The December 15th, 2011 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Angels interested in Darren Oliver, no bid submitted for Darvish, trade ideas for Morales and Trumbo and much more…
The Story: The Angels are showing interest in free agent reliever and former Angel Darren Oliver.
The Monkey Says: Old Man Oliver is a great all-around reliever, but I’m not sure the Angels really need a third soft-tossing lefty out of the pen. In my opinion, they still need a reliever that can come in and strike someone out when they really need it.
The Story: The posting auction for Yu Darvish is closed but the Angels did not submit a bid.
The Monkey Says: Not a surprise. Darvish is probably going to pull in at least $40 million for the posting and then maybe even more than that on a six-year contract. The Halos have loads of money now, but not that much.
The Story: Trade ideas for Kendrys Morales and Mark Trumbo.
The Monkey Says: I don’t think the Angels can trade either of them for strictly prospects or salary relief, not when the Pujols and Wilson moves are so clearly “win now” moves. The Wade Davis idea is definitely one worth investigating, but I’m not sure the Rays would actually take on Abreu’s salary.
The Story: Why would anyone pitch to Albert Pujols now?
The Monkey Says: The idea of lineup protection has been largely debunked by sabermetric studies and teams issuing intentional walks usually backfires, so this probably won’t be as big of an issue as some will make it out to be.
The Story: Peter Bourjos is looking forward to the 2012 season.
The Monkey Says: This article is sponsored by Captain Obvious.