Daily Links for the LA Angels including Arte Moreno talks expectations and finances, Kazmir finishes “strong”, a chance to meet the Angels’ stars of tomorrow and much more…

The Story: Arte Moreno has high expectations for this season but still defends his desire for financial flexibility.

The Monkey Says: Reading between the lines, Arte still wants to win this season, but don’t expect any big money additions via trade.  He did somewhat hint at having some spending cash this coming off-season, but it still sounds very much to me like Arte has no interest in getting involved in any mega-contract free agency talks.


The Story: The Angels are hoping for a big rebound season.

The Monkey Says: I’ll give my predictions for the season later today, but the Halos should rebound at least a little this season after having so much go wrong last year.


The Story: Scott Kazmir finished his pre-season with a “strong” outing.

The Monkey Says: “Strong” is used in relative terms here.  Kaz only allowed one run on three hits in the Angels’ spring finale on Tuesday, but he also didn’t strike anyone out and threw his slider once the entire game.  The boxscore may have been prettier than normal, but make no mistake, Scott has a lot of work left to do before he can even be considered a safe option at fifth starter, much less a quality starting pitcher like he used to be.


The Story: Meet this year’s Cedar Rapids Kernels at a free event on April 5th.

The Monkey Says: I’d tease this even more if I had a better idea of what players will be on the Kernels roster this year, but it isn’t totally clear right now.


The Story: 5 of 43 ESPN experts predict the Angels to win the AL West.

The Monkey Says: That isn’t a very good ratio, but it is still higher than I would have expected given all the hate the mainstream media has had for the Halos after their disappointing off-season.