John Perrotto’s Sunday column is up, now called On The Beat (like his Wednesday articles) instead of Every Given Sunday.
According to the article, the Angels plan to use Kendry Morales at first base, and a combination of Juan Rivera, Gary Matthews, Jr., and Reggie Willits in left field and designated hitter. Perrotto quotes GM Tony Reagins: "In our situation, you get to the point where you have young players with talent who have been given some chances at the major league level, but have not had the opportunity to play every day. We feel it’s time to allow those players that opportunity."
Perrotto reports the Angels had a fixed dollar figure that included the money they did not wind up spending on Mark Teixeira; however, not signing Teixeira does not mean they feel the need to spend the money without improving the ballclub. They still appear to be a team in the prime position to sign Adam Dunn, Manny Ramirez, or Bobby Abreu.
And a couple notes from around the Majors:
- The Mariners have "mild" interest in Garrett Anderson to play left-field.
- The Mets are trying to trade catcher Ramon Castro. They would rather spend less to have Robinson Cancel as Brian Schneider’s backup.
