Second Base

The reports I received is that every single tool is better than advertised. I don’t know if it’s just professional instruction, maturity, health or a new workout and nutrition regimen. But whatever it is, he’s even better than he was at TCU and he was hero status there in his one season, going to the World Series.

Just trying to fit in.

Best offseason acquisition appears to be Miguel Sano. Low cost, lost weight, capable of playing 3B again, high exit velocities, replaces Rendon.

Yeah there likely isn’t a whole lot of in between. I said the same thing this year about Ben Joyce. Either he’s healthy and throwing strikes and dominates, or he simply doesn’t. I don’t envision Bachman or Joyce being your typical middle reliever. All that depends on health though. If they aren’t healthy, there’s no equation. And to Bachman’s credit, still no major arm injuries or anything. It’s just everything else that seems to be falling apart.

Yeah, he’s terrible right now. But he was pretty solid before. It’s a very defensible move.

I thought it was pretty smart actually. With 1 million guaranteed, no team is going to claim him. Guaranteed pitching depth. And if for some reason he’s actually good, then you’d have a good major leaguer at a huge discount.

Fair assessment with hitting. He obviously knows his game better than anyone but I notice, casually that when his front foot is down in time, he mashes. It seems to be timing with him. He’ll get it.

Yeah, I think Sam Bachman has closer type stuff, for sure. If you don’t, then you haven’t been watching for very long.

I really don’t mind that the Angels traded Quero. Do I wish they got more than a couple starts from Giolito? Absolutely. I think they could’ve gotten themselves a decent youngster in return, similar to the Marsh-O’Hoppe swap. But as far as Quero’s potential, I don’t think the Angels will miss much. I think he ends up being pretty average on both sides of the ball at the major league level. Maybe slightly above offensively and slightly below defensively. And we always have one of those in Matt Thaiss, whom pitchers don’t mind nearly as much as Quero.

It’s an identity crisis, and it’s an Angel flaw. Same thing Matt Thais went through after being drafted. They draft a pure hitter and on base machine, and rather than understanding and fostering what they have, they plant the ideas in their head about being a power hitting 1B. It just isn’t who he is, and what you end up with is a broken hitter with no power rather than what you drafted in the first place. Sane thing happened with Cron, Thaiss and Ward. As soon as they took their careers into their own hands and stopped trying to change, their careers improved. Schanuel needs to go back to basics like last year and forget this concept of turning on the ball with authority. Just keep slapping it to all fields and milking your way on base. Don’t be who the Angels wish you were and be yourself. If they don’t like it, then it’s their fault, they shouldn’t have drafted you.

So he’s already outperformed 99% of minor leaguers. Good for him on landing Hudgens.

I felt Homer-ish comping Rada to Figgins even. I think forgot just how good Chone was in his prime with the Angels. With FV, I tend to align a lot with the guys at Just Baseball, and generally speaking, the guys right around 100 are 50-55 FV for them.

Hey guys, as far as the FV goes, there were two main factors that went into the discrepancies. 1. FV can be affected by likelihood of reaching the majors and even proximity. For example, I really don’t think you can put a 45 FV on Ben Joyce. Because I don’t see any middle ground with him. Either he figures it out and you have a 60+ FV reliever out he doesn’t and he’s a 40. 2. Regardless of FV, it isn’t my own personal list. A lot of guys put in their time and offered their valuable input toward this, so my own assessment of FV doesn’t necessarily reflect everyone’s opinion. I think just an example, @Angelsjunky had some disagreement on Kyren Paris if I’m not mistaken, so that FV probably doesn’t reflect his view on Paris, which is ok. 3. The FV can be a reflection of my own prospect optimism, which I’ve got a rep for. Truth be told, I think of the whole bunch, we’ve probably got 4 solid big leaguers and a collection of other guys that might get a cup of coffee, that’s about it. Sorry if that throws you guys off.

Thanks to everyone on this one.

I wonder if it will affect his sprint speed.