Dave Saltzer

I hope the Angels draft players like Mike Trout

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

Please, however, avoid the temptation to say that the draft is a “crapshoot”. That undermines the hard work of so many that contribute to the process that they trust will yield a good result.

 

The phrase that is coined by losing teams in the playoffs. Nope, it wasn't a crapshoot, you were not prepared or good enough to win it all.

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.

Bleh, if we're gonna take a reliever at all that early(which I'm not fond of) I much rather take Burdi than Howard at least.

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.

Beede seems like a top 5 talent if he had control from what I have read. Does anyone if we have the coaching staff in the minors to help with his control?

Exhibit A: Garrett Richards

Keith law has us take Beede, thoughts?

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.

Yeah, they should be going for best player available.

 

I would be thrilled if Beede falls to us like Law's mock.

 

Don't know too much about most of the other guys this year, although I've also seen the Angels connected to Nick Burdi with that first pick, which would be pretty underwhelming on talent alone.

 

I suppose that might make some sense if they've got their eye on an overslot guy later on and they think Burdi allows them to do that.

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!

@Ken_Rosenthal: #Angels call up RH reliever Cam Bedrosian. Combined numbers at A-AA this season: IP 24, K 45, BB 8, 1.12 ERA. Son of Steve Bedrosian.

Not bad.

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!

06/02/2014    

Status Change: Burlington Bees placed RHP Yency Almonte on the 7-day disabled list.

 

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=l_trn&lid=118&sid=t420

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!

Great writeup, Toby!

It was so good I had to Blog it.

Good call and good writeup.

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

Wow -- thats awesome.   Wonder if they will move Elliot Morris to High A soon.  He's been dominant in Low A.    I figure Morris, Nuss and Cooney will all end up at High A.

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

Crazy seeing that picture of him, dude lost a lot of weight...props to him.

I remember growing up with him being one of the bigger LA sports guys.

Looking forward to his contributions.

On a side note, the Pujols/Wilson intro presser had limited questions from the media, wasn't he one of them?

First, welcome aboard Joe. So glad to have you on the team.

To answer the question, the Angels were late naming microwave hones that day. Joe was set to pass it to me after the he other side asked a question, and it was a bad question. So, at the Josh Hamilton presser, Joe made sure I got the microphone to ask a question. I am very indebted to Joe for that.

Good job on the interview Robert. Bedrock has been my white whale of prospects, and I have just missed interviewing him several times. Looking forward to reading the rest of your interviews.

I think that this is a great combo and promotion by the team. I already have plans for the night, but I am looking into getting more tickets so that grandma can take the boys. Who wouldn't want to sit on the field and watch a movie?

I took my boys to see the movie in theaters and it worked for both kids and adults. My boys 8 and 6 got the general gist and many of the jokes worked on an adult level, so I was entertained. It has a very good message, so I would recommend it.

I hope the Angels do more events like this!

Good going, Dave. Post an uplifting article and the Angels play like shit tonight. lol

Timing. It's all timing.

I'm looking forward to reading your writeups of the player interviews. Good Job! Way to represent AW.

Another good job on this. I always look forward to reading these reports. The Angels organization has talent, even if the major publications don't think so.