Daily Links for the LA Angels including handicapping the Angels’ third base competition, Napoli agrees to a contract with the Rangers, the Halos had the worst off-season in baseball and much more…
The Story: Who will emerge as the Angels’ starting third baseman?
The Monkey Says: Lyle Spencer, my mortal enemy, answers this and a few other questions. Spencer believer Mighty Maicer will win the job, which actually makes sense and I want to agree with him, but my gut tells me Callaspo will take the gig, in part because the Halos want to keep Izturis healthy as a utilityman. Spencer even throws Brandon Wood into the mix, which probably is a bit much, but it isn’t as crazy as you think.
The Story: Mike Napoli agreed to an arbitration-avoiding contract for $5.8 million with the Rangers.
The Monkey Says: Forgot to link to this yesterday. This really has little impact on the Halos, but at least we know what price they would have paid Naps had they held on to him. Ummm, yay?
The Story: Joel Sherman of the NY Post ranks the Angels as having the worst off-season in baseball this year.
The Monkey Says: OK, that is just wrong. The Angels should be better than last based merely upon the fact that they are not the Pittsburgh Pirates. I know the Angels were disappointing in their moves, but they did add Vernon Wells, Scott Downs and Hisanori Takahashi. Like it or not, the Angel roster is better, even if marginally so. That has to be good for better than the worst.
The Story: Who would want Jose Reyes?
The Monkey Says: Oddly enough, the Angels aren’t listed in the article, but I actually think they are going to wind up as being prominently involved in any trade talks with Jose Reyes. The Angels like Erick Aybar, but Reyes might be on par with Carl Crawford as guys the Angels would love to have due to his speed and aggressive play. I’m not saying they are necessarily going to go make a big play for him right now, but they’ll at least monitor the situation should he hit the trade market and I think they will definitely be interested in him when he hits free agency.