Alexia Amarista, Bobby Wilson, Chris Pettit, Daily Links, Hideki Matsui, Kendry Morales, prospects, Terry Evans, transactions

Pick an Ace, Any Ace

The Angels need an ace pitcher.  I know it, you know it, the American people know it.  Having already scraped the bottom of the free agent and trade barrel in search of said ace, the Halos now have no other choice but to look inwards.  But who is really up for the task?  All five Angel starters certainly have a claim to the job, but can any of them overcome their fatal flaws and take their game to the next level?:

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Tags: Analysis, Ervin Santana, Jered Weaver, Joe Saunders, Joel Pineiro, Mike Butcher, Scott Kazmir

Halo Headlines – 2/2/10

• The Story: PECOTA has fixed itself and issued new projections.  The Monkey Says: The Halos are no longer the worst team in the AL West, but they are sub.-500 and in a tie for second in the division that the Rangers will supposedly win.  Considering how badly PECOTA missed last season on team projections and how hosed their first attempt at predicting this season was, they better hope they are right this time if anyone is going to take them seriously.
• The Story: The Angels have already shelled out over $11 million in arbitration settlement contract raises.  The Monkey Says: They still haven’t settled with Aybar and Mathis either.  As bad as that sounds, it is only going to be worse next year and might be baseball Armageddon when several of these young players all hit free agency at the same time.
• The Story: Rex Hudler won two Southern California Sports Broadcasters awards this year.  The Monkey Says: And yet he remains unemployed.  Hopefully these awards beef up his resume even more and help him land a gig before the seasons starts.
• The Story: Mike Scioscia will be making an appearance at a fundraiser this Sunday at a local Italian restaurant.  The Monkey Says: Insert obligatory “Scioscia is fat and likes Italian food a lot” joke here.
• The Story: The Seattle Mariners signed 1B Ryan Garko to a contract.  The Monkey Says: Rob Neyer wrote a scathing piece about why the Mariners continue loading up signings like this, but I actually think this is another savvy move for Seattle who is basically improving their depth and hedging their bets that one of these many acquisitions ends up hitting the jackpot.
• The Story: A profile of Angel prospect Michael Kohn.  The Monkey Says: A reliever who relies on a funky delivery to achieve success?  What could possibly go wrong with that?  Just don’t ask Brian Fuentes.
• The Story: A profile of Angel prospect Tyler Chatwood.  The Monkey Says: All I knew about Chatwood was that he is tiny, so this actually is a great explanation of how he achieves success.

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Tags: AL West rivals, arbitration, Daily Links, Erick Aybar, Jeff Mathis, Michael Kohn, Mike Scioscia, predictions, prospects, Rex Hudler, Ryan Garko, sabermetrics, Tyler Chatwood

Halo Headlines – 2/1/10

• The Story: The PECOTA projections released last week were flawed.   The Monkey Says: Looks like someone forgot to carry a decimal point.  Somehow they didn’t notice that something was messed up when the Nationals were predicted to finish over .500 but the Angels were supposed to finish as one of the worst teams in baseball.
• The Story: The CAIRO projections have the Angels finishing at .500 and second in the AL West.   The Monkey Says: Really, I don’t know why I even bother to look at statistical projections relating to the Angels because they always sell them short.
• The Story: The Angels are showing interest in bringing Garret Anderson back as a reserve.   The Monkey Says: Dear God, no!  GA has been below league average at the plate for years now and is a disaster in the field.  Even worse, if the Halos signed him, I fear Mike Scioscia wouldn’t be able to resist overusing him simply because he is a veteran.
• The Story: Joe Saunders agreed to a one-year, $3.7 million deal with the Angels, avoiding arbitration.   The Monkey Says: I am a little surprised that Saundo didn’t sign a multi-year deal given how long this pact took to come together despite a minimal difference in arbitration submitted numbers between him and the club.  It also might be a smart decision since the Angels don’t really know what to expect from Saunders this season, much less the next few seasons.
• The Story: Reggie Willits will compete for a job this spring.   The Monkey Says: I would be shocked if Reggie didn’t get the job after being such a loyal soldier since his solid 2007 rookie season.  He is nothing more than a reserve, but he is a versatile defender and excellent pinch-runner that the Angels should have more than a few good uses for.
• The Story: Mike Scioscia shed some light on his plans for filling the leadoff hole vacated by Chone Figgins.   The Monkey Says: Sosh basically said it is Erick Aybar’s job to lose, though I know some people (and by some people, I mean myself) question his ability to get on base consistently, and that Bobby Abreu will not be considered for the gig because he is so good at driving in runs.
• The Story: A profile of prospect Will Smith.   The Monkey Says: Just another one of the well thought of low-level pitching prospects in the Angel system.
• The Story: A profile of prospect Carlos Ramirez.   The Monkey Says: The other Angels’ catching prospect.  Ramirez has potential, but  anyone should be especially wary of catchers being able to translate their tools all the way up the minor league ladder.

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Tags: arbitration, Bobby Abreu, Carlos Ramirez, Daily Links, Erick Aybar, free agency, Garret Anderson, Joe Saunders, Mike Scioscia, predictions, prospects, Reggie Willits, Rumors, Will Smith

You Make the Call: New Angel Slogan

With a new season comes a new slogan for the LA Angels franchise.  Last season, that geniuses in the marketing department came up with “Fan Strong.”  Our scientists have been working around the clock since Opening Day but they still have no freaking clue what exactly “Fan Strong” means.  To avoid any more confusion this season, perhaps we should help the Angels’ marketing people out and come up with some slogans for them to sample.  After all, we are Fan Strong, surely we are capable of coming up with a simple slogan.

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Tags: Discussion, Fandom, slogan, You Make the Call