The April 23rd, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Pujols-type personal service clauses to be denied by MLB, Angels might have too much talent for their own good, Pujols not caught up in home run drought and much more…
The Monkey Says: They will also deny milestone clauses like Pujols received. The league wisely is cracking down on these clauses because they can be used to get around luxury tax penalties potentially, so they are just going to nip them in the bud before they get popularized throughout the league.
The Story: The Angels might have too much talent for their own good.
The Monkey Says: At first, I thought this was typical LA Times horse-puckey (don’t worry, we have a sterling example of that later in the links), but there are valid points here. Offensively, the Angels basically have 11 or 12 players who deserve substantial playing time and Scioscia is trying to shuffle them all in and out of the lineup, but is doing so to the detriment of offensive consistency, as is shown by Sosh using 14 different lineups in 16 games.
The Story: Albert Pujols claims he is not caught up in his home run drought.
The Monkey Says: I call BS. He had two near-homers over the weekend and could not hide the look of exasperation on his face when neither left the park.
The Story: Rich Thompson was claimed on waivers by the Oakland Athletics.
The Monkey Says: The A’s also claimed fellow Australian Luke Hughes on waivers this weekend, they both join Australian Grant Balfour on the A’s roster. Clearly Aussies are the new market inefficiency. best of luck to Chopper. Hopefully he can get a more fair shake in Oakland than he ever got in Anaheim.
The Story: Speculation that the A’s might revisit their trade interest in Alberto Callaspo.
The Monkey Says: Given Callaspo’s slow start and the aforementioned problems with juggling so many players through the order, I think this might be worth the Angels pursuing, though I’m not sure if Oakland is willing to offer anyone that could help the Angels at the big league level.
The Monkey Says: Welcome to the new era of television, where broadcasters are fighting for every cent and carriers are fighting back. Being able to extract more money out of carriers is exactly why FSW gave the Halos such a huge TV deal this last off-season. However, it makes me wonder how sustainable such deals are going to be if the market continues to be this competitive and more and more people abandon traditional cable/satellite providers altogether in favor of streaming content over the internet.
The Monkey Says: I was very much in the Trade Trumbo camp this off-season, so I am tentatively on board with this idea. Given the apparent improvement in plate discipline Mark has made so far this season, I might rethink that stance, but if the Halos could get, just spitballing here, someone a young future closer like Vinnie Pestano from the Indians, I’d be all for it.
The Monkey Says: JeDi continues to tow the company line, as he should. You have to think the Halos are dying to call Trout up, but they just can’t do so until they are sure it is time to pull the plug on Vernon Wells.
The Monkey Says: It is articles like this that make me wish that the much-promised death of the newspaper industry would hurry up and come already.
The Story: Retooling the Angel bullpen isn’t going to be easy.
The Monkey Says: The more I think about the bullpen issues, the more I wonder if cultivating talent from within isn’t the best option. Too many teams, the Angels included, have thrown bad money after supposedly quality veteran relievers.
The Story: The Toronto Blue Jays intentionally pinch-hit with Jeff Mathis in a close game.
The Monkey Says: Mind. Blown.