AngelsWin Today: Five Take-Aways From Los Angeles Angels GM Perry Minasian’s 2024 Chalk-Talk

[Blarg]

It felt as though the last week of spring training Washington convinced himself Hicks was a #2 hitter and kept him there. It feels like he is deferring to veterans, creating a lineup to avoid growing pains, rather than simply using Hicks for what he was signed for, a 4th or 5th outfielder.

This season needs to be about Moniak and Adell finding their footing, not giving a cast-off veteran one more season. He should not have started, Schanuel should be in the #2 spot until he shows he can't handle it and Moniak and Adell should be the platoon players in right field, leaving Hicks the coverage when Trout or Ward are getting time off. 

I really don't care about the analytics when we are taking about a 34 year old that has a career 97 OPS+ resume. That very slim line of better than the unknown isn't reason enough to give him playing time over the two guys that should have a career ahead of them, if given the chance. If that means losing a few more games, it really won't change this season but it will change next season if those two aren't dialed in while Hicks scrapes for another bench job. 

I know everyone is dying for a winning season but I am looking for sustainable winning seasons and not this crap of hoping bare league average veterans can give you one more year of okay performance. 

[Dave Saltzer]

33 minutes ago, Blarg said:

It felt as though the last week of spring training Washington convinced himself Hicks was a #2 hitter and kept him there. It feels like he is deferring to veterans, creating a lineup to avoid growing pains, rather than simply using Hicks for what he was signed for, a 4th or 5th outfielder.

This season needs to be about Moniak and Adell finding their footing, not giving a cast-off veteran one more season. He should not have started, Schanuel should be in the #2 spot until he shows he can't handle it and Moniak and Adell should be the platoon players in right field, leaving Hicks the coverage when Trout or Ward are getting time off. 

I really don't care about the analytics when we are taking about a 34 year old that has a career 97 OPS+ resume. That very slim line of better than the unknown isn't reason enough to give him playing time over the two guys that should have a career ahead of them, if given the chance. If that means losing a few more games, it really won't change this season but it will change next season if those two aren't dialed in while Hicks scrapes for another bench job. 

I know everyone is dying for a winning season but I am looking for sustainable winning seasons and not this crap of hoping bare league average veterans can give you one more year of okay performance. 

Bkarg, 

 

You make great points. Agreed that Schanuel should be batting 2nd. While Hicks should leadoff when he is in the lineup, Rendon can leadoff until either he breaks down or Rada proves himself ready.

 

Ooening Day, I'm okay with Hicks in the lineup. The rest of the time, not so much. Baseball is a business, and winning early on is going to dictate a LOT of the fan experience and finances for the team, so, I get why they did what they did. Again, in an August game against Chicago, who cares, play the kids. 

 

I am NOT convinced that we are a playoff team. While anything can happen, my money is that it is a transitional year in which we are slightly above 500 (my prediction is an 82-80 season). That's a competitive team, just not a championship team. That's why I was okay with not signing the FAs, but also want the bas. eball people back in charge of things. What I did not like was the mixed messaging from the front office and owner. 

[Inside Pitch]

2 hours ago, SlappyUtilityMIF said:

I'm more of a game evaluator. Anyone can hit 300ft bombs in BP, hit behind a ghost runner, throw bullpens etc. I do like to watch infield drills and athleticism crossovers and glove side, see how they are at setting themselves up to make a strong throw etc.

Buscones are pimping players and tools. Which is good if you have the Minor League Development side cleaned up! Then you're just rounding the edges.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. The buscones have moved from developing players to developing tools, which is why we have seen more of the big money Latin American players flame out early IMO. They picked up on what teams we're looking for and taught guys to work on the things that would impress them.  So having more guys actually watching them through workouts and through drills is huge.  

The other big change is the amount of video teams get from central scouting -- front offices are seeing a lot more of the US guys than they ever have before regardless of whether or not they had guys bird dogging players.

[Inside Pitch]

3 hours ago, Dave Saltzer said:

After getting busted in 2010 (we can debate the legitimacy of it), they basically shutdown all Latin scouting. Considering how many players in the Majors come feom Latin America, that was beyond a bad decision

You tried to downplay this once before -- there is no debating the legitimacy of anything, Clay Daniels was dirty. The CWS crew made the Angels look like choir boys but it wasn't a case of the usual Latin American BS, thus the Federal indictments, busts at airports, arrests, and prison time. Clay Daniel stole from players and it cost the Angels dearly.

They didn't so much choose to shut down as much as they didn't have a choice, they were effectively black-balled in the DR. They continued to try to sign guys after the fact but couldn't, the buscones steered away the top end guys and the scrubs who should have been happy with room, board, and the chance to advance, deluded themselves into thinking they deserved more.  The lone "positive" was that it led them to try to shift their focus to Central America. I got a very in depth account of the situation from people involved, it was brutal. They retained some scouts, but they shut down their year round academies for the most part.  

3 hours ago, Dave Saltzer said:

DiPoto started to rebuild the Latin presence. Eopler built it more, and it seems that Perry is investing even more.

Dipoto traded away international money every year of his tenure in Anaheim. His purge of the scouting department on the heels of the Daniel BS, really set this franchise back, but he was able to benefit from the work Abe Flores had done in Central America before the purge.  Mostly it was an afterthought to him, he was busy trying to tear down everything that had existed prior to his hiring regardless of whether or not it meant firing capable people.

The single biggest factor in the Angels return to Latin America was simply time.  People didn't so much forget as they started to let it go.  Eppler jumped into it hard, he spent right up to the penalty figure every year he was in charge but there were a lot of lotto ticket types.. Truth is he may have offered more than he likely would have on the lower tier guys because he thought it may help smooth over the past -- he was also prohibited from signing anyone for more than 250K because of the Baldoquin idiocy ... but when push comes to shove it worked, he got the stink off the team in the eyes of the buscones and players alike. He also hired a few buscones he had relationships with while with the Yankees (partially due to Abe Flores who went to the Yanks after the purge), as scouts which went a long ways towards winning people over, particularly in Venezuela.

Perry has built on everything Eppler had started and likely fine tuned some things he may have been doing wrong.  Some of it won't show for a bit but he's added and added and added and the team will be better off for it.

The Clay Daniels shit-show may be the single biggest factor into why the Angels farm system dried up the way it did.  

It should piss Angel fans off.

[Blarg]

8 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

It should piss Angel fans off.

Angels fans get pissed off at Pujols, Hamilton and Upton not performing for their $30+ million a year salaries. They don't get the $3 million dollar investments in Latin America being destroyed was more important. 

[Blarg]

BTW, you look at the Angels top prospects and you have Nelson Rada, Denzer Guzman, Dario Laverde, Josiah Lugo, Felix Morrobel, Walbert Urena, Jadiel Sanchez, Victor Mederos, Jorge Ruiz, Jorge Marcheco, Joel Hurtado, all in the top 20. These guys are not Diamond Bar High School picks, they are all Minasian drafts from Latin America and the Islands. 

[Angelsfan1984]

12 minutes ago, Blarg said:

BTW, you look at the Angels top prospects and you have Nelson Rada, Denzer Guzman, Dario Laverde, Josiah Lugo, Felix Morrobel, Walbert Urena, Jadiel Sanchez, Victor Mederos, Jorge Ruiz, Jorge Marcheco, Joel Hurtado, all in the top 20. These guys are not Diamond Bar High School picks, they are all Minasian drafts from Latin America and the Islands. 

How many end up at UCR where ippei now teaches Spanish? 

[ettin]

On 3/28/2024 at 8:52 AM, Dave Saltzer said:

I can't remember, if due to my health at the time, if I attended that Chalk Talk

And if I did I probably didn't write up a summary like this, again due to my health. 

 

I am so glad that I'm doing better now. 

We're glad you are doing better too, Dave. If you don't have your health you don't have much. Keep plugging along Dave, I have always been a fan of your writing!

[DMVol]

14 hours ago, Dave Saltzer said:

After getting busted in 2010 (we can debate the legitimacy of it), they basically shutdown all Latin scouting. Considering how many players in the Majors come feom Latin America, that was beyond a bad decision. 

I think it had more to do with this decade of bad baseball than anything else. Bad FA signings hurt but not having depth in your organization is suicidal. Not sure who made the decision, Reagins or Arte, but it was devastating. 

[Dave Saltzer]

On 3/29/2024 at 8:23 PM, Inside Pitch said:

You tried to downplay this once before -- there is no debating the legitimacy of anything, Clay Daniels was dirty. The CWS crew made the Angels look like choir boys but it wasn't a case of the usual Latin American BS, thus the Federal indictments, busts at airports, arrests, and prison time. Clay Daniel stole from players and it cost the Angels dearly.

They didn't so much choose to shut down as much as they didn't have a choice, they were effectively black-balled in the DR. They continued to try to sign guys after the fact but couldn't, the buscones steered away the top end guys and the scrubs who should have been happy with room, board, and the chance to advance, deluded themselves into thinking they deserved more.  The lone "positive" was that it led them to try to shift their focus to Central America. I got a very in depth account of the situation from people involved, it was brutal. They retained some scouts, but they shut down their year round academies for the most part.  

Dipoto traded away international money every year of his tenure in Anaheim. His purge of the scouting department on the heels of the Daniel BS, really set this franchise back, but he was able to benefit from the work Abe Flores had done in Central America before the purge.  Mostly it was an afterthought to him, he was busy trying to tear down everything that had existed prior to his hiring regardless of whether or not it meant firing capable people.

The single biggest factor in the Angels return to Latin America was simply time.  People didn't so much forget as they started to let it go.  Eppler jumped into it hard, he spent right up to the penalty figure every year he was in charge but there were a lot of lotto ticket types.. Truth is he may have offered more than he likely would have on the lower tier guys because he thought it may help smooth over the past -- he was also prohibited from signing anyone for more than 250K because of the Baldoquin idiocy ... but when push comes to shove it worked, he got the stink off the team in the eyes of the buscones and players alike. He also hired a few buscones he had relationships with while with the Yankees (partially due to Abe Flores who went to the Yanks after the purge), as scouts which went a long ways towards winning people over, particularly in Venezuela.

Perry has built on everything Eppler had started and likely fine tuned some things he may have been doing wrong.  Some of it won't show for a bit but he's added and added and added and the team will be better off for it.

The Clay Daniels shit-show may be the single biggest factor into why the Angels farm system dried up the way it did.  

It should piss Angel fans off.

I would love to meet up with you for a game (either here or at Ie) to discuss.

 

Let me be a bit more clear. Yes, the Angels did bad things. LOTS of organizations did bad things, and some did things that made us look like we were decent,. At that point, it was a wild place, and teams were doing all they could to milk a very cheap talent pool. 

 

What I have been told is that the Angels were made into an example, especially compared to other teams, and as a result, we shutdown all presence for a while (we did not HAVE to as much as we also chose to do so). That, combined with lost draft picks, really hurt. And Baldoquin, and others. Those two actions set our farm system back for a decade or more. 

 

Yez, Dipoto traded away international cash, because he couldn't get the money to develop a presence down there. Eppler did get more of an approval to invest there. And then they spent a lot on some guy named Ohtani, and traded to get more international money for him. But, Eppler xpent the max internationally. As has Perry.

 

The fact that Perry specifically talked about this at a Chalk Talk said a lot to me, reading between the lines, about how the Angels plan to move forward.

 

Personally, I'd like to see an international draft in reverse order of what a team spent on FAs. Highest spenders get the lowest interntionl draft picks. 

[Inside Pitch]

On 3/31/2024 at 2:07 AM, Dave Saltzer said:

I would love to meet up with you for a game (either here or at Ie) to discuss.

I'm always up to talk baseball but given you have ignored what I've said both times and downplayed what happened I'm not certain we would get anywhere.  The Angels situation was essentially a case of one bad actor.

On 3/31/2024 at 2:07 AM, Dave Saltzer said:

Let me be a bit more clear. Yes, the Angels did bad things. LOTS of organizations did bad things, and some did things that made us look like we were decent,. At that point, it was a wild place, and teams were doing all they could to milk a very cheap talent pool. 

First let me remind you initially called into question the legitimacy of what happened, now you are seemingly saying that they did in fact do some bad things, but so did others.

I have forgotten more "bad things" MLB teams have done in regards to Latin American players than I can likely remember -- but none of those things matter in this particular case.  Bringing up the past misdeeds of others serves no purpose other than to try to deflect blame or downplay things, I prefer to be honest about the situation and let's be clear here, the Angels didn't do bad things -- Clay Daniel did.  

On 3/31/2024 at 2:07 AM, Dave Saltzer said:

What I have been told is that the Angels were made into an example, especially compared to other teams, and as a result, we shutdown all presence for a while (we did not HAVE to as much as we also chose to do so). 

I have no idea who told you this nonsense but they weren't even the team that caught the worst of it -- that would be the Chicago White Sox, or can you please tell me one thing MLB did to punish the Angels, I'll wait. 

The difference was the Sox didn't sweep it under the rug, they went to the Feds, got the justice department involved and had the guilty parties prosecuted -- three different people served jail time ranging from one year and one day to two years. Front office types were always known to have cut deals with buscones to sign lesser players so they would funnel the better talent to them (signing the shit guys raised the buscon's reputation among the player base), but what happened here was entirely different, players/teams were defrauded.

Back to the Angels' situation, while the Sox owned up to everything and went hard after David Wilder, Jorge Oquendo, Victor Mateo, and the others, the Angels tried to sweep it under the rug, in part because it had not been as rampant as the CWS situation. Ultimately, Chicago's willingness to shit on Wilder and company (as well as the arrests and jail time), carried a lot of weight with the buscones and general population whereas the Angels course of action and their unwillingness to talk about it made them seem like they were covering up.  Consider this... of the three teams that were under investigation for this you had one fire (he resigned) their GM (Nats).  One had their director of player development and head of Latin American talent fired, arrested, jailed, and ordered to pay back monies (CWS), and then the Angels who fired a lower level manager in their farm system and left it at that. When you consider that the Nats were only guilty of having a GM who had worked with the people involved (he had been party to the deals with buscones to sign bad players while in Cinci), it made the Angels actions seem rather limp wristed.

As far as where I got my info from... Preston Gomez was one of Stoneman's advisors, he had been one of the Washington Senators/Twins boys when they made their major push for Cuban talent prior to the revolution -- there were few people alive that had a more nuanced knowledge of MLB and it's approach to Latin America over the decades. His main thing at the time was to go down and meet with/speak to all the Latin American players at both of the Angels academies in the DR and VZ. He was intimately aware of who, what, where, and when. He gave me the rundown as it was happening, before it made it to the press ... ditto the Donny Rowland mess which is actually pretty hilarious but lacks the sexiness as it was entirely office politics so to speak.

There was no making an example of the Angels, it was entirely a perception issue brought on by the Angels lack of action and maybe the CWS scorched Earth approach that iced the Angels out and made it difficult for them to sign players. Also there was a bit of arrogance involved. They believed they could weather the storm because the farm was in fact thriving and that they could rely on the draft to continue to supply the team with talent for a few years. 

They miscalculated on several fronts. 

Disagreements aside, I'd like to echo what others have said and wish you well as it pertains to your health.  None of this Angels BS matters by comparison.

[tdawg87]

Face.

[Angels 1961]

On 3/29/2024 at 7:29 PM, Dave Saltzer said:

I don't see how playing Hicks yesterday deviated feom the plan. 

 

I love the nutswingers who have wanted to trade all offseason for Burns or wanted to sign him as a FA to be our ace, but he's so bad that we were supposed to best up on him when he pitched against us? 

 

Of course we are going to play a veteran against one of the best pitchers in the Majors over Adell or Moniak.

 

 

But, in August that may change, and I would expect Adell or Moniak to be the starter against a tough pitcher. 

 

While I like what Hicks brings to the team with his arm and bat, I think he could be traded if Adell or Moniak run with the opportunity. 

I totally understand why Hicks is starting over Moniak and Adell now. Only 2 games in what I'm saying i do not think this is a team headed toward a playoff run. I just hope as season goes a long both Adell and Moniak are starting 5 to 6 games a week. 

[BTH]

Thank you @Inside Pitch for all that info.

I had no idea about all that (That was all before I got deeply involved in following the team). Sucks that it happened, but informative stuff.

[Tank]

On 3/29/2024 at 5:29 PM, Dave Saltzer said:

I love the nutswingers who have wanted to trade all offseason for Burns or wanted to sign him as a FA to be our ace, but he's so bad that we were supposed to best up on him when he pitched against us? 

absolutely. 

[Tank]

15 hours ago, Angels 1961 said:

Only 2 games in what I'm saying i do not think this is a team headed toward a playoff run.

Literally no one here thinks that, either.

[Inside Pitch]

On 4/1/2024 at 1:49 AM, BTH said:

Thank you @Inside Pitch for all that info.

I had no idea about all that (That was all before I got deeply involved in following the team). Sucks that it happened, but informative stuff.

NP!

It really was a crazy sequence of events.  Stoneman, steps aside in 07, Daniel gets popped in 09 and the infusion of LA talent that had been PUMPING completely stops.  Then followed up one of the greatest drafts in MLB history in 2009, with one of the worst ever in 2010 and then Dipoto comes in after the 2011 season and gets rid of everyone that had basically built one of the best scouting departments in MLB.  The Yankees and Red Sox wasted no time hoovering most of the people the Angels let go, most notably Abe Flores goes to the NYY, Eddie Bane and Tom Kotchman go to Boston but all told more than 30 former AngelS front office people went to those two teams..  

They may have been able to weather the situation better had the purge not happened but all of those things in such quick succession between 08 and the end of 2011 ...  RIP.

[Dave Saltzer]

On 3/31/2024 at 3:38 AM, Inside Pitch said:

I'm always up to talk baseball but given you have ignored what I've said both times and downplayed what happened I'm not certain we would get anywhere.  The Angels situation was essentially a case of one bad actor.

First let me remind you initially called into question the legitimacy of what happened, now you are seemingly saying that they did in fact do some bad things, but so did others.

I have forgotten more "bad things" MLB teams have done in regards to Latin American players than I can likely remember -- but none of those things matter in this particular case.  Bringing up the past misdeeds of others serves no purpose other than to try to deflect blame or downplay things, I prefer to be honest about the situation and let's be clear here, the Angels didn't do bad things -- Clay Daniel did.  

I have no idea who told you this nonsense but they weren't even the team that caught the worst of it -- that would be the Chicago White Sox, or can you please tell me one thing MLB did to punish the Angels, I'll wait. 

The difference was the Sox didn't sweep it under the rug, they went to the Feds, got the justice department involved and had the guilty parties prosecuted -- three different people served jail time ranging from one year and one day to two years. Front office types were always known to have cut deals with buscones to sign lesser players so they would funnel the better talent to them (signing the shit guys raised the buscon's reputation among the player base), but what happened here was entirely different, players/teams were defrauded.

Back to the Angels' situation, while the Sox owned up to everything and went hard after David Wilder, Jorge Oquendo, Victor Mateo, and the others, the Angels tried to sweep it under the rug, in part because it had not been as rampant as the CWS situation. Ultimately, Chicago's willingness to shit on Wilder and company (as well as the arrests and jail time), carried a lot of weight with the buscones and general population whereas the Angels course of action and their unwillingness to talk about it made them seem like they were covering up.  Consider this... of the three teams that were under investigation for this you had one fire (he resigned) their GM (Nats).  One had their director of player development and head of Latin American talent fired, arrested, jailed, and ordered to pay back monies (CWS), and then the Angels who fired a lower level manager in their farm system and left it at that. When you consider that the Nats were only guilty of having a GM who had worked with the people involved (he had been party to the deals with buscones to sign bad players while in Cinci), it made the Angels actions seem rather limp wristed.

As far as where I got my info from... Preston Gomez was one of Stoneman's advisors, he had been one of the Washington Senators/Twins boys when they made their major push for Cuban talent prior to the revolution -- there were few people alive that had a more nuanced knowledge of MLB and it's approach to Latin America over the decades. His main thing at the time was to go down and meet with/speak to all the Latin American players at both of the Angels academies in the DR and VZ. He was intimately aware of who, what, where, and when. He gave me the rundown as it was happening, before it made it to the press ... ditto the Donny Rowland mess which is actually pretty hilarious but lacks the sexiness as it was entirely office politics so to speak.

There was no making an example of the Angels, it was entirely a perception issue brought on by the Angels lack of action and maybe the CWS scorched Earth approach that iced the Angels out and made it difficult for them to sign players. Also there was a bit of arrogance involved. They believed they could weather the storm because the farm was in fact thriving and that they could rely on the draft to continue to supply the team with talent for a few years. 

They miscalculated on several fronts. 

Disagreements aside, I'd like to echo what others have said and wish you well as it pertains to your health.  None of this Angels BS matters by comparison.

First and foremost, thank you for the well wishes. We can agree or disagree about baseball things, but, I appreciate that you aren't losing your humanity in the process. Thank you. 

 

I am sorry that you believe that I am downplaying what happened. Maybe I am, but there are reasons for it. 

 

First, this happened 15 years ago. There's nothing you or I can do about it. While you said that it was probably the worst thing to happened to our farm system, I would say firing Bane and Co., and not investing in scouting and player development was worse. We can discuss this at a baseball game sometime this year. (maybe at IE to watch our future!). Whether we agree or disagree, we can agree that the one-two punch of those BAD decisions wrecked the farm for about a decade and hurt our Major League club. It probably cost us playoff spots over the years. 

 

Second, baseball is my love and escape from all the hell I've gone through and am still going through. I choose not to give this negativity power over me by getting me upset, pissed off, etc.

 

(Just to give an idea, if you count each time that I've had doctors cut open my skin and dig out things with tweezers and other tools due to my cancer, without any anesthetic, I'm at over 400 this year, of which 200 were on my head, and we'll over a thousand last year. It hurts like hell, often with 2 or 3 doctors cutting and digging st the same time, and then it takes days for the scabs to heal, which is also very painful. 

 

My cancer is one of the most painful cancers out there, other than brain cancer, and I get to live with it for 25 years or more (most people with my cancer die of other causes). (and, if I'm making some typos, it's because thanks to my chemo, I've lost most of the feeling in my hands and feet--go neuropathy!) and can't see well because other meds that they have given me have given me cataracts so I get to have 2 more surgeries over the next 6 weeks).

 

I am telling you this not to ask you to feel sorry for me. To be honest I don't feel sorry for me, and am not angry about getting cancer. I just don't like the one I have. 

 

The reason why I said that (and trust me, this is the best I've felt in 3 years!) is to give you some insight as to why I appear to downplay things or give the perception of downplaying things. The only thing that truly upsets me now is politics, which I won't discuss on here. That's because baseball is my escape, coming on AngelsWin is a source of joy for me (Thanks again Chuck for making this site--you don't know how much I've needed it over the years, whether for support fom people on here or a good laugh about baseball). I have and have had bigger issues to deal with over the years. So, what happened in Latin America, while very frustrating, has no real power over me, because I choose not to get upset by it. I don't want to invest the emotional energy in something I cannot change. 

 

Third, I can separate a crime from feeling sorry for a victim. Take, for example, a person driving a Corvette into a bad part of town, leaving $10k in cash on the front seat, and the engine running, and then walks away for an hour. If that person comes back to find everything stolen, did a come occur? Yes, and in a criminal case, I'd convict the perpetrator. 

 

But, if the victim then sued in civil court the perpetrator, if I were on he jury, I would not award much in damages, other than to make the victim whole, because I wouldn't feel l that sorry for him/her.  There is a difference between feeling sorry for someone and a crime occurring. 

 

As I have said all along, Clay Daniel's did some bad things. And, since Daniel's worked for the Angels, as their agent, the Angels did bad things. There is a difference between what the Angels did (mostly ignoring what was happening, then trying to sweep it under the rug, and finally shutting everything down) and what Daniels did. But, for all intents and purposes, yes, Daniels = Angels, especially on that market. 

 

From what I've been told by many people in several organizations who had first-hand or second-hand knowledge of events in Latin America (please don't ask, I've been told this and many other things off the record that I will never reveal, otherwise I will risk losing confidentialitiesl), that many people and many organizations were doing sketchy and/or illegal things at the same time. You mentioned 3 teams. We know the Braves, even after everything went down, continued to do sketchy things, which led to us getting Maitan (I miss debating about him as a prospect even though he washed out) and Soto. So, the abuses there continue. 

 

I can tell you from people in other organizations, I have been told things to the effect of "we were lucky that we weren't caught" for what they were doing at the time in Latin America.

 

I have also been told by people in a couple of organizations that in the investigation, MLB sank it's teeth into certain organizations, and not others, so as to prevent an entire image problem, like steroids. So, when I say "made an example of the Angels" it's because I think that the investigation could have and should have removed rot from everywhere, in plenty of other organizations. Consequently, I am VERY suspicious of how MLB really handled the investigation, the teams they went after, and publicly shamed (how many people who even know about this know about Chicago for example?).

 

Again, it doesn't excuse what Daniels did, but I don't believe that he was the worst offender at the time, even if what he did was illegal or wrong (sadly, in many Lain American countries, what is wrong isn't always illegal, especially if you pay off the right people and what is illegal isn't always wrong, don't pending upon whom you uoset--as you pointed out, relationships and perceptions, along with cash, go a long way). I do believe that others may have done worse in a wild west situation and just weren't caught for some reason. Like players and steroids, we know of some players who took them. But a lot more got away with it, and ownership and MLB turned a blind eye to it for a long time. Is Bonds worse than Clemens? What about Gary Matthews Jr? MLB made examples of them, and others, but they were hardly the only ones who cheated with steroids or other drugs. To go after some, and not others, is a form of selective prosecution, which I don't like or consider fair. Selective prosecution is a way to make an example of someone or something. Since I am fairly certain, based on what I've been told, that other teams were doing similar sketchy things, maybe not as bad as Daniels and other teams, I do consider that selective prosecution, and making an example of the Angels. 

 

How the Angels responded to what happened, IMHO, set the team back quite a bit, and I do believe that if Arte and others responded differently to it, we would have been better off over the last 15 years. But again, I can't change that. 

 

Finally, I'm focused on this year. I'm actually excited because we seem to have a good, young core, that I believe will exceed expectations. No, I don't expect a playoff team, but the season is young and we need to play it out over the summer. We have no pressure this year, and I do see us having a window as Houston ages and Texas rises and falls on its offense. We seem to be on the right path, finally. We are maximizing our international money and getting good talent, like Rada, Urena, etc.

 

Until MLB puts far stricter rules in place (personally, I favor some sort of international draft to end all of these shenanigans), abuses will continue. Again, just look at the Braves for example. So, I sill view it as an imperfect system that is not fully regulated and rife with abuses.

 

Unfortunately, that is the system that those players live in (as you or someone else noted that the buscones are developing tools to get kids (and yes, they are kids which is not right in my book) to get signed for big money, only to see them calm apart stateside. 

 

I know that this is a long response, but you, as a poster, and great commentator, deserve a much more robust answer from me. 

 

Again, I apologize if you and others think I'm downplaying what happened. I hope I gave you some insights into why I've said what I've said.  And I look forward to catching a game with you. 

[Inside Pitch]

6 hours ago, Dave Saltzer said:

I know that this is a long response, but you, as a poster, and great commentator, deserve a much more robust answer from me. 

Again, I apologize if you and others think I'm downplaying what happened. I hope I gave you some insights into why I've said what I've said.  And I look forward to catching a game with you. 

There is a lot of cancer in my family history, my heart genuinely goes out to anyone waging that war.  Cancer and Alzheimers are beyond brutal.  Other than my work with Habitat with Humanity the bulk of my charitable efforts go to cancer and alzheimers research.  St Jude's too but, not nearly at the level of the other three.

I don't think speaking honestly about what happened is giving in to negativity or giving it power over me. Anyone that's read my feelings about the Angels going into this offseason knows I don't put any energy into things I have no control over. Nothing about the Daniel situation hinders my enjoyment of the Angels or baseball but again knowing a lot of what happened and how it's impacted the Angels means I'm not willing to wave it off as no big deal. Not sure I follow what you mean by being able to separate a crime from feeling bad for a victim since the victims here were the players and in reality the teams -- not Clay Daniel, not anyone who was caught being party to the shenanigans. So yes, I think waving it off by saying "oh it's not that bad worse things have happened look at what so and so did" is downplaying the situation -- if that's just me so be it. The reality that the Angels are still paying for what happened more than a decade later speaks volumes to me.

Again, I'm likely more familiar with most on the amount of BS that used to happen in LA. I mentioned the human trafficking, the involvement of the Mexican Mafia as examples but there's a LOT of other BS -- the Adrian Beltre saga alone reads like spy-craft. I've already said that deals with buscones were commonplace, those deals were essentially bribes paid directly to them in order to funnel better talent to teams and that's what a lot of people think happened here. What actually happened was the people involved defrauded the buscones, the players, and the MLB organizations they worked for. That's the sole reason this came out, the sole reason Daniel was caught and the only reason Bowden was implicated, he had been everyone's boss in Cinci where they all cut their teeth and cut those deals with buscones.  If the CWS don't go to the feds, none of this comes out. Any talk of "we were lucky we weren't caught" is silly because MLB did nothing to stop the practice of bribing buscones -- MLB viewed it as the cost of doing business -- it's possible they still do.  The hard reality is that the biggest part of "scouting" in Latin America is the connections teams have with people in those places.

I have no idea how there is any grey area with what Daniel did, he told his bosses the players needed XXX amount of money to sign, they signed off on the amount, he kept part of it for himself and then cut the deal with the player using a third party not associated with either the signing agent or the player to launder the money and pay the buscon/player. Basically the team thought the third party was the buscon, the buscon thought the money was coming from the Angels. Daniel was effing both sides.  And I really don't know what you mean by selective prosecution, MLB didn't take action against ANY team, the only mention of it in media was the mentioning of the firings and later the legal issues involved with the CWS. The CWS took action against their people and the DOJ did the rest -- it's the path they chose, that is why anyone knows about any of this. Again, I've never been told why the Angels didn't choose to pursue Daniel like the CWS did their guys  but I was told point blank by people directly involved with the front office and the farm system in particular that the impact it had on player acquisition did more to set the team back than anything else that followed save for possibly Dipoto's purge.

More importantly ... I'm glad this is the best you've felt, I hope you continue to improve and the worst is behind you.  Hopefully all Angel fans are excited about this season as there are actually things to be hopeful of for a change.