Chevy Clarke

[rafibomb]

Released.

[m0nkey]

At least they've still got ryan bolden

[Tyler]

That's what happens when your walk-up song is by Waka Flocka Flame.

[jshep]

Remember that time they used 2 of their first round picks on him and Ryan Bolden?

 

Good times.

 

But hey, at least Chevy got out of rookie ball! Bolden can't say the same.

[Brent Maguire]

What an absolute waste of a pick. 

[Halonut]

That draft was atrocious...look at the names which could have been had with the Clarke/Bolden picks...

 

Aaron Sanchez

Noah Syndergaard

Taijuan Walker

Nick Castellanos

Jedd Gyorko

Andrelton Simmons

[Butcher'd]

That draft was atrocious...look at the names which could have been had with the Clarke/Bolden picks...

 

Aaron Sanchez

Noah Syndergaard

Taijuan Walker

Nick Castellanos

Jedd Gyorko

Andrelton Simmons

 

That draft is a very large reason why we have a bottom 5 prospect system in baseball.

 

Even the Cowart pick is looking worse and worse

[Second Base]

How often does a team have 5 of the first 40 picks? Almost NEVER. The Angels blew it on that draft.

In all likelihood, the only thing the Angels got from those 5 picks are a shutdown reliever and passable 2B. It's also partly a failure in communication. And depth. We took all of our picks predominantly from the South, Georgia specifically. I'd like to know just what in the hell the area scout told our national cross checker to make him (Wilson if I'm not mistaken) believe these guys were better than the plethora of high end So Cal products that were available. I mean for Christ's sake it's the Angels own backyard.

[Fontana Halo]

How often does a team have 5 of the first 40 picks? Almost NEVER. The Angels blew it on that draft.

In all likelihood, the only thing the Angels got from those 5 picks are a shutdown reliever and passable 2B. It's also partly a failure in communication. And depth. We took all of our picks predominantly from the South, Georgia specifically. I'd like to know just what in the hell the area scout told our national cross checker to make him (Wilson if I'm not mistaken) believe these guys were better than the plethora of high end So Cal products that were available. I mean for Christ's sake it's the Angels own backyard.

The problem with many of your SoCal players is that they've already received quality coaching and play year round and are in a sense "maxed out", whereas players in states where baseball is less popular or states with less favorable conditions may not have reached their peak and there is a higher ceiling than previously conceived. (See Mike Trout). It's a roll of the dice, and I'm not justifying any pick, but I can see where GM's and scouts are coming from when they select players like Clarke.

[Second Base]

That's a gamble you take in the middle or later rounds. Not in the first round. In the first round you grab the high upside talent that'll serve as a cornerstone of someone's ball club. Middle rounds, you go after the Bourjos types who will either capitalize on their talent and make it big or never put it all together.

Just going off of what I've seen and been told, the Angels went and did their own thing in that draft. Bedrock and Clarke were locks for the 2nd round, Bolden was more like a 10th round pick due to off the field issues and Lindsey was more than likely a 5th round choice.

[Dave Saltzer]

Some of you are ridiculously harsh. That draft is not THE reason why our system is ranked poorly. Not having a 1st round pick for 2 years in a row, winning at the ML level resulting in lower overall picks in every round, and the trades that we made had a much bigger impact on our rankings by national publications.

 

Going into the 2010 draft, everyone said it was a weak class. And, with hindsight, it has proven to be a weak class. That was NOT the year to have 5 picks between the 1st and 1st Supplemental round. Lots of teams had their first few picks go bust that year. But to blame all of our farm system's issues on that is just fallacious.

[tdawg87]

Some of you are ridiculously harsh. That draft is not THE reason why our system is ranked poorly.

 

Nobody said it was THE reason though. Don't be and idoit.

 

But seriously, it was an awful draft any way you spin it. Like, it could not have possibly been worse considering the circumstances. Although it's a culmination of multiple issues that have caused the depletion of the farm system in recent years, that draft certainly played a role.

 

Granted, all teams have poor drafts at some point, there is no way to predict the future. Unfortunately this one just bit them in the ass big time.

[Tyler]

Going into the 2010 draft, everyone said it was a weak class. And, with hindsight, it has proven to be a weak class. That was NOT the year to have 5 picks between the 1st and 1st Supplemental round. Lots of teams had their first few picks go bust that year. But to blame all of our farm system's issues on that is just fallacious.

 

lol nice try.

 

Bryce Harper, Taillon, Machado, Pomeranz, Deshields, Choice, Grandal, Sale, Lee, Biddle, Yelich, Aaron Sanchez, Syndergaard, Ranaudo, Walker, Castellanos, Workman, Gyorko, Smyly, Simmons, Dietrich, and that's just round 1-2.

[Dave Saltzer]

That draft is a very large reason why we have a bottom 5 prospect system in baseball.

 

Even the Cowart pick is looking worse and worse

tdawg87: Saying it's a very large reason while ignoring the much larger effects on the rankings from the lack of a 1st round pick for 2 years, the effects of picking low in the draft for many years because the ML team did well, and the effects of the talent traded away for ML talent means that this person thinks that it is the reason why the rankings are so low. I've said what I've said what I think of the national rankings (don't agree that we are dead last, but aren't far from it). Many of the national ranking publications get caught up a lot more in the ranking of the picks in the organization than other factors. 

 

2010 was a bad class. Lots of prospects failed. Lots of teams did not do well that year. It was the WRONG year to have 5 picks between the 1st and 1st supplemental round. But to even say it was a major reason why the farm is ranked last is fallacious. It was a chance to restock the farm in ways to improve the rankings that didn't work out. But, it didn't cause the shortcomings with the farm system. It's like saying a team lost a game 6-3 because they didn't hit a grand slam with bases loaded. The failure to hit the grand slam isn't why they lost the game--the game was lost when they gave up the 6 runs.

 

Of all the prospects that year that we didn't take, the one I was most frustrated by was Walker. At the time I remember saying that I wanted to draft him and was confused by Clarke and Bolden over him.

[Dave Saltzer]

lol nice try.

 

Bryce Harper, Taillon, Machado, Pomeranz, Deshields, Choice, Grandal, Sale, Lee, Biddle, Yelich, Aaron Sanchez, Syndergaard, Ranaudo, Walker, Castellanos, Workman, Gyorko, Smyly, Simmons, Dietrich, and that's just round 1-2.

Harper--1st overall pick. No shot at him.

Taillon--2nd overall pick. No shot at him.

Machado--3rd overall pick. No shot at him.

Colon--4th overall pick. No shot at him and 25 years old in AAA.

Pomeranz--5th overall pick. No shot at him.

Loux--6th overall pick. No shot at him and not playing.

Harvey--7th overall pick. No shot at him.

DeShields--8th overall pick. No shot at him.

Whitson--9th overall pick. No shot at him and unsigned. Drafted 11th round this year--indicates a big drop in performance.

Choice--10th overall pick. No shot at him.

McGuire--11th overall pick. No shot at him and 25 years old in AAA.

Grandal--12th overall pick. No shot at him.

Sale--13th overall pick. No shot at him.

Covey--14th overall pick. No shot at him and still in low-A.

Skole--15th overall pick. No shot at him and still in AA.

Simpson--16th overall pick. No shot at him and in Independent Ball.

Sale--17th overall pick. No shot at him.

 

If you are going to argue, at least use people we had a shot at. So, if you are going to criticize the draft pickings, you have 12 picks out of 64 between when the Angels picked at the end of the 2nd round one of whom turned down 1st round money to go to college (Biddle). That leaves you 11/64 successes and 53 out of 64 failures. And, that's ignoring what the Angels got from that draft--Bedrosian who has the stuff to be a future closer or 8th inning guy, Lindsey who is 22 in AAA on a bad team with no lineup protection or pitching (making it easier to pitch around him), and Cowart who is still in development (I am ready to give up on Bolden). Are you going to tell me that the other teams who picked the 53 other players after the Angels all did better? 

 

It was a weak draft. Talk to any professional scout and he will tell you the same.

[Tyler]

Biddle signed as a 27th pick in the first round with the Phillies. 

 

My point was it was not a weak draft. How deep of a draft is up for debate.

[Blarg]

Shane got shot down.

[Tyler]

lol. no.

[Dave Saltzer]

Biddle signed as a 27th pick in the first round with the Phillies. 

 

My point was it was not a weak draft. How deep of a draft is up for debate.

A draft that is not very deep is by definition weak. But if you want to argue semantics, technically yes, it wasn't very deep at all.

 

As for Biddle, sorry, was thinking Beede from 2011. My mistake.

[Tyler]

The depth part is up for debate because it's only been 4 years since the draft.

 

It wasn't a weak class.

 

I think you're being a little sensitive because you think I'm taking a shot at the Angels like the preceding posts. I'm not. 

Edited June 10, 2014 by Shane

[Inside Pitch]

If you are going to argue, at least use people we had a shot at. So, if you are going to criticize the draft pickings, you have 12 picks out of 64 between when the Angels picked at the end of the 2nd round one of whom turned down 1st round money to go to college (Biddle). That leaves you 11/64 successes and 53 out of 64 failures. And, that's ignoring what the Angels got from that draft--Bedrosian who has the stuff to be a future closer or 8th inning guy, Lindsey who is 22 in AAA on a bad team with no lineup protection or pitching (making it easier to pitch around him), and Cowart who is still in development (I am ready to give up on Bolden). Are you going to tell me that the other teams who picked the 53 other players after the Angels all did better?

It was a weak draft. Talk to any professional scout and he will tell you the same.

I actually have talked to a few professional scouts and one former scouting director. I've always been told that draft lacked depth at the college level so it was more of a long term draft than had been the case in recent years, but not so much that it was a weak draft.... obviously, a case can certainly be made that it's all semantics and that lacking college depth means it was a weak draft pool.

Anyway, as far as guys we could have had.. Zach Lee, Christian Yelich, Aaron Sanchez, Noah Syndergaard, Anthony Renaudo, Taujuan Walker, Luke Jackson... That's 6 different arms that would likely be our best pitching prospect, plus Yelich (although he's tanking). Drew Smyly and Addison Reed would easily have spots on our 25 man.. While that seems rather damning of the Angels, the reality is that had they hit on that many guys after the haul they pulled off in 2009 it may have gone down in history as the best two year draft run in a long time if not ever.

Not sure what the big issue is. That draft was awful and played a role in our farm system being where it is, it wasn't the only factor but it was a significant factor regardless. The good news is the 2013 draft may have been a sneaky good draft that helps erase some of those mistakes.

Edited June 10, 2014 by Inside Pitch

[Second Base]

Look, we could always play the "we should've drafted this guy" game. 21 teams have played it with Mike Trout. Pujols was a 13th rd selection.

It was a terrible draft on the part of the Angels, not because of the weak draft class. It's because they had 5 chances to grab elite talent in the first 40 picks, and they missed on all 5.

Prospects are hit and miss, that's the nature of this game. But any team that's given a shot at taking 5 of the top 40 ranked amateurs in the draft should reasonably expect the find themselves at least 2, more likely 3 or 4 quality major leaguers.

The Angels found a decent 2B and a RP. Any scouting director would be fired over that and to defend it us insanity.

[John Smith]

 

 

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   Matt Eddy ‏@MattEddyBA 1m

   
   

   #WhiteSox sign OF Chevy Clarke, the 2010 first-rounder whom #Angels released last week. Maybe he revives his career in Pioneer League.

   
   

   
   
   
   
   

[Hollyw00d]

Eddie bane was a genius.

[jshep]

 

 

 

1.  

   Matt Eddy ‏@MattEddyBA 1m

   #WhiteSox sign OF Chevy Clarke, the 2010 first-rounder whom #Angels released last week. Maybe he revives his career in Pioneer League.

 

 

Wait, is that implying that Chevy's career ever had life previously?