- The Story: Vladimir Guerrero and Scot Shields were both named to Sports Illustrated’s All-Decade Team. The Monkey Says: Let’s hear it for a national media source not just focusing on exclusively on the Red S0x and Yankees.
- The Story: AngelsWin.com interviews former Angel announcer Rex Hudler. The Monkey Says: The Wonder Dog talks about his new book, his faith and his career all with enthusiasm that even manages to jump off the web page.
- The Story: The Winter Meetings are over but Tony Reagins expects to be incredibly busy the next ten days. The Monkey Says: Not to read too much into it, but it sure sounds to me like Tony expects to get a resolution on some of the big moves he has been chasing in those ten days. Stay tuned.
- The Story: Even though no trade was completed at the Winter Meetings, the Angels are still considered the frontrunners for Halladay. The Monkey Says: That seems to be the consensus and the consensus also seems to be that the contenders are down to just the Angels, Phillies and Yankees… and, of course, Toronto’s own stubbornness and stupidity.
- The Story: …or maybe they aren’t the frontrunners, the Phillies are. The Monkey Says: Having a rotation of Halladay, Lee and Hamels just isn’t fair, so the baseball gods can’t possibly allow this to happen.
- The Story: Tony Reagins admits (allegedly) that the Jays have targeted Joe Saunders, Mike Napoli and Peter Bourjos in trade talks. The Monkey Says: If so, I am guessing the Halos would have to toss in at least one more prospect. Reagins also suggests that they could expand the deal to include more Blue Jays players, which I would anticipate being either Scott Downs or Jason Frasor.
- The Story: The case against Roy Halladay. The Monkey Says: This is just a classic case of Angel fan prospect hoarding. Personally, I blame Bill Stoneman for this phenomenon where most Angel fans go ape at the idea of trading away any of there precious prospects. Let’s get this straight, Halladay is arguably THE BEST pitcher in the league. Having a nice, deep rotation is great for the regular season, but it just doesn’t cut it during the playoffs. You need that shutdown guy to get you through. Halladay is that guy. John Lackey is not, nor is any other pitcher on the Angel roster.
- The Story: John Lackey appears to be the top priority of the Seattle Mariners. The Monkey Says: I had no idea that Seattle had so much cash available, but looking at their contract commitments it seems like they have more than enough in the bank to get Lackey if they really want him. This Jack Zduriencik guy is really starting to piss me off.