The March 27th, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Jerome Williams returns to action, Kendrys Morales is on track to make the Opening Day roster, Angels might have no other choice than to release Abreu and much more...

The Story: Jerome Williams returned to action with a sharp outing in a Triple-A game.

The Monkey Says: Don't let the story fool you, Williams will be the fifth starter.  He is out of options and the Angels aren't going to let him go without giving him another run in the majors first.  At worst, he'll start the season on the DL and miss the first scheduled turn for the fifth starter, but that seems unlikely now that he is already pitching again.  As I mentioned yesterday, they could always just plan ahead and have Williams go 75 pitches in his regular season debut with a longman ready to go thanks to them carrying an extra reliever.

The Story: Kendrys Morales is on track to make the Opening Day roster assuming he suffers no setbacks.

The Monkey Says: I think we all pretty much assumed this would be the case, but this was the first mention I've seen of the Angels possibly keeping him in extended spring training.  He'd have to suffer some kind of setback for that to happen since he is performing well right now and looking for comfortable on the basepaths.

Enough is enough.  We've been putting up with him for weeks, but after his latest comments, it is high time that we shout from the rooftops that Bobby Abreu just needs to shut the hell up.

Quite simply, he's taken it too far.  These are no longer the words of a frustrated veteran, but rather of an entitled, deluded buffoon who appears to be making it his personal mission to disrespect the Angels' franchise, management and even the fans.

This we cannot abide.  To make sure that his general jackassery is fully appreciated, I present to you a complete timeline of Abreu's meltdown and all the damning comments he has made along the way along with the responses of the Angels interspersed.  Read this and there is no doubt that you too will join me in my crusade to silence Abreu, even if that can only be achieved by him being released.

2/20 - Our journey begins with Angel management extending an olive branch to Bobby after rumors leaked to the press that he might prefer a trade.  Gee, I wonder who leaked that?

"In talking to Bobby, he does want to play every day, but he's tempered that with an understanding of the potential of this team to win and he understands the situation," Scioscia said.

Look at the Angels taking Abreu's feelings into consideration and being proactive about working with him.  You can't ask for much more from an organization.  At this point, everything looks hunky-dory since Bobby has been "tempered" and has "an understanding."  What a stand up guy that Abreu is!  Glad that this all got worked out so quickly before anyone got their feelings hurt.  Or not...

2/22 - Those trade demands become less rumor and more fact when Abreu takes to the media himself, despite his recent meeting with management.

"I'm an everyday player. I can still be in the lineup for a major league team," said Abreu from his native Venezuela. "I will not be on the bench knowing that I can play.

"If the Angels don't have a position for me, then the best thing is to trade me. It would be the correct (thing) to do. I won't be able to do nothing sitting in the bench."

Said Abreu: "Yes, I spoke to Scioscia, but the conversation had nothing to do about me being a bench player. He told me I will start one day in left field, another in right and another as a designated hitter."

"We are on the same page in the sense that we both want the team to compete and go far into the playoffs, but we never reached an agreement in respect to me becoming a bench player," he added.

"I want to play, and I believe I can help this team. But if there is no spot for me, then I would prefer to play somewhere different," said the left-handed hitter and two time All-Star.

When this first came out, it was perceived as Abreu being a bit frustrated and that he had a clearing of the air with Scioscia, but now that we know how he has behaved since, it reads in a totally different light.  Notice the ultimatums and matter of fact statements.  He will NOT be on the bench.  NOTHING to do about him being a bench player.  NEVER reached an agreement on being a bench player.  I WANT TO PLAY!!!!!  If this was the only time he said all of this, I could excuse it.  Seeing your career end is not easy and he has a right to be upset about it.  The problem is that this wasn't the end of it or even close to it.

The March 26th, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Bobby Abreu mouthed off about his lack of trust in Angel management, Halos are rumored to be the frontrunners for Roy Oswalt, Morales hits his first homer since returning and much more...

The Story: In an interview with a Venezuelan outlet, Bobby Abreu once again gripes about his role, suggesting that he doesn't trust the team to make good on their 400 plate appearance promise and that he doesn't think he is appreciated.

The Monkey Says: Urge... to kill... rising... Seriously, Bobby?!!?!  You have to be kidding me.  It is possible that these comments are a little off since they are being translated from Spanish, but I kind of doubt it.  This is a new level of disgruntled for Abreu, which is why I now link to the next story.....

The Story: Abreu, Mike Scioscia and Jerry Dipoto held a closed door meeting to express those recent negative comments.

The Monkey Says: Welcome to damage control.  Abreu is claiming that the comments were a few weeks old, which only makes them slightly less infuriating.  He also appears to have convinced the reporter to remove the first quote in which he claims "to not have much confidence in these people" from the story, but you can't put that genie back in the bottle.  In light of these comments, I don't see any other option here than for the Angels to release Bobby Abreu.  Oh, by the way, this is me trying to be calm about this.  I have a much more angry rant on the topic scheduled for later today.  This should be fun.

This Spring Training has been a great chance for us to get a taste of what Angel’s baseball is going to be like this season. Just TWO WEEKS LEFT until we get to the start of season, only two weeks until we get to see what kind of players our big tickets to the playoffs in Albert Pujols and C.J Wilson will shape into as Angels. Can't forget about some of our Angels that are looking to put together a strong season after a "not-so-hot" year at the plate, like Vernon Wells. Wouldn't it be great if he could put together that .300 AVG, 30 HR, 100 RBI season he promised us? Oh, it would be great to see him come through on that promise, but you know what would be even better? Seeing him flop HARD in the beginning of the season! Not just hard enough to demote him to the bench, hard enough to be released from the team. It's not that I would love to see that because I have some sick fetish for seeing people's lives come crumbling down on top of them, it's more of a necessity to see this happen. Well, maybe not an absolute necessity, but it definitely would be in the Angels best interest for Vernon Wells to play himself off the team this coming season. 

Now don't get me wrong, I would kill to see to Wells put up that .300 AVG, 30 HR, 100 RBI season he promised. That being said, it's highly unlikely that Wells will put up such a season, at best he'll probably draw a median between his '10 and '11 seasons. That would come out to a decent season for Wells, but what the Angels need more out of Wells is not a decent season, but an absolute trainwreck of a "season". Give him the first two months or so to play himself out of a job and the Angels will be on track to set themselves up for a huge playoff run, not just for this season but for the foreseeable future. It's probably going to take a Mathis level of ineptitude for Wells to be shown the door, and while it would be horribly painful to sit through that it would be much more painful for the Angels front office to have to work around a revitalized Vernon Wells.

Let's just get the most obvious point out of the way first: HE'S BLOCKING MIKE TROUT THE SAVIOR OF ANGELS BASEBALL!

Whoa there! Let's slow down with the enthusiasm for just a second. While Mike Trout is the coming Messiah of the organization, he probably should be upgraded from "coming Messiah" status to "starting left fielder", but that simply isn't going to happen with Wells around. Jerry Dipoto has already made it known that Mike Trout isn't going to be on the major league roster if he isn't starting, you want a player of his caliber playing every day even if that means keeping him in AAA for a little longer, you can't afford to keep him on the bench. Mike Trout is the kind of player that electrifies the lineup around him, this was extremely evident in his second call up last season; the highlight of that call up being his two home run performance in a 13-6 win over the Seattle Mariners which came in the middle of a six-game hitting streak in which he was batting .400. Mike Trout already went through his initial adjustment to the majors in his first call up which saw him batting a weak .163 in only 14 games, if he came back we wouldn't have to sit around and wait for him to get comfortable and start producing.

The start of the most anticipated LA Angels regular season literally ever is right around the corner.  I'm excited.  Your're excited.  We are all excited.  You know who isn't excited?  The rest of the AL West.  The other teams in the division all have their own hopes and expectations going into this season, but I like to think that they are all at least slightly anxious about the prospect of facing Albert Pujols all season long.

Since the Angels have to go through these teams in their quest to get back to the playoffs and win a championship, it is probably a good idea to see what their foes were up to this off-season while the Angels were busy having the greatest off-season ever.

A quick sidebar, please be aware that if you are an Athletics fan that stumbles across this post, this post is being written from the perspective of an Angel fan.  So save your complaints about this being "biased" because, well, I am biased.  Get over it.

The following fulfills my contractual obligation to say something nice about the Oakland A's... Billy Beane has huge (money)balls.  The unexpected signing of Cuban sensation(?) Yoenis Cespedes could be a franchise-saver.  The A's haven't had a legitimate offensive star since the salad days of Giambi, Tejada and Chavez and they don't have one in the farm system right now, depending on how you feel about Michael Choice.  Getting Cespedes was Oakland's best chance at landing such a player, especially since everyone knows that they only really pursue name free agents for PR purposes now.  I don't know if Cespedes is going to justify the hype and ridiculous YouTube video, but he is their best shot at a middle of the order staple that they can build around and get themselves back into contention in the near future.

I'm not trying to troll Athletic fans but... I actually pity the A's.  It seems like they have been stuck in rebuilding mode for a long time now, probably because they have.  To some, that is a black mark on Billy Beane's record, but I think it is more of a symptom of having to survive for too long on a thin budget with an owner that is more concerned about moving to San Jose than winning right now.  Really, it just isn't fair to the fans.  The organization knows they are in a holding pattern until MLB figures out a way to appease the Giants so Oakland can be freed up to move to the lucrative, corporate sponsor-rich Silicon Valley.  Then, and only then, will the team be permitted to operate with a payroll that isn't two to three times smaller than every other team in their division.  What makes that even tougher to handle is that the only way Oakland fans can see their team get good is by having them move away, granted not far away, but still, they'd have to move and that is never fair to anyone involved.

The March 23rd, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Morales makes his return, Angels seeking a trade for starting pitching, Jerome Williams hopes to return to action on Monday and much more...

The Story: Kendrys Morales made his return to the Angels lineup, going 2-for-3.

The Monkey Says: You couldn't ask for much more from K-Mo.  He had two singles, got to hit from both sides of the plate, ran the bases and even slid.  He'll be in the lineup for one of the split-squad games again today.

The Story: The Angels are looking around the trade market for low-cost starting pitchers.

The Monkey Says: The Halos have options at fifth starter, but none are that great so adding some more low-cost depth can't hurt.  I'm not sure who their targets might be at this point, but once teams get close to having to figure out what to do with some of their out-of-options players the rumors should really start heating up.

I’ve always believed that a team needs a strong veteran presence, on a 25-man roster there should be at least a couple of older players to mentor the youngsters.  Maybe I have an issue with authority myself, but it’s always been easier for me to learn from an experienced peer than from someone assigned to evaluate or manage me.  But an important aspect of mentorship is promotion of a team approach, of a commitment to be one’s best and a devotion to winning.

I’d like to see Bobby Abreu in this light, since I’ve always admired him and been his fan.  As a player he certainly has strengths that can be passed on, most especially plate discipline and consequent high on-base percentage.  It was only a couple of years ago that the Angels re-signed Abreu and allowed Vlad Guerrero to saunter off to Texas, in a choice many fans speculated was driven by a desire to change a swing-away team culture.  Bobby was to be the model of future Angel hitters:  smart with a good eye and the ability to drive the ball.

Then something happened last year, on the way to Bobby replacing Mickey Hatcher as hitting coach (some of us are dreamers).  Maybe it began when his power numbers started declining and pitchers became more aggressive with him at bat.  Maybe the umpires became impatient with him or lost some respect for his strike-zone sense as he became more dependent on walks.  Maybe he got tired in the second half, or maybe his bat is simply slower.  But Bobby is not the Bobby of 2009.

This spring Abreu told the media he would prefer to be traded if he didn’t have a regular role on the Angels.  This behavior is not consistent with a team approach, and is not an approach to model for younger players.  Reportedly Dipoto tried to trade Abreu to the Yankees but the deal fell through, meanwhile Morales looks like he will be playing this year and although Mark Trumbo is making progress at 3rd, he is also in line for DH at bats.

I guess we’re all wondering what Bobby’s role will be on the team, Bobby esoecially.  Rumor has it he came in carrying a few extra pounds to a spring where he must know he’s battling for his job.  Reporting out of shape cannot help his case.  It doesn’t strike me as demonstration of commitment, good preparation and a passion to win.  As of this writing, Bobby is 3 for 21 this spring with about two weeks before the season starts.  There’s plenty of reasons to keep him on the team: as insurance for Morales, as a left-handed bat off the bench, as a Sunday player.  But not as a player in the starting nine.  And after this spring, not as a role model.

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