The July 15th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Bourjos targeting a return to action this weekend, Angels expected to “pinch pennies” at the trade deadline, Segura climbs Law’s prospect rankings and much more…
The Story: Peter Bourjos is confident he’ll return to action this weekend.
The Monkey Says: The team has not confirmed that, but if he is running on a treadmill and shagging balls, he can’t be far off from a return.
The Story: The Angels are said to be ‘pinching pennies’ at the trade deadline.
The Monkey Says: I’ve said it a hundred times in the last month, but this is pretty obvious news. The Halos can’t afford to add major salary right now, but I don’t think Moreno will be so miserly as to prevent Reagins from adding a million or two for some bench or bullpen depth.
The Story: Jean Segura jumped to #25 in Keith Law’s latest prospect rankings.
The Monkey Says: He had been at #35, but he moves up mostly because guys who had been in front of him have been promoted to the majors. Still, the fact that Segura’s stock has essentially remained steady despite not having played in several weeks because of hamstring problems.
The Monkey Says: The Halos might return him to Arkansas so he can experience the playoffs, but I think that is a pretty flimsy reason to not have him move up a level to Triple-A. There may or may not be a huge talent difference between the levels, but I would think he’d be better off facing tougher competition on a losing team rather than becoming complacent at a level that he has already dominated just because the team is winning. If the Angels really want him to get post-season experience, they can just make the post-season themselves and then carry him as a bench player. Yeah, I like that idea much better.
The Story: The Halos were on hand for a rehab start by Japanese starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma.
The Monkey Says: I’d tell you more, but I forgot how to learn to read Japanese. This may amount to nothing as I feel like the Angels are a team that just does a lot of due diligence on foreign players. If they have legit interest, I suspect it would be as a potential rotation replacement for Joel Pineiro next season, which isn’t a bad idea since no Angel prospects are locks to be ready to start the year in the bigs in 2012.
The Story: The Angels are starting the second half in a good mood.
The Monkey Says: I continue to be amazed how quickly the general atmosphere of the franchise has changed after the overwhelming frustration that was oozing from the team during their slump in June.