Light day Halolinks:
- Here's something I hadn't heard about until reading this post: Angels center fielder Peter Bourjos has plenty of reasons to be excited about 2012 season - angels.com. Apparently Bourjos is in the process of rehabbing a couple injuries, "Bourjos has spent almost his entire offseason in Arizona, lifting weights while rehabbing groin and hip ailments at the same facility as Angels first baseman Kendrys Morales." I try to stay up on all the Angel news, but this one slipped right by me. Apparently Bourjos was hurting at the end of last season, "Next week, Bourjos hopes to start running again -- he tried about a month ago, but the hip injury that bothered him toward the end of the season flared up, so he shut it down -- and will also begin doing baseball activities, which should put him right on schedule." It doesn't sound like a big deal, but still, whenever a player has an injury that affects his most valuable skill-set as this does to Bourjos' speed, there's reason for concern. Especially if there's a chance for it to flare up during the season.
- I'm not going to bet on a return of Darren Oliver to the Halos: Source: Four clubs interested in free agent Oliver - Yardbarker, "Four American League contenders — the Rangers, Angels, Red Sox, and Blue Jays — have shown interest in free-agent left-hander Darren Oliver, a major-league source told FOXSports.com." From what I remember following the 2009 season, Oliver wanted to play for the Rangers mainly because they are so close to his home in Dallas. The rumor was the Angels had agreed with Oliver not to offer arbitration in order to make his signing with Texas that much easier. If this were true, I can't see his return to Anaheim happening.
- When a team signs or acquires a player like Albert Pujols, there's going to be something written about him EVERYDAY. Here's today's entry: Why pitch to Albert Pujols? - ESPN Los Angeles. Angels' manager Mike Scioscia provides an interesting quote in this post, "Right now, with a player like Albert, there are really only two ways to protect him: One is getting guys on base in front of him. Another is having some depth behind him, because he gets on base a lot." Interesting point about protecting a hitter by having guys on base in front of him. I know, it's pretty obvious a team is less likely to pitch around a good hitter when there are runners on base, but something I never thought of when contemplating ways to protect a hitter. So who are the hitters that are going to protect Pujols by getting on base in front of him?
- Sam doing some tune-up work before his "just a matter of time" appearance on "Late Night with David Letterman": FanGraphs Audio: Sam Miller of the OC Register - FanGraphs Baseball
- Baseball's "next big thing": Yu Darvish's fate now in hands of Japanese team - MLB.com. "According to ESPN's Buster Olney, the Yankees posted an offer, and he also tweeted, according to three MLB executives, that the Rangers and Blue Jays are candidates to win the bidding. The Angels, Rays and Twins did not submit a bid, according to several reports." I get why the Angels weren't involved in the Darvish derby, but here's hoping the Rangers continue to fall short of their goals. Here's an interesting post about the previous Japanese imports: Checking in on past products of posting system - CBSSports.com
- Today's sabermetric lesson: Adjusting defense efficiency by the quality of pitching - The Hardball Times. "What if you could adjust DER? What would it tell you?"
- Ah, how cool is that? Kemp, Rodgers come to Ryan Braun's defense - CBSSports.com. "Nobody's proven anything man ... we don't know anything." Kemp told TMZ.com. "That's a good dude. That's my homie." I want to be Matt Kemp's homie!
- One of my favorite Angels' websites adds to the Halo lore: Catching Up With Some Correspondance - The Angels, In Order