Daily links for the LA Angels including head trainer Ned Bergert gets fired, assessing Napoli’s arbitration case, Trout ranked the top prospect in the California League and much more.
The Story: The Angels have terminated long time head trainer Ned Bergert and scout Dale Sutherland.
The Monkey Says: Wow, the Halos are absolutely cleaning house. I kind of understand the scouting department overhaul, but the head trainer? Yeesh! If Reagins and Moreno are cleaning out the front office like this, I can’t help but believe that a serious roster overhaul might be in the offing as well. You just don’t fire a bunch of scouts and other personnel, especially ones that have been there forever, and then leave the roster at status quo.
The Story: Assessing Mike Napoli and the arbitration process.
The Monkey Says: Naps has a lot more complicated a case than I realized, though I suspect his part-time move to first base might actually make finding a comparison easier. I refuse to believe though that the Halos would really non-tender Napoli and thus lose him for absolutely nothing, even if Scioscia clearly isn’t high on him.
The Story: Baseball America ranks top Angels amongst the top California League prospects.
The Monkey Says: Mike Trout ranks #1 overall, naturally, while Tyler Chatwood comes in at #4. Not too shabby. It is also worth noting that Patrick Corbin, who was dealt to Arizona as part of the Haren deal, was ranked #10 on the list.
The Story: Where does each Angel player stand heading into the off-season?
The Monkey Says: This is a great question to ask because I’m sure Tony Reagins and Mike Scioscia are going through such an evaluation process right now and there are certainly a lot of tough questions to be answered for a lot of players.
The Story: An early look at the likely Type A and B free agents for this off-season.
The Monkey Says: This is actually not a big concern for the Halos this off-season as their first round pick is protected no matter who they sign since they finished in the bottom half of the league record-wise, meaning the Halos would lose nothing better than their second round pick (I think).