Halo Headlines - 6/1/09

Written by Garrett Wilson on Monday, 01 June 2009 17:00.

There is still justifiable concern over Ervin Santana's health after he got pounded again this weekend.
An early look at the Angels biggest three potential free agents and just how much the Halos will have to spend to keep all three on board. I'd like to believe that the Halos aren't seriously considering re-signing Chone Figgins so that they can keep Brandon Wood in the minors for another several years.
Jason Bulger has turned into one of the bullpen's more reliable relievers in recent weeks thanks to a confidence boost. My question is how much longer will it be before he takes over for the struggling Jose Arredondo as primary set-up man.
The relief corps and pitching coach Mike Butcher held a private pow-wow to try and get to the bottom of the bullpen's two-month long struggles. The meeting lasted quite awhile allegedly, which is interesting because it should only take a few seconds to tell the guys to just start throwing some freaking strikes. Also, mentioned in that piece is that the Angels are beginning to look at the trade market for potential bullpen help. A few names mentioned are: Huston Street, LaTroy Hawkins, Tony Pena, Chad Qualls, Tim Byrdak, Matt Herges and Rafael Betancourt.
With Kelvim Escobar scheduled to rejoin the rotation soon, some wonder what the plan is for Matt Palmer. The current plan appears to be potentially sending Palmer to the bullpen, but it might be a good idea to option him to the minors to keep his stamina up should Santana or Escobar not be able to stay health. I still think that the superior option should be to leave Palmer in the rotation and have Escobar help out the shaky bullpen.
A look at the Nick Adenhart memorial at Angels Stadium.
Just to make the Brandon Wood honks freak out, here is some speculation that if the Angels elect to bench Howie Kendrick, it will be Sean Rodriguez getting the call to replace him and not Brandon Wood. Commence your ranting.
Some bullpen help inches closer to reality with Rudy Seanez getting promoted to Triple-A Salt Lake. Seanez is still weeks away from potentially joining the Angels assuming he still proves to be an effective reliever.
INJURY UPDATE: Kelvim Escobar will make what could be his final rehab start tonight. If cleared, Escobar will likely join the Angels and start on Saturday.

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