Daily Links for the LA Angels including Mathis avoids arbitration and gets a befuddling raise, ESPN leaves the Angels off their Sunday Night schedule, the Angels are out on Soriano and much more…
The Story: Jeff Mathis avoided arbitration with a $1.7 million agreement for 2011.
The Monkey Says: If only we could all get a $400,000 raise for a performance that was one of the worst in the league last season and possibly all time. As silly as this deal seems, literally everyone gets a raise in arbitration, so the Halos probably were just trying to make sure that they didn’t lose to Mathis should the arbitration case actually be heard.
The Story: ESPN released their Sunday Night Baseball lineup and the Angels aren’t on it… at all.
The Monkey Says: The Halos could be added later on since the schedule is only through July 17th and has a few weekends still unscheduled. Still, this is what happens when teams don’t win. I have little doubt the Halos will be right back on the evil-four letter if they start the season hot.
The Story: Jon Heyman says the Angels aren’t still in on Rafael Soriano.
The Monkey Says: The funny thing is I don’t think the Halos ever actually were in on Soriano other than national columnists like Heyman just throwing the Angels into the conversation through their own speculation.
The Story: Bobby Abreu is the King of Little Things.
The Monkey Says: Basically that means that Abreu is a tremendous situational hitter. For what it is worth, Adrian Beltre rated as the worst “Little Things” guy.
The Story: The rotation give the Angels a strong starting point.
The Monkey Says: The rotation is definitely their strong suit, but compared to this lineup, that really isn’t all that hard. All jokes aside, the Angels could have one of the best rotations in baseball if Scott Kazmir can get his act together.
The Story: Pitchers and catchers are set to report to Spring Training for the Angels on February 14th.
The Monkey Says: The rest of the team reports February 19th, but I think the pitchers and catchers are going to have a lot of unhappy WAGs when they explain that they have to head to Arizona on Valentine’s Day.
The Story: Does the projected WAR of the AL West lineups has the Angels looking good or decent?
The Monkey Says: Ah yes, projections. Don’t the Angels usually beat projections? One can only hope.
The Story: The rise and fall and rise agai of Arte’s Angels.
The Monkey Says: The “all hope is not lost” columns are really starting to pile up. Looks like optimism is starting to creep back into the collective psyche of Angel fans. Hooray!