Daily links for the LA Angels including assessing Scioscia’s worth, the Angels won’t face financial limitations, Izturis and Aybar return to action and much more.
The Story: Is Mike Scioscia worth the money?
The Monkey Says: Even before I know the salary, I’m going to go ahead and say yes, and emphatically so. But this whole conversation is spawned by the fact that Sosh’s ten year extension kicks in next season and it has been recently revealed that the extension is worth $50 million total, making him the highest paid manager in baseball (or at least very close to it). That does seem like a lot for a manager that has only delivered one World Series appearance, but let’s not forget how irrelevant the Halos were before Mike Scioscia took the helm. I should also point out that the average $5 million salary that Sosh is going to earn may be tops in baseball, but that figure is surpassed by a handful of head coaches in both the NBA and the NFL (and possibly the NHL, but I didn’t bother to check because nobody cares about hockey, plus I figure the US-Canada exchange rate makes it complicated).
The Story: The Angels won’t face financial limitations this off-season.
The Monkey Says: That is both true and false. It is true in that (as I recently have stated on this blog) Arte Moreno will gladly spend whatever is necessary on a player like Carl Crawford if he thinks it can make the Angels legit contenders and/or deliver a marketable superstar. It is false in that the Halos are sure to try and dump players like Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera this off-season for the sake of saving some salary room after a 2010 season in which they are expected to lose approximately $10 million.
The Story: Maicer Izturis and Erick Aybar returned to action last night.
The Monkey Says: This certainly is good news in that the Angels were willing to even risk either players healthy (especially the increasingly brittle Izturis), but it ultimately won’t mean very much other than we won’t be subjected to seeing Andrew Romine in over his head on a nightly basis.
The Story: Jered Weaver ranks well amongst Cy Young contenders.
The Monkey Says: Weaver certainly has had a stellar season, but since most award voters are older than Methuselah, they are likely to overlook his fantastic season due to his lack of wins, even if he ends up besting Felix Hernandez (who has been better than Weaver and faces similar win-loss record challenges) for the strikeout title.
The Story: The Texas Rangers have landed a massive new TV contract.
The Monkey Says: I try and keep the swearing to a minimum on this blog, but SHIT! The firm annual number is not yet pinned down, but the Rangers are going to be getting the highest paid TV deal of any MLB team. It seems that, at a minimum, $75 million is their new annual windfall, setting them up very well to be able to become one of the biggest spenders in baseball. Clearly this does not bode well for the Angels, especially since Texas currently owns one of the richest and deepest farm systems in baseball right now.