ScruffytheJanitor

I'll put this here-- Women's soccer is 200% better than men's soccer. Way less flopping, way more emotion, and Americans are actually good at it.

Pitching prospects are like a raffle at a county fair. Billy Eppler is the guy who buys 500 tickets because he really wants the John Deer riding lawn mower-- along with the off-brand tablet, the prize-winning peach cobbler, and BOTH $50 Walmart gift cards too.

I have to say that it's David Fletcher looking like a long-term solution at 2nd/3rd. I'd also include LaStella at 3rd, but I am still not quite sold on his glove. Even so, compare to the last few seasons, I'd take LaStella and Fletcher over whatever garbage we've had over the past five years. Otherwise, it has to be our crappy starting pitching. I would love to see how this team would look if we had three league-average starters take the place of Cahill, Harvey, and Stratton/Pena/"opener" du jour.

If he can play Third @ 2-ish WAR/ Year, I'd consider it a MAJOR win. He also strikes me as the sort of guy who puts up a random 6-war season in the middle of a solid-average career.

Yeah; if it's like 100K over, we have a chance at signing Spencer Jones; If it's closer to 500K, then we probably missed out.

This is the list I see so far of who as signed: 1. Will Wilson (SS) 3. Jack Kochanowicz (P) 10. Chad Sykes (P) 11. Brett Killiam (P) 14. Zac Kristofak(P) 16. Dakota Donovan (P) 24. Shane Kelso (P) 33. Justin Kuntz (P)

I am pretty happy. I love Wilson, I like Parris, and I think Kochanowicz could be something special. I also like going after the two-way players; .If we can find a way to add Spencer Jones, I'd have to think it would be because he could go both ways (giggity). I think I like Stallings a lot even if there is a decent chance he's just a AAAA guy--he's a control master. I also like a lot of the pitchers they have taken between 11-25 (or, at least, their stats profile and velocity; I have not seen or scouted the every damn college reliever in the country). Having said that, I was REALLY expecting us to get a decent catcher in the top 10 (even if it was just a top senior-sign guy or something) and to take at least one bat-only slugger. All in all, I'd say B+.

Real talk, though: the great thing about the internet is that, for a few weeks a year, I depend on a guy that I have never met to provide me with information all because he his obsessive and willing to compile all of this information.

Man, if there is some way to sign our top 10, Spencer Jones, AND Southard, we win the freaking draft.

I was sort of hoping for a catcher and a 3B/1B guy at some point, but yeah-- always need pitchers.

Yeah; guys like this you usually take in the 11th-13th because you are pretty sure they will sign or wait until the 36th round as a "might as well" pick. 20th Round is a weird spot.

Well, I guess that's what we get when we ask for more pitchers... seems like we have a good crop.

I wonder if we drafted Garrett Stallings to study him and find the "Control and Command" gene. His scouting report sounds like late-career Dan Haren.

I would love Brooks Lee (who I didn't even realize was on the board), Drew Mendoza (We need another 1B), or Zach Hess, who feels like he has a floor of "really good bullpen guy" and a ceiling of a #3 if he continues to smooth out his delivery, improve his control, and develop his slider or his change-up to complete his arsenal.

Not to toot my own horn, but I am one pick away from being happy. There are just so many good IF prospects this year that taking three-4 early seems like a good way to guarantee at least one really. really good one comes out. We've had far too many problems finding decent 2B/3B for me to hate on this pick. Having said that, I wouldn't have hated the idea of Zach Thompson, but it's not like he's clearly better; he just fits the org needs a touch better.

That's a good point-- especially since they can't really both be at the Majors next year anyway, what with there being only three real bench spots these days-- two of which are reserved for Catcher and a guy that can play short. I should have said "organizational depth" because Ward has to be one of the first guys up for that inevitable two-week period when Pujols goes down or Cozart is put on paid administrative leave for gross negligence at the plate the DL. I am also not all that sold on Ward as an everyday regular anyway-- but you are right, next year is probably a year too early to relegate him to bench status. I also think there is at least a 20% chance that Thaiss is going to start at 3B next season if we can't acquire a decent third baseman over the next nine months-- especially since he can also step in a 1B if needed.

With our situation at Corner OF (How good is Godwin really?) and 1B (Can Pujols really play 100 games at 1B? lolnope), and 3B (f'n Cozart) I kinda sorta like both as bench bats next year.

You know what? Compared to the absolute dumpster fire we've had at 2nd and 3rd over the past 3 5 8 10 years or so, I'd totally sign up for 3-4 years of solid production from him at the keystone. Now, all we need to do is sign Anthony Rendon in the off-season and we could have a pretty nice offense next year (even with Pujols clogging the proverbial toilet).

Apparently, "Jeff" is the most random name possible. What about @dane15? @Parson714@yahoo.com?

On a side note-- man, the MLBPA needs to fix this issue. Why in the hell would they ever agree to attaching a Pick to a player signing? I really expect this next labor dispute to be huge. If the MLBPA doesn't attempt to eliminate draft pick compensation (or just reduce it to "comp picks"), stop teams from holding prospects for a month just to avoid "starting the clock,:" and reduce the number of seasons before FA to five instead of six, I have no idea what they are doing.

I am a huge fan of Zach Thompson; he's one of the few College arms I'd love to get. Josh Jung feels too perfect; I expect if he's off the board, Brett Baty (who is basically Josh Jung three years ago) could be a target too. Otherwise, I'd just go for one of the College SS; Bryson Scott (if he falls) and Will Wilson will be great 2nd basemen; Logan Davidson could stick at 3rd. This draft is deep in College (and Prep!) Infield talent, so part of me hopes we sorta just draft a bunch of those guys. Bryson Scott would be terrific if he falls just a bit, but if we drafted all infielders for the first three rounds I'd be happy. Hell, if teams could trade picks, I'd be begging the Angels to trade down, since I think there will be an early run on Pitchers.

I had the same thought -- LaStella feels like the obvious choice for 1B when everyone is healthy. Even with Ohtani and Upton, we only have 7 productive bats, and his is one of them.

I think that we can all agree that Trout, Simmons, Goodwin, Fletcher, Calhoun and (I can't believe I am saying this) Pujols need to be in the lineup every damn day they can until Upton and Ohtani are healthy (or we decide that Thaiss is ready). What's frustrating is that Fletcher and Rengifo SHOULD be starting at 2nd and 3rd for the time being, and if they like Rojas they should be giving him a chance at DH when Pujols isn't there-- It's not like these things are mutually exclusive. We need to do what we can to keep Cozart and Bour out of the lineup as often as possible.

Being an Angels, Colts, and Michigan fan, these past 6-7 years have taught me two things: Never, ever, EVER underestimate the value of a solid, ho-hum #4 pitcher or a basically competent but unspectacular offensive lineman. I feel like my sports fandom the past decade has been an exercise in what happens when you replace "average" with "awful" at those two positions in particular.

The Angels paid 300 million because Trout is worth it, and 130 Million just to stop those "WHERE IS TROUT GOING" clickbait articles.