Possible Angels Minor League Affiliates

[BTH]

Based on reading the tea leaves, I think we are starting to get a pretty good idea of who the Angels minor league teams will be going forward. Under MLB’s new format, there will only be 120 minor league teams. This will be 4 teams for all 30 franchises at AAA, AA, High-A, and Low-A.

It seems like the Angels will retain having the Salt Lake Bees as their AAA affiliate and the Rocket City Trash Pandas as their AA affiliate.

Their current High-A team, the Inland Empire 66ers, will likely become their Low-A team. This is because MLB is switching the California League (which the 66ers are part of) to the Low-A level.

Their current Low-A team, the Burlington Bees, will likely be contracted. This means that the Angels will need likely need a new Low-A team. Rumor has it that the Northwest League will switch from the Rookie Level to the High-A level. If this is the case, I’d imagine that the 8 west teams (ARI/COL/LAA/LAD/OAK/SD/SF/SEA) will align with the 8 teams in the Northwest League (Boise/Eugene/Everett/Hillsboro/Salem-Keizer/Spokane/Tri-City/Vancouver). ARI is already with Hillsboro, COL is already with Boise, LAD will be with Spokane, SD is already with Tri-City, SF is already with Salem-Keizer, and SEA is already with Everett. That would leave two teams- Eugene and Vancouver- for two teams, the Angels and A’s. That means that the Angels High-A team will likely be either Eugene or Vancouver.

 

TLDR: This is all just an educated guess, but rumors are starting to seep out, and it seems like the Angels MiLB affiliates will be:

AAA: Salt Lake Bees.

AA: Rocket City Trash Pandas

High-A: Eugene Emeralds OR Vancouver Canadians.

Low-A: Inland Empire 66ers.

[Warfarin]

5 minutes ago, Trendon said:

Based on reading the tea leaves, I think we are starting to get a pretty good idea of who the Angels minor league teams will be going forward. Under MLB’s new format, there will only be 120 minor league teams. This will be 4 teams for all 30 franchises at AAA, AA, High-A, and Low-A.

It seems like the Angels will retain having the Salt Lake Bees as their AAA affiliate and the Rocket City Trash Pandas as their AA affiliate.

Their current High-A team, the Inland Empire 66ers, will likely become their Low-A team. This is because MLB is switching the California League (which the 66ers are part of) to the Low-A level.

Their current Low-A team, the Burlington Bees, will likely be contracted. This means that the Angels will need likely need a new Low-A team. Rumor has it that the Northwest League will switch from the Rookie Level to the High-A level. If this is the case, I’d imagine that the 8 west teams (ARI/COL/LAA/LAD/OAK/SD/SF/SEA) will align with the 8 teams in the Northwest League (Boise/Eugene/Everett/Hillsboro/Salem-Keizer/Spokane/Tri-City/Vancouver). ARI is already with Hillsboro, COL is already with Boise, LAD will be with Spokane, SD is already with Tri-City, SF is already with Salem-Keizer, and SEA is already with Everett. That would leave two teams- Eugene and Vancouver- for two teams, the Angels and A’s. That means that the Angels High-A team will likely be either Eugene or Vancouver.

 

TLDR: This is all just an educated guess, but rumors are starting to seep out, and it seems like the Angels MiLB affiliates will be:

AAA: Salt Lake Bees.

AA: Rocket City Trash Pandas

High-A: Eugene Emeralds OR Vancouver Canadians.

Low-A: Inland Empire 66ers.

Nice deductive reasoning, and based on the reports we have seen emerge, I agree with what you have written.  

[Angel Oracle]

How does this affect development, since no orgs will have rookie ball anymore?

[BTH]

2 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

How does this affect development, since no orgs will have rookie ball anymore?

Teams will just have a rookie ball team at their spring training complex. In previous seasons, the Angels had 2 rookie ball teams: the Orem Owlz and the AZL Angels (who played at the Angels spring training complex). Now, they will just have the AZL Angels.

[Warfarin]

14 minutes ago, Trendon said:

Teams will just have a rookie ball team at their spring training complex. In previous seasons, the Angels had 2 rookie ball teams: the Orem Owlz and the AZL Angels (who played at the Angels spring training complex). Now, they will just have the AZL Angels.

I have to imagine this will also coincide with a smaller draft.  Since there will be less drafted players, a number of them will start off with the AZL team, and some of the more advanced ones will probably just start off at low-A.

[Inside Pitch]

I'm just glad A ball isn't going away...

[Docwaukee]

2 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

I'm just glad A ball isn't going away...

not yet.  but wait for it after a couple years of drafting fewer players.  

[Warfarin]

17 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

not yet.  but wait for it after a couple years of drafting fewer players.  

Yeah.  If drafts are cut down to 20 rounds, as I've seen rumored, that means we have half the amount of players being drafted per year as we did before.

I could see one of those A teams eventually vanishing too, such that we just have AAA, AA, and A, along with the AZL/DSL teams.

[Inside Pitch]

39 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

not yet.  but wait for it after a couple years of drafting fewer players.  

Yep.... Those comments from Manfred were a clear case of foreshadowing.

[Lou]

2 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

I'm just glad A ball isn't going away...

poor John Kruk

[Inside Pitch]

2 minutes ago, Lou said:

poor John Kruk

POTY

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 11/19/2020 at 4:18 PM, Inside Pitch said:

I'm just glad A ball isn't going away...

So is Baldoquin. Hes still working on some things, but hes basically MLB ready right now.

[Stradling]

On 11/19/2020 at 7:12 PM, Lou said:

poor John Kruk

This is pretty great. 

[T.G.]

Can't wait to see Trout's kid in San Bernardino next year.