Dave Saltzer

I am willing to do some work to get a group together to attend this event. We may still be able to get a suite or a patio with a bar-b-que dinner. I can find out. The cost for that might be around $35-50 per person. We would need 20 people probably for a suite or about 30 for the patio and dinner. If you are interested in helping a very worthwhile cause and seeing some good Angels baseball, respond to this thread, especially if you are interested in either of those options. If we can get a large enough group together, I think it would be a great showing on our part.

By David Saltzer, AngelsWin.com Senior Writer One of the things that I love most about AngelsWin.com is how caring and supportive our community is. We take care of one another. We share tickets with people we only know as screen names. We carpool to Fanfests and coordinate rides to games. We are a very caring and generous group. On July 20th, 2013, we have a chance to do some real good with Angels baseball. The IE66ers, the Single-A affiliate for the Angels, is hosting a “Protect and Serve Night” to honor and raise funds for the family of Detective Jeremiah MacKay and for Deputy Alex Collins, both of whom paid a heavy price during the manhunt for Christopher Dorner. I am not a veteran, so I do not know what it is like to put my life on the line every day for others. But, many on AngelsWin.com are veterans, and know the danger very well. They know what it’s like to get the call and have to respond to a situation without knowing all the facts and risks. That’s exactly what Detective MacKay and Deputy Alex did on February 12, 2013, when Dorner went on a murdering rampage and barricaded himself in the San Bernadino mountains. These two heroes paid a heavy price when caught in a shootout with Dorner with Detective MacKay paying the ultimate price, leaving behind a wife and two children and Deputy Collins requiring many surgeries to recover from his wounds. Many of you know that I am a fan of Minor League baseball. For the money, I think it is an incredible value. The seats are great, the in-game entertainment is great, and with Hangar-24 beer, the beer is great! And with tickets ranging from $6.90 to $13.55, the cost can’t be beat. There are many players on the IE66ers worth the price of admission. Sappington, Yarbrough, Stamets, Borenstein, Morin, and others all come to mind. They are the future of the organization. It’s worth seeing them now to know them and to understand their development so that you can feel even more impressed when you see them in Anaheim. There will be several unique opportunities to make this night special. They include: · Watching deputy Alex Collins throw out the first pitch after being brought to the field by helicopter! · Seeing the entire 66ers inspired pay tribute to these officers’ bravery by wearing specially-designed sheriff jerseys. · A post-game auction on the game-worn jerseys—a chance to get a truly unique item from a future Angel! · Hearing bag pipers from the Emerald Society pay tribute to their friend Detective Jeremiah MacKay. · A special K9 unit demonstration on the field! On top of all of that, July 20th is the Mark Trumbo bobblehead night, as presented by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. Tickets should be in high demand! The best part of the evening is that 20% of the ticket proceeds will go to benefit the MacKay and Collins families. I am proud that an Angels affiliate is willing to forgo its profits to help those in the community who protect and serve. I know that there is an Angels game that night. I have season tickets. But, on July 20th, I will be in San Bernadino with my family paying honor to these two brave men. I have already given my tickets away and will be driving with my family to show my sons how we honor heroes. My sons, who are in elementary school, are just learning about community helpers. What better way to show them what community helpers do and how the community takes care of its helpers than by attending this game. The Angels organization has always shown class and distinction. Now, it’s up to us as fans to show the organization that we can do the same. I look forward to seeing as many fans from AngelsWin.com as can make it at the IE66ers on July 20th. It’s time for us to do some good with Angels baseball and the IE66ers.

Think of it this way, it's also leverage against any player taken in the draft who has yet to sign. They can easily say we've replaced you with Gonzalez, so, we're sticking to our guns, and it's up to you to decide if you think you can get this big of an offer again. It's the right move to make on so many levels. If the Angels really want to be a big market team, then they have to make big market moves like this.

This is the exact type of move the organization needs to make. My understanding is that it won't count against our draft pool, is not limited by the current cap on foreign players, and could give us some legitimate pitching when we need it. This should be a no-brainer. And, for the player, it should be a no-brainer as any agent looking at our organization will quickly realize that if the player has any talent, he will be in the Major Leagues within a year.

Good report Scott. Glad to know your equation LHP + Pulse = Time in Majors.

Thanks again for another great report!

Ellen is an incredible writer and I am really excited to see what she does with this series!

Thank you all for some of the best laughs I've had all day. Keep 'em coming. I needed the good laugh!

Regarding Grichuk, you realize that after posting a 165/242/325 line in April, he has gone on to post a 311/347/644 in May, and a 324/381/378 line in June. I call that making an adjustment to the league and playing in a cavernous park. He was just named to the league's all-star team. I see plenty of upside in Grichuk.

Thanks for all the updates. You are better than BA!

Let's give him some time to sign some, but I am looking forward to a good post-draft chat.

Thanks for all the draft updates.

So we have an entire rookie ball rotation and bullpen, a SS, 3B, and OF so far.

Nice!

Well someone has to catch all those pitchers that they drafted. They don't want a scrub in the 50th round doing that do they?

Ding! Ding! Ding! AO got it!!!!

TJ surgery has become more common, more refined, and less risky, so teams are willing to gamble more on the upside for a pitcher recovering from it. Many who have had it at a young age have recovered all of their velo. So, it's a chance to pick someone with better upside when you have lower picks.

I probably would have picked Anaheim Angels over California Angels if it weren't for the periwinkle unis and that horrid logo. It always looked like the wing was raping the letter A on it. And I intentionally never got a periwinkle jersey. Those things were fugly. On the bright side, being the Anaheim Angels always had us listed first on websites and things.

While Hawpe is doing well in Salt Lake, I would have much rather seen the Angels call up Kole Calhoun.

Why do I feel like playing Journey right now?

I would take Anaheim Angels over the current name, but preferred California Angels.

Is this our first FL pick? I wonder how much not having Tom Kotchman would affect the draft. It seems that we are picking a lot more of the Midwest guys. Maybe that's where the talent is, or, maybe that's where the strength in scouting is in the organization now.

I think it means that they are set internally for offense for a while, but what they need down the road is pitching. They have enough offense at the ML level (even if it isn't showing itself right now), and for replacements have Grichuk, Cron, Cowart, Lindsey, Borenstein, etc. As those players rise up, it would be nice to have some good pitching to go with it. And, as Ric Wilson told us, the depth of pitching was where this draft was, so, go after the strengths of the draft while the teams with the better picks fight over the few hitters in the crop.

One more thing: Thanks to everyone for updating this thread. I can get to AW but can't get to draft sites, so, this is a very helpful distraction.

That's a cool story. Congrats. That was a very nice post. I'm having a brutally long day and needed a refresher on civility.