Jered Weaver Feels Good, Torii Hunter Goes Quiet: Halolinks

Diamondbacks 4, Angels 1 - CBSSports.com
Jered Weaver regrouped from a rough first outing for the Angels, allowing one run on three hits and striking out two in three innings. Los Angeles' lone run came on Mike Napoli's third homer of the spring, off Leo Rosales, Chris Snyder homered for Arizona. Weaver, 16-8 with a 3.75 ERA and four complete games last season, gave up two runs on three hits in 1 2-3 innings his first time out this spring. "It was a lot better than the last outing," he said after Thursday's appearance. "I was able to locate my off-speed pitch a lot more this time. I was making strides in the right direction."

The Angels are having a tough time of it so far this spring, however yesterday's game didn't feature many of their regular season starters.

Angels' Weaver not worrying about health  - The Orange County Register
"I tried to do something different," Weaver said. "I'd come into camp (before) with some tendinitis in my shoulder. I tried to activate my arm sooner this offseason and ended up feeling good coming into camp." Weaver began throwing on Jan. 1, earlier than in the past, playing catch every other day. The change in the schedule has Weaver on the mound sooner this spring than in the past.

This is the first time I've linked to the OC Register's new guy, Dan Woike, since this is the first time he's written anything worth linking to (unless you're a "Saved By The Bell" fan).  If this post is the type of writing we can expect from Woike in the future, you'll be seeing more links.  (By the way Dan, if you're reading this, join in the conversation here too.  It won't hurt.)

Angels center fielder Torii Hunter vows to watch what he says to reporters - latimes.com
Torii Hunter is one of baseball's most accessible and quotable players, but the center fielder emerged from a lengthy closed-door meeting with Manager Mike Scioscia, General Manager Tony Reagins and team executive Tim Mead Thursday vowing to be more guarded with reporters and his choice of words. "If it's not about baseball, I'm not going to talk about it," said Hunter, heavily criticized Wednesday for remarks in a USA Today article examining the declining percentage of African American players in the game. "I know what I am. Don't always believe what you read."

I've never met Hunter, but from everything I've ever read about him, he seems like a good guy and has provided some pretty good quotes.  If he becomes more guarded with what he says to the press, hopefully the quotes don't go away.

Journeyman Ryan eyes spot with Halos - angelsbaseball.com
Even in the Majors, Ryan proved he could hit when he was called up by the Twins for 27 games in 2003, when he went on to bat .393 with a .441 on-base percentage and .754 slugging percentage in 61 at-bats. "He's a guy that is certainly making the most out of every opportunity he's getting," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He's versatile and we're working on that now with him getting work at first base, third base and the corner outfields. And he can handle the bat, whether it's hit and run or working the counts."

Nice story...until the first round of cuts are announced.

Spring Training Spotlight: Howie Kendrick's Glove Is Less Than Gold - Bleacher Report
No, Kendrick's bat is, by no means, a major concern just yet. His defense, however, is. In those three Spring Training games he played this year, Kendrick was credited with three errors, the most of any Angel in camp. Only two other Opening Day starters have errors, one apiece, while minor league second baseman Ryan Mount has two. What's worse, Kendrick could easily have more. Several times this spring, he's let grounders roll by him or fired the ball over his first baseman's head only to have the batter be awarded a hit.

Is this true?  If so, is this something we should be worried about?

10 Word Wiki: Baseball - Sam Miller - The Orange County Register
10 Word Wiki is like Wikipedia, but all entries are limited to exactly 10 words. So for baseball, we get: "America’s pastime, played while wearing pajamas, now past its time."

Here's my 10 word wiki for Sam:  Sam Miller is a nerd, but in a good way.

DP Show: Tom Verducci talks Torii Hunter's comments
On The Dan Patrick Show, Tom Verducci and Dan discuss Angel outfielder Torri Hunter's controversial comments and how his words may have been taken taken the wrong way.

A short audio clip.

FanGraphs Audio: Rob Neyer Status Update - FanGraphs Baseball

A long audio clip.  I did learn one thing from this, his name is pronounced Niy-er, not Nay-er.  At least in this interview.

Demolition Of Yankee Stadium
A website entirely dedicated to recording the demolition of the historic Yankee Stadium.

Pretty cool pictures and video.

Some news about the other teams in the A.L. West -

HeraldNet: Game report: M's beat Giants; Adam Moore catching everyone's eye
Chone Figgins continued his hitless spring but also his ability to be the perfect complement to Ichiro Suzuki at the second spot in the batting order. Figgins walked three times, giving him seven in 16 plate appearances and a .438 on-base percentage. After Ichiro doubled off Tim Lincecum to start the game, Figgins walked and they pulled a double steal that set up Ryan Garko's two-run single. "Those two guys at the top of the lineup are going to be like gnats," Giants manager Bruce Botchy said.

Oakland A's oft-injured Eric Chavez rediscovers his stroke - San Jose Mercury News
Chavez, who has had five surgeries (three on his shoulders, two on his back) since September 2007, won't play again until Saturday. He had his second microdiscectomy operation on his back last June. Chavez said if things continue to progress, he could start to play five or six innings on back-to-back days in a week or so.

Greenberg: Rangers sale 'going smoothly' - texasrangers.com
This week, Sport Business Journal reported that the sale of the Rangers was stalled after Major League Baseball informed the team's creditors about delays in responding to the lenders' concerns regarding the deal. Greenberg responded to that report Wednesday. "What's interesting is it said that the sale is delayed again, which suggests that it has already been delayed once and that just hasn't happened," he said. "I think there are some folks out there that have a little bit of self-interest in portraying gloom and doom, none of whom are principals in the deal, by the way.