The September 30th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Reagins hints at his off-season plans, more talk of moving Trumbo to third base, a trade idea for Bobby Abreu and much more…
The Story: Reagins says the Angels “can’t stand pat” this off-season.
The Monkey Says: Tony sounds more measured than last off-season as there was no “big splash talk.” To me though, it sounds like he is setting us up for a series of smaller moves rather than one big signing. He also intimated that he is going to be exploring trade options to clear the outfield logjam, likely Abreu. What bothers me though is he is already playing the “adding Morales will be a big boost” card, which I hate because I have zero faith in him being ready for the season much less productive when he does return.
The Story: More talk about experimenting with Mark Trumbo at third base, though not on a full-time basis.
The Monkey Says: It sounds like it is full steam ahead with trying Trumbo at third in winter ball. The team is only hoping to get him to a point where he can play maybe 50 games there, so it isn’t like he needs to turn into Mike Schmidt. I have to say, I like the plan, but I also don’t have high hopes for it panning out since even Trumbo deprecates the notion of him being able to field the hot corner every time he is asked about it.
The Story: Mark Saxon thinks the Angels might be able to trade Bobby Abreu to the Marlins.
The Monkey Says: The basis for that statement is that Abreu and Ozzie Guillen are good friends and that the Fish might want Abreu as a veteran tutor to hang around the club. That makes sense on one level, but I don’t think the Marlins are the kind of club that ever does anything like that, especially if they have to take on any money. As much as I want Abreu gone, I feel like the Angels are better off with him as a bench player instead of paying him his entire salary to play somewhere else.
The Monkey Says: Sending him to the AFL still feels weird to me, but you have to appreciate him having such a great attitude about it.
The Story: A quick preview of the Angels’ off-season to-do list.
The Monkey Says: It is all speculation, but seeing names like Aaron Harang, Javier Vazquez and LaTroy Hawkins thrown around frightened me to my very core. Whatever the opposite of a splash is, those guys would be it.
The Story: Triple-A 1B Efren Navarro and Double-A SS Darwin Perez both won minor league Gold Glove awards at their respective positions.
The Monkey Says: I don’t think Navarro has much of a future, but Perez could be a reserve since he fields so well and has a little bit of offensive upside due to a decent eye at the plate.