The November 21st, 2011 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Angels set their 40-man roster, DiSarcina named field coordinator, the Angels full spring training schedule is set and much more…
The Monkey Says: This is a little surprising to see Van Mil get outrighted, but clearly the Angels felt they could afford to risk losing him as they prep their roster ahead of the Rule 5 draft. A lot of fans are high on Van Mil, but the Angels must not be, otherwise it doesn’t explain why he gets dumped and Ysmael Carmona does not.
The Story: Gary DiSarcina has been named the Angels minor league field coordinator.
The Monkey Says: DiSar had been the ever-ambiguous special assistant to the general manager previously, now he will focus on player training. Rumor is his first rule of business will be to ban all fungo bats.
The Story: The Angels’ unveil their full spring training schedule.
The Monkey Says: I can’t remember if I already linked to this and I am too lazy to look it up, so, here it is again (maybe).
The Monkey Says: That means nothing since Bud Selig pretty much makes the owners do everything he says, so voting against the sale wouldn’t have accomplished anything other than pissing off the commissioner’s office.
The Story: Vernon Wells promises that you will “see the real” him next year.
The Monkey Says: So his excuse is that he was trying too hard to hit homers. OK, sure, whatever. I have a hard tim believing that was the problem the entire season. Maybe that was just his way of saying he was putting too much pressure on himself to perform, which I would buy. However, my concern is that if he has another slow start to the season, he is only going to put that same pressure on himself (if not more) again and thus be terrible again.
The Story: Brandon Wood, Jason Bulger and Scott Kazmir are all hoping to find new homes this coming season.
The Monkey Says: Wood got dumped by the Pirates, never a good thing, but picked up by the Rockies, where he has a shot at carving out a role. Bulger got scooped up by the Twins and will try and make their bullpen in spring training, which could well happen because the Twins whole pitching staff is in flux. As for Kazmir, he is going to pitch in the Domincan Winter League, but that League is already half over and he hasn’t pitched yet, so he likely isn’t going to get much of a chance, if any, to show teams that he finally remembered how to pitch.