MLB organizations currently in a worse state than the Angels

[Swordsman78]

8 hours ago, Taylor said:

It's crazy that there are 7 MLB teams with worse records than the Angels this season. There are some very crappy teams in the NL.

 

Baseball as a whole has a competitive equity problem.  I think the expansion of teams has diluted the talent pools to the point that alot of teams are playing guys that should be in AAA.  The teams fortunate (lucky) enough to have the best pitching are leading/winning divisions by an obscene amount of games.

 

[Paolo11]

24 minutes ago, Swordsman78 said:

Baseball as a whole has a competitive equity problem.  I think the expansion of teams has diluted the talent pools to the point that alot of teams are playing guys that should be in AAA.  The teams fortunate (lucky) enough to have the best pitching are leading/winning divisions by an obscene amount of games.

 

And the teams that have figured out how to routinely strike gold in the yearly international free agent free-for-all are right there with them.  

[Lou]

46 minutes ago, Swordsman78 said:

Baseball as a whole has a competitive equity problem.  I think the expansion of teams has diluted the talent pools to the point that alot of teams are playing guys that should be in AAA.  The teams fortunate (lucky) enough to have the best pitching are leading/winning divisions by an obscene amount of games.

 

MLB hasn't expanded in the last 24 years. 

[Swordsman78]

15 minutes ago, Lou said:

MLB hasn't expanded in the last 24 years. 

Dive deeper.    The game has changed.  The  increased number of teams combined with the increasing pitcher usage has depleted the available MLB level pitching.   The have's and have nots.  Alot of luck involved, not necessarily reflective of an organization.

https://baseballwithr.wordpress.com/2019/01/28/historical-look-at-pitcher-usage/

[m0nkey]

Angels must've been really unlucky the past 13 years

[Lou]

8 minutes ago, Swordsman78 said:

Dive deeper.    The game has changed.  The  increased number of teams combined with the increasing pitcher usage has depleted the available MLB level pitching.   The have's and have nots.  Alot of luck involved, not necessarily reflective of an organization.

https://baseballwithr.wordpress.com/2019/01/28/historical-look-at-pitcher-usage/

That is entirely about pitcher usage. An extra 30 major league pitchers hasn't diluted the pool to a great extent. 

[Swordsman78]

4 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

Angels must've been really unlucky the past 13 years

Extremely.  "Jinxed" is an adjective that works well. 

 

[Swordsman78]

4 minutes ago, Lou said:

That is entirely about pitcher usage. An extra 30 major league pitchers hasn't diluted the pool to a great extent. 

30?   LOL.   Would 190 extra MLB pitchers dilute the talent pool to a great extent?

[Lou]

1 minute ago, Swordsman78 said:

30?   LOL.   Would 190 extra MLB pitchers dilute the talent pool to a great extent?

Yes 

[Swordsman78]

1 minute ago, Lou said:

Yes 

 

In 1998 (pre expansion) the american league used 278 pitchers total

In 2021 the American league used 471 pitchers total.

The 190 extra pitchers needed was just in (1) one league.

[Lou]

1 minute ago, Swordsman78 said:

 

In 1998 (pre expansion) the american league used 278 pitchers total

In 2021 the American league used 471 pitchers total.

The 190 extra pitchers needed was just in (1) one league.

Pitcher usage.

[Swordsman78]

1 minute ago, Lou said:

Pitcher usage.

In 2022 it takes 471 American League pitchers to hold opponents to an ave. of 4 runs per game.

In 1998 it took only 278 American league pitchers to hold opponents to an ave of 4 runs per game.

Bottom line is that there are way more pitchers in MLB now that are not major league ready compared to the pre expansion era. 

 

 

[Lou]

5 minutes ago, Swordsman78 said:

In 2022 it takes 471 American League pitchers to hold opponents to an ave. of 4 runs per game.

In 1998 it took only 278 American league pitchers to hold opponents to an ave of 4 runs per game.

Bottom line is that there are way more pitchers in MLB now that are not major league ready compared to the pre expansion era. 

 

 

Agsin, pitcher usage. 

[Skankhunt42]

The Pirates have the best stadium in baseball so that's an extra plus for them. 

[darctoon]

The Nationals look like a mess ... but considering it's Year 1 of the rebuild, I'd argue that it's going better than expected for them.  Now, there is the Soto issue to figure out, and I'll be curious how that plays out.  They shouldn't feel pressurred to deal him yet, though - rumor was that the deferred money issue was largely settled, and they just wanted less money to be backloaded (which is the Nationals preference since they have Patrick Corbin's contract coming off the book in 2 years).  That said, their trades last year netted them a solid starting catcher in Keibert Ruiz and a young arm who looks solid so far in Josiah Gray.  Josh Bell has been a nice ... reclamation project? ... for them, although he's a FA this offseason that they'll need to resign.  The system, though, looks to have rebounded.  It was on a downswing for a couple years, but Cristhian Vaquero and Elijah Green give them two toolsy, exciting players.  More importantly, Cade Cavalli and Cole Henry are two solid AAA arms, and Andry Lara and Jeremy de la Rosa are showing positive signs (de la Rosa moreso than Lara, but Lara was really raw, and de la Rosa did repeat A ball but he was rushed badly).

They still need a lot of positional assets to really speed up the rebuild, but there's positive signs.  I'd argue if they don't get an arm and a leg for Soto, which is their ace in the hole to speed up the rebuild in some respects (although the question is who would be involved that is willing to give up prospects and give out a big deal), they should just hold him until next summer and see how the club's outlook looks in a year.  I'd be somewhat surprised if the system doesn't make a huge leap up the boards into a possible top 10 system to start next year - there's a lot of positives up and down developmentally for them.

 

____

 

Angels are in a rough state because their sort of tied in the majors with the contracts (really, it's Rendon's contract that's the issue, as well as the need to decide Ohtani's future) and the system has just sputtered for years and doesn't really have the assets to help.  I mean ... it's Sam Bachman, Ky Bush, and what, Jeremiah Jackson as the three more intriguing prospects that are close to help?  I do wonder if Jack Kochanowicz's development could send him to High A late this summer, and perhaps to AA some point next year, which puts him close to a similar path to Bachman and Bush, maybe a year behind, if the development is legitimate.

I do really love the Neto pick.  As long as they thing his motions are fine, here's a positional asset who could move fast, and heck ... they could use help all across the infield.  There's solid ceiling offensively.