Daily links for the LA Angels including encouraging and disappointing Angel players, Matsui might have been better than Guerrero, checking the trade value of the Angel catchers and much more.
The Story: Ranking the Angels from most encouraging to most disappointing.
The Monkey Says: That graph seems far too balanced to me, my version would definitely skew hard to the disappointing side of the scale.
The Story: Hideki Matsui finished the season with a slightly better OPS+ than Vladimir Guerrero.
The Monkey Says: I’m not going to say that Godzilla was better than Vlad, but I still think the Halos made the right decision to let Vlad go since he was looking pretty washed up by the end of 2009. I don’t think anyone would have predicted him having such a productive season this year. I still don’t think that means the Angels should bring Matsui back, even though Reagins isn’t ruling it out.
The Story: Assessing the trade market for catchers.
The Monkey Says: With Napoli and Mathis both possibly winding up as trade bait this winter, this certainly applies to the Angels. Mathis and Napoli are both listed as potential non-tender candidates here, but I don’t foresee any scenario in which Napoli gets non-tendered, he simply has too much trade value. Mathis, however…
The Story: Kendry Morales’ injury defines Angels’ frustrations.
The Monkey Says: Thanks for reminding me, I had almost forgotten how depressing that was.
The Story: A year end review of the Angels’ farm system.
The Monkey Says: Now that’s a little more uplifiting! I just wish that Trevor Reckling was still on the list (sigh).