.jpg&w=244&h=193&zc=1 "Mike Trout and the sophomore slump that wasn't")
.jpg&w=244&h=193&zc=1 "Why the Pujols contract isn't as bad as you think")
Halo Headlines: Reviewing Iannetta's new contract, Maronde and Cowart rising up prospect rankings, Angels attendance expected to continue declining
The October 9th, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Reviewing Iannetta's new contract, Maronde and Cowart rising up prospect rankings, Angels attendance expected to continue declining and much more...
The Story: A look at the logic behind Chris Iannetta's new contract.
The Monkey Says: This is one of the first real in-depth, impartial reviews of the deal I have seen. I can't say that I agree with all of it, though that just might be my bias. It definitely isn't as high on Iannetta as I am, but I do think a lot of the value of the deal is merely the Halos finally having some stability at the position.
The Story: Nick Maronde and Kaleb Cowart are both in the preliminary top prospect lists from John Sickels.
The Monkey Says: Neither is terribly high in their respective top 50, but at least they are listed. No other Angels are, which is discouraging but not surprising. I can't help but wonder though if Maronde would have ranked so high if not for his late-season relief work, which is fair, but also kind of weird because it makes it hard to judge whether or not he is ranking so highly because of his potential as a starter or a reliever.
The Story: After another down year in attendance, the Angels can expect more of the same in 2013.
The Monkey Says: I'm kind of picking at a throwaway line, so don't get too worked up. The logic is that attendance dropped for the second year in a row, but by an even larger percentage this season despite the off-season additions of Pujols and Wilson. So how can we possibly expect the Halos to see an increase in attendance? We can't really, can we? What could they possibly do to earn a bump? They already tried bringing in a marquee name and continue to have fan-friendly prices. There are no more quivers in the arrow with the exception of the Angels getting a new state-of-the-art stadium in Los Angeles. It is the only way for Moreno to take the next step both in terms of stadium revenue generation and team profile enhancement. Winning would help, sure, but even that doesn't last forever, as the Angels are now finding out.
The Monkey Says: This is really kind of crazy that their name was a source of contention even back then and that, in a very indirect way, the Halos are responsible for interleague play. Dammit, Angels.
The Story: Angels fan Ricardo Marquez's time is drawing to an end in the Fan Cave.
The Monkey Says: Wait, how does this whole article glorify his time in the Fan Cave and completely fail to mention that he got to MEET KATE UPTON?!!?!
The Story: A vote to leave Nick Maronde in the bullpen in 2013.
The Monkey Says: I co-sign on that, though I do so hesitantly out of fear that his development as a starter will be stunted. Maronde has been effective and the Angels need effective relievers, but 60 innings of a really good left-handed setup man aren't nearly as valuable as 180 innings of even a slightly below average starting pitcher and Maronde has the potential to be a lot better than that in the rotation.
The Story: Parody song lyrics about WAR and Mike Trout.
The Monkey Says: Yup, it is that slow of a news day.
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The problem the Angels faced is that an "acceptable" catcher is pretty highly coveted in today's weakened state of the talent pool. Again, we'll all have to revise our expectations downward with the ["end" isn't quite the right word here, obviously] of the steroid era. We're only just now figuring out how much this family of drugs distorted the stat line.
I'm just shocked to see any Angels at all in the Top 50. Is this legit?
Now, come on. Move to L.A.? I can see the difference in the surrounding areas whenever I leave the county, either north or south. The state of California, as a whole, is not business-friendly but this county makes Ventura, Orange and San Diego counties look like pikers by comparison. The county is an outright slum, on the whole. It's like crossing into another country when I head north for shooting matches or south to Disneyland or San Diego. And that shows in the game attendance. The last Dodgers game I went to, about eight years ago, was not like the games I went to as a kid, when the place and people were more like it is at Angels Stadium. I don't know if any of you had the joyless experience of attending an L.A. Raiders home game but the atmosphere at Dodgers Stadium is like going to one of those. Downright scary. No, stay in Anaheim. It's all about TV now.
@Rick K. Right, TV is the big thing now, but the Angels already go their deal. The only big untapped revenue stream for Arte is the stadium and I don't think he can get it with some facelift refurbishments of the Big A.
@monkeywithahalo But would it be worth it to fund his own stadium? He's getting as many people as he's going to draw so what would be the point of getting a bigger stadium? I discount the idea of public funding, I can't see the people of L.A. voting ANOTHER tax increase. But I can see them being gullible enough to fall for the old "increased revenue stream" argument ("We have a study that shows..." Ok, then, I have nice land to sell in Somalia if you believe it.) so maybe they would be stupid enough to cut their own throats.
@monkeywithahalo Call me wacky but I just can't see someone pouring that kind of money into a state on the verge of bankruptcy (On my knees, "Oh, Lord, please let me sell my house before Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown's California goes teats up."). I drive by this area once in a while to go to a big Airsoft store in Walnut and can't see how this is an improvement, demographics-wise, over Anaheim. That's not a bad stadium and the new locale doesn't really get them into the L.A. metropolitan area.
Signed, Badly Missing The Point in West Hills.
@Rick K. Ah, but you forget that there are already stadium developers lined up with private equity at the ready. The new football stadium at LA Live just got approved which leaves the City of Industry project out in the cold and desperate for a tenant. One would think that group and Arte could come to a mutually beneficial accord if Moreno were really interested.
