Toby Ziegler

I'll spell it out plainly for you, then, since you still don't see what's wrong with this picture. Paul Goldschmidt hit 35 HRs in the Cal League. George Springer hit 22 HRs last year for Lancaster, with 13 of them hit at Lancaster. His OPS at home was 1.044. On the road, it was .847. Mark Trumbo hit 26 HRs in the Cal League at Rancho. Billy Butler hit 25 HRs at High Desert. Randal Grichuk hit 18 HRs in the Cal League. Carlos Santana hit 14 HRs when he played at Inland Empire. My question to ScottyA is were all of their HRs "a byproduct of their environment," too? And why make the assumption that Zach is going to fall flat on his face next year? Did you make the same assumptions for Grichuk, Cron, and Lindsey? If you're really a fan, why not give the player the benefit of the doubt?

Someone has to stand up for him and set the records straight. Wrongs need to be redressed. I haven't seen any of you stick your necks out.

He has a much thicker skin than I do. I'm pretty sure he doesn't go on these horrible message boards, so thank God for that. He's always played with a chip on his shoulder for a reason, though.

lol spinning like your life depends on it now. You insulted him a number of times. I didn't imagine it. Don't compound the error by insulting everyone's intelligence here as well.

How about you stay out of it? You are clueless. I didn't read between the lines here at all. It's about as blatant as it gets in this thread.

Just awful wording on so many levels. A tactful person would have said he was skeptical and left it at that. I'm being 100% serious right now. Can a moderator step in and talk to ScottyA about not making any posts about Zach? I find most of them offensive. Put a muzzle on this rabid dog.

Another in a long line of obnoxious posts taking shots at Zach. Does anyone else see why I have issues with this poster? Ridiculous. First of all, he didn't have poor numbers at Cedar Rapids. Second of all, you're acting like he was worthless at home in the Cal League, when in fact he was much, much better than Cron (.685 OPS), Grichuk (.802 OPS), and Lindsey (.757 OPS) when they were there. Zach posted a .939 OPS at home. Did he hit 21 HRs (22 with the postseason) on the road and 7 HRs (8 with the postseason) at home? Yes. Does that mean that all of those 21 HRs were wind-aided or park-aided? Hell no. Cron hit 5 HRs at home and 22 on the road (in 100 more PAs than Zach btw), and yet you maintain he has incredible power. Can't have it both ways. Grichuk hit 7 HRs at home in 2012 and hit 22 HRs this year in AA. But Zach is limited to 15-20. Double standard much? He didn't face good minor league pitching at all in High-A? Whatever. I guess everyone who comes through High-A gets BP fastballs and hanging curveballs right down the cock. Obviously, he will face better pitching at higher levels, but it just sounds like you're trying to diminish what he accomplished this year, which fits your profile. He may not start the year in AA, either. As I said in another thread, Scott Servais talked to him about possibly starting 2014 in AAA. At any rate, I haven't exactly made it a secret that I think it would be best if he were traded this offseason for his sake; the Angels currently do not have any room for him on their roster. And I'm certain people close to Cron and Grichuk feel the exact same way for their sake. With douchey fans like you (only talking about ScottyA here), who needs detractors?!

Nope, don't really have a problem with it, other than when the writer said he wasn't any good in Low-A in 2012. Zach Borenstein – The outfielder was named Cal League MVP last season and for good reason, he absolutely torched the league. He’s a prospect I’m somewhat confused by. First of all, he’s built like a tank and bats left-handed, how were scouts not impressed by him in college? Why wasn’t he any good in A Ball and all of a sudden amazing in the Cal League? Given that he was old for the league, I think this was just a case of Borenstein finding his comfort zone and taking advantage of the extreme hitting conditions the league presents batters with. Regardless, he’s playing against the best prospects in the game in the AFL, so we’ll get a chance to really see what he’s made of. And so far, he’s not doing very well at all, which isn’t terribly damaging to his bandwagon but at the same time it lends credence to those who believe his numbers were a Cal League mirage. The writer poses a good question about why scouts weren't more impressed with him in college. There was that one scouting report I posted, which was overall very flattering. But I've always wondered about this as well, and I have my theories. At any rate, if he had gotten back to the Marlins sooner, he would have been taken in the 17th round. The Pirates would have taken him in the 9th round on the condition that he put the gear on. He was actually pretty good last year in Low-A, so that part I take exception with. He had the 5th best OPS and the 6th best SLG in the Angels' farm system in 2012. I've already gone over the adjustments Zach made this year in his thread. The Cal League's hitting environment played a part, but that certainly wasn't the main reason for his success. As far as what he's doing right now in the AFL, he doesn't really play, so yeah... He's played 12 games in like 35 days. When you sit out for 2-4 days at a time, your timing is going to be off. And hitting is all about timing. Plus, I just think he's tired from his first full pro season. See Trout and Baez in the AFL. I know he's pissed off about his performance. I told him not to beat himself up over it. He hasn't really been put in a position to succeed. That didn't go over too well. He's still pissed off. And just looking at the numbers, his BABIP is crazy low, his strikeouts are acceptable, and he's walking at a very high rate. He's lined out hard a bunch of times right at guys. Pretty fair to say that he's suffering from some serious bad luck. The offseason will do him good. Rest up, hit the gym, eat better, gain some weight back, take your mind off of baseball for awhile.

Chris Nelson at Coors: .313/.362/.457 (335 ABs, .818 OPS) Chris Nelson Away from Coors: .233/.274/.370 (365 ABs, .644 OPS) Looks like a product of Coors to me.

Aybar/Stamets and Trumbo would probably be enough for Miller. Maybe throw in a lower level prospect.

The Mariners need OFs pretty bad. I would think Bourjos and maybe one other hitting prospect would get the job done for James Paxton. Erasmo Ramirez would cost less and can probably be had as well. They won't trade Taijuan Walker, but they might be persuaded to part ways with Danny Hultzen at a considerable discount, since he keeps getting injured and will probably miss all of next season. Their GM is on the hot seat, too. He's going to want to make a splash this offseason. If the Angels miss out on Tanaka, they should aggressively pursue Ubaldo Jimenez, who is testing the market. He had a dramatic turnaround this season, particularly in the 2nd half. Went to his slider 25% of the time, which could help explain the spike in strikeouts, and also developed a splitter. Threw more first pitch strikes than ever before as well. Ubaldo comes at some risk, given his recent volatility, but if the turnaround was legit you're looking at an ace.

Yep. You should try it sometime.

Oh, in that case thank you for your genuine concern about my well-being. Clearly, you weren't baiting me. Gosh, what was I thinking?! You know something? I was totally wrong about you. You're a stand-up guy. I sincerely hope you can pass on these life lessons to other poor souls. The thing about bulls*** is it's pretty easy to detect. See what I did there?

Pretty much an admission you were baiting me before. I've been on enough boards to recognize trolling and trolls who feign ignorance about their trolling.

Agreed. He definitely has the stuff to be a successful starter. I hope he hits his stride next year.