Halo Headlines – 2/18/10

  • The Story: Is Brian Fuentes really the closer?  The Monkey Says: Mike Scioscia says that Rodney and Shields will get shots at closing some games this season.  What, no Jepsen?  I actually think that is a good start, but I have some better ideas that I was planning on laying out on Friday already, so check back for that tomorrow… or else!
  • The Story: Healthy optimism for Ervin Santana and Scot Shields.  The Monkey Says: “Healthy,” get it?  Puns are great.  What isn’t so great is the outlook of either pitcher thanks to recent injuries.  I actually would give Shields a better shot at bouncing back since his injury was to his knee and not his arm, but he is pretty old for a pitcher.  As for Ervin, his decision to skip winter ball to focus on getting healthy shows just how concerned he is about his arm woes, though it was probably the right decision.
  • The Story: Joel Pineiro finds a perfect fit with the Angels.  The Monkey Says: Pineiro was won over by the Angels commitment to defense and his own familiarity with the AL West in his decision to join the team… that and they were one of the few teams willing to gamble on him.  I admit I reacted rather harshly to the signing at first, but after delving through the numbers more, I think this might end up being a solid (but not great) decision for the Angels.
  • The Story: No ace?  No problem for Mike Scioscia.  The Monkey Says: Yeah, we’ll see about that in the post-season.  All the hype about the Angels’ deep rotation is just a classic example of how the Halos are built to succeed in the regular season and less so in the post-season, where aces rule the day.
  • The Story: Mike Napoli led the Angels in Win Probablity Added Actions in 2009.  The Monkey Says: As Sam Miller points out in his post, there is nothing predictive about WPAA, but it does show that Napoli has the ability to come up with big hits in big moments unlike his fellow catcher Jeff Mathis, only further begging the question of why Napoli doesn’t play more.  Oh, right, defense.  I always forget about that.
  • The Story: Individual tickets for regular season Angel games go on sale February 27th.  The Monkey Says: Wake up early to get your tickets before Ticketmaster siphons them off to a secondary ticket broker so that you have to pay 30% more.
  • The Story: The Angels have raised ticket prices, especially in the bleachers.  The Monkey Says: We are talking about a few bucks worth of an increase, but still.  I guess Arte Moreno hasn’t heard that their is a recession on.
  • The Story: A profile or prospect Hank Conger.  The Monkey Says: Someone is looking to get noticed by listing Conger as the #2 prospect instead of #1.