Halo Headlines – 12/18/09

  • The Story: Trevor Reckling is drawing comparisons to Al Downing.  The Monkey Says: The Angels should be so lucky.  There is a ground swell of support for Reckling to win the fifth starter job this season, but he is still just a kid at 20 years old, so I would be surprised to see the Angels rush him.  Moreover, I would be shocked if the Angels don’t bring in an established veteran to fill that void after getting hammered so badly by injuries to the rotation last season they certainly learned a lesson about having increased pitching depth.
  • The Story: A sneak preview of what will happen when Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui faces John Lackey?  The Monkey Says: Epic.  Simply epic.
  • The Story: Jose Arredondo was stabbed at a part in the Dominican Republic this week.  The Monkey Says: Details for this are shaky at best, but Dondo was supposedly stabben in his non-pitching arm but did not suffer a serious injury.
  • The Story: Will Matsui’s addition hurt Mike Napoli?  The Monkey Says: The theory here is that Matsui is a full-time DH, thus preventing the Angels from squeezing more at-bats in for Mike Napoli at DH.  While Napoli can rake, he is probably the streakiest hitter on the Angel roster.  When he is hot, Sosh will find him at-bats somewhere even if it means sitting Matsui or someone else.  Personally, I wonder if the Halos might not want to have Napoli learn to play first base so he can spell Kendry against tough lefties.  Then again, he has enough defensive concerns behind the dish that learning a new position might be counter-productive.