Dave Saltzer

Well, with the exception of Schwarber taken so high up. A bit of an over reach.

So far Heyman has been spot on with his picks.

The online draft tracker needs a timer on MLB.

How much would you give to be a fly on the wall in the Angels war room?

It would be hard to pass on Pentecost, but, if one of the top ones are left (maybe Hoffman), we should go with that.

Wow! Schwarber at #4! Hoping a top pitcher drops to us.

Oh c'mon, there were 23 players ranked higher than him, so they must have been better, right?

Draft position has a lot to do with it too, especially now with the bonus limits.

Sadly, I think Green will be the odd man out.

This is what I was talking about in terms of drafting to maximize value as a strategy. A starting pitcher is worth more long term compared to a reliever, so it doesn't make sense to draft a reliever in the 1st round under that strategy. I'd rather see us take a safe pick hitter over a reliever in the 1st round.

Exhibit A: Garrett Richards

I think he has a very high upside, especially if we can get his command down. I'd like to know what all the hiccups were in the negotiations when he was drafted out of high school (he was a first rounder who didn't sign). But that could tempt me to pass on a hitter, especially if Pentecost is gone.

Unless you have more than 1 first round pick, or multiple supplemental picks, there's no reason to draft underslot in the first round with the idea of drafting over slot later.

Mike Rosenbaum's latest has Pentecost, Schwarber and Zimmer all off of the board before we pick, and has us taking Texas Christian's LHP Brandon Finnegan. Only about 6 more hours to go!

When I first started reading that, and got to the word "son" I thought it was going g to say "son of a B!tch 45 Ks in only 24 innings!"

With so many of our Minor Leaguers becoming Major Leaguers it's great to get to know them early on. Thanks for another great interview!

Tanks a lot for a great writeup and contribution to the site!

Hopefully it isn't anything too serious.

Another fine report. Thanks for writing it--it is always a pleasure to read.

Joe, I'm looking forward to all that you bring to the site. Good luck with your upcoming surgery, and I'm glad to hear that you are doing well (especially walking away from that crash)! Now, if we can only get the Angels back on track after the wreckage made up in Oakland!

I really enjoyed this article. Two thoughts: 1) I miss having Torii around the clubhouse for great quotes and things. 2) It's great to see CJ evolving into a similar persona and go-to guy for quotes. Having interviewed him several times, he is an interesting character and doesn't hold back. Overall, I preferred the game when the players policed it themselves. It made more drama and more entertainment. It's like the whole challenge thing--it cuts down on managers getting thrown out and arguing with umps. As a fan, there's real entertainment in that.

Great job guys. Really good job on this. Now I'm getting really excited to see who we will pick in the 1st round of the draft. I stayed up way too late reading up on this, and sources have us taking Zimmer, Pentecost, Hoffman, Turner, Schwarber, Jacob Gatewood, and Medeiros. In other words, no one outside of Ric Wilson has a clue what we're going to do!

Good call and good writeup.

Great report Rick! Hopefully you can keep the money coming over the weekend.

I would have to think they would promote them soon, especially Morris. He's just dealing and needs to be challenged more.