Daily Links for the LA Angels including Amarista demoted to make room for Wells, the Halos go heavy on college players in Day 2 of the draft, watch CJ Cron find out he got drafted and much more...

The Story: The Angels activated Vernon Wells and demoted Alexi Amarista yesterday.

The Monkey Says: We know this already since Wells played last night, but I list this more to discuss Amarista.  Alexi pretty much fell on his face in his brief time in the majors, but he had been tearing up Triple-A prior to his call up.  What will be interesting now is to see if Amarista can heat right back up or if maybe his rough time in the majors might have hurt his confidence.

The Story: The Angels select 21 college players versus just 6 high schoolers on Day 2 of the draft.

The Monkey Says: This is a departure from the Bane days of the draft since Eddie preferred to go with more high risk-high reward high schoolers.  Clearly Wilson, likely at the behest of Tony Reagins, wanted to continue restocking the farm with college players that are both surer bets and also likely to reach the majors faster.  Obviously, we won't know if this strategy will pay off for years to come yet.

When I first made the decision to move up here to Seattle, one of my biggest concerns was that I was no longer going to have easy access to the Angels on TV.  But aren't I lucky because in the three games the Angels have played since I arrived in the Pacific Northwest, they have been completely and totally unwatchable with tonight being no exception.

Rays 4, Angels 1

Sure, I could spend a little green and get the MLB Extra Innings package or the MLB.tv package but what is my incentive to do soe when all I would be doing is paying to watch the Halos get their butts handed to them by the likes of Alex Cobb.  Alex Cobb doesn't even know who the hell he is!  Sorry, but I'd much rather spend the $100 (or whatever) on having the homeless guy outside my building punch me in the balls once.  I'd suffer the same amount of pain as watching the Angels but at least it would only eat up a few minutes of my night instead of three hours.

I'll tell you what, I'll make deal with the Halos.  If they can win three games in a row and score five or more runs in all of those games, then I will bit the bullet and drop the dinero on an MLB package.  I figure that I won't have to make good on that bet until some time in late August, so it should be a real bargain by then.

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Tampa Bay Rays (31-29) @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (30-32)

Pitching Probables: TB – Alex Cobb (0-0, 5.91 ERA)  LAA – Dan Haren (5-3, 2.29 ERA)

Game Info: 7:05 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

OK, Vernon, let's try this again.  Your first Angel debut didn't go very well, but after missing a few weeks with a groin injury, we can all just hit the reset button and give you a re-do on the debut thing.

That will only work though if the Angel fans have been able to forget about what a rampant disappointing he's been this season during his absence.  That means no chorus of boos when he gets announced or takes his first at-bat and, yes, even when he inevitably pop up during that at-bat.

I've said it before but I will say it again, the Angels need Wells to get it going.  In case you haven't noticed, the Angel lineup is terrible and Wells is the best chance at a shot in the arm, especially since he has the ability to be a potent middle of the order bat that could either help get Torii Hunter going by taking some pressure off of him or by just supplanting Hunter in the clean-up role altogether.  I'm probably looking through some rose-colored glasses here, but I think Wells can actually do it so long as the boo birds aren't so loud.  Vernon has had enough time to get over his "new guy" jitters and get himself to a mental place where he can just relax and do his typical job, which is being a pretty good baseball player.

We have a Trout down!  I repeat, we have a Trout down!!!  I'm going to need you all to remain calm.  I said remain CALM!!!!!!!!

I know what you are all thinking, "how can things get any worse for the Halos?"  Now their best prospect and future savior is injured.  Why not just kill the Rally Monkey too while you're at it, right?

Relax.  Trout will be just fine, or so we are led to believe.  Mike's injury is to his knee, which definitely sounds scary, but is just a day-to-day thing.  In fact, he hasn't even been placed on the Double-A disabled list, which is a good sign since it is only a 7-day DL, so it isn't like they would lose him for a long time if they put him on it.

That being said, this is a situation worth monitoring.  If Trout's injury does turn out to be more serious than reported, it could well cost or at least delay his expected promotion to Triple-A, which many have pegged for being some time around the Double-A All-Star break.  The Halos could easily give him that promotion based on hsi performance thus far, but if he misses a few weeks of action, then the team would be wise to let him get back in a groove in Double-A before promoting him, which could mean waiting until August, a period that wouldn't give him whole lot of Triple-A reps.

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.

Daily Links for the LA Angels including Halos select CJ Cron with their first pick, Wells could return today, Scioscia tries a closed door pep talk and much more...

The Story: The Angels selected Utah 1B CJ Cron with their first-round pick.

The Monkey Says: This was somewhat of a surprise as most mocks had the Halos targeting high school pitchers but they went the complete other way with a college power-hitter.  This selection also has to make one wonder if the health of Kendrys Morales didn't influence this pick at least a little bit.

The Story: CJ Cron needs surgery to repair a torn labrum.

The Monkey Says: The Halos said they wanted to get more physical with their draft, but I don't think anyone thought they mean "physical problems."  Apparently the shoulder malady was common knowledge and something he actually played through last season.  At a minimum, it sounds like the injury will make him easier to sign, though there is no mention about what kind of recovery time he is looking at.

The Story: Vernon Wells could return to the lineup today.

The Monkey Says: Yeah, that'll really help.  Wells did go 1-for-3 with a walk, a double and a strikeout last night and supposedly feels good, so the Angels are going to get him back in the lineup perhaps a little earlier than they planned.  He'll probably be a little rusty, but I can't imagine that anyone will notice.

Hey, Sosh.  Umm, I don't mean to tell you how to do your job but, well, I'm pretty sure that pre-game "closer doors" pep talk didn't really work.  That is, of course, unless you were trying to talk the team into continuing to be inept offensively, which I'm pretty sure they would have done without a pep talk.

Rays 5, Angels 1

Let me ask you, Skipper, what is the point of a pep talk to invigorate the team going to accomplish unless you couple it with some actual changes?  Seriously, few managers juggle the lineup more than you do, but in the midst of a pretty length offensive drought, the lineup changes have been relatively minimal.  Especially to the middle of the order.  Especially to the clean-up spot. 

Dammit!  Will you just drop Hunter in the order already!!!!

Daily Links for the LA Angels including Haren is "good to go," Wells hitless in his rehab start, Kazmir shows signs of life and much more...

The Story: Dan Haren is "good to go" for his start on Tuesday.

The Monkey Says: This is certainly good news, but I'm not going to exhale entirely until we see how Haren actually performs.

The Story: Vernon Wells was hitless in his first rehab start.

The Monkey Says: Wells and the word "hitless" is something I think we are all used to by now.

The Story: Scott Kazmir showed signs of life in his third rehab start.

The Monkey Says: His velocity was supposedly up, which is huge news for him, but his command was still pretty bad as he walked five batters, threw two wild pitches and allowed two extra-base hits (on just three hits total) in six innings of work.  I still think he is done, but at least this would suggest he may have a fighting chance of making it back to the majors in some way, shape or form.