Angels Official Website: Pipeline Perspectives: Halos' 2009 Draft elite

[AngelsWin.com]

Is a club better off getting one cornerstone player to build around while whiffing on the rest of its picks, or by acquiring several useful players but not any stars? The best Drafts end that discussion by scoring on both fronts. And baseball's best Draft of the past decade certainly did that -- the 2009 Angels.

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[Chuck]

Good stuff by Jim Callis formally from senior writer from Baseball America.

[Scott34]

Why did Callis leave BA?

 

I miss Eddie Bane..

[Chuck]

Why did Callis leave BA?

 

I miss Eddie Bane..

 

Bigger and better things.

[Chuck]

Yeah I miss Eddie Bane as well. We still keep in touch. Great guy!

[Angelsjunky]

Bring Back Bane.

[Angel Oracle]

That might just be as good of a draft as the Halos have ever had.

Trout, Grichuk, Skaggs, Richards, and Corbin all early on in the draft

[mtangelsfan]

I miss Bane as well, but that 2010 draft was pretty awful.

[Angel Oracle]

I have one thing to take issue with in the article. 

The farm system didn't slide due to Bane being let go. 

It slid because Reagins traded so many prospects away. 

[wopphil]

I have one thing to take issue with in the article. 

The farm system didn't slide due to Bane being let go. 

It slid because Reagins traded so many prospects away. 

 

Not totally sure I agree.  Reagins traded away Corbin and Skaggs, and a few others who didn't really pan out (Wil Smith, Sean O'Sullivan).  If we had Corbin, he would be in our rotation and thus no longer a prospect.  Our farm would still suck.  And we have Skaggs again, so he counts toward our farm.

 

I think our farm sucks because we missed badly in the 2010 and 2011 drafts, and gave up a number of high-round picks in 2011, 2012, and 2013.  We have also successfully graduated a few players recently and lost a huge prospect in the Greinke trade.  And we have no presence in Latin America (that could be the single biggest thing killing our farm, and it doesn't look like Arte intends to change that anytime soon).     

[Scott34]

Not totally sure I agree.  Reagins traded away Corbin and Skaggs, and a few others who didn't really pan out (Wil Smith, Sean O'Sullivan).  If we had Corbin, he would be in our rotation and thus no longer a prospect.  Our farm would still suck.  And we have Skaggs again, so he counts toward our farm.

 

I think our farm sucks because we missed badly in the 2010 and 2011 drafts, and gave up a number of high-round picks in 2011, 2012, and 2013.  We have also successfully graduated a few players recently and lost a huge prospect in the Greinke trade.  And we have no presence in Latin America (that could be the single biggest thing killing our farm, and it doesn't look like Arte intends to change that anytime soon).     

 

This is the reason.

[Erstad Grit]

Not totally sure I agree.  Reagins traded away Corbin and Skaggs, and a few others who didn't really pan out (Wil Smith, Sean O'Sullivan).  If we had Corbin, he would be in our rotation and thus no longer a prospect.  Our farm would still suck.  And we have Skaggs again, so he counts toward our farm.

 

I think our farm sucks because we missed badly in the 2010 and 2011 drafts, and gave up a number of high-round picks in 2011, 2012, and 2013.  We have also successfully graduated a few players recently and lost a huge prospect in the Greinke trade.  And we have no presence in Latin America (that could be the single biggest thing killing our farm, and it doesn't look like Arte intends to change that anytime soon).     

 

Also our reluctance to offer potential FA players a qualifying offer. Who knows what could have been done with those picks. Yes we may have gotten stuck with a few one year deals nothing that would have killed us. Would 1 year of a high priced Hunter really be that bad? 

[gotbeer]

F'n Bane.  He Skus.

[Chuck]

I miss Bane as well, but that 2010 draft was pretty awful.

 

From what I understand, the rift between Reagins and Bane was really bad and he was told to go after high risk, high reward types in 2010. Which totally explains Clarke and Boldin and to some extend, Cowart who was a pitcher with a live arm, but Reagins liked him better as a potential Chipper Jones type at the hot corner.

[Angel Oracle]

As hard as it is to believe, my dislike for Reagins as GM became even more intense.

But I do agree that the farm decline was a perfect storm of lack of foreign presence, trading a lot of prospects away, and failing to offer pending FAs arbitration. Together, they spell disaster.

[Tyler]

They should make a movie of what it was like for Bane and his crew in the days leading up to that draft. It'd be a better story than Moneyball.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Shane

[Docwaukee]

They should make a movie of what it was like for Bane and his crew in the days leading up to that draft. It'd be a better story than Moneyball.

Brad Pitt as Reagins would be weird though.

[Brent Maguire]

Just being able to get Trout in that draft makes it a huge success. 

 

That draft produced the best player in baseball, a solid #2/3 guy in Corbin, a potentially solid #3/4 guy in Richards, a potential mid rotation guy in Skaggs and Grichuk, who could be a solid 4th outfielder. 

 

Bane did a phenomenal job that draft. 2010 was absolutely terrible but the 2009 draft is the reason why this team is even contending still. 

[Tyler]

Brad Pitt as Reagins would be weird though.

 

From a scouting director point of view. Tommie Lee Jones would play Eddie Bane. 

[Angel Oracle]

If Cowart could resume being a solid 3B prospect and Bedrosian continue his progress as a setup man prospect, then I could maybe begin to stomach the horrible Clarke and Bolden selections.

[Brent Maguire]

The Bolden and Clarke selections were real head scratchers. It's ok to draft one of those types of players earlier in the draft to try to get a high upside player. Drafting 2 high risk guys is excessive though. 

 

I was really hoping they would have taken a college arm, which would have been a way more safe pick. 

[nikkachez]

The 2009 draft was probably the best in team history. Imagine if the Angels still had all the players Bane drafted or signed out of Latin America: Obviously our cornerstone players in Trout and Weaver, Trumbo, Bourjos, Morales, Chatwood, Walden, Conger, Kohn, Alex Torres, Segura, Richards, Skaggs, Corbin, if they signed Harvey, Matusz, Posey, and Chris Davis, and Adenhart if he was still alive. Just imagine, a rotation of Weaver, Corbin, Adenhart, Richards, Skaggs, and Chatwood with a bullpen of Frieri, DDLR, Smith, Walden, Torres, Burnett, and Kohn and a lineup of, with homegrown players we probably don't sign Hamilton/Pujols:

 

1. Trout LF

2. Calhoun RF

3. Morales DH/1B

4. Trumbo 1B/DH

5. Kendrick 2B 

6. Segura 3B

7. Aybar SS

8. Conger C

9. Bourjos CF

 

Would have the payroll flexibility and/or prospect depth to make a move for a big bat to add to the lineup 

[Dave Saltzer]

Bane did an incredible job in 2009 as he did in all of his years. The 2010 draft just wasn't that strong a class as I recall it. Cowart is still a top-tiered prospect and I believe he will return to form this year.