The February 19th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Hamilton says Dalls not a 'baseball town', Burnett out with stiff back and much more...

The Story: Josh Hamilton says that Dallas is not a "baseball town."

The Monkey Says: Obviously people are blowing this out of proportion, but if you can find anyone that believes that the Cowboys aren't far and away the biggest show in town, then you clearly developed the technology to another dimension and I applaud you and wish you good luck in this year's Nobel Prize voting.

The Story: Sean Burnett left practice yesterday to ge an MRI on his stiff back.

The Monkey Says: Scioscia says he is "not overly concerned" but the fact that he is getting an MRI has me "overly concerned." If Madson and Burnett somehow both start the season on the DL, things could get ugly really quickly in the bullpen.

Music is a sort of pulse for life. Strength, sadness, celebration, anger, and even something as simple as a clouded mind can all be enhanced or dulled with the right song. People make millions of dollars putting together just the right notes to create audible experiences to enhance the very life we experience. It’s only natural then, that such a powerful force be prominently featured in America’s pastime. Ball park music is used to entertain the crowds, pump up the players and add a certain something to the baseball experience. Anaheim stadium is no exception in this regard and while players have their individual walkout songs blasting through the stadium, perhaps a few should look at making some special song additions to their iPods this season.

Jered Weaver - Boston “Long Time”
Yeah. It's been such a long time, I think I should be goin', yeah
And time dosnt wait for me, it keeps on rollin'
There's a long road, I've gotta stay in time with
I've got to keep on chasin' that dream, though I may never find it

Every year, Halo fans count their blessings to be fans of a team that holds a crown jewel like Jered Weaver. The ace is a born and bred SoCal boy that never seems to get the respect of a Felix Hernandez or even a Tim Lincecum. He certainly earns a tip of the cap from the national sports media every now and then, but for some reason he often ends up skipped when talks of elite pitchers rise. Not so this year. Jered’s paid his dues. His numbers are good. He has only to keep chipping away before he cracks the glass ceiling and everyone is forced to take note. It’s been too long coming, but this may finally be the year of the “Dream Weaver”. As the song says, it’s been a long time chasing the dream and Jered’s just got to keep chasing.

The MWAH prospect countdown marches on with a relief prospect who is still held in high regard despite taking a major step back this season.

Daniel Tillman
Position:  Relief Pitcher  Highest Level: Double-A
Throws: Right  Height: 6'1" Weight: 215 lbs.
Age: 23  Born: 3/14/89

2012 Season Stats
High-A: 24.0 IP, 1-1,8 SV,  1.88 ERA, 10 H, 14 BB, 0 HR, 31 SO, 0.83 GO/AO, 2.74 FIP, .192 BABIP
Double-A: 19.1 IP, 1-5, 0 SV, 12.10 ERA, 23 H, 19 BB, 3 HR, 21 SO, 1.62 GO/AO, 7.08 FIP, .370 BABIP

Fastball – A-. He has two fastballs.  The first is a hard sinking fastball sitting between 94-96 mph.  This pitch generates a lot of ground balls and is his bread and butter against right-handed batters.  The second pitch sits at 91-93 mph with a floating/tailing action that moves away on lefties.  Both have the same arm angle and release, I’m assuming the only difference is his grip.

Off-speed Pitches – A-.  Tillman, along with Wood and Alvarez have the best sliders in the system.  Tillman’s is a hard slider that sits in the mid-80’s with late, sharp life.  It’s clearly his go to pitch with two strikes.

Control – C.  Tillman actually has considerably better control than his numbers show.  I’ve rarely seen him miss the zone by much, he’s usually right around the plate, despite his unsightly career 4.8 BB/9.  Admittedly, this is where he really struggled in AA, he just couldn’t get the ball over the plate.  

Command – C.  Before the 2012 season, this would have graded as an “B”.  A couple of weeks after his demotion from AA it again was a “B”.  But for a 2-3 month period Tillman simply wasn’t able to put the ball where he wanted it, thus driving the grade down.

Mechanics -  A-.  Clean as they should be for a reliever.  Obviously being in a shorter role he tends to exert more energy than a starter would, but his release is repeatable, the follow through is present and the ball tends to explode out of his hand and jump on hitters. 

Performance – C.  Admittedly, his performance in AA was a tremendous step in the wrong direction this past season.  He lost his command, was hit around, lost his confidence and thus put up really poor numbers.  Once he was back down in the Cal League, Tillman was downright dominant.  He recovered his command and again looked like the pitcher that would climb the system quickly and solve the Angels bullpen problems.  Still, he’s putting too many runners on base.

Projection – B.  There’s still some debate about whether Tillman projects better into a closer or setup role.  Personally, I don’t make such distinctions because I don’t think there’s a difference as long you get outs.  After all, who would look at Scott Downs and think elite setup man or closer?  I have little doubt that Tillman will conquer his control issues and become a very good late inning relievers for the Angels in the next few years.

(*As always, the above scouting report is provided by Scotty Allen of LA Angels Insider)

The February 18th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Madson to resume throwing, Angels won't change clubhouse alcohol policy for Hamilton and much more...

The Story: Ryan Madson is expected to resume throwing as early as today.

The Monkey Says: The sooner the better, obviously. He'll still likely start the season on the DL, but the quicker he gets back on track in his throwing program, the more likely it is that he will only miss the minimum number of days.

The Story: The Angels will not change their clubhouse alcohol policy because of the presence of Josh Hamilton.

The Monkey Says: Good. They shouldn't change anything just to cater to one guy, even if that guy has a problem with alcohol. Texas had the same "beer only" policy in place and it was never a problem. Frankly, if they thought he couldn't even be in the same room as beer, they shouldn't have signed him. The real issue for me if they changed the policy would be that they changed it to appease a star player when they didn't change the policy after the tragic death of Nick Adenhart. I agree with not changing the policy after Adenhart's death, but it would have been a slap in the face of his memory if they ended up altering it because of Hamilton.

Easily the least popular of all the Angels' off-season acquisitions, Joe Blanton is here to stay whether he like it or not. I guess that means I should just do his projections now and get it out of the way.

2012 Stats: 191.0 IP, 10-13, 4.71 ERA. 3.91 FIP, 207 H, 34 BB, 29 HR, 166 SO, 1.39 GB/FB, 2.4 fWAR

2013 ZiPS Projections: 130.1 IP, 4.49 ERA. 4.06 FIP, 140 H, 25 BB, 19 HR, 98 SO, 0.8 fWAR

2013 Bill James Projections: 182.0 IP, 9-11, 4.07 ERA. 3.88 FIP, 201 H, 35 BB, 24 HR, 131 SO

2013 C AIRO Projections: 115.2 IP, 6-6, 4.34 ERA. 3.85 FIP, 131 H, 24 BB, 16 HR, 91 SO

2013 MWAH Projections*: 185.0 IP, 12-14, 4.67 ERA. 4.52 FIP, 210 H, 49 BB, 31 HR, 153 SO

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

The MWAH prospect countdown marches on with a sweet fielding speedster with some questions to answer in the batter's box.

Eric Stamets
Position: SS  Highest Level: Low-A
Bats: Right Throws: Right  Height: 6'0" Weight: 185 lbs.
Age: 21  Born: 9/25/91

2012 Season Stats
Low-A: 267 PA, .274 AVG, .323 OBP, .347 SLG, 13 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 20 RBI, 35 SO, 7 SB, 2 CS, .321 BABIP
 

Contact – B+.  Stamets has a short swing designed for putting the ball into play in the middle of the field.  There isn’t a ton of leverage involved, but he’s perfectly capable of spraying line drives to all fields and is rarely fooled by change-ups or well placed heaters.    

Power – F.  Don’t bother, there isn’t any power here.  It isn’t his game.   

Discipline – C+.  Stamets is fine at working the count.  Being the leadoff type that he is, he harnesses the inner David Eckstein and can be quite pesky at the plate and isn’t an easy out.  However, what brings this grade down is what I saw in his brief stint in Cedar Rapids, which was his inability to make contact with breaking pitches in no-strike or one-strike counts.  This leads me to believe he was either guessing, or was unable to easily recognize advanced breaking pitches.

Speed – A.  Stamets is the fastest runner in the system going from home to first and has out of this world range at shortstop.  It’s hard to imagine a shortstop having considerably more range than Erick Aybar who is Gold Glove caliber at the position.  But watching Stamets, the difference between him and anyone else at the position is obvious.  He puts all others at his level to shame and is major league ready. 

Arm – A.  A fantastic arm that works on anything from slow rollers to throws from shallow left field.  He has a rather quick release too.     

Performance – B.  Not bad at all.  He was relatively unknown in college but put together an impressive performance in the Cape Cod League, where the Angels first scouted him and fell in love with his glove and speed.  Upon signing, they didn’t bother sending him to Rookie Ball, he went straight to class A Cedar Rapids and held his own at the plate and in the field.  

Projection – B-.  Stamets will be a major leaguer someday.  You can’t be as good as he is defensively and not make the major leagues.  Just look at Brendan Ryan and the Angels own Andrew Romine.  The question here is, “will he hit enough to be a regular?”  And that’s a valid question.  No one is sure.  I know he makes solid contact, can beat out infield grounders and steal basis, but can he reach base often enough to be the Angels future starting shortstop?  We’ll see.     

(*As always, the above scouting report is provided by Scotty Allen of LA Angels Insider)

The February 15th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Trout up to 240 pounds, wondering if Hamilton's weight loss is PED related and much more...

The Story: Mike Trout is up to 240 pounds after adding 15 pounds this off-season.

The Monkey Says: I'm going to assume it is 15 pounds of muscle. Either way, I'm not sure I like this. The muscle could give him more power, but threatens to slow him down. More power is great, but he already has good power that was likely going to improve naturally regardless. Yet his speed is going to degrade, and probably soon. Adding the weight only serves to hasten that process and thus strip him of the his greatest tool. Who knows? Maybe Trout won't be affected at all, but I think I'd rather he not have put on the weight.

The Story: Speculating about whether or not Josh Hamilton's weight loss might be PED related.

The Monkey Says: I knew someone was going to try and connect these two dots eventually. I think it is totally baseless here, but at least it is handled in a somewhat non-loathsome manner. Personally, I just don't get why we all have to obssess over who might or might not be using PEDs anyway. It is never going away and MLB is trying to keep it to a minimum, why can't that be good enough?