Big, big, BIG news out of St. Petersberg.  According to what is now multiple sources, Arte Moreno and other members of the Angels top brass have been in the Tampa area the last day or two and were at one point seen dining with their golden boy general manager Andrew Friedman, via DRays Bay:

On Tuesday night, one of our readers was at a restaurant in downtown St. Petersburg when he saw Andrew Friedman dining with Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim team owner Arte Moreno and another individual he later identified as team president John Carpino. This individual lives locally so Friedman is no strange face to him, and he immediately recognized Moreno when walking by their table. Both he and the friend he was dining with feel extremely confident in what they saw, and confirmed after another walk-by and an internet search that the third person at the table was team president John Carpino.

I know I titled this post as a rumor, but the updates to that original post provide additional confirmation that the meeting did happen, so this isn't some random dude claiming to see Theo Epstein ordering a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks (although that kind of worked, didn't it?).  For those who might somehow be unfamiliar with Friedman, he is currently considered, in most circles, the best GM in all of baseball because of the fantastic work he has done with the Rays.  His profile is creeping close the same profile Billy Beane once had during the peak of the Moneyball A's, so it is no wonder the Angels appear to be interested in him.  It is also worth noting that Friedman works without a contract, so he is free to leave the Rays at any time without compensation.  Like Beane, at the time, everyone expects Friedman to jump ship sooner or later, although most figured he would take the vacancy that is expected to open in his hometown of Houston if/when the sale of the Astros is ever finalized.

The delay in that sale could prove to be to the Angels' advantage.  I would have to think Friedman would have a surprising comfort level with the Angels based on the Scioscia-Maddon connection and the fact that he has made deals with the Angels before.  Obviously Reagins is gone, but Friedman surely got an idea for how the Angels work and would go into the job with a plan already.  Of course, this assumes that he is willing to take the job and that he is even interested.

Not to throw water on this whole thing, but there is a slight possibility that the Angels were in town for other reasons, specifically that Friedman's assistant GM, Gerry Hunsicker, was originally viewed as a prime candidate for the Angel job.  It is entirely possible that Moreno came to town with the idea of talking to Hunsicker and figured he might as well take a run at Friedman while he was there.  Perhaps Friedman is really interested or maybe he is just humoring Arte so that he can later lobby him to give Hunsicker the job instead.

At any rate, this is all nothing but speculation, but it is clearly a situation worth monitoring because getting Friedman would be a massive coup for the Angels.

(FYI, Friedman is now added to our GM poll, so go ahead and vote for him rigorously)

The October 20th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Kim Ng to interview for Angels general manager opening, Rich Hahn and Tory Hernandez also to get interviews, a post-mortem on the 2011 Angels season and much more...

The Story: The Angels will give Kim Ng an interview for their general manager vacancy.

The Monkey Says: Kim Ng would be the first female GM in major professional sports, which is kind of the reason that I think she might soon emerge as the front-runner.  This is totally just a hunch, but I think being the guy to break the glass ceiling really appeals to Moreno.  On the flip side, I don't know if Arte is going to want a new GM that will instantly be polarizing and highly scrutinized in the way Reagins was by the end of his run, though likely without as much vitriol from Tony.

The Story: Rich Hahn of the White Sox and the Angels own Tory Hernandez will also receive interviews for the GM opening.

The Monkey Says: I am all for Hahn getting an interview as he might be the hottest name when it comes to prospective GMs.  The interview for Hernandez worries me though just because he is an internal candidate and it had seemed like the Angels were going out of their way to avoid that.  Call me cynical, but his entry into the pool, coupled with the exclusion of Gary DiSarcina thus far, has me wondering if maybe Hernandez has been the guy all along and all of these other interviews are just part of a well-orchestrated charade, although I don't know if Moreno is clever and under-handed enough to pull of such a scheme.  All of these interviews are set to go down in the next week apparently, so we should hopefully have an idea of who the Angels will hire by the end of the month.

The polls are back, folks!  I don't know if anyone was actually missing them, but a few things have compelled me to bring back our weekly poll feature:

1. I'm lazy and posting a poll is quicker than writing a full post.
2. I just realized the main site poll has been if the Angels will overtake the Rangers for the AL West still.  Yeah, might be time to take that one down.
3. We actually have a good topic this week.

Yessir, the Angels general manager candidate list is finally starting to slowly trickle out and I think we have enough prospective candidates to make this an interesting vote.  We already knew that Jerry DiPoto of the D'Backs and the Yankees' Damon Oppenheimer and Billy Eppler were on the short list, but the last two days has also revealed that Texas AGM Thad Levine and MLB exec Kim Ng will be getting interviews as well.  All seem like great candidates and I simply can't decide who is the best man or woman for the job, so I am going to let you all do it for me by voting in this weeks poll.

Oooh!  Hire her, she has two cell phones, that means she can be twice as productive!!!

The October 19th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Angels to interview Rangers' Thad Levine for GM spot, Kendrick gets caught up in autograph controversy, a new defensive metric provides more evidence against Mathis being an elite defensive catcher and much more...

The Story: The Angels will interview Texas assistant GM Thad Levine for their own general manager opening.

The Monkey Says: Levine is a hot commodity after two straight AL pennants for Texas and I think the Angels are clearly taking the "if you can't beat 'em, steal their assistant GM" strategy.  It is also worth nothing that Levine will interview with Baltimore as well and that he grew up as a diehard Oriole fan, so the Halos are at something of a disadvantage here.

The Story: Howie Kendrick allegedly refused to sign an autograph for young boy and his family, making the boy cry.

The Monkey Says: This whole story is ridiculous and I almost don't even want to dignify it by linking to it, but it actually got some run on the internet today, so I figured it needed covering.  First off, Kendrick has every right to refuse to sign autographs and take photos, especially when you bother him at his own home.  More importantly, you really need to take the story with a grain of salt because if this family was so innocent and well-meaning, they never would have gone to some trashy internet tabloid with the story in the first place.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.  Time for me to keep with the time honored annual tradition of me donning the Angels general manager cap and detailing what I would do if I had the privilege of being the Angels real general manager for a day in the off-season.  Normally, I just do this for my own edification, but given that the GM position actual is vacant at the moment, I think this is my big chance to impress good ol' Uncle Arte!

Or I will just make some really smart (or not) suggestions that will be completely ignored, like usual.

But before I unveil my master plan, let me just lay down the ground rules.  This isn't entirely a fantasy so I will be spending and dealing within the bounds of reality, meaning that the Angels budget is my budget.  That means I am going to have at most $25 million to spend this off-season.  And since this isn't a video game where I can force the other team to accept a trade or a player to accept a contract, the deals I propose will be realistic and fair, at least to the best of my estimation.  The other caveat I am going to work under is that Kendrys Morales is 50/50 to play a significant amount this season.  I don't have access to his medical reports, obviously, so I can't just assume that Morales is going to be his old self by Opening Day or the All-Star break or ever again.

There, all done with that.  So without further adieu, on to the grand plan to turn the Angels back into real contenders!

The October 18th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Williams playing winter ball in Venezuela, a look at what service time considerations might mean for Mike Trout, wondering if Arte Moreno is the Angels biggest problem and much more...

The Story: Jerome Williams is pitching in the Venezuelan Winter League this off-season.

The Monkey Says: Nice to see that Jerome is keeping busy this off-season and working to stay in shape for next year.  As I alluded to in yesterday's article, Williams has had issues with staying in shape earlier in his career, so the fact that he is voluntarily still playing during the off-season, working on refining his craft is a great sign that he finally understands what it takes to have prolonged success in the big leagues.

The Story: Service time considerations could affect how the Angles handle Mike Trout next season.

The Monkey Says: I still don't think Trout should play in the minors next season, but some other experts do.  What I very much doubt is that the Angels will keep Trout in the minors solely to so that he doesn't become a free agent until 2018 instead of 2017.  That is the sort of move a non-contending and/or smaller market type of team might pull, but the Halos have never shown much of a penchant for small-minded maneuvers like that.  The fact that they called him up at all in 2011 pretty much proves that.

Alright, Angels.  You've had two weeks to rest up and lick your wounds since the end of the season, but relaxing time is over.  If you want to return to the playoffs next year, you're going to have to do some work this off-season.  The position players got their assignments last week, but now we turn our attention the the crown jewel of the Angel roster, the rotation.  As good as the starting pitchers were this season, all of them still have plenty of work to do if they want to be as good if not better in 2012.

The Angel rotation got good marks this season, but they weren't perfect and thus have plenty of work to do this off-season.