September 14, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Los Angeles Angels second basemen Howie Kendrick (47) doubles in two runs against the Kansas City Royals during the fourth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

In case you haven’t heard, Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick has been on something of a tear so far this spring. Coming into today’s game against the Athletics at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, Kendrick is hitting .500/.500/.861 with three home runs in 36 plate appearances. So how much stock should we put into this start by Kendrick?

None. Okay, post over! Have a good day!

Ugh, fine.

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March 5, 2013; Tempe, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols (5) stretches before a spring training game against the Cincinnati Reds at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

As you may or may not know, I haven’t yet taken over full-time here at Halo Hangout so I apologize for the lack of posts over the previous few days. Things will pick up once the season starts in earnest, I promise.

As for the Cactus League portion of the Angels’ season, it’s still happening. Baseball is being played by players wearing Angels’ uniforms. Some of them are actually going to play for the Angels this year—most are not. This is the nature of these things.

In terms of important stories coming out these games being played, there’s not a lot. No one’s arm has fallen off yet and Mike Trout hasn’t pulled a hamstring or been beaned by an errant A-baller’s fastball. Still no one on fire, so that’s good.

The Angels are 4-8-2 so far this spring, which of course means nothing. Now would be the perfect time to direct your attention to the Cactus League standings where the Royals, Orioles and Mariners are the current leaders. In terms of things that do matter, Albert Pujols made his spring debut this week and it appears as though he’ll be ready come Opening Day.

Anyway, rather than write something interesting myself, I’ll instead direct you to other interesting things being written regarding the Angels. Steve will also have something up later today where he explores a pitching metric called batted-ball fielding-independent pitching (bbFIP) and uses it in reference to Angels’ pitchers.

For now, enjoy these links!

Over at Halos Heaven, “Fervent” looks at normalizing WAR and comes up with some interesting results.

Sticking with Halos Heaven, “Stirrups” talks more about the Mike Trout contract renewal fiasco.

Over at Halos Daily, Jeff Mays compares the Trout situation to former Angel Lymon Bostock.

The Angels sure are paying an awful lot for “veteran presence.” I guess that’s expensive. [Alden Gonzalez, MLB.com]

Also from Gonzalez, good news for the Angels bullpen (hopefully):

Ryan Madson (Tommy John recovery) will be throwing his first bullpen session since the Feb. 1 setback on Monday. #Angels

— Alden Gonzalez (@Alden_Gonzalez) March 9, 2013

Angels GM Jerry DiPoto spoke about the Bloomberg application at the SABR Analytics conference. If only it was available to the public. [Pedro Moura, OC Register]

Angels prospect Michael Roth has sympathy for Manti Te’o. [Mike DiGiovanna, LA Times]

The always terrific Grant Brisbee looks at which players can be used as a bellwether for the AL West teams. [Baseball Nation]

According to a poll up right now at CBS Sports, 57% of the more than 31,000 people who voted think the Angels will win the AL West in 2013. I agreed in my previews over at The Score, but 57% is an awfully high number. I mean, it’s not like the Rangers and A’s are that much worse.

Mar. 3, 2013; Tempe, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Angels catcher Chris Iannetta (17) hits a single during the second inning against the Chicago Cubs at Tempe Diablo Stadium. The Cubs beat the Angels 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

The Angels, unsurprisingly, continued their Cactus League schedule. It’s unsurprising in that it was scheduled to happen months ago and it did indeed happen. This is all just a way of saying that things went as scheduled. There were no incidents that led to the cancellation of any particular game—like a player spontaneously combusting or a grizzly bear roaming leftfield in search of sustenance and fisticuffs.

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