Inside Pitch

12 hours ago, Chuck said:

Nah I think you gotta keep Canning.

I would trade Sandoval though if he goes in a nice run ahead of the deadline.  Sandy drives me nuts. 

I said it in another thread, I've flat out been told at least three teams are tracking/scouting Canning. There are a lot of ppl out there that believe he could be a lot better than his career numbers and while that may be true, the years of control aren't there anymore.  If you can cash on on what others view his upside is -- you have to do it. 

4 hours ago, Chico said:

I don't think Arte has any business being a MLB owner. Decision after decision bears this out over many years. I don't have to repeat those "superstars" he handpicked, overstepping the GM and grossly overpaid to long contracts, (they failed) those he traded away or let go for nothing, and had success elsewhere. When he had success stories like Trout and Ohtani, he couldn't field a good team along with them. Not to mention the Skaggs case and other problems within the organization. Whether he's involved or not, he  has a touch of s*** and needs to sell. I'm just grateful for 2002.

Yeah, problem is he doesn't want to sell. 

I don't know of a single person that doesn't want him to sell, the problem is he's the guy making that decision too.

1 hour ago, BTH said:

there it is

Just in time to plop a Cleveland steamer on the 2025 season.  Excellent.

3 hours ago, jsnpritchett said:

 

 

"A suite that's it?  He's making 700 million dollars, the least he can do is cure the kid" -- Bitter Angels fans on Twitter...  lol..

42 minutes ago, Blarg said:

I was gonna make a similar comment.

7 hours ago, BTH said:

What do you think about James Tibbs?

He may already be maxed out physically, he's slightly older than the league so the guy isn't projectable body wise. Absolutely has a clue but he plays in a park the ball flies out of and in a conference where the league average OPS was creeping towards .950.  

He's left-handed and about as advanced a hitter as you will find but is coming out of an offensive park in an offense driven conference.  He's better but a lot of the things being said about him were also said of Matt Thaiss when he was drafted, also from the ACC but in a season where the average OPS was .763.

That may seem a little negative but he's about a sure thing to be a MLB player as you'll find in the draft.  Just don't think he'll be the force of nature he's looked like at FSU.  Also he was good not great while playing in the Cape last summer. 

FWIW, my view of him is slanted a bit by how offense happy the ACC has been.  If he were doing what he's done in the Pac 12, I'd be a lot more enthusiastic about him but he'd be a top 10-15 guy in pretty much any draft IMO and that's a very good get at number 8.

I think the Yesavage overreaction on Twitter is due to the added commentary by Keith Law.

Anyone that believes he's a bad pick at number 8 hasn't been paying attention.  There are guys in bigger conferences getting hyped up because of gaudy numbers in conferences where gaudy numbers are a mirage.

I think the lack of offensive talent in the system would be best served by looking for the best possible bat available but I wouldn't cry if it ended up being him.

3 hours ago, Dave Saltzer said:

Have to disagree with you here my friend. I would much rather get an A+, a B+, a B, and a C. The team would be far better off, as the "C" player statistically isn't going to make it, whereas the A+ and B+ players will make real impacts. Think adding another O'Hoppe, Neto, and Schanuel, along with an Amezaga as opposed to 4 Mickey Moniaks.

Mickey Moniak went 1-1 in 2016 and signed for 6.1 mil, the second biggest signing bonus in that draft behind number 2 pick Nick Senzel (6.2M).  I don't think anyone viewed him as a "C" level talent. 

The 2016 draft should serve as a sort of case study into how big of a crapshoot the MLB draft is and how little weight people should put on the draft rankings. The top five picks in that draft have combined for 2.2 bWAR after signing for a combined 25.9 Mil. Meanwhile the best performing player from that first round has been Will Smith (16.1 bWAR), who signed a below slot signing bonus (1.7 Mil), which allowed the LAD to sign Jordan Sheffield for an even higher bonus 4 picks later.

You know who Perfect Game gave the 5th highest pre draft HS grade to and also a 50 grade by BBA in that draft?  You should, the Angels signed him for an over slot 950K in the 3rd round -- Nonie Williams.

Nonie Williams was a scouts darling -- he was by all accounts an A level guy, with a full ride to LSU after having been named the Kansas, 5A player of the year.

On 5/14/2024 at 12:52 PM, Blarg said:

There is something called dark humor. It doesn't appeal to all but it's still a reasonable method of getting across the point. You laugh at the Monty Python amputated Black Night but it's still someone that has been cut to pieces. Morbid but funny all the same.

Exaggeration is always what humor is about. Like how everyone loves In N Out hamburgers but hate the fries. Then again, @CaliAngel loves In N Out fries and you give your only fry fan shit about this? Sad.

C'mon.... Those were just flesh wounds.

6 minutes ago, Lazorko Saves said:

This isn't really how it works.  An MLB team's scouting staff may regard two players as equal value in a certain spot, but they know one of those two players is willing to take a lower bonus.  Couple that with being able to go over slot on a later guy, and that's how MLB teams can end up getting two players they have, say, in their top 15, but only using picks 8 + 45 or something like that.  It's about maximizing probabilities within a limited set of resources.

People get hung up on a player going higher than the public rankings (Callis, BA, etc), but *every single MLB team* has significant disagreements with those lists.  Always.  You'd be foolish to ignore the financial leverage this can give you, and just blindly go at-slot for every one of your picks.

Straight out spitting facts.

Even the concept of best player available varies widely from team to team. Cincinnati for instance places an extreme value on pure skills, almost so much so that they will gloss over the risk factor if if means getting a guy with extreme tools.

52 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Always good to hear your thoughts @Inside Pitch, makes me feel better about Yesavage. Perhaps because he initially started as a reliever the mileage isn’t quite there yet and he’ll hold up better than Burns. 

Truthfully the system is so thin on talent that really anybody pick will be a needed addition. I just hope it’s not reactionary or short-sighted. They really need a deep, balanced draft this summer.

TY for the kind words.  Yesavage is IMO being a bit underrated.  I firmly believe if he were in a different conference there would be a lot more hype.  I think East Carolina will be one of the games featured on EsPn+ on Friday, if you get a chance watch him pitch his cutter is consistently great.

The lack of depth was my driving motivation to steer clear of anyone that would cost them picks.  They need volume and quality.

39 minutes ago, BTH said:

Of course not.

But an ownership change might’ve helped foster an org where they aren’t totally relying on Trout/Rendon to be healthy.

If the Angels were operating at their max potential, their drafting/scouting/player dev would enable them to not be reliant on Trout/Rendon and they’d be spending enough money to where they could still add quality players in free agency around the ~80M that Trout/Rendon take up.

Fwiw, I wasn't singling anyone out when I posted.  It was more a case of me asking the question in general, so if it seemed I was directing at you or anyone else thinks that, it wasn't my intent.  It was poorly written by me.

I agree an ownership change could help in those areas, but reality is those kinds of bottom up improvements are years away.  FA was the best way to address the issues the team was facing this off season and I think we can all agree they weren't going to be fix it all with what was available.

Hitting rock bottom while painful may be exactly what is needed.  

25 minutes ago, BTH said:

For me, my issue is that I believe there’s a clear top 8 (Bazzana/Condon/Caglianone/Kurtz/Montgomery/Smith/Burns/Wetherholt) in this draft class and then a significant fall off.

So I want one of those top 8 players, and anything other than that feels like a mistake IMO

I'd prefer a hitter, but I find it interesting you think Burns is a surer thing than the guy with the better pitcher's body and larger repertoire.

I was all over George Kirby the year he was draft eligible.  Ditto, Logan Gilbert.  Yesavage is a similar guy imo.  Physically mature with some projection left, four very good pitches, three of them legit out pitches and like those other guys he might be getting underrated due to the conference he's in.  

I think he's better than a lot of the hyped guys.

38 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Yesavage feels a little too much of a Silseth meets Bachman-type for me to be super excited about him yet. Something about his profile strikes me as an oft-injured/better in relief type.

Yesavage has significantly better movement and more depth pitch wise than either of those guys.  He's also improved the one area he had been iffy in, allowing HRs.  

It's always difficult to predict injuries, but I get that same vibe watching Chase Burns pitch.  He's got a smaller frame, his entire game is based on his power FB/Slider and never throws his change and barely ever throws his curve.

2 hours ago, BTH said:

if this happens, we’re cooked

Why are people losing their shit over this?   Do you not like the player or is it the suggestion that they are targeting him because they think he would progress quickly?

I know Twitter is losing their shit over this but people should really look at the actual player or in this case, the results. He's put up video game numbers while pitching in one of college's hitter friendly conferences.

He wasn't a preseason first team All American candidate because he sucks, he's arguably the best college RHP in the draft after Burns who is likely being overrated because he can throw 100 but is essentially a two pitch guy.  Yesavage can touch 98, has four legit pitches and three different pitches that make hitters look stupid.

He's also more physical than most of the guys the Angels have been drafting.

21 hours ago, mmc said:

Yeah I mean I still like the team of course but between finals and the NBA and NHL playoffs there are both much more productive and much more entertaining uses of my evenings

THIS is how fans can survive seasons like this. 

Shit is bad now, it may get better after the break.  No reason to torment oneself if you don't have to.

I'm enjoying seeing Jose Soriano and Jo Adell look like they might be legit MLB players.

I'm all for Arte going away but...  Do you think an ownership change was going to keep Trout/Rendon from getting hurt?

That's the biggest problem this team has going right now.  The Ichiro version of Rendon was a world better than any of the options behind him, and Trout is Trout.  I'm genuinely thankful they got hurt early so it lessens the possibility that Arte pushes for another "go for it" trade.  You guys all punted on him in April but Griffin Canning has three different teams tracking his performance, so hopefully he has his usual May/June run.

This season is shot.  Best we can hope for is is guys create value for a sell off and that the young guys continue to show signs of life or improvement.  

Also, I'm sure the injuries are a big factor but the defense has been the biggest eyesore on the team IMO.  It's dragging everything down.

52 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Nelson Rada came out of tonight's game in the 2nd inning.  Did anyone here watch the game?  Can't find anything specific on Twitter about what, if anything, might have happened.

19 hours ago, jsnpritchett said:

Say what you will but it's got better range than Trumbo did, and we tried him at 3B.  

I'm a yes.

23 hours ago, Hubs said:

He won't sell. If he didn't take the offer where he retained 10% and got a $3 Billion Valuation, he's not leaving. 

So...maybe sell 10% of the team for $300 Million to someone to run the team and the show. 

People are pissing at the wind.  He's gonna do what he's gonna do. 

Some GM may finally get lucky and hit paydirt with some oddball move but for the most part Arte is an impenetrable wall that stands in their way.

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

I’ll start with this, if you are embarrassed then do something else. You owe it to yourself to spend time following or doing something that doesn’t cause you to be embarrassed. I mean that at 100% total face value.  The way I’m wired I don’t get embarrassed by loving the team because I’m not the one making the poor decisions that is causing the poor play.
Secondly I’d be shocked if Arte doesn’t put  the team up for sale within the next year. Someone on here thinks Arte might be trying to get back into buying the land around the stadium. If that happens then maybe he doesn’t sell. 

The only thing that embarrasses me about being an Angels fan is that I'm right about roster decisions more often than the front office.  But then again I don't have Arte in my ear telling me what to think/do.

49 minutes ago, BTH said:

The irony in this is that FanGraphs’ understaffed prospect staff just hired a contributor (Travis Ice) who used to work in the Angels understaffed scouting staff.

Ha!  Wonder if he's a bit taken aback being part of such a big team for a change (two people).

23 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Jo Adell has no reason at all to relinquish his position in right field and it's time for Washington to quit trying to teach him a humility lesson and move him down in the batting order. 

Yeah, the school of hard knocks is fine and all that but he's been the one dishing out the hard knocks and it's time to buy into him having it put it together.

45 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Canning looks pretty good tonight.  It'd be nice to have back-to-back solid outings from him.

He's been ramping up as his FB has. 

I don't think we have had anyone in the rotation who is as reliant on his FB to set up the rest of his repertoire as Canning is.  He needs to be touching 94, it sets everything he does up.  He doesn't need for it go be elite but its almost comical how you can see the difference in real time. Once he starts to dip below 93 his change/slider go from put away pitches to meh.

7 hours ago, Vlad27Trout27 said:

Honesty FG used to be really good on with their prospects ranking. however they have fallen and reading their scouting reports, it seems like they at best watched a few games or innings. 

1. They've mention Rada looks overmatched, however he's been hitting over 300. Similar to last year where he started off slow and than took of. 

2. Dana, they really game his an 50 grade fastball and have him at 92 to 95, and they clearly haven't watched him. Yet, watching four of his starts, he is easily sitting 94 to 96 and getting it past hitter. 

3. kent, I would say his fastball is more of an 55 grade pitches with potential to be a 60 grade pitch.  It has a lot of movement and sink on it. His change- up has also taken that next step and has some good drop and sink. 

Their minor league stuff completely fell off during Covid and hasn't really recovered.  They are probably just understaffed like the Angels scouting department.