Daily Links for the LA Angels including Weaver to have his arbitration case heard today, more thoughts on the Young-Angels trade rumors, the A’s and Angels will play a rare scheduled doubleheader and much more…
The Story: Jered Weaver and the Angels are scheduled to have their arbitration case heard this afternoon.
The Monkey Says: There is still a chance that the two sides could settle before the hearing or even work out a long-term contract before or after, but history has generally shown that once that arbitration figure gets handed down, all talks tend to come to a cease now that there is no longer a sense of urgency.
The Story: The market for Michael Young is pretty muddy.
The Monkey Says: It doesn’t seem like a whole lot of teams have any real interest in Young and those that kind of do are scared off by the money involved. What really stinks for the Rangers is that the Angels are probably the most logical trading partner (after the Rockies, maybe) and the two teams are likely to strike a deal since they are in the same division. What would actually be great for the Halos would be for Texas to let this whole thing drag out throughout spring and have Young’s disgruntled demeanor poison all of that great chemistry the Rangers had last season. Either that or the Rangers panic and trade him in the next few days so that he never has to show up in camp, but they get a lousy return on Young since they are in such a rush to make a deal.
The Story: The Angels could be part of bad contract swap to get Michael Young.
The Monkey Says: I would definitely do a Young-for-Kazmir swap, but the idea that the Angels would trade Ervin Santana to Texas, thus strengthening their shaky rotation, seems preposterous. Santana’s contract isn’t great, but it definitely isn’t a bad contract given the current market for starting pitchers these days.
The Story: The Angels and Athletics are set to play a rare scheduled doubleheader after the All-Star break.
The Monkey Says: Now, that’s a novel idea. It is just so old school to play a scheduled doubleheader and something that can be a real treat for the fans. Too bad it is in Oakland. I wouldn’t be surprised though if the gimmick is successful that it spawns other teams to replicate the idea in future seasons.
The Story: The Blue Jays are looking to trade Juan Rivera.
The Monkey Says: Toronto already flipped Mike Napoli and now they want to jettison Rivera too. If that doesn’t speak to just how little the Jays cared about what they got in return for Vernon Wells outside of dumping his contract, I don’t know what does.
The Story: A look at the historic player comparisons of a few Angel players.
The Monkey Says: I had to choke back tears after seeing Brandon Wood’s comp drop from Ryan Braun to Mike Blowers. At least Weaver seems to be getting the proper love he deserves.