DCAngelsFan

I feel like that's half of our talent deficit of the last few years came from - a complete withdrawal from the international market, (combined with poor amateur drafting and lost draft picks from signing bad free agents. ) You can't dabble in the internationals - it's a big commitment because the hit rates are pretty low - you need to sign a lot of lottery tickets before you get a Wander Franco or a Tatis or an Altuve. Just ask Tampa Bay. Big time failure by the Angels, up thru the Dipoto era.

I wish I could "Like" this a dozen times. It's not about doing what you're minimally required to do, or what you can get away with. Hell, it's not even being a super-nice org that does nice things for their own sake (although, there's no reason you can't be kind with no expectation you'll benefit from it) Consider it an investment in them - like you said, give them what they need to, maybe, someday pay back your investment. Many of us have probably been there - late with the rent, empty refrigerator, looking for change in the couch so you could buy some coffee - all that stress and grind can't be good for a players development. Reduce that stress, make sure they have food and other essentials, you'll have healthier, happier players that might someday contribute at the major league level. THis org could easily buy some multi-family dwellings, and rent them below-market (or just give them) to players that opt for it (the rich ones can get themselves something better) - you might even get the localities to kick in - (though a players-only housing might not qualify for 'affordable housing' treatment) c'mon, Arte, be better.

You could pay a 20-year-old a $1m a year and they'd still eat at Taco Bell - hell, I've had some late-night only-thing-still-open Taco Bell stale tacos ... But yeah, this could easily have gone into that other thread as a counter-point

https://theathletic.com/2485969/2021/03/30/a-pitching-powerhouse-inside-how-the-mets-aim-to-revamp-pitching-development-with-their-own-lab/ This is the kind of thing I've been saying for years - for the price of one over-the-hill free agent, they could do things like this in their player development org.

Looking a couple years down the road, we're going to need a player like the player he can be. And we all know how fruitless it is to fill your roster with aging, overpriced free agents - we need an abundance of 3+ WAR cost-controlled players. But yes, a TOR with multiple years of control would be great - but as noted, his perceived value has dropped - his risk is definitely non-zero now - and since the return now is probably less-than-enthralling, I think I'd rather keep him and hope he develops into the stud we think he can be.

Probably - doesn't have the whole crunchy-organic-granola vibe, but it's kind of a food playground. Seems a safe choice but the guides should take groups to more interesting places, too. Union Market or Eden Center, that kind of thing.

The museums and such are great, of course - in a normal year, though, you kind of wait until Fall, when the little school bastards are back in school and the tourists have gone home. DC has greatly changed in the last 10 or 15 years, massively gentrified, with a lot of young people who really don't give shit about history, they just want a hot yoga place, craft kombucha and a Whole Foods. But it's kind of astonishing how people literally don't see what's right in front of them, or they just walk right by and never notice (I used to lead hikes pre-Covid, and it became a bit of a cliche - all these city people would do these hikes, and never see a damn thing - never actually seeing the bear they walked by, or the bald eagle nest or the remains of a Civil War entrenchment.) When everything was closed 'cause Covid, we just kind of wandered the countryside, finding these cool little 300-year-old little towns that started because they were near a native american trail, which became a farm trail, then a tollroad. then a railroad, then a highway

It actually *is* interesting - one thing I love about living here is history is *everywhere* - often literally under your feet - the old ruins of mills and machine shops are particularly interesting to me. That episode(s) is a chapter in a book proposal she has, hoping for an endowment to complete it ...

Probably the most interesting thing is the panicked evacuations of the books, documents, paintings and other things from DC before the British burned everything - my g/f has drug me to various sites and archives, trying to piece together what went where (turns out, a bunch of them were dumped, Indiana Jones style, in a forgotten basement / corner of the Capitol Building, only to be discovered over 100 years later .. ) Ok, it's not actually that interesting ...

I think we might look to snag some high schooler or two with a college commitment that we can convince to forego college. Thinking so many pitchers were drafted, I'd expect some position players the rest of the way. Of course, in the time it took to type this, they already proved me wrong, drafting another college pitcher

He crossed the line from "contrarian" to "full-on-idiot" with this take I dunno - I guess some non-baseball fans might want to push back against his exposure, (and Yankees fans might still have a case of the ass, since they still seem to think they deserved him, somehow) But what Ohtani is doing isn't qualified - he's not some sideshow act like "he's great -- for a Japanese player" - what he's doing is simply phenomenal and historic and if you can't admire what he's doing and the way he's doing it, you're just not even a baseball fan and should just sit down and shut up.

I dunno why, but I imagined him looking like a beer barrel with legs Very athletic, nice easy delivery, good / great stuff. This could be a really nice pick.

Hmm - I dunno, let's have a look at our record the last few years and think about it ...

Uh, no - the fact we drafted Bachman over Rocker makes it obvious who was rated higher, at least by the Angels. It was said elsewhere that we drafted the guy we spent the most time with, not necessarily the one rated higher.

I'm gonna assume he dropped because of the velocity drops he showed at precisely the wrong time. I hope those concerns were why we passed on him, because we wanted to avoid risk there. It's also possible we were certain he wouldn't fall to us, and we just didn't do due diligence in scouting and talking to him. That would be disappointing - even if the result was the same - it just would signal a lack of imagination and a lack of organizational polish - with the #9 pick, there shouldn't be any questions in your mind about players that may fall to you.

I wonder how far he'll fall? Elbow problems can be bad news - could all be related to the UCL and the TJ resolved it. I dunno - if he dropped to 3rd round, I'd do that in a heartbeat (assuming the medical report has no big concerns.) A high #2? hmm ... I think we were linked with Will Taylor at some point - but there's signability concerns there with his college commitment.

He's fast becoming one of my favorite players - plays the game with intensity (tempted to use the cliche' "plays the game the right way"), is a pretty funny and open hearted guy, and doesn't seem to be lugging around a bloated ego. And these underdog stories are great - gives heart to anyone facing long odds, whether it's baseball or anything else in life.

He's a cornerstone kind of guy - unless we see a drop-off coming - and I've seen nothing to suggest he's a flash-in-the-pan - you keep him, and find some other way to get an ace. I'll take that ~4 fWAR he's gonna put up this year all day long ...

Hey, at least we're consistent ...

This - to make a "mistake" at #9, you're going to have to do something kinda stupid like drafting a consensus 3rd rounder b/c they'll sign under-slot or something (simple bad luck isn't a "mistake" -- it's bad luck) To have a good/great draft, it's finding undervalued players in #2 and beyond, that defy the odds to become major league players. The funniest thing is the inevitable "draft grades" articles that come out the day after the draft ends - it's like calling the results of a marathon after the first 100 yards.

Actually - Arte has to give him the reason to stay - and imo, this off-season will be the time to go all-in - screw the "luxury tax", hell, sell off a few percentage points in ownership if he needs to raise cash, have a damn bake sale - there will never be a time in Arte's lifetime he'll be closer to having a championship-caliber team than over the next 2 or 3 years. If he lets Ohtani walk, Trout and Rendon decline through age and injuries, he'll have wasted his chance. Throwing money away doesn't always get it done - but free agent players will be rich no matter where they go - everything else being equal, most guys will go to the team they think will get them to the World Series. This year, convince the Gausman's, the Scherzer's that you're going to do what it takes to get the team to make a World Series contender, and convince Ohtani, too.

Games like that - and last night's - are something a team can build from. The team redeeming Shohei had to mean a lot to him. And seeing the absolute joy on every player's face last night was awesome, to see how much fun they're having playing the game. Put Trout back in the line-up, and win or lose, this will be a team *everyone* wants to watch - and no one wants to play

I hate you so much right now ....

Most teams try to lock up pitching aces, and their often shorter-careers means they won't reach free agency until the end of their effectiveness is in sight. If the last few years has shown us anything, it's that no matter how good your position players are, you're not going anywhere when you have Joe Blanton-caliber pitchers on your staff giving you no chance to even win half your games. I like we have a developing pipeline of pitching talent now - but you need it to keep it full. If we can get another ace-caliber pitching prospect with this draft pick, I'd put my thumb on the scale and take the pitcher.

Well ... there is the story that we never had a chance to sign Jr even if we hadn't stepped on our junk with the Baldoquin signing, that Toronto had him locked up ... I'd ask him about that.