- The Story: Kendry Morales fired his agent and hired The Devil Himself Scott Boras instead. The Monkey Says: Sonuvabitch. The last time Boras represented a switch-hitting slugger first baseman from the Angels that guy ended up stabbing them in the back and heading to the Yankees. Suffice it to say that the Angel fans and front office aren’t going to be terribly pleased about this news.
- The Story: Jered Weaver and Fernando Rodney rank amongst the pitchers who need the most pitches to finish off a strikeout. The Monkey Says: I am shocked that Scott Kazmir is not on the list. I have never seen this stat anywhere, but it is very interesting to take note of this for Weaver as going deep into games has always been a problem for him and if he can’t figure out how to finish off hitters faster, he is never going to blossom into a full-blown ace.
- The Story: USA Today’s Annual Top 100 names you need to know list is out. The Monkey Says: Trevor Bell (50), Sean O’Sullivan (80), Hank Conger (93) and Chris Pettit (96) all made the list which is just of prospects who could make an impact this year rather than a ranking of talent and potential of which there are a kabillion such lists.
- The Story: There will be plenty of new faces in the Angels’ Spring Training camp this year. The Monkey Says: Which really isn’t that much different than any year other than Hideki Matsui’s face is both new and gigantic in terms of surface area.
- The Story: A bad September made Fernando Rodney look a lot worse than the rest of his season performance. The Monkey Says: I think this is supposed to make us feel better about Frodney, but it only serves to point out why he is such a problem: rampant inconsistency. Do you really want a guy who can just turn into a flaming train wreck for an entire month pitching the eighth (and even maybe the ninth) inning of close games?
- The Story: Brian Fuentes had a major drop in fastball velocity last season. The Monkey Says: I love graphs, they make it so easy to prove what everyone suspected. All eyes will be on the radar gun whenever Tito takes the mound this spring and if he continues his drop off, expect the closer competition rumblings to start much sooner than expected.
- The Story: Giving up homers could doom Brian Stokes’ chances of making the Angels bullpen. The Monkey Says: Possibly, but I really doubt the Angels release him (he is out of options) so soon after acquiring him for Gary Matthews. The team almost has to let him hang around for a little bit just to act like they got something in return for one of their biggest free agent blunders ever.
- The Story: A profile of prospect Fabio Martinez-Mesa. The Monkey Says: I don’t care how talented he is, there is no way he can be successful with a first name of “Fabio” and a hyphenated last name. The baseball gods simply won’t allow it.
- The Story: A profile of prospect Garrett Richards. The Monkey Says: The exact opposite case of Martinez-Mesa, being given such a prolifically awesome name as “Garrett” clearly equals impending stardom for this kid.
- The Story: A profile of prospect Mike Trout. The Monkey Says: Like many, I am high on Trout, but I nearly shat myself when I saw the comparison to Aaron Rowand who isn’t exactly a star.