The March 30th, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Bobby Abreu might get traded to Cleveland, Isringhausen is waiting to hear his roster fate today, Scioscia is ready to raise the playing time limit on Trumbo at third base and much more…

The Story: As of last night, there was a potential deal in place to send Bobby Abreu to the Cleveland Indians.

The Monkey Says: Things may have changed since I wrote this, but this is not a done deal yet and may not get done at all as the teams are reportedly haggling over how much of Abreu’s salary the Angels will eat.  Whatever the figure, the Commissioner’s Office will have to sign off, which will only delay matters further.  The current incarnation of this rumor has the Angels acquiring outfielder (and prospect bust) Trevor Crowe, but Jon Heyman, who broke the trade news first, claims that whatever deal Crowe was in is a “no-go” but that it may not have been an Abreu trade.  Nonetheless, the Angels are clearly intent on moving Abreu and want to get it done, which is almost certainly why he was sent off to work on the side instead of in a game yesterday.  One has to imagine though that if this falls through, the Angels will just have to release Abreu since this would be their second failed effort to deal him away.


The Story: Jason Isringhausen will learn if he made the Opening Day roster today.

The Monkey Says: He pitched well again yesterday, so he should make the team, especially since the Angel relievers are a bit dinged up right now.


The Story: Mike Scioscia is going to raise the ceiling on games Mark Trumbo will play at third base this season.

The Monkey Says: Trumbo is getting mostly positive reviews for his transition to the hot corner and Scioscia is impressed enough to say that Trumbo will get more playing time at third than the original 40-50 games he had been targeting going into the season.  He hasn’t said what the new target is, but 60-80 games sounds pretty reasonable and it could be even more if he progresses as a hitter.  Oh yeah, we’ve kind of forgotten all about that, huh?  Trumbo actually still needs to improve at the plate to make this experiment worthwhile.


The Story: Reliever Francisco “The Other One” Rodriguez has been demoted to the minors.

The Monkey Says: He was a longshot to make the roster to begin with, so this is no surprise and all but assures that Kevin Jepsen will get the final spot in the bullpen.


The Story: ESPN SweetSpot pre-voted on the AL Cy Young with Dan Haren finishing fourth and Weaver finishing fifth.

The Monkey Says: Last year, Dan Haren was underrated.  However, it looks like that he will be so underrated that he overrated by the end of this season.


The Story: Jorge Cantu could potentially do a lot for the Angels.

The Monkey Says: I fail to understand the infatuation with Cantu.  He hasn’t hit for a season and a half and hasn’t hit for power in three seasons.  He is a miserable fielder at third base.  The Angels have no real need for a pinch-hitter or another back-up first baseman.  Even if this Abreu trade does happen, I still don’t think Cantu makes the roster.


The Story: Attempting to conjure up a manager WAR or wins above expectancy metric, with early results showing Scioscia’s greatness.

The Monkey Says: The stats are in their nascent stages, but I think it says something that Scioscia ranks so even compared back to some of the all-time greats.


The Story: A look at a potential deep sleeper prospect, Jett Bandy.

The Monkey Says: Great info here because I didn’t realize Bandy had such potential.  I just thought he had potential to have one of the greatest names ever and nothing more.