Halo Headlines – 7/14/10

  • The Story: Torii Hunter went 0-for-2 in the American League’s loss in the 2010 All-Star Game.   The Monkey Says: Torii had a chance to drive in some runs to give the AL the edge, but he just couldn’t quite get it done.  Now if the Angels are lucky enough to reach the World Series, they’ll have to do as the road team.
  • The Story: Carl Crawford got a preemptive sales pitch from Torii Hunter.   The Monkey Says: Torii recently said he wants to be a GM some day and apparently is trying to get a head start on the gig.  The Angels would love to get Crawford, but it is going to take a lot more than being locker neighbors with Hunter to seal the deal especially with the crazy cash the Yankees and Red Sox are likely to throw Crawford’s way.
  • The Story: Arte Moreno remembers George Steinbrenner.   The Monkey Says: That’s interesting, I didn’t know Moreno grew up a Yankee fan but it certainly helps explain why Moreno, like Steinbrenner who passed away yesterday, is one of the rare owners that values winning over making a profit, only Arte has thus far been able to do it without coming off as a ruthless and petulant tyrant as Steinbrenner did during stretches of his tenure as the owner of the Yankees.
  • The Story: Seeing Vladimir Guerrero at the All-Star Game made Jered Weaver wish Vladdy was still an Angel.   The Monkey Says: That’s funny, the same thing happens to me whenever I see Hideki Matsui in the batter’s box.
  • The Story: Brandon Phillips of the Reds, dedicated his All-Star performance to his brother PJ, a prospect in the Angel farm system.   The Monkey Says: PJ has been an inspiration for Brandon, but PJ is injured now and has been struggling to climb the organizational ladder as it is.  Hopefully Brandon can return the favor and inspire PJ to harness his many physical talents and help him become a viable major leaguer.
  • The Story: A poll by Harris Interactive rates the Angels as only the 25th most popular team in MLB.   The Monkey Says: The thing that really hurts the Angels is that they don’t really have much of a following outside of their region.  Their strong attendance numbers certainly indicates that they are quite popular locally though.
  • The Story: Peter Bourjos was named PCL Player of the Week.   The Monkey Says: Bourjos is one of the Angels’ top prospects and has been coming on like a house of fire lately.  He will undoubtedly be one of the first players teams ask for in trade negotiations coming up but my sense is that they would only give him up if they were getting a bona fide star player in return.  If Bourjos survives the trade deadline and the Angels fall out of contention, expect Bourjos to get serious audition in the big leagues as a September call-up.