The August 18th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Jerome Williams called up, Chatwood’s rotation spot in jeopardy, Scioscia says Conger isn’t ready to come back up and much more…
The Story: The Angels sent down Trevor Bell and called up former top Giants prospect Jerome Williams.
The Monkey Says: Williams has put up some pretty good numbers in Salt Lake this year, but he is also 29 years old and not been in the majors since 2007. It is possible that he may finally have gotten over his arm problems and other performance issues, but it would be foolish to think Williams is anything more than a stopgap measure at thsi point.
The Story: Williams may take Tyler Chatwood’s rotation spot.
The Monkey Says: While I don’t know if Williams can offer much, I am in favor of this move, even if it is only temporary. The Halos should probably at least see what Williams can offer and Tyler could use the break to try and work out his issues on the side so that he can get back on track this season.
The Story: Reggie Willits was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Jerome Williams.
The Monkey Says: Willits had a nice rookie season, but he hasn’t done much sense. His complete lack of pwoer ultimately has doomed his career, but he might be able to find his way back to the majors if he latches on with another team. However, I suspect Willits will clear waivers and stay with the Angel minor league system for the rest of this season and maybe try his luck on the open market after the season.
The Monkey Says: Scioscia clearly is tired of always hearing everyone bitch about the way he manages his catchers. He definitely seems to believe that the reports on Conger’s defense in Triple-A still aren’t good enough to merit his return to the majors, so we will most likely have to wait until September call-ups before Sosh gives the OK to bring Conger back. Even then, there still seems to be a good chance that he will just bury him on the bench.
The Story: Torii Hunter gets trapped in an oxtgen tent and tweeted about it.
The Monkey Says: One can only hope that Jeff Mathis was the one who found the Gatorade.
The Story: Lyle Spencer has a mini-meltdown on Twitter trying to defend his stubborn support of Jeff Mathis.
The Monkey Says: You know, I always thought Lyle was just towing the company line because he works for MLB.com, but he clearly is drinking the Kool-Aid here and it is just sad. His arguments are beyond pathetic and I actually am starting to feel a bit embarrassed for him now.
The Story: C.J. Cron will need surgery for his dislocated kneecap.
The Monkey Says: That is too bad because Cron was destroying in Orem. Still, it doesn’t sound like a major issue, so he should be fine for next season. If anything, this will allow him to get his shoulder fixed sooner too, reducing the chances that his shoulder surgery might cause him to miss the start of next season.
The Monkey Says: I pointed that out weeks ago and it obviously still holds true. The question though is whether or not the Angels are actually still contenders.
The Story: The Angels are paying a costly price of standing pat at the trade deadline.
The Monkey Says: I kind og disagree with this story because while the team did need bullpen help and maybe another reliable starter, what is really screwing the Angels now is their total inability to score runs and there just wasn’t a single trade out there that they could have made that would have fixed that.