- The Story: John Lackey looks like he is going to have to wait a bit before he gets his big contract. The Monkey Says: Many teams are interested in Big John, but his lofty asking price is scaring most of them off. The notion that he will sign a one-year deal to try again next off-season is preposterous though. Lackey simply needs to wait until Roy Halladay gets traded and then the market will come to him.
- The Story: The Angels are considering trading for Derek Lowe. The Monkey Says: Lowe's contract is killing Atlanta, so he might come cheap if the Halos take all his money. There have certainly been worse trade ideas, but this should only be a fall back option for the Angels.
- The Story: When Aroldis Chapman holds a public workout next week, the Angels will be in attendance. The Monkey Says: Finally! The Halos have been strangely shy about showing any interest in Chapman, but look like they are finally starting to get proactive. Then again, they probably know that the Yankees or Red Sox will just throw loads of money at him anyway, so it isn't really worth the effort.
- The Story: The Angels have all but withdrawn from the Jason Bay bidding. The Monkey Says: All that hype for nothing. Mike Scioscia basically admitted that the Angels would much rather spend their available money on starting pitching, with Sosh preferring to bring back John Lackey.
- The Story: A sneak peek at the Angels potential depth chart as of right now. The Monkey Says: It certainly isn't official but the depth chart in the Angel war room currently lists Matt Palmer as the fifth starter and surprisingly Anthony Ortega and Trevor Reckling, respectively, next in line. Hard to believe Ortega is so highly thought of after his poor showing and injury problems last season and that O'Sullivan and Bell are seemingly listed as afterthoughts.
- The Story: Mike Scioscia unveils his post-Figgins plans. The Monkey Says: Sosh acknowledges that third base is Brandon Wood's job to lose and that Aybar is the top candidate to bat leadoff next year with Izturis taking it over whenever he is in the line-up. None of this is a surprise, but it is still nice to hear Sosh confirm what we all suspected.
- The Story: The Angels are back to square one in the Roy Halladay talks. The Monkey Says: Thus begins the Halladay portion of today's headlines. This article seems to believe the Angels and Jays have a long way to go towards ironing out a deal.
- The Story: A Toronto paper believes the Angels are now offering Joe Saunders, Erick Aybar and Peter Bourjos. The Monkey Says: If true, that would be the best offer the Jays have likely received so far, but still sounds one prospect shy of getting a deal done. Then again, other reports have stated the Jays want just prospects and not major leaguers which would be bad news for LAA.
- The Story: ESPN's Jayson Stark reviews the market for Roy Halladay. The Monkey Says: Interestingly, Stark's informal poll of GMs pretty unanimously said that the Angels were the Halladay frontrunners. It seems like we are getting close to Toronto finally pulling the trigger on a trade of Doc, so stay tuned.
- The Story: The Angels lost two low-level relievers in today's Rule 5 draft but made no selections of their own in the draft. The Monkey Says: The A's swiped Bobby Cassevah and the Phillies took David Herndon. Neither reliever figures to be missed by the Angel 0rganization.
.jpg&w=244&h=193&zc=1 "Mike Trout and the sophomore slump that wasn't")
