Llewyn Davis

Darin Erstad. Two good seasons. One spectacular season. Lots of mediocre seasons.

That's a massive overpay. I agree that the Marlins would make a good trading partner, though. They need a second baseman, and we have a glut of them. 

He hit .429 in April before Bourjos got hurt. When he was barely playing. Granted, it's not a lot of at bats, but Scioscia specifically said a guy like him is good to come off the bench because he has a short quick swing and doesn't try to hit homers.

As for "competition" in spring training, it's a myth that gives fans and media something to write about. You have much more meaningful information on players from what theyve done in real games in their careers than stupid spring training games.

One Angels person when asked about Matt long a couple weeks ago said "it's spring training."

I guess when Long outperformed Shuck in the minors, those weren't real games, either. Give me a break.

.293/.370/.469 (.176 ISO), 103 SBs, 39 CS (73% success rate) in 2499 PAs

vs.

.301/.382/.381 (.80 ISO), 74 SBs, 46 CS (62% success rate) in 2299 PAs

Shuck has 1 HR in 1561 combined PAs in the PCL and the Cal League. That is actually mind-boggling. He doesn't try to hit homers because he literally can't hit homers.

It's not like Long is this great prospect either. He's older than Shuck.

Long is 2 months older than Shuck. That's got to be the worst argument brought up so far. Don't know why so many people are enamored with Shuck; he's extremely limited. Long has considerably more upside. He should have been up last year instead of Shuck. Only the Angels would make this a "tough decision." It's a slam dunk, if you ask me.

Trout

Goldschmidt

Kershaw

Fernandez

McCutchen

Rookie of the year at 19 and two All Star appearences makes Harper a legitimate star. Fans voting in polls is just group opinion, kind of like the BBWA but with half the intelligence.

Players voted, not fans.

Harper was billed as the best player in decades and better than Trout.  At this point he is just above average.  I would say that is definitely overrated.

Agreed. To this point, Harper is overrated. I think we need to differentiate between a generational talent and a phenom. Both are players who are young and possess incredible ability, but a generational talent demonstrates that on the field. A phenom is just a tease. Trout is a generational talent. Harper has been a phenom - so far.

I think Strasburg is overrated as well. His durability and ability to pitch deep into games is in question. To be a true ace, you have to be a work horse. He averages 5.8 innings per start and hasn't reached 200 innings in a season yet.

Long deserves the nod. If he doesn't get his shot with us, I hope he catches on elsewhere and gets an opportunity. Because he should be a Big Leaguer. And not only that... he could be an above average player, unlike Shuck.

What about Navarro?

About to turn 28. Has the ISO of a shortstop in the PCL. I'm sure we could get a bag of balls for him. Maybe two bags of balls.

If the Halos seriously want to make a trade with the Astros, trade discussions would begin and end with Cron.

He had a 3.9 era/1.22 whip last year..and allowed no runs all Spring (if it means anything)...it doesn't really matter what he did in 2012.

 

Granted, I don't want him starting more than three games.

He did that as a relief pitcher. Not all that impressive. He's the type of guy who will likely get exposed as a starter when hitters see him 2-3 times. And I wasn't just talking about 2012. His entire career before 2013 is very much forgettable. I would put Chavez in the same category as a pitcher like Yusmeiro Petit (except he did it as a starter last year). Chavez has to prove his small sample of success wasn't a fluke. And like I said, throwing him out there every 5th day as a starter is a different animal.

Another good thing about this for us is their bullpen is going to be taxed big time. None of those starters are established work horses. Gray and Straily are the only two guys who I could see approaching 200 innings. Maybe Milone, too. Gray pitched 195 combined innings last year (including postseason). Straily pitched around 190 combined innings (including postseason).

Chavez is pretty much a long reliever. He has 2 GS in MLB. I suppose he could be a swingman. But up until last season he was absolute garbage. He might have a leg up over Pomeranz for that 5th spot.

That's huge for us. Parker and Griffin are both pretty solid, too. They might be headed for Tommy John, which is going to put a lot more pressure on their other starters to step up. Because not only are Parker and Griffin good, but they are also 200 IP starters. Now you're looking at:

1. Sonny Gray

2. Scott Kazmir

3. Dan Straily

4. Tom Milone

5. Drew Pomeranz

And there really isn't much depth beyond that. 

Still waiting for Trout to steal a base this spring.

Not much point in stealing bases in Spring Training. Just increases a chance of injury. As far as I'm concerned, the more station to station he is in Spring Training the better for the regular season.

Edit: ^ beat me to it.

You're wicked smart, man. Never let anyone tell you different. I got my ass handed to me in this argument. That much is clear.

LMAO How do you guys know what kind of power Braun really has? This will be his first clean season! Trout hasn't even entered his physical prime yet and plays in a much bigger park and in a division with pitcher's parks (apart from Texas and Houston). And everything he's done on the field has been entirely him.

You speak about Braun being a former MVP as if he earned it. You do realize that Trout was robbed of the MVP the last two seasons, right? One of them stole the MVP. The other was robbed. 

Your position is so absurd. I'm done. My "speculation" is reality. I don't know what constitutes reality for you. Alex Rodriguez must have been a better player than Trout, too. Someone else can take over.

Shuck, despite his high average, was below average in every single other way last season. Long probably should have been given first crack over him to begin with in 2013.

It's not too late to rectify that mistake. Long has quite a bit more upside than Shuck. That should be abundantly clear by crunching the numbers and by watching each of them play. Long really does pass the eye test.

Plus, he bears a striking resemblance to Bryce Harper. That's the kind of intangible that needs to be taken into consideration hehe.

In all seriousness, I like Long a lot as a 4th OF and possibly even a guy who takes away some ABs from Ibanez at DH. I hope the Halos give him a fair shake. He's earned his shot.

Bonds is in a different category, as he was a great player before he juiced. A case could still be made for him getting into the Hall of Fame.

It's very likely A-Fraud juiced his entire career, so you can't really say what kind of player he was. Would he have still been great without the PEDs? Truthfully, we'll never know. And that is why he cannot be in the discussion as one of the all-time greats. I would laugh in your face if you said to me he was one of the best to ever put on the uniform. One of the best cheaters, sure, I'll grant you that.

Brady Anderson went from a guy with gap-to-gap power to a guy who slugged 50 HRs. What did those same PEDs do for A-Fraud, I wonder...

If you are to be believed, Braun must have more power than Trout. After all, numbers don't lie.

Not even an all time great Cub.

Honorable mention.

Nah, didn't you know numbers don't lie, bro?

Sorry old timer.  Numbers dont lie.  

Not an old timer. And in his case, the numbers lie quite a bit.

According to your criteria, Sammy Sosa must also be one of the all-time greats.

One of the best baseball players of all time.

No. Not even in the discussion. His entire career was ill-gotten and illegitimate.

Matt Long > J.B. Shuck

Agreed. 

I want to see Long make the 25 man roster. He's better than Shuck, quite frankly.

Good to see Cron get ahold of one. Give him more ABs, please. Same goes for our other prospects. We're not going to learn anything about Boesch, Cowgill, McDonald, Shuck, Navarro, Tracy, and Pena that we don't already know.

I think so. But most Angels fans seem to like Cron more, for whatever reason. However, it looks like Borenstein pulled a Hamilton and strained his calf today in a B game. Here's to a swift recovery!