The August 12th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Trumbo could move to third in 2012, the Angels want Pineiro back in the rotation, Scioscia talks up Trumbo for Rookie of the Year and much more…
The Story: The Angels might ask Mark Trumbo to move to third base or the outfield in 2012.
The Monkey Says: It is worth a shot since Trumbo was drafted as a third baseman, but I recall a story about him trying to play there during winter ball last year and it being a total trainwreck, and even he says he isn’t a very good third basemen either. As such, I doubt they’d move him their full-time, but if they can make him a passable fielder, they could maybe sneak in 20 or 30 starts for him at third in 2012 when the Angels might have a hard time finding him playing time should Morales return healthy.
The Story: The Angels do want to get Pineiro back into the rotation before the season is over.
The Monkey Says: This sounds like more of a pipe dream than anything as I can’t imagine he is going to magically solve his issues in a handful of mop-up appearances over the next few weeks. I’m sure this is just the team being positive to the media in order to help Joel save face and thank him for being such a good soldier throughout all this.
The Story: The Angels are still undecided on who will get the start on Monday.
The Monkey Says: Takahashi has been pretty much ruled out, so that means it is almost certainly going to be Garrett Richards, especially if Trevor Bell makes his scheduled start in Triple-A today. If there is a dark horse to get the call, it is Jerome Williams, who continues to pitch well for Salt Lake, but he is scheduled to start on Saturday, so he could be ruled out if he makes that appearance as well.
The Story: Mike Scioscia talks up Mark Trumbo’s Rookie of the Year candidacy.
The Monkey Says: With Michael Pineda falling off, Trumbo has a pretty good shot, especially if he cracks the 30-homer mark. Jordan Walden also deserves some strong consideration, but being nobody ever seems to be impressed with a reliever, even if he was an All-Star.
The Story: A deep comparison to try and figure out the real front-runner for the AL Cy Young award.
The Monkey Says: I could have save him all the trouble and told him from the beginning that Justin Verlander would be the favorite over Jered Weaver and CC Sabathia. Verlander is just the “sexier” pick because of his velocity and no-hitter.
The Story: The Angels aren’t going to let their poor offense sink their post-season hopes.
The Monkey Says: I get the general message, but let’s face it, if this team comes up short of an AL West total, it is goign to be because they don’t have enough offense.
The Story: Take solace, Garrett Richards, lots of other Angel stars had tough MLB debuts.
The Monkey Says: Of course, plenty of non-stars also had rough first outings, so this basically means nothing, but it is still fun.