The March 20th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Madson positive despite setback, Halos played without a home plate umpire and much more...

The Story: Ryan Madson is feeling good and remaining positive after suffering a setback after his bullpen session on Thursday.

The Monkey Says: I covered this yesterday, but even though the setback is minor, this is pretty frustrating. Madson says he feels better again, but there is no timetable for him to get back to throwing bullpen sessions which makes it a virtual certainty that he won't be back until some time in May.

The Story: The Angels and Brewers temporarily had to play yesterday's game without a home plate umpire.

The Monkey Says: The umpire returned after a brief absence after getting hit by a pitch, but it made for a comical scene in which strikes were being called by an umpire standing behind the pitcher like it was a coach-pitch Little League game.

The Angels preseason press is unequivocal. Mike Trout is the new Mickey Mantle. Pujols, Hamilton and Trumbo are the new Murderer’s Row. Weaver could be the new Verlander, if it wasn’t for the fact that, annoyingly, every year some guy called “Verlander” keeps being that.

Spring training is winding up, and the Angels are a team of new promise. But one question remains.

Who will be the new number 2?

Personally, I was more surprised last winter by the Torii Hunter loss than the Josh Hamilton addition. Signing the biggest name on the market, despite most people not knowing he was on the market? Been there, done that, sold the number “5” T-Shirt. But dumping, arguably, the most consistent member of an evolving team? The steady hand who could simultaneously mentor a once-in-a-generation talent like Trout and punk a future Hall of Famer like Pujols (remember the clear dugout when he finally cleared the fences in 2012?) And letting him go to the Tigers, a league rival who seem to have everything in their arsenal except a sense of humor?

Well, it happened. And it left two glaring holes in the Angels’ lineup for 2013: a clubhouse leader, and a two-spot. The former should resolve itself – there’s no lack of experience in there.

It had been a few days since we heard any word on where Ryan Madson was in his rehab. In most cases, no news is good news. That doesn't appear to apply to Madson though as Mike DiGiovanna reported this morning:

#Angels RHP Ryan Madson felt some tightness in surgically repaired elbow after Thursday bullpen session. Better now but only long-tossing.

— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) March 19, 2013

Welp, more elbow tightness. This is only a minor setback, but a setback nonetheless. Unlike last earlier in camp, Madson hasn't been shut down and hasn't, as far as we know, been sent off for an MRI. Instead, he's just taken a small step back and is only long tossing. Still, that is a step back that is only going to prolong his return to active duty. He was already expected to miss the first two weeks of the season, but now that could be extended as he says he needs at least ten bullpen sessions before pitching in a live game and one can only assume he'll need a few live rehab games before being activated from the DL. With his clock now reset once more, him missing the entire month of April seems pretty likely.

This development also explains the rumors last week that Jerry Dipoto was searching the trade market for potential relief help. Right-handed relief pitching was a big problem for the Angels last season and Madson was supposed to solve that, but now that he can't be counted on, the Halos are wise to see what else they can dig up. There are no substantive rumors as of yet, but knowing that the Cubs are shopping Carlos Marmol and that the Halos tried to acquire him in the failed Dan Haren trade at the start of the off-season, it would make sense if the two teams discussed Marmol once more, even though that scares the hell out of me both because of his contract and his decaying performance.

A few other names to watch are, and these are strictly speculation on my part, free agents Francisco Rodriguez and Jose Valverde (no thanks on both counts) or supposedly available trade pieces Alfredo Aceves (yikes), Matt Capps (yawn) and really any other veteran who is in camp as a non-roster invite that may not make the Opening Day roster. These are not attractive options, so let's hope Madson can get himself healthy in a hurry.

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Leading up to the season we've heard a lot about lost velocity. Specifically, the velocity that Jered Weaver and Tommy Hanson lost over the last few years. There has been much hand-wringing over whether or not Jered and Tommy would be able to recover that velocity and if they don't, how they will adjust to life with a not-as-fast fastball. Mike Scioscia even went so far as to say that he has "no doubt" that Hanson will be able to regain the MPHs he lost the last two years. Scioscia and the team have had essentially nothing to say about Weaver's velocity issues last season, almost as if they don't even think it is worth worrying about.

Well, it turns out that there is plenty of season to doubt and worry. That velocity probably isn't coming back. At least that is what the research says:

91% of pitchers that do finish a season down at least 1 mph compared to the previous season will lose additional velocity the following season (average decline of 1.6 mph), with only 7% regaining some (but, likely, not all) of that velocity back.

7 percent? Gulp. Those aren't great odds at all. But wait! It actually gets worse. That same writer, Bill Pretti, also did some research into how likely a pitcher is to recover velocity based on age, you know, because you don't need those 36-year old pitchers messing up the curve for everyone. Take a look for yourself:

The March 19th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Snyder could replace Conger, predictions about Trout and much more...

The Story: Hank Conger's throwing looks like it is going to cost him a roster spot in the wake of the team signing Chris Snyder.

The Monkey Says: I wrote yesterday that I think Snyder has the edge, which is really saying something because he is at best an average defender and doesn't look like he can hit anymore. Conger's throwing problems are just to ugly right now for him to be on a big league roster, so he pretty much has two weeks to fix those issues and get back in the team's good graces.

The Story: Eight predictions about Mike Trout in 2013.

The Monkey Says: I really hope he the Twitter punctuation thing comes in on that 40% side. Incredibly annoying.

With his rich new contract extension set to kick in this year, can Angels fans expect more from Erick Aybar with him entering his prime or will it just be more of the same productive but maddening inconsistency?

2012 Stats: 554 PA, .290 AVG, .324 OBP, .416 SLG, 67 R, 8 HR, 45 RBI, 20 SB, 4 CS, 61 K, .321 wOBA, 109 OPS+, 3.4 fWAR

2013 ZiPS Projections: 601 PA, .276 AVG, .317 OBP, .393 SLG, 72 R, 8 HR, 48 RBI, 23 SB, 6 CS, 69 K, .309 wOBA, 99 OPS+, 2.7 fWAR

2013 Bill James Projections: 553 PA, .278 AVG, .321 OBP, .389 SLG, 69 R, 7 HR, 48 RBI, 20 SB, 7 CS, 65 K, .307 wOBA

2013 CAIRO Projections: 488 PA, .274 AVG, .315 OBP, .392 SLG, 55 R, 7 HR, 44 RBI, 17 SB, 5 CS, 62 K, .309 wOBA

2013 MWAH Projections*: 650 PA, .285 AVG, .318 OBP, .406 SLG, 88 R, 9 HR, 64 RBI, 28 SB, 6 CS, 80 K, .322 wOBA

*The MWAH projections are simply my best guess based off my own personal opinion and research (my wOBA calculation is approximate)

Rumors started circulating late last week that the Angels were on the lookout for a veteran back-up catcher in the wake of a spring training in which Hank Conger has knocked the cover off the ball with the bat but been throwing like the Korean-American version of Rube Baker. Those throwing problems made the Angels nervous so instead of plying Hank with lingerie catalogs and nudie mags, they, in typical Dipoto fashion, acted fast and have signed veteran catcher Chris Snyder to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training.

Chris Snyder had been in Nationals camp, but was released this morning, which is nice because it saved the Angels the trouble of trying to work out a trade. As I had planned to post later this morning in a review of the Angels' catching options, Snyder is an ideal fit for Dipoto and the kind of players he prefers. Snyder is an established veteran, giving them some certainty behind Conger, who is at least passable defensively and has some pop with his bat as well as a knack for drawing a lot of walks even when he isn't hitting.

For his career, Snyder has slash line of .225/.329/.385, making him kind of a poor man's Chris Iannetta. But last season in Houston he was only able to post a .176/.295/.308 slash line. A big part of that is Snyder underwent surgery to repair a herniated disc back in 2011, so there is a very real chance that he is no longer the same player he was prior to the injury and thus my comment earlier about his defense at least being passable. It could be better, we just don't really know where is is health-wise.

At a minimum, Snyder is now in camp as an insurance policy behind Conger in case he doesn't get his throwing ironed out. However, it seems unlikely that he is magically going to fix his problems and regain the trust of the coaching staff. As such, Snyder is probably the favorite to make the Opening Day roster as the back-up catcher with Conger heading to the minors possibly for a very long time.

The question then with Conger is if this might actually be the end of the line for him in Anaheim. He has tried for a few years now to secure a permanent spot on the roster but had his defense thwart those efforts each and every time. At a point, it is time to just cut bait. If he doesn't make the roster, don't be the least bit surprised if Hank gets shopped around the league, although that may no be a great idea since it weakens the depth at catcher, where Iannetta and Snyder both have injury histories, and would be a classic example of selling an asset at the bottom of its value. But if they keep him, it is unclear what, if anything, he is going to have to do to get back in good standing with Scioscia and the front office.

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