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There is a big assumption with all this, and it's our current 5 pitchers all remain healthy. I know the Angels have been snake bit, but honestly, not many five man rotations last an entire year. My biggest concerns are with Canning. He was shut down due to forearm tightness at the end of the year. That scares the shit out me. But, I do agree in principle with your post that our situation isn't quite as dire as we assume. Ohtani is a true #1, Canning can be a #3, 2018 Heaney was very solid, Bundy is a workhorse, and Sandoval has some upside. We still have one hell of a bullpen, we have better coaches (we poorly mismanaged the staff last year), I am curious to see if Sandoval takes a big step and expect he'll have a break out year. Also, let's see how Calloway manages Suarez who was called up way to early. I hope we sign Keuchel because he is a ground ball pitcher, had a relative light year last year compared to his prior two, and he's consistent. Plus, he'll be much cheaper than Ryu, who to me has just a little more upside, but way too many question marks.

Absolutely

Do you think that Boras achieving such inflated contracts for his top end clients, it will hurt the bottom line of his middle tier clients? The amount of organizations left who need starters (and also have the cap space) has dwindled extensively, so there are less actors to bid against each other. In addition, teams have more leverage with trades. After all, there was no quality of player to the likes of Rendon, Cole, or Strausburg on the trade market. But, considering guys like Boyd, Kluber, Ray, and Darvish have all been floated out there they are arguably just as good if not better than what's left.

A bit surprised no one took Ortega

I want to trade for Kluber. I know the injury history, but the upside could be huge. I would even be willing to trade some prospect capital, but we could also get some prospect capital in return. If we make a package like Rengifo, Suarez, Barria, Jones, Yan, and Adams for Kluber, Bo Naylor, Ethan Hankins, and Scott Moss or something to that effect.

I originally thought this list was fan made, but upon reading it I found it quite insightful. I imagine it could spark some interesting discussion while we wait for Cole to either break our hearts and make this a great holiday. https://www.fantraxhq.com/top-25-los-angeles-angels-prospects-2020/ My apologies if this has already been posted.

I would take a look at Tony Wolters. In fact, I kind of hope we pick him up.

Jack Kochanowicz is probably my first choice, but I expect Robinson Pina to start turning heads.

I also think some of the Will Wilson critique came from the fact he was a disappointing draft pick. Just about every ranking had him roughly where the angels chose him. Not to mention, we have a lot of guys in the system already who project as a short or 2nd, so what did he really add to our farm system? Not to mention, we are sorely lack pitching both in the parent club and in the minors that I really wanted to draft the best available pitcher. That aside, I think the Angels did not think anyone available was really worth their draft slot value, so they chose the best prospect they liked who they thought they could save a few dollars on by signing other potential high ceiling guys. Because I believe the next three picks are all guys who could be top 50 prospects one day. With all this said, Wil Wilson was pretty much a consensus top 20 prospect who projects to be a good middle infielder with some power. Just because he had a lack luster debut doesn't negate in entire body of work in college or all the scouting reports that had him a consensus top 20-25 player in the draft. I am actually waiting to see (and sort of expecting) if he rocks both Burlington and Inland Empire pitching next year. I also tend to think the comparisons to Thaiss are a bit premature, but I still have hope for Thaiss as well. I still think Thaiss could be a good baseball player. I have concerns, though, he won't really be given a chance. I tend to think players really need some time to get their feet wet and go through their lumps, and Thaiss hasn't been given that opportunity. Bringing in Bour was a bad move, and they should have just platooned Thaiss with Albert (we couldn't have done any worse) all year. Get Thaiss a good 250 plus at bats this year and let's see how he does.

First, thank you everyone for these rankings. You all did a spectacular job. And I read minor league thread daily (well, at least when there are new posts). And, of course, I have my internal rankings. Now, I do not study these guys as much as you, but I have kept up with them. There will be some guys I follow closely this year, and quite frankly, this will be a make or break year for about ten prospects. I do agree with some, although Sandoval is technically eligible, I have a hard time viewing him as a prospect. I am hoping Callaway can do wonders with him, because when he got to the majors his fastball was much better than advertised. I believe the CRod rankings are a bit high with his injury, but I have to remind myself that Frankie Rodriguez could barely pitch in the minors (if memory serves) because one injury after another. And then after stringing a few months of healthy appearance made the 40 man roster in September, and of course the rest is history. But I also think of guys like Alex Meyer (granted I know he's a different body type etc.). My only question is why didn't they opt to do surgery two years ago when his back issues started manifesting. It almost seems like they lost an entire year of development. It was like when Richards spent a year trying to rehab his way through his elbow issues rather than just getting TJ surgery. He just simply delayed the inevitable. On another note, I also believe Ortega will be claimed in the Rule 5 draft by someone. He has the makings of a solid reliever.

I seriously doubt we'll lose a pick if we sign Cole. I have a feeling the Astros won't be picking in the next three rounds of the MLB draft for at least 2 if not 3 years.

When Maddon was first hired he praised David Fletcher is being a future all-star (if I recall correctly). Maybe they are planning to trade one of Fletcher, Rengifo, Thaiss, Biarra, or Suarez. Considering Fletcher got GG glove consideration, they'd get the largest net return for him, but if we did that we'd better get a great prospect or quality MLB starter in return. Does anyone on here think we could get someone like Boyd for Thaiss, Rengifo, and Suarez?

I really would be hesitant trading any top prospects. I really think we should explore trading Bedriosian and Simba, for some quality prospects to save some money. I do believe we may get a good left handed reliever at some teams' AAA for Bedriosian, but I am not sure what we can pull in for Simba since he only has one year left on his contract. But doing this will give us the flexibility to sign both Cole and Wheeler, and maybe have enough left over to offer someone like Moustakas a 2 year 20 million dollar contract or even Yoshitomo Tsutsugo a nice contract if you want to platoon various players depending on the days Ohtani DH's.

Oh hell man, I live in Houston. If the Astros win again I am gonna puke.

I completely agree ... comparing the two would be like comparing Ryan Leaf to Alex Smith. At the end of the day, Pujols has never been the reason why were have been as bad as we are. Under the Angels, Pujols has performed like what he really is ... one of the all time greats on the back-nine of his career. Also, Pujols is one of the most classiest players in baseball and has represented the Angels organization like a true ambassador. I know that doesn't necessarily amount to wins and losses, but if I had to guess, one of the reasons Trout is such a great player and good guy, is because he's had someone like Pujols to mentor him.

I say 7 years at 224 million I have no clue who he signs with.

Stradling is dead on. Beane would have sold Trout to the highest bidder and gotten massive prospects for him. I can't speak for the Rays, but Beane has developed a model that works for small market teams. Build up the farm and trade everyone away at peak value ... be awful for two-four years ... rinse and repeat. If we operated like that people would be frustrated for an entirely different reason.

I see the same thing happening. Cole is the biggest name FA pitcher since Scherzer, and I think a team is going to absolutely have to break the bank to get him. No matter what we offer, some team will match it. It will come down to him wanting to be back in Anaheim. I see a 7 year deal worth 220-240 million a year. I hope it's not that ridiculous and am keeping my fingers crossed we can get him for only 30 million a year (I can't believe I am saying that). I just do not think we'll have the money to land a Wheeler and may have to settle for something like Odorizzi or even Keuchel. Now, I am on record saying I'd spent 14 million on either but I also know they are big risks. If we ultimately want to make this work, I think we'll have to unload one of our contracts ... and since there won't be any takers on Cozart that leaves Simba. But he'll be viewed as a rental and unless we throw in some prospects I am not sure how much we'll get in return. That would clear the payroll some for another big acquisition. If we shop around Simba, Thaiss, and Hermosillo, surely we could get a quality AAA or AA arm with some upside?

You're right, and I got a little head of myself. Substitute Rengifo with someone like Hermosillo and even throw in Jahmai Jones. The key here is we package Simba and some MLB ready role players or player for a couple of really good solid AAA arms. La Stella would play second, and Fletcher would play short. If you keep Rengifo then he can play 2nd and move Fletcher over to third. Surely, Simba, Thiass, Hermisillo, and Jones could land us two quality AAA arms or a quality AAA arm and a good AA arm.

You're right about his warts, and I would even suggest more warts are showing up. His exit velocity has gone up every year, as has every other indicator showing he gets tagged. But relatively speaking, he is still better than a lot of other pitchers and (and correct me if I am wrong) better than the league average. I think there is value in his innings and probably would be willing to go a little higher than 10 million a year. I would even offer a 2 year 28 million with a club option. But in doing so, I do realize whatever he did this year in Atlanta will be his absolute ceiling, and more than likely he'll progressively get worse. But his value in getting quality innings is worth a few extra million in my humble opinion. If we had a #4 or 5 guy who routinely pitched six innings without giving up 5 runs an outing, that could really help our bullpen. I think we could have one of the best bullpens in baseball if they weren't so overused.

That's about what I was thinking ... about 12 mill a year or so. He does give up a ton of base runners and the reality is his WHIP will more than likely go up a bit moving back to the American League. Once upon a time he was one of the better ground ball pitchers, which helps with his high WHIP, but I do not know if that is still the case.

Unfortunately, I think it will cost a lot more than 35 million to fix the problem. I actually believe that Cole will demand around 30 million himself, and Wheeler will want another 20 million. I just don't see us getting both, but I hope to hell I am wrong. This is what I hope we do ... We sign Cole for whatever price we can get him. And depending on how much we have left, we go after a second tier pitcher (if you have the money for Wheeler he's obviously my first choice but I just don't see it). So I say you offer a 15-18 million dollar deal to someone like Odorizzi or maybe 12-15 million to someone like Kuechel. But, with this staff I do not think that will be enough. So, instead of trading our farm for Thor, I think we could to the opposite. I think we could package Simba, Rengifo, and Thaiss and see if you can't get some young quality pitching that is currently in AAA and a year away from being MLB ready. The Mets have a couple of guys like that. Then you move those guys into a rotation with Suarez, Sandoval, and Pena. This means our rotation will look like Cole, Odorizzi, Heaney, Canning (until he gets Tommy John at least), Ohtani, and whoever is best between Suarez, Sandoval, Pena, and the two quality AAA guys we just traded for. This way, we'll have a lot of depth in case Canning's arm issue continue to linger, and if we get less than 100 innings from Ohtani. And oddly enough, if we remain relatively healthy we'll have strengthened our farm system.

I remember back in December I got into with some folks over Dallas Keuchel. I said he would pitch 110 innings and have an ERA between 3.8 and 3.9, or something to that effect. A lot of folks said there was no way that would happen. Well, Keuchel this year has an ERA of 3.59 and has pitched 107 inning thus far and is going to pitch again tonight. How much do you think the market will be for Keuchel? Because of his stability, and his ability to eat up a lot of quality innings (unlike Nolasco, who gave us innings but they were anything but quality), would he be worth a 3 or 4 year contract? And if yes, how much?

A lot of this depends on the conference. The SEC West, in particular, is loaded with players top to bottom. These teams produce 3-5 mlb prospects just about every year. You're right though, the metal bats would mess things up, and it also depends on whether or not the game will be played with metal or wood bats. I am willing to bet, a team like Vanderbilt, MSU, Ole Miss, Arkansas, and LSU could compete with a high A affiliate.

We are going to have to address pitching one way or the other. We do have trade-able commodities, but we just do not want to give them up. I bet if we offered a team Marsh, Kole, Thaiss, and maybe Soto we could get some nice AAA pitching prospects in return. Because even if we do sign Garrett Cole next year (which is a big if), there will be a dramatic drop off between Cole, Ohtani, and everyone else. I know Heaney's had a rough year but he seems to have regressed to me. He's struggled with his command and continually gets behind in the count. And I am not sure what happened to Canning Griffith. He hit a brick wall lately. I hope he can work through it because both Griffith and Suarez have had some major growing pains this year. I think Canning will eventually bounce back, but I have serious concerns that Suarez recent control problems also are correlated with his magically increased velocity. Suarez has struggled all year, even before he was called up.