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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The March 18th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Angels looking to trade for a back-up catcher, Weaver dealing with dead arm and much more...

The Story: The Angels are rumored to be scouring the trade market for a more established back-up catcher.

The Monkey Says: Hank Conger is simply a mess throwing the ball right now, so the team is looking for a fallback option if not an outright replacement. Already they've been linked to Ramon Hernandez and Chris Snyder. I don't imagine anything will happen until much closer to the start of the season as the Halos might hope that a veteran they like gets cut instead of giving up an actual asset for someone. I'll have a deeper look at this situation later today.

The Story: Jered Weaver is dealing with dead arm right now.

The Monkey Says: It happens to him every spring, but for some reason this makes me nervous given that arm and back problems he had last season.  He still has two weeks to sharpen up though.

The latest rumors have the Angels kicking tires on potential back-up catchers, but today they managed to work another trade of a completely different variety. It was announced that they acquired a pitching prospect from the Phillies for a level of compensation that is, well, unique:

Minor League RHP Mike Cisco traded to Angels for no compensation, Phillies announce.

— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyCSN) March 17, 2013

That's right, nothing. They got a minor league pitcher for absolutely nothing. No prospects. No money. Not even a sack of baseballs. Ruben Amaro Jr., you've done it again!

The crazy thing about it is that Michael Cisco isn't some 34-yeard old minor league journeyman. He's 25 years old and only a few years removed from being a top 25 prospect in the Philadelphia system. He's obviously not really advanced from there, but it isn't as if he is a total write off. In fact, he just converted to relief in the last year and did a pretty decent job, so there is a chance that he could someday be a back of the bullpen guy. Again, that isn't much, but there is potential value to be had. That value though is something the Phillies just gave away for free... for whatever reason.

What I'd really like to know about this deal is how it came to pass. This is fairly unprecedented, so it must've had some sort of bizarre twists and turns to settle on a compensation of nothing. Did Amaro just call up the Angels and offer him for free? Did Jerry Dipoto call the Phillies and ask about him and Amaro just wasn't in the mood to haggle?  Here is how I like to imagine that phone call going:

Amaro: (answers phone) Hello.

Dipoto: Ruben! How are you doing?

Amaro: I'm fine, Jerry, good to hear from you. How's the family?

Dipoto: Doing wonderful as always. They are truly a blessing. Anyway, I don't want to waste either of our time, I just called with a minor inquiry I wanted to run by you. There's a kid in your system, Mike Cisco and one of our scouts really-

Amaro: He's yours.

Dipoto: Um, what?

Amaro: You want him, right? He's yours.

Dipoto: Oh, well, that's great. I mean, shouldn't we talk price first though? We just like him as depth, so maybe a cash deal-

Amaro: Nah, don't worry about it. Just take him.

Dipoto: For cash, you mean?

Amaro: No, I mean just take him. I don't see what is so hard to understand about this, Jerry.

Dipoto: So, I get him for free?

Amaro: Yup.

Dipoto: Wait a minute. Is this a joke? Am I being punked? Is this really Tony Reagins?

Amaro: No, not a joke. This is Ruben, but I am abig fan of Tony's work.

Dipoto: I can tell.

Amaro: Great doing business with you, Jerry. We'll have Cisco on the first flight to Scottsdale.

Dipoto: Wow, you're paying his airfare too?

Amaro: Yeah, sure, whatever. Look, I've really got to wrap this up. I've got a whole season of Duck Dynasty burning a hole in my DVR and I've gotta get back to it.

Dipoto: Sure, Ruben. No problem. Thanks a lot. Good luck this season.

Amaro: You too, Jerry. Bye now. (Hangs up phone.) Sucker!

Dipoto: (Hangs up phone.) What the hell just happened? Is this real life? Wait a minute, I just had an idea! (Intercoms his assistant) Susan, find out when the next new episode of some show called Duck Dynasty is and setup a reminder for me to call Amaro five minutes after it starts to ask him about taking on Vernon Wells' contract.

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No longer a rotation candidate, Jerome Williams will have to reinvent himself as a reliever in 2013 if he wants to keep his great comeback story alive.

2012 Stats: 137.2 IP, 6-8, 4.58 ERA. 4.15 FIP, 139 H, 35 BB, 17 HR, 98 SO, 1.90 GB/FB, 1.1 fWAR

2013 ZiPS Projections: 129.2 IP, 6-8, 4.58 ERA. 4.31 FIP, 140 H, 33 BB, 17 HR, 86 SO, 0.8 fWAR

2013 Bill James Projections: 118.0 IP, 6-7, 4.58 ERA. 4.38 FIP, 132 H, 29 BB, 16 HR, 77 SO

2013 CAIRO Projections: 129.0 IP, 7-7, 4.60 ERA. 4.36 FIP, 150 H, 35 BB, 17 HR, 83 SO

2013 MWAH Projections*: 80.0 IP, 2-5, 4.61 ERA. 4.73 FIP, 86 H, 24 BB, 12 HR, 53 SO

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

With spring training baseball up to full speed and headed for the regular season, the news is coming fast and furious. Each rest day, each slap double, each pick-off attempt is being carefully reviewed, studied and analyzed by coaches to help players perform their best, and by opponents searching for any sign of weakness. Like a gardener cultivating his crops, coaches are helping fine-tune their athletes in the hopes of storming the gates on Opening Day and beyond.

There is, however, a third group with little-to-no interest in wins. These men are also watching tapes and analyzing, sometimes more meticulously than a helping hand or a feared foe. These men are the sports press, and it is their duty to bring spring baseball to the masses. However, with less games happening, the analyses are forced to be a little bit more in depth than your typical game recaps. The stat lines and dramas are held to a somewhat higher standard before opening day, often yielding very interesting conclusions.

Take, for example, the recent spring training game against the Padres. Mike Trout hit a double and a triple, but no home runs. How does it happen that the Rookie of the Year and a leading MVP candidate can’t hit a homerun in the pre-season? It’s got to be that extra weight everyone was on about, right? Maybe he feels slighted about his contract raise being too small? No! I’ve got it! He’s upset about Torii Hunter going to Detroit. That’s the ticket! Trout’s done. He’s a rookie flash in the pan. No homers against a pitcher with a near 4.00 ERA and a .500 record? He’s not going to be the same old Trout, that much is certain. The spring training stats don’t lie!

The World Baseball Classic wasn't something I was planning on covering too much seeing how it is kind of lame and features almost no Angels. Well, Erick Aybar has forced my hand because in the course of two pitches, he made himself very relevant.

First and foremost, Aybar got to be at the plate when umpire Angel Hernandez, who is just awful, made the worst strike call in the history of history. I'm not even going to tell you what second mark it is at because it is that obvious. The pitch is a foot off the plate, ends up in the right-handed batter's box and J.P. Arencibia doesn't even bother to frame it because it is such a bad pitcher (although Arencibia generally doesn't frame anything, at least not well). How Aybar didn't go ballistic is beyond me.

The truly amazing part though is what he does on the very next pitch against Craig Kimbrel, no less.  See for yourself:

Yup, Aybar turned around a Kimbrel heater and won the game for the Dominican Republic, putting Team USA on the brink of elimination. So, yay, for the Angels starting shortstop get the team some indirect glory, but boo for him doing it at the expense of Team 'Merica.

We'll have a more comprehensive review of Aybar and the other Angels players in the WBC next week, but this highlight and that awful stike call were just too much to gloss over.

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The March 15th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Albert Pujols is in decline, Vernon Wells' strong spring shouldn't matter and much more...

The Story: Albert Pujols' slow recovery from knee surgery shows the slugger is in decline.

The Monkey Says: There is nothing particularly new or interesting here other than Morosi obviously just felt the need to troll Angels fans.

The Story: It doesn't matter that Vernon Wells is playing well this spring.

The Monkey Says: Well, it "shouldn't" matter. My fear is that Mike Scioscia and his fetish for veterans is going to find a way to make it matter by shoehorning him into the lineup every chance he gets.