Daily links for the LA Angels including Halos start placing players on trade waivers, Crawford open to signing with the Angels, Wood and Mathis on track to make some unenviable history and much more.

The Story: The Angels have placed several players on waivers, including Brian Fuentes, Bobby Abreu and Juan Rivera.

The Monkey Says: This is standard procedure, but it does show that the Angels have been holding off on passing players through waivers until they are definitely out of the post-season picture.  Whether or not they’d actually trade anyone remains to be seen, but Brian Fuentes or Mike Napoli could both likely bring back a nice return.  We’ll explore this in further detail later today.


The Story: Carl Crawford is keeping his options open and is willing to consider signing with the Angels this off-season.

The Monkey Says: Half the league is going to show interest in Crawford, so he’d be stupid to rule anyone out at this point, but there is good reason to believe the Angels would be high on his list.


The Story: Peter Bourjos is making a fast impression on Peter Bourjos.

The Monkey Says: Peter’s elite speed even impresses the fleet-footed Crawford.  Hopefully that will help attract him to the Angels in free agency.


The Story: Brandon Wood and Jeff Mathis are on track to join a rare (and unenviable) club.

The Monkey Says: The two hackers are on pace to be the 10th and 11th players in the expansion era to have a 12:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio with over 200 plate appearances for a given season.  Strangely, Wood has been permanently benched for his offensive struggles, yet Mathis continues to start several times a week.  I just don’t get it.


The Story: Hideki Matsui’s stats aren’t as bad as you think.

The Monkey Says: Maybe, but they still aren’t that good and definitely well below what the Angels expected to get out of him when they signed him last winter.  His 0.7 WAR this season only supports that point.