Daily Links for the LA Angels including Trout and nine others assigned to minor league camp, Kazmir turned in mixed results during his “B” game start, Bourjos continues to work on his game and much more…
The Story: Mike Trout and nine others were assigned to minor league camp yesterday.
The Monkey Says: This is no reflection on Trout, it was simply time to start clearing space and focusing more on getting the big league level players more playing time. Trout did just considering his youth and will start the season at Double-A, but hopefully get promoted to Triple-A by the All-Star break. The other nine going down are Trevor Reckling, Loek Van Mil, Angel Castillo, Jeremy Moore, Travis Witherspoon, Gabe Jacobo, Efren Navarro, Darwin Perez and Jean Segura.
The Story: Scott Kazmir turned in mixed results during four innings of work in a “B” game on Monday.
The Monkey Says: Yikes. Kaz didn’t really get lit up, but he walked three batters and used up 76 pitches in four innings of work against mostly minor leaguers. There are also some reports that his velocity was down as well. He still has two weeks to get his act together, but as of right now, the Angels have to be pretty concerned that he is going to once again be a major liability in the rotation.
The Story: Peter Bourjos is working on becoming more than a one-dimensional player.
The Monkey Says: Peter’s strong start to the spring is encouraging, but I don’t think he is ever going to be a real offensive weapon since he doesn’t walk much and his power is average, at best. I like that he is focusing on using his speed as his main weapon though and not trying too hard to change his game to become something he is not. Speed is his best asset and he should do what he can to get everything out of that tool if he wants to have a long career in the majors.
The Story: Rich Thompson is making a strong case to win one of the final bullpen spots.
The Monkey Says: I am pulling for Rich, but he has never seemed to be someone that Scioscia has had a whole lot of faith in. Maybe his ability to educate us on Australian culture will give him the edge over the rest of the competition.
The Story: Mark Saxon jumps to some obvious conclusions about the Angels in spring training thus far.
The Monkey Says: The only reason I linked to this is because Saxon insinuates that maybe the Angel decision-makers aren’t quite as excited about Mark Trumbo’s big spring as the fans are.
The Story: AngelsWin presents their all-time Angels roster, using players’ individual seasons.
The Monkey Says: It is an interesting exercise since they are basing the picks off a given season rather than their entire career, which is how Kendry Morales sneaks in there. Feel free to nitpick away.