The end of the season is mercifully approaching for the Los Angeles Angels.  The roster itself is actually a solid one, worthy of contention in any given year.  There’s just no way any team could work around injuries to a Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney, Nick Tropeano, Tyler Skaggs led rotation and find success.  A General […]

Every game in an audition when you’re in the minor leagues.  The old saying that the cream rises to surface applies here.  When you take the most talented young baseball players on Earth, and force them to play against one another, the best will always rise to the occasion and put up numbers.  Hype, signing […]

One of my obsessions over the last few years has been former Baltimore Orioles/California Angels second baseman Bobby Grich.  One of the reasons for this is that his national profile does not get the attention it deserves, and I want to remind people just what a great baseball player he was.  For that reason, I […]

Hey everyone out there who is still listening to Monkey with a Halo.  I have published a new book that is available now at Amazon.  It is This Day in Angel History, a compilation of my Today in Halo History articles, one for every day of the year.  As you know, I love writing about […]

With the minor league regular season just finished, now is a good time to look at who the leaders were on the Angels’ farm.  There will be a couple of familiar names on this list that even a casual Angel fan should recognize.  Of the six highest levels on the ladder of development on Angels’ […]

As a baseball writer, I am a frequent visitor of such websites as baseball-reference and FanGraphs, and it never fails.  My initial reaction is always one of being hit by the staggering amount of information and the many complicated ways of looking at this information that exists for baseball and which is unprecedented for any […]

Life can be complicated sometimes.  For the most part, those who are able to simplify it tend to be the happiest.  Baseball is a simple game, and thus it brings joy to fans around the world.  But the Angels, they’re a complicated team, and that leads to a lot of discontent.  Their fan base would […]

Last off-season was the most disappointing for Angels fans since 2010, the year Tony Reagins showed up inexplicably late to the winter meetings, fled on foot to avoid having an interview with Jon Heyman and failed to sign the two players who basically were linked as strong as any player could be linked, to the Angels (Carl […]

Throughout the course of a season, a General Manager tends to make dozens of moves.  Most of them never merit a headline on MLBTR.  In fact, Billy Eppler just made one such move by acquiring LHP Manny Banuelos.  If the name brings a bell, it’s because Banuelos is a former consensus Top 50 prospect in […]

Everyone and their mother posts a top prospect list for their respective teams.  We’re no different (just better ;).  But the top prospects are just a small fraction of the actual amount of minor leaguers each team has (typically closer to 300).  Believe it or not, there are some prospects that most sites aren’t noticing, […]

The Angels farm system may be lacking in many things, but relief pitching appears not to be one of them.  To name a few, LHP Kevin Grendell is rocking a low-to-mid 90’s fastball that jumps on hitters and a lethal curveball,  RHP Eduardo Paredes throws a four-seamer in the upper-90’s and a wicked two-seamer in […]

The Angels farm system became likely the worst in baseball around 2014 or 2015.  But this wasn’t an overnight occurrence.  This farm system had been improperly handled for a solid five plus years before it went into an irrevocable tailspin.  Large contract free agent signings resulted in loss of first round picks.  Major trades at […]

Angel minor league second baseman Andrew Daniel has just been announced as the Texas League’s Player of the Month.  Daniel had a terrific month of July for the Double-A Arkansas Travelers in which he hit .378, had three home runs, had 18 RBI, and scored 20 runs. On the season, Daniel has a .361 on-base […]

For the second time this season, Angel minor league starting pitcher Troy Scribner has been named his league’s pitcher of the week.  The first time it occurred, he was pitching for the Angels’ Double-A Arkansas Travelers.  He was named the Texas League Pitcher of the Week for tossing six shutout innings against the Frisco Rough […]