Daily Links for the LA Angels including Downs out a month with a broken toe, Morales still hoping to be ready for Opening Day, Trumbo suffers a groin injury and much more…
The Story: Scott Downs will miss 2 to 4 weeks with a broken toe.
The Monkey Says: Downs suffered the injury playing with his kids, so I guess he at least gets points for being a good dad. He should miss a week or two of the regular season, so this really isn’t the end of the world. Unfortunately, I think that time missed will be enough for Scioscia to decide to install as the full-time closer since he lacks a viable lefty counterpart. On the bright side, this opens up another bullpen spot for guys to compete for (somewhere, Jason Bulger is smiling).
The Story: Kendrys Morales is still holding out hope of being ready for the season opener.
The Monkey Says: Hope is a good thing, but it may not be enough as all other reports out of camp strongly suggest he isn’t going to get into a live game by Sunday, which is the drop-dead date for him to not start the year on the DL.
The Story: The Angels say Morales has hit a plateau in his recovery.
The Monkey Says: See? What did I just tell you?
The Story: Mark Trumbo was pulled from yesterday’s game due to a groin injury.
The Monkey Says: Let’s hope it isn’t serious because it would be a shame to see his fast start to the spring be spoiled, especially since he is main insurance policy for Kendrys Morales.
The Story: Earl Bloom has an interesting notion of the Angels trading Alberto Callaspo to the Phillies.
The Monkey Says: The Phils have injury issues with Utley and Polanaco at second and third, respectively. They definitely could be interested in Callaspo as a result, but that is a risky proposition for the Angels who would be left with Brandon Wood as their only infield reserve in an infield full of injury-prone players. Still, if the Angels can find another bench infielder to replace Callaspo with, maybe someone who gets cut by another team at the end of spring, it is something they could strongly consider.
The Story: Mark Trumbo is the Angels’ secret weapon.
The Monkey Says: Trumbo is really starting to generate a TON of hype, which sort of no longer makes him a secret. The real secret we all want to know though is how Trumbo is going to get any at-bats this year once Kendry Morales is healthy.
The Story: Mike Scioscia hinted that Abreu could bat third in the lineup when Morales is out.
The Monkey Says: Sosh went with that look yesterday and I have a feeling he is going to stick with it, and I can’t say I totally disagree since it gives the lineup a little more depth. Let’s just say I’d rather have Aybar batting second than Howie Kendrick batting fifth.
The Monkey Says: I kind of disagree with that, just because Edmonds spent so much time not in an Angel uniform. His alternative is Tim Salmon, but what about Vladimir Guerrero?