Angel players you thought would become stars

[m0nkey]

27 minutes ago, Brandon said:

I have a lot of the same guys that many have listed. The only two not listed, for me, was I thought Jose Arredondo would break out and be a top reliever. I wouldn't have bet the house on it, but he had moments the way Ramon Ortiz did. Another was Troy Glaus. He had good seasons with us, but I always thought he was going to be a perennial all-star type....maybe a Ryan Zimmerman type. When he won the 2002 WS MVP I thought he was going to take off.

I think Glaus and Zimmerman have had very similar careers, Glaus had higher peaks and Zimmerman has the longevity.  

[Brandon]

4 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

I think Glaus and Zimmerman have had very similar careers, Glaus had higher peaks and Zimmerman has the longevity.  

I checked the numbers after I posted and didn't remember Glaus having four all-star appearance....ironically it looks like Zimmerman only two, but has a Gold Glove and more MVP considerations.

Glaus also was on those Mexican supplements. He was actually better than I remembered....I mainly just remember him being injured a lot.

I was trying to shoot for a consistent and top tier corner infielder like Rafael Palmiero or Jim Thome.  

[nate]

I was thinking Glaus too but really he is the only successful Angels 3b in the last two decades.  His body just started breaking down probably because of all the roids he took.

[Brandon]

That’s a good point about our third base hole outside of him.

I liken him to the same way we talked about Kendrys and his badass season. I think is optimists thought Glaus could keep it at that level and maybe be a hall of famer down the road. He put up some monster seasons with us.

[Adam]

DMAc

Howie

R. Ortiz

Mathis

JT Snow

David Matranga

[Blarg]

I'm going to roll the clock back a bit with Daryl Sconiers. He was killing it in the Angels minor leagues, his age 21 season in double A was outstanding and was touted as Carew's eventual replacement. He got a lot of playing time in '83, did ok for a rookie, you could see he had a great swing but not a lot of power.

Then, cocaine. Ruined his career prospects and the Angels let him go in 85. 

[Tank]

dante bichette

[Angelsjunky]

Albert Pujols.

[Angelsjunky]

Seriously, though, most of the cohort of prospects in the mid-00s: Kendrick, Wood, McPherson, Kotchman, Sean Rodriguez (I never though Mathis or Aybar would be stars). Kendrick did become a good player, but not a star. The rest were various shades of disappointment. I was especially embarassingly high on Kotchman, who I would thought would be a non-Coors version of Todd Helton. Ugh.

Back in the day, Devon White. He also was pretty good--especially with the Blue  Jays--but when I first saw him on the field in spring training in the late 80s, his skills were unreal.

Also: Damion Easley.

[Angelsjunky]

I didn't think Bourjos would  be a star, so was really surpised when he was as good as he was in 2011.

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

I checked the numbers after I posted and didn't remember Glaus having four all-star appearance....ironically it looks like Zimmerman only two, but has a Gold Glove and more MVP considerations.

Glaus also was on those Mexican supplements. He was actually better than I remembered....I mainly just remember him being injured a lot.

I was trying to shoot for a consistent and top tier corner infielder like Rafael Palmiero or Jim Thome.  

I was looking at his numbers the other day and had the same reaction. My expectations were definitely colored by his monster year at age 23. Most guys get better but that ended up being his peak. It made what were some really solid seasons into disappointments. 

Also I know he got busted for roids in the middle of his injury plagued '03/'04 seasons but I actually buy his story that he took them to try and get back on the field. If you look at the steroid era it's defined by guys staying healthy, peaking for years on end and being productive into their 40's. Glaus' career resembles a far more traditional career trajectory than the prototypical roiders.

[oldguy]

Bobby Valentine (broke his ankle year one)

Rick Reichardt - an original bonus baby

Aurelio Rodriguez (had a nice 16 year career, we traded him  and Reichardt for McMullen)

We traded Ken McMullen and Messersmith to the Dodgers for Valentine, Grabarkewitz, Frank Robinson, Bill Singer, and  Mike Strahler (relief pitcher)

Robinson performed - but a lot of clubs sure traded him

Wally Joyner - never lived up to expectations

Shoemaker?

Anyone old enough to remember watching Tanana before he hurt his arm?  One of baseball's best.

 

 

 

[oldguy]

Carney Lansford

Lyman Bostock

god the memories are painful!

[Angelsjunky]

Jaclyn Smith.

[happybat4]

I thought about Kendrick but he has a 34 career War. He could have been an all star other seasons. 

Jose Arrendo is a good one. 

I thought Kotchman as well. He had such good plate discipline. I really thought he was a future Mark Grace. 

Most prospects I don't expect much until they perform at the MLB level. 

[mpcincal]

I was really high on Kirk McCaskill when he came up in the mid-80s. He and Witt made a good 1-2 punch in the division-winning year of '86, and I thought he would emerge as an ace type. Not quite, unfortunately.

[Don]

Kotchman for sure falls into that weird “one random injury seemed to ruin his career momentum” category. He was really lighting it up that one year until he got that concussion. It’s just a phenomenon that would be interesting to research. Seems to happen to a lot of players.

[Stradling]

7 hours ago, Blarg said:

I'm going to roll the clock back a bit with Daryl Sconiers. He was killing it in the Angels minor leagues, his age 21 season in double A was outstanding and was touted as Carew's eventual replacement. He got a lot of playing time in '83, did ok for a rookie, you could see he had a great swing but not a lot of power.

Then, cocaine. Ruined his career prospects and the Angels let him go in 85. 

I almost mentioned him in my post but I was only 10 or so when he came up and I assumed it was just childhood myopia that he was good.  

[Billy_Ball]

Bobby Rose

[T.G.]

18 hours ago, SoPas Angel said:

Joe Saunders. I was at Yankee Stadium in '06 when he looked awesome against the Yanks. I was influenced by how much fun it was to watch the Angels beat up on the Yankees in the Bronx (I was with my then-girlfriend and her family; there was 8 of us and I was the only Angels fan), but I thought he would become an All Star. I never imagined he would be a journeyman.

I agree with you, but he was an allstar in 2008.

Edited April 18, 2020 by True Grich

[tdawg87]

Zach Borenstein

[Justin]

8 minutes ago, True Grich said:

I agree with you, but he was an allstar in 2008.

I had completely forgotten. I just looked at his BR page and he had an ERA+ of 131 in 2008 (by far the highest of his career). I do not remember him as being particularly good that season, but maybe it got lost in my memory with how good the team was overall in 2008.

[DMVol]

13 hours ago, oldguy said:

Bobby Valentine (broke his ankle year one)

Rick Reichardt - an original bonus baby

Aurelio Rodriguez (had a nice 16 year career, we traded him  and Reichardt for McMullen)

We traded Ken McMullen and Messersmith to the Dodgers for Valentine, Grabarkewitz, Frank Robinson, Bill Singer, and  Mike Strahler (relief pitcher)

Robinson performed - but a lot of clubs sure traded him

Wally Joyner - never lived up to expectations

Shoemaker?

Anyone old enough to remember watching Tanana before he hurt his arm?  One of baseball's best.

Messersmith was a stud....dumb, dumb trade.....Tanana would have been in the HoF if he hadn’t hurt his arm....

[Claude]

Gerrit Cole 

oh nevermind.

[Stradling]

The guy the Yankees never wanted or needed.