Daily Links for the LA Angels including Kazmir gets rocked, the Halos scout Doug Davis (a potential Kazmir replacement?), Keith Law rips Tony Reagins and much more…
The Story: Scott Kazmir got bombed in his start against the Brewers yesterday.
The Monkey Says: He and the Angels are still saying he is making progress in terms of his stuff and velocity, but Milwaukee flat out hammered him as he just continues to get worse and worse as Opening Day fast approaches. At this point, my prediction of Kaz getting waived before the end of May looks extremely generous.
The Story: The Angels were among eight teams to watch Doug Davis at a throwing session in Tempe.
The Monkey Says: Hmmm, Kazmir gets destroyed and the Angels conveniently send a scout to go check out a free agent starting pitcher. I’m sure the two aren’t related. At least the Angels seem to finally be acknowleding that they need to be prepared in the increasingly likely event that Kazmir has to be pulled from the rotation.
The Story: Keith Law rips Tony Reagins for the firing of Eddie Bane after the end of last season.
The Monkey Says: Law accusses Reagins of culling Bane in a political move and alludes to Tony having a bad reputation around the league. Law conveniently overlooks the fact that Reagins is maybe #3 in command of the franchise’s decision making and that Bane was overseeing the scouting department when some lower-level scouts got busted for skimming signing bonuses. That being said, Law might have a point if he really has sources telling him that Reagins is hard to work with as that seems like it could be one of the main reasons Tony has faltered so badly in his free agent negotations over the years.
The Monkey Says: A few days ago, it was a foregone conclusion that Pineiro would open the year on the DL as a precaution, but I have to think the team is now going to push him a bit in lieu of Kazmir’s struggles.
The Story: Tim Salmon will do occassional TV work for Fox Sports West for Angel home games this season.
The Monkey Says: I’d rather King Fish focus on his coaching career, but I certainly won’t complain about him gracing our TVs during the pre- and post-game shows on FSW. The more Salmon the better.
The Story: Kendrys Morales’ foot pain is subsiding and he will start wearing orthotics.
The Monkey Says: This is a good sign that Morales can return to the comeback trail soon as it was the foot problems that temporarily shelved him. The orthotic shoe inserts will hopefully prevent the foot issues from popping up again.
The Story: Reggie Willits will began limited rehab appearances yesterday.
The Monkey Says: L’il Reggie still won’t run, but since he is at least playing in games in some capacity, he shouldn’t be too far off from being healthy. He’ll still likely open the season on the DL but should be activated as soon as he is eligible, taking back his roster spot from Chris Pettit.
The Story: Torii Hunter blogs about being inspired by Muhammad Ali.
The Monkey Says: Torii talks about wanting to bottle the inspired feeling the team had after Ali’s recent clubhouse visit. As the team’s unquestioned leader, let’s hope Hunter can figure out a way to do that.
The Story: Torii Hunter is excited to play the underdog role.
The Monkey Says: Now that is a more reasonable motivational ploy. There probably has been a fair amount of complacency in the Angel clubhouse after dominating the division much of the 21st century, so it could very well spark some new life in the team if they started playing with a chip on their shoulder.
The Story: Hisanori Takahashi is still working on focusing on baseball while monitoring the recovery in Japan.
The Monkey Says: This is becoming an almost daily story about Taka, so I can’t help but wonder if this really is going to be a big distraction for him once the real games actually begin.