ScruffytheJanitor

There is a non-zero chance we make the playoffs. Like it or not, the 1.2 percent chance of doing that might be enough to convince Arte the front office to hold on to most of their pieces.

There is a good chance that Arte required a high price (or MLB replacements) because he actually thinks we can make the playoffs.

Just like Angels legends Tyler Warmoth, Terry Evans, and Dan Briggs, who are real legends and not just three random former angels prospects.

If Minasian is going to troll the fanbase with trades, sign him to a lifetime extension. I suspect we will acquire Cameron Junker, Carlos Bustamante, Trevor Craport, and of course Angel Bastardo in the offseason.

I mean, if we let them walk or trade them for minor league fodder..... who gives a crap?

... is that allowed?

If Minasian is going to troll the fanbase with trades, sign him to a lifetime extension. I suspect we will acquire Cameron Junker, Carlos Bustamante, Trevor Craport, and of course Angel Bastardo in the offseason.

I will upvote EACH AND EVERY Junk joke.

WTF -- Angels literally trading for Junk from the yankees... it sickens me.

This would be a really great point if this was a question about the employment rate of minor leaguers.

Maybe I am wrong here (and these things are hard to quantify), but improving Ward, Thaiss, or Adell 5% might be enough to make them sure-fire major leaguers. Also, from the organization's perspective, "minor league improvement" would be an increase in the rate of generating major league talent, not the improvement of literally all players. They don't care if most players flame out after a couple seasons, but if the system produced an extra major leaguer every couple of years that would definitely be worth it. At any rate, "5%" just represents a small-but-solid improvement; make the number bigger or represent whichever metric you would like.

This trade deadline has to be pretty straight forward for the Halos: Can we offer a combination of prospects* and rental pieces in exchange for Quality controlled pitching? Then make the move. Is someone offering any kind of future value for our rental pieces (Iglesias/ Cobb/ Haney et. al.)? Make the move and promote the young guys. Is someone trying to sell a half-decent catcher for a decent price? Maybe pull the trigger. Anything else should realistically be off the table. You might be able to argue for some more middle infield depth, but otherwise that's the mission. We don't really have a pressing need for depth, so ageing #4/#5 starters, backup position players, or buy-low relievers are off the table. We need to aim for good pitching (or better), and to extract any value from the guys that are going to walk anyway. *Including Adell, but Marsh/Detmers/Kochanowicz/ChrisRod only in the case of a Biebers-level trade.

Yikes, this thread. It's like we forget that two things can be true at the same time. 1) Minor League guys having to work extra jobs isn't exactly slavery. Many people work multiple jobs, and having to drive Uber or stock shelves is the price paid for chasing a dream. It's a bet most guys lose, but that's how bets mostly work. 2) For less than Raisel Iglesias, the Angels (and rest of the MLB) could make some MAJOR improvements in the feeding, training, housing, and scouting of Minor leaguers. If it improved the development rate (however measured) by even 5%, it would probably pay off in a big way down the road -- and would help keep costs low at the major league level. Seriously, if doing this three years ago had resulted in just ONE additional half-decent late inning reliever for this year's team, it might already have paid for itself. So while I am not really troubled with a 30-year old man complaining that he's living like a college freshman, it would be nice for the Angels to commit money to these other ways of potentially improving performance.

I could go either way here. 150-ish innings at a 4.00 ERA from a guy who more than likely won't cost a lot? A guy who could really stabilize the back end of a 6 man rotation that otherwise has lots of youth (with Sandoval/Canning/Detmers)? Sign me up. If trading Cobb can somehow make it easier to acquire more pitching (Tyler Anderson, Pablo Lopez, Jon Grey, or reliever-du-jour) or even a catcher, then you obviously do that.

Might be my favorite pick in the draft; great value, should move fairly quickly, and should be a reliever from the get-go.

I mean, we drafted him.... so yes?

Yeah... value picks are normally guys that are clearly non-first rounders -- Bachman was a lock for the first round.

Man... this is a little more negative than what I was expecting... though that's on me. I kinda totally get getting gun-shy on Rocker. It's been two years since he's looked like a sure-fire, #1-or-#2 pick; it will be another 8 months or so until he's pitching in live games regularly. That's a long time before you can see if his last two seasons were a "2020" thing or an "actual (if small) decline" sort of thing. Also won't be surprised to hear if there is some background stuff that helped him drop. Bottom line-- I'm more surprised that Madden was on the board than Rocker. Madden would have been my choice, but Bachman has some really, really exciting stuff -- I actually think he has a shot at having a plus change, but he really only needs an average one.

Yeah... it seems weird when the Angels probably have the strongest track record of coming up with high-quality, overlooked players from the depth of their minors. I'd add Mike Napoli and Kole Calhoun to your list.

Normally, this is where I'd defend the billionaire and extoll the virtues of streamlining.... but minor league baseball is such a crap shoot that volume is an important factor for generating major league players. It's really hard to see how even a major increase in individualized instruction is going to overcome the sheer long odds that any individual becomes a strong MLB player.

20-3 2.19 ERA 271 K's 190 Innings (150-ish game season) Cy Young World Series MVP I mean, if we can't have an Ace for real, might as well have one for pretend.

Packy Naughton not #1? 0/10.

The only one that really confused me was the Wolf-Seminaris comp. Besides being lefties, their form didn't really match at all.

Mainly because the price for cost-controlled #2 starters is pretty high. We keep imagining that Adell is enough, but don't forget -- Lance Lynn cost a top-100 prospect all by himself. Also -- it's hard to imagine the Rays are in a rush to trade him. I wouldn't blame the Rays for starting with Adell-Paris-Detmers as their asking price.

If he could have added ONE more skill at the plate -- doubles power, On Base percentage -- he could have been Tim Locastro.