Jo Adell, at Driveline

[Inside Pitch]

Don't care about the numbers, just happy to see he's at Driveline.... In January.

[Warfarin]

2 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Don't care about the numbers, just happy to see he's at Driveline.... In January.

That doesn't look like Jo Adell jumping on a box!

But that said, that's cool.  Hopefully he's getting reps hitting against breaking balls and whatnot.

[wopphil]

You want the guy to succeed. He seems like a tremendously hard worker, and also someone who is humble and trying to take advantage of his opportunity. And so much damn talent.

[tdawg87]

Not sure if boner

[Inside Pitch]

3 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Not sure if boner

His being there is a tremendous positive.

[Pancake Bear]

Plus side: He's at driveline. 

Negative side: He's showing off hitting fastballs...

I'll choose to believe that the plus side is meaningful and the negative is not indicative of the full picture, because why not? 

[Blarg]

This is what i was hoping he would do post season. Take some time off, get his head cleared then go to Driveline and work on everything that he can to make plate appearances successful. Just focus on what it is that will make Jo Adell successful and not a dozen different voices telling him how to be someone else.

[Inside Pitch]

3 minutes ago, Pancake Bear said:

Plus side: He's at driveline. 

Negative side: He's showing off hitting fastballs...

I'll choose to believe that the plus side is meaningful and the negative is not indicative of the full picture, because why not? 

Driveline posted this.  Not sure this counts as him showing off, this is what driveline, does... they post videos of guys putting up obscene data stuff.  The numbers to me are meaningless, the fact he's going to the best baseball "school" on the planet is what's important here imo.  The Angels have failed him development wise.  His going outside the organization is great to see.

[Warfarin]

3 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Driveline posted this.  Not sure this counts as him showing off, this is what driveline, does... they post videos of guys putting up obscene data stuff.  The numbers to me are meaningless, the fact he's going to the best baseball "school" on the planet is what's important here imo.  The Angels have failed him development wise.  His going outside the organization is great to see.

Is his going to Driveline going outside the organization, or do you think the Angels encouraged him to do it?  I always thought players ended up at Driveline because they were encouraged to do so by their organization, but not really sure on that one.

[HaloBronco]

I’m a big Adell fan, the kid clearly has talent and plays with passion. Hopefully the organization hasn’t given up on him. 

With that said, he was rushed two years and needs more time. I love the Hunter Renfroe signing because he’s on a short deal which allows them to give Adell more time in triple A to play everyday and refine his all around game. 

[Inside Pitch]

On 1/3/2023 at 11:09 PM, Warfarin said:

Is his going to Driveline going outside the organization, or do you think the Angels encouraged him to do it?  I always thought players ended up at Driveline because they were encouraged to do so by their organization, but not really sure on that one.

No idea, but I doubt they would have issues with it.

They have been poaching people from Driveline the last few years.

Smart teams don't give a shit who makes their players better.

[Revad]

Minasain needs more time.  

[Warfarin]

6 minutes ago, HaloBronco said:

I’m a big Adell fan, the kid clearly has talent and plays with passion. Hopefully the organization hasn’t given up on him. 

With that said, he was rushed two years and needs more time. I love the Hunter Renfroe signing because he’s on a short deal which allows them to give Adell more time in triple A to play everyday and refine his all around game. 

Basically, for our purposes, Adell has one year left to "get ready."  The one option year buys him a full year to develop further.  If he isn't ready come 2024, then at that point, it would likely be deemed mutually beneficial for both parties to move on.

Whatever the case may be, I hope he does develop and has a solid career, even if it ends up not being with us.

[Inside Pitch]

1 minute ago, Revad said:

Minasain needs more time.  

In a perfect world whoever buys team gives him more resources to continue to add to the farm system/infrastructure.  If they want to hire a PBO to work over him, act as the buffer between ownership and the front office... Great.

[Docwaukee]

Swing looks short and quick.  Straight to the ball.  No hitch.  No leg kick.  Toe tap.  Looked like a bit of a flatter bat plane than usual?  Ball getting deeper.  

Yep.  I got all that from five swings.  They fixed him!!

IT'S OPTIMISM SEASON!!

It's my favorite time of the year.

[Docwaukee]

3 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

In a perfect world whoever buys team gives him more resources to continue to add to the farm system/infrastructure.  If they want to hire a PBO to work over him, act as the buffer between ownership and the front office... Great.

are you saying that our new owner is a racist?  

[Revad]

1 minute ago, Docwaukee said:

are you saying that our new owner is a racist?  

Uh, I think we all are.

[Revad]

Sorry I didn’t mean to be woke on this platform.

[BTH]

10 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

In a perfect world whoever buys team gives him more resources to continue to add to the farm system/infrastructure.  If they want to hire a PBO to work over him, act as the buffer between ownership and the front office... Great.

In theory, that idea is good. But would Minasian actually stay if a PBO was hired above him?

Just in recent memory, Cherington left the Red Sox when they hired Dombrowski above him.

[Warfarin]

9 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

In a perfect world whoever buys team gives him more resources to continue to add to the farm system/infrastructure.  If they want to hire a PBO to work over him, act as the buffer between ownership and the front office... Great.

I'm not sure how he will take to effectively being somewhat "demoted."  I think he came here to be in charge of operations.  Maybe he'll get promoted to PBO and he'll get to add more personnel to his staff.  

[BTH]

I saw that earlier, but I am hesitant to get too excited because it’s just one clip that tells me nothing about how long he’s been working at driveline, what he’s working on there, why he decided to go there now, etc.

For all I know, maybe he just showed up there for one hitting session.

I guess we probably won’t find out until Spring Training.

[BTH]

2 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

I'm not sure how he will take to effectively being somewhat "demoted."  I think he came here to be in charge of operations.  Maybe he'll get promoted to PBO and he'll get to add more personnel to his staff.  

If they keep Minasian, and I think they’d need to make the playoffs in order for that to happen, I’d like to see this.

Minasian as PBO and Tamin as GM, with more AGM hires makes sense.

One question I’ve had is: why do the Angels only have one Assistant GM?

Any idea, @Jeff Fletcher?

I know it’s just a title, but they’re like the only team in MLB with only 1 AGM.

It’s not even like they have execs with inflated titles like “VP of Baseball Ops” or “EVP.”

Is it an ownership thing? Is it how Minasian wants to structure his front office?

[Warfarin]

3 minutes ago, Trendon said:

If they keep Minasian, and I think they’d need to make the playoffs in order for that to happen, I’d like to see this.

Minasian as PBO and Tamin as GM, with more AGM hires makes sense.

One question I’ve had is: why do the Angels only have one Assistant GM?

Any idea, @Jeff Fletcher?

I know it’s just a title, but they’re like the only team in MLB with only 1 AGM.

It’s not even like they have execs with inflated titles like “VP of Baseball Ops” or “EVP.”

Is it an ownership thing? Is it how Minasian wants to structure his front office?

Most teams websites seem to list all the personnel within the FO, but the Angels strangely don't.

I am just going to take a guess that it is an Arte thing.  Only so much budget to fill out the FO personnel, thus, less titles.  Although that said, it does seem like Arte expanded the budget for Minasian, as it seemed like there were more FO hirings than what I saw with Eppler.

As to your first comment - I think it depends on who the new owner is.  I think if the Angels repeat last year's dismal season, then Minasian is gone, but if they improve quite a bit and make a playoff run, then he may get to stay.  He signed a 4 year contract, which means he's signed through 2024, so the new ownership group might let him finish out his contract.

[Blarg]

2 minutes ago, Trendon said:

For all I know, maybe he just showed up there for one hitting session.

Did it even cross your mind for a split second how improbable your statement is? 

Jo Adell knows his career hinges on the outcome of the 2023 season. If he doesn't show some growth in his baseball skills he may never see a major league field again. 

Driveline is in Washington, he lives in Kentucky. Do you really think for a moment he is going to spend the money to book a flight to Washington to have one hitting session and say, thanks guys, I'm good. Then hop a flight back home and call it a productive off season? 

[BTH]

Just now, Blarg said:

Did it even cross your mind for a split second how improbable your statement is? 

I guess it’s a bit improbable… but my point is that I’m not gonna try to read too much into this being a positive thing until we have more context around his work at driveline.