The August 30th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Weaver’s contract extension details are revealed, Scioscia doesn’t regret the way he handled his starters in Texas, Vernon Wells is finally helping to spark the Angel offense and much more…
The Story: The contract details of Jered Weaver’s extension are revealed.
The Monkey Says: Weaver will average $17 million on his deal, but he will only make $14 million next and then $16 million in 2013 and 2014 before getting a raise to $18 million and $20 million in the last two years of the deal. This is actually pretty important because the Angels’ budget is obviously stretched for the next few years, so saving an extra $3 million next year should give them a little extra wiggle room to make some additions this off-season.
The Monkey Says: Nor should he, Santana did just fine and Weaver was good enough before the fateful seventh inning. The problem continues to be the Angel bullpen and how little Scioscia trusts it, justifiably.
The Story: The recent resurgence of Vernon Wells has been a big boost to the Angel offense.
The Monkey Says: It sure has been a nice bonus, but I don’t think it is even close to safe to assume he will continue this mini-outburst all season long, though I certainly hope he does.
The Story: Bobby Cassevah is earning Mike Scioscia’s trust.
The Monkey Says: That is a half-truth. Cassevah has been decent, but he has been thrust into a more prominent role than his talent probably suits him for since Fernando Rodney and Rich Thompson have both been so erratic that Scioscia has lost all trust in them, leaving Cassevah as the top middle relief righty by default.
The Story: The Angels could plan to fortify their bullpen when rosters expand in September.
The Monkey Says: I call BS. The Angels have several arms in the minors that could have helped out the bullpen this year, but they have been strangely reluctant to give guys like Loek Van Mil or Robert Fish a look despite the wretched performance of every reliever not named Downs or Walden. I’m sure they will call a few guys up, but I doubt they get much of a chance to prove themselves until it is probably too late to make a difference.
The Story: Reviewing how the top Angel prospects heading into the season performed.
The Monkey Says: Give it a read because it is informational, but I want to take this opportunity to tease a prospect project that we will be collaborating on this off-season with Scotty Allen from LAAngelsInsider.com. There will be lots of great prospect content coming from that, so stay tuned this October and November.