The October 28th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Trumbo's broken foot was actually hurt for several weeks, the myth of Donnie Moore's suicide, wondering if Angel fans can root for Nolan Ryan and against the Rangers at the same time and much more...

The Story: Mark Trumbo claims his foot broken had been bothering him for six weeks before he finally was placed on the disabled list.

The Monkey Says: That would explain why he really fell of towards the end of the season, though it makes me wonder if the team knew about this and had him play through it.  Not that it was the wrong call if the doctors said he can't make it worse, but there have a been a number of times the last few seasons an Angel player has hidden injury.

The Story: Angel fans are split on their desire to see former Angel Nolan Ryan win a World Series, but also to see the Rangers, which he owns, lose.

The Monkey Says: I'm not split at all, I want the Rangers to lose.  I know Nolan Ryan was one of the greatest Angels, but when I was growing up, he had already left the Angels.  I couldn't have been happier to see the Rangers choke twice in that epic game last night.

The Angels may not have a GM (yet) but that doesn't mean we can't get ready for the start of the off-season which is coming up fast.  In order to help the new guy (or gal) out, the least I could do is come up with a bit of a primer on the viable free agent and trade targets that the future general manager might want to consider to plug in the many holes the Angel roster has.  The Angels may seem like they have too many first base and designated hitter types already, but each of those players carries major risks and/or flaws.  That could translate to the Angels deciding to make a "big splash" by bringining in a bona fide stud to man one of those spots.  But who could they realistically get?

If you are going to dream, you might as well dream big.

The October 27th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Angels begin to narrow the GM search, Friedman still hasn't ruled himself out, Oppenheimer no longer a candidate and much more...

The Story: The Angels have started to trim the list of GM candidates by ruling out Damon Oppenheimer, but they will bring Billy Eppler back for a second interview.

The Monkey Says: This is a bit surprising because Oppenheimer had been gaining steam in the media and was generally considered a more viable option than Eppler.  At least the Angels are starting to cull the candidates now which should put them on track to make a hire in time for the start of free agency.

The Story: Andrew Friedman has not yet removed himself from consideration for the Angels GM job.

The Monkey Says: This is actually fairly important.  There is no real reason for him to keep his name in the mix if he is just going to turn them down.  The longer he delays an official decision, the more likely it becomes that he will jump ship to the Halos.  Combine this story with the one about Eppler and it makes me wonder if maybe these are related developments.  I'm sure this is just a wild conspiracy theory, but perhaps Friedman has already quietly decided to take the Angels' president job and the remaining interviews are for a GM that will work under Friedman.  I mean, they haven't even interviewed all their candidates yet and still think they are going to make a hire in the next week.  It just doesn't add up.  Of course, this theory kind of falls apart because one would think Friedman would want to hand pick his GM and he can't really do that without being involved in the interviews.

The Angels may not have a GM (yet) but that doesn't mean we can't get ready for the start of the off-season which is coming up fast.  In order to help the new guy (or gal) out, the least I could do is come up with a bit of a primer on the viable free agent and trade targets that the future general manager might want to consider to plug in the many holes the Angel roster has.  To start things off, let's take a look at the catching market so that we can be done with this Jeff Mathis nonsense once and for all.

Yell all you want, Jeff, it isn't going to help you keep your job.

The October 26th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Halos hope to hire a GM by early next week, Friedman would be Angels GM but he probably won't leave Tampa, Minaya joins the GM contenders and much more...

(Editor's Note: Sorry for the lack of updates the last few days, been dealing with a sick kid and trying to talk myself into not killing myself now that the Rangers are one win away from a championship.)

The Story: The Angels hope to hire a GM by early next week.

The Monkey Says: The story suggests that they aren't done with interviews yet though which leads me to believe that they already have a favorite in mind, assuming they don't land Friedman.  Stay tuned.

The Story:The Angels have added White Sox AGM Rick Hahn and former Dodgers GM Dan Evans to their potential general manager list, and both are seen as front-runners.

The Monkey Says: This is the first we've heard about Evans being a candidate, so he is yet another name to watch.  I'm not crazy about what he did in his time running the Dodgers, but it would be interesting to see how having a guy who has worked in the front office and as an agent would work out, especially since he is currently Hank Conger's agent and must have a choice thing or two to say about how Mike Scioscia handles his catchers.  As for Hahn, I'm not surprised he is a top candidate, but I don't know what that even means anymore since DiPoto, Oppenheimer, Evans and Hahn have all been called favorites thus far.

The October 21st, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Friedman is the Angels top choice for GM, Angels might lose out on DiPoto to Baltimore, looking at Kim Ng's story and qualifications and much more...

The Story: It has been confirmed that the Angels have met with Andrew Friedman and that he is their top choice to take over as GM.

The Monkey Says: This is going to be a long week as we wait out this GM hunt.  The notion of getting Friedman is an exciting one and it sounds like he can have the job if he wants, but it is unclear if he actually wants it.  Friedman has a great working and personal relationship with the Rays owner, so it isn't a given that he is going to jump to greener pastures at the first given opportunity.  Either way, MLB bans breaking big news during the World Series, so they can't make an announcement about who they end up hiring until it ends.

The Story: If the Angels are interested in Jerry DiPoto, they will have to beat out the Orioles for him since he has emerged as their top choice.

The Monkey Says: This has been hinted at before, but it seems to be legit now.  I still think given the choice most GM candidates would pick the Angels over the Orioles, but if the Halos get strung along by Friedman for too long, they risk losing out on quality fallback options like DiPoto.

It is time to wrap up the off-season homework assignments for all the Angels.  I wish I could say I've saved the best for last, but I clearly haven't since the last group up is none other than the Angels reliever, aka the Blowpen.

I just wish there was a grade worse than F that I could give.