Angels Acquire Kyle Kubitza from the Braves

[NrM]

 

his swing is somewhat Chipper esque.  I'm no scout, but his swing is pretty nice once he gets his hands into position.  He does some weird swirly hitchy thing with his hands as a timing mechanism.   Lots of guys start high, drop down, and then come back up but his seems a little more noisy.

 

Anyway, I think I'll stick to my day job.  

 

This will be the first time in the Dipoto era where we will likely get to see what kind of skill he and his scouting team have in regards to adding young unproven or less proven position players and their actual impact .  Up until now, he's added Pujos, Hamilton, Freese and Iannetta.  All established guys.  

 

Now we will likely get to see some new young blood trying to earn pt.  

 

He has a lot riding on Baldoquin. Dude was pretty much unknown. Dipoto scouted baldoquin himself.

8 million for a pretty under the radar and raw(only 20 years old) cuban prospect is a lot.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Poozy

[Chuck]

I heard he's not that great at 3b defensively.

 

Seems like his bat would fit better at 2nd base. 

Patient hitter, capable of drawing walks with doubles power and good speed.

 

Is he capable of playing 2nd base?

 

"He has one of the strongest infield arms in the game, with soft hands that suit him at third base. He moves well to his left but tends to boot the occasional routine ball."

 

He's going to be our future 3B, period. 

[NrM]

"He has one of the strongest infield arms in the game, with soft hands that suit him at third base. He moves well to his left but tends to boot the occasional routine ball."

 

He's going to be our future 3B, period. 

 

gotchya. I was just hearing some braves fans saying he wasn't any good there.

[DMVol]

He has a lot riding on Baldoquin. Dude was pretty much unknown. Dipoto scouted baldoquin himself.

8 million for a pretty under the radar and raw(only 20 years old) cuban prospect is a lot.

He was not unknown, not be a longshot....others just didn't value him as highly as the Angels and DiPoto did....which is why we outbid everybody else...

[stormngt]

That one unproven pitcher was very highly regarded. He was considered a steal when the Angels got him. In four years we all may say this was a stupid move. But that is four years from now.

Can someone explain to me how we gave up 1 unproven pitcher from RK ball for a top 3B prospect and another unproven pitcher?

This makes no sense to me.

[AngelsLakersFan]

Can someone explain to me how we gave up 1 unproven pitcher from RK ball for a top 3B prospect and another unproven pitcher?

This makes no sense to me. 

 

We traded a high ceiling guy for a sure bet. Kubitza will be a starting third basemen soon, maybe even a league average one. The pitcher we gave up could be an ace, but maybe he blows out his arm or never quite puts it all together and never makes it. It's hard to say at 17 - he's definitely on the fast track right now though.

[Guest]

Pretty awesome trade. Dipoto is the best GM in baseball right now.

[ten ocho recon scout]

I dont know a ton (nothing) about sanchez, but reading what he 'could' be is something i would like to have held on to. If he truly projects as a number 1/2, i would have preferred to sign moncada and save the pitcher. But everyone is correct in that he could be out of baseball in 4 years just as well

[Hubs]

As I have said in other threads, Moncada is not a sure thing either. 

 

I'm happy this trade happened, feel bad for Cowart, but hey, maybe he can get it together. As far as losing Sanchez, if he turned into a #1, that would be awesome, but if he's a guy like Jose Fernandez then, yeah, they made a mistake. If he's not and just turns out to be a #3 after 6 seasons of minor league work, well...

 

Also, I'd rather throw the money that Moncada would have cost at a proven guy for another position. At least $60M (incl. Tax) is a ton for an unproven 19 year old. 

[totdprods]

What a great trade! Sanchez may have huge potential, but he was years away. We needed a young 3B prospect badly.

Angels can replace Sanchez's potential...all they need to do is acquire a young lefty with #1-2 potential via draft, trade, or international signing within the next 3-4 years who would be as far along as Sanchez would have been. You can argue that between Skaggs, Heaney, and Newcombe that they already have replaced Sanchez.

[totdprods]

Also, has Dipoto traded away anyone, prospect or otherwise, that has actually improved or flourished elsewhere? I can't really think of any.

Seems like anyone he has dealt has either dropped off or remained comparable to when they left.

It felt like anyone Reagins shipped out or let walk improved.

Edited January 9, 2015 by totdprods

[Erstad Grit]

Pretty awesome trade. Dipoto is the best GM in baseball right now.

 

lol slow it down there

 

I'm hopeful too but let's wait and see how these prospects pan out first. 

 

I also remember the "Will Pujols go into the HOF as an Angel or Cardinal?" threads too.

[Erstad Grit]

Also, has Dipoto traded away anyone, prospect or otherwise, that has actually improved or flourished elsewhere? I can't really think of any.

Seems like anyone he has dealt has either dropped off or remained comparable to when they left.

It felt like anyone Reagins shipped out or let walk improved.

 

Santana and Walden were the first to come to mind. 

[totdprods]

Ahhh yeah, Santana definitely. Walden's stayed pretty much on track with what he did here. He's improved for sure, but essentially he is still the same thing he left as, a solid young set-up reliever.

What the heck was up with Dipoto that offseason?

[ten ocho recon scout]

Chatwood to a point. He was rolling before he got hurt. That said, iannetta has been pretty decent.

[Make Angels Great Again]

I don't think anyone disliked letting Santana go. He was so up and down and was serving up homeruns like omelettes at a brunch buffet the year before.

 

Walden for Hanson was kinda split down the middle IIRC. I was excited for it, I didn't expect Hanson to fall off a cliff like he did, he was pretty damn good just recently before then. 

[totdprods]

Wow Hanson got roasted in AAA last year too.

[tdawg87]

Don't like losing Sanchez but this was a trade that needed to be made. Dipoto getting more BP depth is just icing on the cake.

I'm betting Kubitza will at least be a wash with Freese. Even if he can't match Freese offensively he'll likely be much better with the glove. And he costs a lot less.

[Hubs]

If you look at the Angels organizational depth chart after this off-seasons moves, it looks a lot better. They sacrificed a lot of what minor league depth they had last year to fix the bullpen. 

 

At 1st Base, They have Albert Pujols. He's 35 for the upcoming season, and the Angels own 7 more seasons of his career. They'll need to eventually draft a replacement, and perhaps Pujols eventually is the full-time DH.  They also have CJ Cron currently slated to be the DH, and Efren Navarro, a AAAA player. No real prospects of any note at this position.

 

At 2nd Base, the Angels were loaded to start 2014, it was the one position of depth, and they had a solid major league starter. Well, one season later, they have traded three of their 2nd baseman, including Kendrick, and acquired at least two more. Yarborough is the best in the system, but Grant Green is no slouch. We'll likely see a platoon between Green and newly acquired Josh Rutledge for 2015, Yarborough likely isn't ready until 2016.

 

At SS, Aybar is under contract for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. They also have recent Cuban Defector Roberto Baldoquin here, who could stick at short, but could also be a 2nd baseman or an outfielder. We may see him this season (likely at 2nd base) or we may see him in 2016. Jose Rondon was likely the top shortstop in the Angels minor league system before being dealt to the Padres for Huston Street, but now that belongs to Baldoquin or Eric Stamets in AA.

 

At 3rd, Freese is under contract for 2015, but they just acquired his replacement in Kubitza who could see time here in 2015. Former top prospect Kaleb Cowart is stuck at AA. 

 

At C, the Angels didn't have much depth in the minors, which makes me wonder why they didn't put Cron back there to see if he could do it. He was a catcher in college. He'd definitely have been a offensive minded catcher, and the Angels do put a premium on defense from the position, but perhaps he could be a back-up guy? His shoulder has to have healed by now…They have a solid starter in Chris Iannetta, and traded their backup to the Astros for a SP and backup candidate Carlos Perez. They also acquired backup Drew Butera from the Dodgers.

 

In the OF, the Angels have six seasons of Mike Trout, five seasons of Kole Calhoun (who can also play 1st) and three more seasons of Josh Hamilton. Backups Navarro, Cowgill, and others are solid if not spectacular backups. They don't really have an impact OF at this point, but took three OF in the top 10 picks of the 2014 draft who will take several years to develop.

 

At DH, they'll have Cron and newcomer Matt Joyce. Cron is the future here, whether in a DH/1B Platoon with Pujols or maybe as a said before as a C/DH/1B guy. I don't know if that would happen, but finding a capable DH isn't going to be hard with Pujols, Hamilton, and Cron under control for the foreseeable future.

 

Pitching wise, DiPoto turned an awful bullpen into a spectacular one last year, and even though they lost Jepsen via trade and Grilli via FA, they acquired Cesar Ramos from Tampa Bay and still have every other member of the pen who was on the playoff roster. They have several more live arms in the minors headlined by Gott and Bedrosian.

 

In The rotation, they are set in 2015 with Weaver, Richards, Wilson, Shoemaker, and Santiago, and if one of them falters Andrew Heaney, Nick Tropeano, and others will be waiting to step in. In 2016, Skaggs will be able to pitch again after Tommy John Surgery. They control Weaver and Wilson through 2016, control Santiago through 2017, Richards through 2018, and Shoemaker through 2019. Heaney and Tropeano both made their debut's for limited appearances in 2014, so they likely will have them through 2020. All of the other minor league depth including Ellis, Gott, and Newcomb, at AAA, AA and A, who all should have much improved rotations would be under control through at least 2020, more likely 2022. So…they're set. 

 

After this Kubitza trade they will only really need to look at 1st base, C, and the OF offensively in future drafts, while continuing to build depth at every other positions. They have no urgent needs. 

[Hubs]

I don't think anyone disliked letting Santana go. He was so up and down and was serving up homeruns like omelettes at a brunch buffet the year before.

 

Walden for Hanson was kinda split down the middle IIRC. I was excited for it, I didn't expect Hanson to fall off a cliff like he did, he was pretty damn good just recently before then. 

 

I did. Santana was a significantly better pitcher than Joe Blanton, and while he wasn't worth the option price at the time, he would have signed for 2/20 or maybe 3/30 which, they paid 15M to Blanton over those two years. If they hadn't extended Callaspo, whom I also despised, and gone with say Luis Jimenez at the minnimum, would they have been that much worse? They could've afforded Santana.

 

Joe Blanton had a 6+ ERA in 2014, missed a bunch of games, basically sucked. He didn't make the team in 2014.

 

Santana had a 3.24 ERA for KC in 2013, and an ERA in 2014 of 3.95. He vastly out produced Blanton. It was a terrible decision. He also pitched 400+ innings to Blanton's 132.

[Inside Pitch]

gotchya. I was just hearing some braves fans saying he wasn't any good there.

 

Because Chipper Jones.

 

Every 3B coming up will have to deal with the comparisons to Chipper -- they will never be good enough, the same thing happened in Baltimore after Brooks Robinson.   Doug DeCinces took a lot of crap from B-more fans because he wasn't Brooks, but he solidified 3B from 1976-198, he even posted a better career OPS+ as an Oriole than Brooks Robinson had over his career.   The position then became a revolving door of awful from 82 until 1997 when Cal Ripken finally moved over from SS.

 

Brooks Robinson's career OPS+ was 104, Ripken, 112..   Doug DeCinces, 115 -- he wasn't Brooks with a glove, but he wasn't remotely close to being Russ Davis either.

[Inside Pitch]

Giving up Sanchez stinks but it's the cost of doing business.   Much if his upside is based on what he is doing at age 17, the problem is that's also where all the risk is -- because he's 17.  He could turn into Johan Santana, or Joe Torres, there a heck of a lot more Joe Torres walking around than Santanas...   Third base is a position of extreme scarcity of late, and the Angels were facing a 2016 where they might have to spend, even overspend to retain a guy like Freese or spend a year or 5 playing guys out of position or tinkering with a bunch of stiffs.  Kubitza at his worst is a safety net they just didn't have.

[Guest]

Pretty cool how we also got Hyatt. This team is getting younger every day.

At this rate the Angels will never experience drastic rebuilding like the Philies, Yankees, or A's. I really like the way Dipoto thinks.

[Richard]

I did. Santana was a significantly better pitcher than Joe Blanton, and while he wasn't worth the option price at the time, he would have signed for 2/20 or maybe 3/30 which, they paid 15M to Blanton over those two years. 

 

 

I doubt Ervin Santana would have made the 2013 Angels season any better. In the end it worked out fine. Ervin rejected the QO and tried holding out for a 100 million dollar deal after his year in KC and was a spring training signing by the Braves last year. 

 

We've seen good santana and bad santana. Glad he's not the angels problem anymore.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Richard

[Angel Oracle]

The thing with Santana is that it was smart to not keep him long term because of the up/down nature throughout his career through 2012. 

But it might have behooved the org to keep him for just 2013, in case they could use him in a July 2013 trade to acquire a prospect with a better future than Brandon Sisk.

 

That being said, it was two years ago, and we have moved on from that just fine.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Angel Oracle