Opening Day is here and with them comes the much anticipated return of our weekly Angels Player Power Rankings. Future rankings will focus mostly on recent play, but to start the year, we base them off of season expectations (Yay, Trout!) and spring performance (Sorry, everyone in the bullpen.)...

RANK	PLAYER	COMMENTS
1		Mike Trout - Fat? Fit? It doesn't matter, he's still the best player on the planet. Go ahead and inscribe his name on the 2013 AL MVP award now and feel free to throw in a 15-year contract extension while you're at it.
2		Jered Weaver - I don't know about you, but I'm pretty anxious to see him in a real ballpark with a real radar gun telling us whether or not it is time to freak out about the Angels' ace.
3		Albert Pujols - Well, this April can't possibly be any worse than last April. So he's got that going for him, which is nice.
4		Josh Hamilton - The over/under on when I finally fully suppress my reflex to boo every time I see Hamilton is set at May 15th. But the line could move if demolishes the Rangers in his first series back in Arlington in the second series of the year. Place your bets now!
5		Erick Aybar - Aybar the Two-Hole Hitter Experiement, take three. Aaaaaaand... action! (Fast forward to mid-May: Cut! Cut! Cut! This is all wrong! Who's idea was this? Someone call central casting and get me a real two-hole hitter now!!!)
6		C.J. Wilson - Am I the only one that thinks C.J. is going to have a really big year? I am? Oh. Well, shit.
7		Mark Trumbo - I know better than to worry about Spring Training numbers, but how does Trumbo go 77 plate appearances without a single homer?
8		Howie Kendrick - The best part about Howie quitting Twitter is now we can all say mean things about him after he grounds into a double play without worrying about hurting his feelings. Oh wait, we never did that. I forgot how the internet worked there for a minute, sorry.
9		Ernesto Frieri - Reason #9,784 to be worried about the Angels bullpen this year: Ernasty has looked a lot more like ErnestNOOOO!!!!!! in Spring Training.
10		Jason Vargas - The bad news is that nobody knows how Vargas will perform outside of Safeco. The good news is that in a worst case scenario we can at least rest easy that Vargas finally won't dominate the Halos two to three times per year.
11		Peter Bourjos - The Angels have gone out of their way to rebuff trade offers for two years and giftwrap the center field job for Bourjos with absolutely no threats to his playing time this season. Now it is up to him to justify that immense amount of faith the organization put into him.
12		Joe Blanton - I'd be much more excited about Joe Blanton looking great in Spring Training if not for the fact that Joe Blanton is Joe Blanton.
13		Chris Iannetta - Say hello to this year's winner of the official "Let's all hope this guy doesn't get hurt because the back-ups are terrible" Award.
14		Scott Downs - We all agreed to pretend that there is nothing wrong with Downs and that he is going to be fine this season despite all the evidence to the contrary, right?
15		Tommy Hanson - Unlike the similarly velocity-challenged Weaver, I won't be watching the radar gun like a hawk with Hanson, but that is more out of preservation for my own sanity. Instead, I'll just reduce my expectations and hope that his fastball is down with movement, no matter how hard he throws it, and that his breaking stuff is sharp. If that doesn't work, I have a live chicken in my backyward ready to be sacrificed at the makeshift Santeria alter in my basement.
16		Kevin Jepsen - Reason #12,331 to worry about the bullpen: Jepsen has been dinged up and behind schedule this spring and that is a HUGE problem for the Angels.
17		Alberto Callaspo - Can we stop referring to him by his given name and instead strictly call him "Kaleb Cowart's Seatwarmer?" Great! I'm glad we had this talk.
18		Sean Burnett - The only reason the Angels even considered keeping Mitch Stetter as a third lefty is because Sean Burnett has looked like a dumpster fire after a spring plagued by a back injury and a slow recovery from off-season elbow surgery. Multi-year investments in relievers are always a great idea, am I right?
19		Garrett Richards - The question for Richards now is if he can thrive in relief now that he knows that he knows what his actual role is?
20		Jerome Williams - The success of the Angels in April will be inversely proportional to the number of innings that Jerome Williams logs.
21		Hank Conger - Good on Hank for hanging on and earning a roster spot. I'm really happy for him. I'm not happy enough that I won't be holding my breath the first time he tries to throw out a basestealer, but still pretty happy.
22		Andrew Romine - I knew Maicer Izturis and you, sir, are no Maicer Izturis.
23		Mark Lowe - Reason #156,999 to worry about the bullpen: Lowe was in camp for less than a week after being released by the Dodgers and still wound up winning a roster spot.
24		J.B. Shuck - I wonder if Kole Calhoun said "what the Shuck?" when he found out J.B. beat him out for the reserve outfielder slot on the roster.
25		Brendan Harris - I really can't wait for Angel fans to start suggesting Harris replace Callaspo at third strictly based on the premise that Harris had one good year back in 2007.

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With dawn about to break on a new Angels season, there is a ton of anticipation tempered with a few nagging questions. Time will answer these for me, but I don’t have that kind of patience, so call them concerns or curiosities, here’s my top 5.

5) How will they start?

Better than last year. Frankly, it’d be hard to start worse. Everyone who we expected to be fit, is. There’s far less confusion in the outfield/DH categories than there was even a month ago, and essentially this is the same on-field lineup as last year, so they should be pretty comfortable around each other. Simply put, I think last April was an anomaly. Yes, they have three tough series to kick things off, with the Reds, Rangers and A’s all looking to improve on or justify last year; but the Angels have a few points to make of their own, and I think they’ll make them before they even get to the cannon fodder that the Astros and Twins should be.  

4) Can the “Big Three” possibly live up to the hype?

Yes, if they’re allowed to. Pujols has had a year to get used to playing in the American League, and in Anaheim, and for what must be the first time in his career, he’s not the main focus of the media and fan spotlight. That honor goes to Mike Trout, closely followed by Josh Hamilton. Trout is playing his first opening day, and, watching his meteoric career to date, I see no reason to think he’ll do anything but rise to the occasion. Hamilton, for better or worse, strikes me as someone who just plays his own game regardless. I’m not saying he’s not a team player, he just is what he is, and if that means hitting dingers when a game is well out of reach, or dropping a routine fly when the entire season is on the line, Josh is gonna do what Josh is gonna do. Plus, he’s starting with back to back series against former teams – if he can ignore the pressure, he’ll feel right at home at those ballparks.

The April 1st, 2013 (OPENING DAY!) edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including the Angels finalize their Opening Day roster, Madson to travel with the team and much more...

The Story: The Angels finalized their Opening Day roster awarding jobs to Hank Conger, Brendan Harris, J.B. Shuck and Mark Lowe.

The Monkey Says: It is good to see Conger work his way back into good graces after it seemed like a given that he was going to get demoted again. Harris getting the final bench spot isn't much of a surprise and neither was Lowe after David Carpenter fell apart in the last week. The huge shocker though is Shuck beating out Kole Calhoun. Shuck had a great spring, but Calhoun is clearly the better player. The only thing I can think of that explains this is the Halos preferring Calhoun to get regular at-bats since the reserve outfielder is hardly ever going to get any starts in this lineup.

The Story: Ryan Madson will start the season on the DL, but will travel with the team while doing his rehab.

The Monkey Says: This is less of a sign that he is close to ready and more of a plan so that he feels like part of the team.  FYI, Andrew Taylor will also start the season on the DL.

January 21, 2011. For Angels fans, it is a day that shall live in infamy.

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With the Angels constant souring on Hank Conger reaching an all-time high a decision from inside the organization was made to bring veteran catcher Chris Snyder into the mix earlier last week. Hammerin' Hank has been stashed in the minors for a while, and it was just a few years ago that he was touted as the Angels "catcher of the future". Now it seems as if Hank's catcher of the future status is destined to be fulfilled with another organization, is the Chris Snyder signing a fulfillment of this unfortunate notion?

To be completely fair, Hank has had his chances to break into the club for a while and I fully believe that him not being able to cover for Chris Iannetta during his DL time was the final nail in the coffin. Conger's inability to stay off the DL ultimately ruined his last real chance at cracking the club without any serious pressure from the organization. Now with Snyder competing for a backup job is it possible that this is finally how Conger goes out? While Conger's offensive capabilities have been incredibly promising this spring his defense has been absolutely horrendous. Conger's inability to nail a simple throw to second is what drove the Angels to bring on some insurance in Chris Snyder. We all know how Scioscia gets over the defensive prowess of his catchers, it's defense or bust and if you can't live up to his execrations he will ride your ass into the ground. Conger's defensive ability is sub-par at best, and we all know that Scioscia will drive Conger's mental state into the ground if he continues to struggle defensively across the season.

Here's the thing.....while Conger's defense has been shabbier than one can define this spring, Snyder has become a black hole when it comes to offense. In his 9 years in the Majors Snyder has only hit over .250 three times, and while his ability to get on base is decent at best he doesn't make up for his poor average with other aspects of his game like Iannetta does. Conger on the other hand has shown that the power potential that been touted might finally be coming into the picture, in 36 Spring Training at-bats Conger has slugged over .600 with a 1.000+ OPS. Even though Congers health and defense are a liability, his offense and familiarity with the Angels pitching staff give him a strong edge to work with. Given Scioscia's pickiness with his catcher’s defensive abilities I wouldn't put it past him to campaign for Snyder over Conger.

The March 29th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Weaver is the most important player in MLB, Madson feeling better and much more...

The Story: Jered Weaver is the most important player in MLB.

The Monkey Says: That sounds like hyperbole, but I actually agree. The Halos need to have some frontline pitching to back their offense and thatt isn't going to happen if Weaver isn't his normal self. Even if Wilson and Hanson step up, they need an ace like Jered, which is why it is so important that he be able to either regain his velocity or continue to be effective without it.

The Story: Ryan Madson is feeling fatigued, but much better than he has all spring.

The Monkey Says: He has gotten a few more bullpen sessions under his belt but isn't throwing full out yet. The hope remains that he will only miss the first month of the season.

1. Alex Yarbrough will be a Top 5 prospect and finish the season in AA/AAA.

Call it intuition or simply a fool’s wild guess, but the scout in me sees something in Yarbrough that I’m not sure many other publications see.  His stroke is smooth, direct to the ball, no unnecessary movements.  He has gap power but looks like he may have some homerun power eventually.  He’s athletic and is going to hit for average.  I might be going out on a limb here, but I’m really excited about this Yarbrough kid.  I genuinely believe he’ll hit over .300 this year and climb the ladder fast enough to replace Howie Kendrick by the time his contract expires.  I envision Yarbrough beginning the year in the Cal League but being promoted aggressively to AA or AAA around the all-star break, which is incredible given it will be his first year in the minors. 

2. Chevy Clarke will have a breakout season

This is where we test the limits of he term “breakout season”.  By breakout season, I mean that for the first time in his professional career, Chevy Clarke won’t disappoint fans who bought the hype following his first round selection.  Clarke should spend the majority of the season in Burlington playing for the Angels A Ball affiliate.  He’ll contribute across the board, accumulating 30 doubles, 15 home runs 30 stolen bases and a .250 average.  Most surprisingly, Clarke will collect more than 50 base on balls for the second consecutive season.  It won’t be enough to land him on any Top 100 Prospect lists, but it should be enough to make him a relevant prospect again in the organization.