And so Mike Trout's first cup of coffee in the majors comes to an end with the team announcing that our hero has been demoted to the minors, reporting to the Arkansas Travelers.

Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!  The Travs?  Again?  Hasn't he already destroyed the Texas League enough with his .950 OPS?

The short answer is, "yes."  The long answer is, "yes, sort of, but it is complicated."

I, for one, definitely thought the Angels would be sending Trout to Triple-A to play for the Salt Lake Bees, so I understand why some are concerned that he is being asked to remain at the Double-A level.  Some have speculated that it is because the Angels have decided to slow his career curve down a bit after he scuffled during his brief stint in the bigs.  Those people would be wrong.

Yes, it is unusual to have a guy like Trout not jump up to the next level after he has so thoroughly proven himself at a lower level, but there is a unique confluence of circumstances that led to this CORRECT decision to keep Trouty in Little Rock.  First, the Travs are a playoff-bound team, something the Angels are very big about.  They want Mike to get post-season experience, which is somewhat odd since refining skillsets should be a higher priority, but it seems pretty clear the Angels want him to learn to play under pressure, a hint that they might have plans to use him sooner rather than later.  Trout won't get that experience with the Bees because, well, the Bees are horrible and currently sit 14.5 games back in the standings.

Second, Salt Lake might actually be bad for him.  The level of competition and talent might be better at Triple-A, but it isn't that much better than in Double-A.  The problem with Salt Lake, and the Pacific Coast League in general, is that it is a hitter's haven with all of the high altitude ballparks, Salt Lake chief amongst them.  That kind of environment can lead to some bloated stats that have a tendency to cover up flaws in one's skillset, leading to the creation of bad habits (see Wood, Brandon or McPherson, Dallas).  On the flip side, the Travelers play in an extreme pitcher's park, so Trout is going to have to earn every one of his offensive stats AND hone his defensive skills by patrolling the spacious outfield.  I actually think the defensive development might be one of the bigger driving factors here.  Trout is a good defender due to his speed, but in his small sample size of big league time I witnessed, he looks like he still has a fair amount of work to do on getting reads and taking smarter routes.

Finally, and I hate that this is part of the reasoning, but keeping Trout in Double-A turns down the volume on the Trout hype machine.  Trout was met with much fanfare during his promotion and many wanted him to stick around.  Had Mike gone to Triple-A and started putting up monster numbers in the thin Utah air, those calls for his permanent ascension into the Angel lineup would only grow louder.  Stuck back in Arkansas, those calls will still ring out, but without much substance since the team will always have the built-in excuse that he has yet to even attempt Triple-A.

That's it for this week, check back in next week to see what happens to our future hero.  Same Trout Time.  Same Trout Channel... err, blog.

Loyal readers, I have a favor to ask.  For the last three years I, along with Ryan Falla and Jon Lyons, have busted our ass to provide you with a constant stream of daily Angels content and we almost never ask anything in return, but today I am going to ask you to help us out.

This fall, Blogs With Balls, the top sports blogging organization out there, is presenting awards to the top sports blogs in the land and I want your help to make this blog one of them.

The USMAP awards are a chance for little blogs like this one to get the notoriety they deserve and you can help us get that by nominating us in all applicable categories (Best Sports Site - Writing Quality, Best Team-Specific Site, Best Sportswriter) by going to this link.  The more nominations we get, the better the chance that we will get the attention of the good folks at Blogs With Balls and hopefully be named a finalist for the general public to vote on.  If you like this blog, please nominate us and have your friends nominate us and help us get this chance to get our name out there in a big way.

Don't make me beg, because I totally will, I just want to wait until closer to the end of the nomination process so that it looks like I have some pride in myself.

You hanging in there, Angel fans?  Hopefully none of you are too distraught over the Angels becoming the first team ever to have officially been eliminated from the playoffs in August despite being just two games out of the division lead.  I'm just as shocked as you are by this turn of events, but we have no choice but to listen to what the national media is telling us, right?

Try not to slip in the puddle created by all the dripping sarcasm, but I'm dead serious about the national media basically declaring the Rangers the unquestioned winner of the AL West all because they landed two high quality middle relievers.  Don't believe me, here is a quote directly from ESPN's Steve Berthiaume:

"The Rangers have won the division. Not only that, they made themselves a team that will be very difficult to beat in the postseason."

And Berthiaume is not alone, I've seen multiple national media outlets make similar assertions, though not with quite so much certainty.

Ummm, not so fast there, folks.  Last time I checked, they still actually have to play the games.  And the last time I checked, no team ever ran away with a division because of middle relief.

The August 2nd, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Posnanski settles the Weaver-Guillen "unwritten rules" debate, Trout sent back to Double-A, Santana named AL Co-Player of the Week and much more...

The Story: Joe Posnanski declares Carlos Guillen the biggest offender in the Angels-Tigers dust up from Sunday.

The Monkey Says: If Poz deems it so, then so it shall be written.  I had assumed my team allegiances had clouded my judgment, but Posnanski is totally impartial and even he can't understand how anyone could justify Carlos Guillen's actions.

The Story: The Angels sent Mike Trout back to Double-A Arkansas and called up Andrew Romine to take his place.

The Monkey Says: Trout going to Double-A instead of Triple-A is a bit of a surprise, but I understand the logic, which I will delve into alter today now that the Trout Tracker will be returning later today.

The trade deadline has come and gone and the Angel roster looks remarkably unchanged.  Few thought the Angels would make a big move, but most thought at least some kind of move would go down for sure.  The Angels said they explored the market but ultimately couldn't find an deal that worked for them.  Whether you believe that or not, the fact of the matter is the Angels are in a tight playoff race and opted to stand pat.  The question you must now answer is: was NOT making a trade actually a smart move by the Angel front office.

Turns out nobody is on the other end of that phone call.

Time to vote!

No doubt the "Fire Tony Reagins" fanatics are out in full force today.  Since I am not prone to making rash judgments because I do things like think and analyze, I am not amongst those calling for Reagins' head on a platter.  I am, however, disappointed in Tony.

In many ways, Tony Reagins made a well-calculated and intelligent decision by opting to stand pat at the trade deadline.  The Angels had two basic needs: a big bat and middle relief help.  Trading for a big bat was obviously never going to happen.  The only two players that even remotely fit the bill of being an offense-changing hitter were Carlos Beltran and Hunter Pence and thanks to Tony's previously itchy trade-trigger finger, there was simply no room at the inn that is the Angel outfield.  That he didn't even kick the tires on either player shows that he at least has some common sense (an accusation lobbied at him with great regularity of late).

The August 1st, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Reagins talks about the lack of trades, Abreu's 2012 option vests, Weaver still steaming about being disrespected by the Tigers and much more...

The Story: Tony Reagins explains why the Angels didn't make any trades.

The Monkey Says: This is a fairly basic "cover your ass" explanation, but I actually believe it.  I feel like the Angels were hamstrung by a lack of upper-level prospects and a relief pitching market that ultimately proved to be fairly thin.  That doesn't mean I'm happy about it, so get ready for a rant later today.

The Story: Count the Angels as trade deadline losers.

The Monkey Says: Hard to argue with them at this point, though I do think saying they are losers because the Rangers made moves is a false argument.  Making a move simply because a competitor did is how you panic and make a bad trade yourself.  We've all seen what happens (Vernon Wells) when Reagins overreacts to public pressure to make a move, so that is a small win for him, I suppose.