How do I put this politely?  Umm, Joel Pineiro, he... what's the word?  Sucks... hard.  Like, if he sucked any more he'd be a vacuum or Scott Kazmir, neither of which are good things.

The wheels didn't really start to fall off for him until a few weeks ago after he spent most of the season walking the tightrope of allowing far too many hits while missing almost no bats yet somehow suppressing runs from scoring (translation, being really lucky), so the warning signs were certainly there.  It wasn't until that fateful mid-July day in Oakland that he channeled his inner-Vin Mazzaro and coughed up eight runs while getting just one out before getting yanked and he just hasn't been the same since.  But, of course, you know this already since Pineiro has become a lightning rod for criticism since that day.

Now, after his fourth consecutive awful outing, which came on the heels of Mike Scioscia publicly questioning Joel's performance and ability, the time has come to start seriously exploring options for moving on from Pineiro.

Replacing a veteran pitcher in the rotation right in the middle of a tight playoff race is less than ideal, but in a bizarre twist of serendipity, the Angels might get a chance to audition Joel's replacement before actually kicking him to the curb first.

The August 4th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Kendrick frustrated with his benchings, Abreu wants to retire as an Angel, assessing Trumbo's upside and much more...

The Story: Howie Kendrick appears to be getting frustrated with his increasing numbers of days off.

The Monkey Says: This has become a sore point with the fans too, but everyone needs to realize that Scioscia is just trying to cycle all his infielders into the lineup so none of them get rusty.  The idea that Kendrick should be exempted from the rotation is a little out-dated.  He did have a great start, but his OPS in June and July is just a tick over .700 and he hasn't hit a homer since June 24th.  He is also striking out quite a bit still, fanning in almost 24% of his July at-bats.  So, I ask you, why is it he shouldn't ever sit for Izturis or Callaspo who are basically performing right around the same level?

The Story: With his option now vested, Bobby Abreu would be happy to retire as an Angel.

The Monkey Says: Alas, he doesn't mean after this season, so there goes any hopes of easily wiping his $9 million off the books.  I hate to break it to Bobby, but odds are he isn't going to retire as an Angel as they will surely look to move him this off-season.

@
Minnesota Twins   (50-59) @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (60-50)

Pitching Probables: MIN – Scott Baker (8-6, 2.56 ERA)  LAA – Joel Pineiro (5-5, 4.91 ERA)

Game Info: 7:05 PM PT; TV - KCOP; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

What has gotten to Joel Pineiro? I don't know what's happened to him, you don't know what's happened to him, not even he knows what's happened to him!

What's it going to take to get the Pineiro from last season back? Remember the guy who won 8 straight starts in a row, the guy who took the Angels playoffs hopes with him when he went on the DL in the late months of the season? He was an anchor to this rotation last season, now he's struggling to plug up the 4th spot in what is one of the better rotations in the AL. He's been the weakest link in this rotation all season, even the rookie Tyler Chatwood has posted a far better season then Joel Pineiro.

Far better then Joel Pineiro. 

A solid bounceback from Pineiro is all it would take to muscle this team past the Rangers, but what would it take to make that happen?

Twitter is a great social media tool, especially for athletes.  It gives them a chance to interact with fans and show that they can be humble and gracious despite their fame.  It also allows them to insinuate that they are about to fornicate with an inanimate object, so I guess there are some drawbacks too.  Well, whatever your taste in tweets might be, the Angels have the entire spectrum covered this week.

Mike Trout takes his demotion to Double-A in stride - @Trouty20 Back to little rock ! Had awesome experience up here in Anaheim thanks for everything !

• He even gets sent back to the minors well.  Does that make him a six-tool player?  Seriously, this kid has no flaws.  I'm pretty sure he could cure cancer if he felt like it.

Victor Rojas thanks the weather gods - @VictorRojas29 Still amazed that we went through Baltimore, Cleveland & Detroit at the end of July & never experienced a rain delay. #luck

• Baseball announcers fear nothing more than lengthy weather delays.

CJ Cron has some very important things on his mind - @CCron24 Eagles will be very solid in #Madden

• Sometimes you have to remember that these prospects are just out of college and high school, so a team's rating in Madden is actually a big deal to them still

Chris Pettit overshares - @cpettit815 About to get intimate with the foam roll for 10 minutes...

• Be gentle, Chris.  It is the foam roll's first time.  And 10 minutes?  Way to go, stud!

...and finally, we end things with the world's worst Twittering athlete, Chevez "Chevy" Clarke.

@OfficialChevy Great pitching pitching by B-Mac today... I went yard today... Hit a Homerun!!!!

• This marks the first Chevy tweet that has actually made me smile.  Chevy has a pathetic .561 OPS right now, so he needs to start producing otherwise he's going to just be another dumbass on Twitter and I will lose the anchor of my weekly feature.  I may not like Chevy, but I need him.

@OfficialChevy Man I'm gettin really black!!!!!

• On second thought, I hope he never gets another hit.

When Bobby Abreu officially made enough plate appearances to vest his $9 million contract option for 2012, you'd have thought drowned a sack of puppies based on the vitriol aimed in his direction by certain segments of the Angel fan base.  I guess that is what happens when you are they guy who now could stand in the way of Mike Trout ascension to the majors.

Gosh, you'd think the Angel fans would be used to having old, overpaid outfielders on their roster by now?

Anyway, the instant his option kicked in (and even before it did, really), Angel fans have been racking their brains to find a way to unload Bobby to alleviate the impending logjam in the OF/DH spots.  Some of these schemes seem rather practical, others, well, let's just say they score points for creativity but the German judge really screwed them on the plausibility score.

Somehow ridding the roster of Abreu and his entire salary is obviously the clear preference, but given the lack of a market for an overpaid DH with no power, I'm going to go ahead and guess that trading Abreu this off-season may not come to pass.  Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean the sky is falling.  Actually, it might be a good thing for the Angels... if they are smart about it.

The August 3rd, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Weaver suspended six games but will appeal, previewing the August trade market for the Halos, for some reason the Angels will honor Derek Jeter and much more...

The Story: Jered Weaver has been suspended for six games for throwing at Detroit's Alex Avila, but he will appeal the suspension.

The Monkey Says: He may be appealing, but he hardly seems contrite about his actions, essentially saying he doesn't really regret much of it and showing he is still a little miffed about the way the Tigers acted.  He doesn't stand a chance on his appeal, but he is really only doing it so that he can serve his suspension during a stretch where the Angels have an off-day so that his absence doesn't mess up the rotation too much.

The Story: A look at some potential August trade targets for the Angels.

The Monkey Says: Umm, I love Sam Miller, but some of those targets are real stretches, so I am going to assume that this was done at least partially with tongue in cheek.  In my opinion, I've got a sneaking suspicion that the Halos are somehow going to end up adding Kyle (ugh) Farnsworth sometime around August 20th.

The Story: The Angels are going to celebrate Derek Jeter's 3000th hit and career in some fashion when the Yankees come to town on September 9th.

The Monkey Says: Monkey confused.  Monkey no like Yankees.  Why Angels honor one?  Monkey angry.  MONKEY SMASH!!!!

The Story: Buster Olney believes the AL Cy Young race is shaping up to be great.

The Monkey Says: Nope, sorry, Buster, but you are wrong.  Verlander is going to win.  I think he pretty much locked it up on Sunday as he came within a few outs of another no-hitter (and he narrowly missed out once before the game after the original no-hitter) and Weaver probably alienated a lot of voters by going ape the way he did.  Only old windbags and NY media honks are going to vote for Sabathia.  It won't be a landslide, but Verlander is going to win because he is the cool, trendy pick.

The Story: A look back at Weaver, Verlander and the 2004 amateur draft.

The Monkey Says: I love the part where they say the point isn't to bash Matt Bush, which is true, because the whole point was to bash the Padres for being dumb and cheap.

The Story: SB Nation's MLB Power Rankings contain a hilarious fake trade conversation between Tony Reagins and KC GM Dayton Moore.

The Monkey Says: Be sure to read this with no beverages in your mouth because you will laugh hysterically and spit your beverage all over your screen and keyboard.  So much LOL.

It wasn't another no-hitter, but Ervin Santana still seemed to have plenty of that same magic left in his arm as he cruised to a complete game shutout of the visiting Twins.

Angels 5, Twins 1

I don't know how much longer Ervin can keep this up, but I'm glad to watch and find out.  He was lights out once again tonight, just as he has been, really since late June.  Granted, Santana has hardly faced a murderer's row of lineups over that stretch, but that shouldn't detract too much from what he's done.

With tonight's complete game, Santana has now gone nine straight starts allowing three runs or less and gone at least seven inning in seven of those nine starts.  That is some Weaver-esque stuff right there.  And his brilliance tonight comes at a perfect time since it shows the Rangers that the Angels aren't going away even though they did nothing at the trade deadline.

Really, who needs bullpen help when your starters finish what they started?  Keep it up, Ervin.