Second Base

Marte, Maldonado, Young and Hermosillo at the bottom. This can go really right or really wrong tonight.

Marte, Maldonado, Young and Hermosillo at the bottom. This can go really right or really wrong tonight.

Can't wait to see the numbers Marsh puts up in the hitter-friendly Cal League. 

Hunter is doing quite well. He's showing more plate discipline than anyone thought he had. Very good line drive pop and he can really fly around the bases. 
I expect Hunter, Adell and Marsh will finish the year as the OF at Inland Empire.

Hey!  There we go!  Now that Marsh is up, we'll likely see Adell promoted soon as well.  Jo's really seeing the ball well right now, and is starting to walk more too.  Marsh is definitely ready for the Cal League though.  No doubt about that.  He'll do very well there. 

Hunter is doing quite well. He's showing more plate discipline than anyone thought he had. Very good line drive pop and he can really fly around the bases. 
I expect Hunter, Adell and Marsh will finish the year as the OF at Inland Empire.

Hey!  There we go!  Now that Marsh is up, we'll likely see Adell promoted soon as well.  Jo's really seeing the ball well right now, and is starting to walk more too.  Marsh is definitely ready for the Cal League though.  No doubt about that.  He'll do very well there. 

Cool, thanks Scotty!

Hunter is doing quite well. He's showing more plate discipline than anyone thought he had. Very good line drive pop and he can really fly around the bases. 
I expect Hunter, Adell and Marsh will finish the year as the OF at Inland Empire.

Hunter is doing quite well. He's showing more plate discipline than anyone thought he had. Very good line drive pop and he can really fly around the bases. 
I expect Hunter, Adell and Marsh will finish the year as the OF at Inland Empire.

These move fulfills a few different roles.
1. We need a 4th OF that can cover all three outfield spots.  Chris Young can play a little in CF, but not much.  Herm might not playing as much as he'll be providing depth. 
2. This offense needs help, it needs a spark plug and Hermosillo is definitely a spark plug.  He gets on base and terrorizes pitchers.
3. As I've said in the minor league thread, it really isn't about his slash line as much as where he's hitting the ball and how he's playing defense.  He's been working on some specific things and has really grown in the last couple weeks.  The Angels like to challenge their prospects. 
4. If the Angels are looking at any sort of extended absence from Upton, or if they're looking to replace Calhoun in RF eventually, they'll need someone who actually projects into the lineup.  Hermosillo projects to be an everyday major leaguer.  He has great plate discipline, decent power, tons of speed and can play defense.  He also has the athleticism to make up for many short comings.
5. This might just light a fire in Kole.  It can't be comfortable sporting his slash line and looking over at a very talented 23 year old that's hungry enough to take your job. 
- Just an all-around good move. 

These move fulfills a few different roles.
1. We need a 4th OF that can cover all three outfield spots.  Chris Young can play a little in CF, but not much.  Herm might not playing as much as he'll be providing depth. 
2. This offense needs help, it needs a spark plug and Hermosillo is definitely a spark plug.  He gets on base and terrorizes pitchers.
3. As I've said in the minor league thread, it really isn't about his slash line as much as where he's hitting the ball and how he's playing defense.  He's been working on some specific things and has really grown in the last couple weeks.  The Angels like to challenge their prospects. 
4. If the Angels are looking at any sort of extended absence from Upton, or if they're looking to replace Calhoun in RF eventually, they'll need someone who actually projects into the lineup.  Hermosillo projects to be an everyday major leaguer.  He has great plate discipline, decent power, tons of speed and can play defense.  He also has the athleticism to make up for many short comings.
5. This might just light a fire in Kole.  It can't be comfortable sporting his slash line and looking over at a very talented 23 year old that's hungry enough to take your job. 
- Just an all-around good move. 

More than anything, I think it's time to light a fire in the offense. Calhoun isn't cutting it, give him a couple weeks of phantom injury recovery time, bring Blash in and see what happens over a couple weeks. Maybe Kole figures it out, maybe Blash goes on a tear. But rolling the same thing out night after night has stalled the offense.
Promote Jose Miguel Fernandez, not necessarily to take anyone's job, but simply as a warning to Cozart, Kinsler, Valbuena and even Pujols. Start hitting the ball, otherwise we have someone right here who will, and thus will replace you. In fact, just have him start taking one game a week at 3B, 2B, 1B and DH.
Finally, start taking a very hard look at David Fletcher and Michael Hermosillo. I know they haven't spent as much time in AAA as you'd like, but because of their skill sets, as soon as they are ready, promote them. Don't wait. That's two young very dynamic spark plugs that could help this team on offense and defense.

I know you already know this, but I'll write it so that the others reading this thread can properly frame the eval process.  So much of what we do is look at the skills, as well as the numbers relative to their age. 
Jo Adell has better power, is faster, and is a better defender than Brandon Marsh.  That says A LOT because Brandon Marsh is a good hitter with good power and great speed and he's a good defender.  It just so happens that Adell has great power with great speed and potentially great defense.  Adell is also a year younger than Marsh.  And as far as the numbers go...
Jo Adell is hitting .325 /.384 with 6 DB 3 HR and 3 SB in 20 games in A Ball at age 19. 
Brandon Marsh is hitting .287/.389 with 11 DB 3 HR and 3 SB in 32 games in A Ball at age 20. 
They really are both fantastic.  But Jo Adell is the better prospect.  It isn't by a mile, but it isn't neck and neck either.  Five years from now, I doubt anyone will care who was the better prospect in A Ball when they're both stars. 

My only problem with this philosophy is that pitchers generally went over 100 pitchers with Scioscia.  So I don’t think it is his philosophy, I think it is an Eppler anti injury thing coupled with the newest phenomenon of not allowing starters to go a third time through the line up unless they are Ace type pitchers.

Hopefully the Angels start dipping down to AAA to fix that offense of theirs.
Calhoun, Kinsler, Valbuena and now it looks like we might have to go a while without Upton. 
I think at any rate, this team could use Jose Miguel Fernandez. I'm not suggesting he replace Kinsler, but it would be nice to have him as an option. And Valbuena...well JMF could start taking AB's from him. And if he could somehow pick up the corner OF, that would be ideal.

There's already one of those.

Astros: 101-61. The Big Three (Cole, Verlander, and Morton) will each contend for a Cy Young, the offense will kick ass, and the bullpen will be more than adequate.
Angels:  89-73.  The starters will be very good, but not brilliant (and there may be the usual extended DL trip or two) the bullpen will struggle all season long and blow games as Eppler looks for stopgap fixes, and some of the hitters will disappear. Trout will come out of his slump and have a great year, Ohtani will be spectacular, Upton will hit 40 home runs and drive in 110, and Simmons will actually contend for a batting title. Pujols will finish at .240 with a million weak grounders to the left side and some mammoth home runs. The rest of the offense? Unmentionable.
A's: 86-76.  A decent team with some interesting overachievers.
Mariners: 82-80. Loss of Cano will hurt. 
Rangers: 74-88. Try as I might, I can't find much here that doesn't belong in the bargain bin at Kmart.

I know you already know this, but I'll write it so that the others reading this thread can properly frame the eval process.  So much of what we do is look at the skills, as well as the numbers relative to their age. 
Jo Adell has better power, is faster, and is a better defender than Brandon Marsh.  That says A LOT because Brandon Marsh is a good hitter with good power and great speed and he's a good defender.  It just so happens that Adell has great power with great speed and potentially great defense.  Adell is also a year younger than Marsh.  And as far as the numbers go...
Jo Adell is hitting .325 /.384 with 6 DB 3 HR and 3 SB in 20 games in A Ball at age 19. 
Brandon Marsh is hitting .287/.389 with 11 DB 3 HR and 3 SB in 32 games in A Ball at age 20. 
They really are both fantastic.  But Jo Adell is the better prospect.  It isn't by a mile, but it isn't neck and neck either.  Five years from now, I doubt anyone will care who was the better prospect in A Ball when they're both stars. 

The M's will be that bad?  Bold.  I like it!  Part of me hopes they keep Dipoto around so that the Mariners can continue to suck for a long time, but the other part of me hopes they can Dipoto because that guy deserves it. 

Currently...
Astros: 27-17
Angels: 25-17
Mariners: 24-17
Athletics: 21-21
Rangers: 16-27
----------------------------
Ending....
Astros: 94-68.  Pitching won't be as good going forward, but the offense will erupt and their bullpen is deep.
Angels: 90-72. The Angels offense and rotation will both be steady, above average assets. But the difference between them and other contenders is poor bullpen options and management.
Mariners: 84-78. I don't expect Seattle to stay in it much longer. Great offense, but the pitching and defense are lacking. Plus losing Cano is a big hit on the field and in the clubhouse.
Athletics: 82-80. Better than they're given credit for but not a contender yet.
Rangers: 72-90. Outside of Gallo and Mazara, hard to see optimism there.
 
 

Currently...
Astros: 27-17
Angels: 25-17
Mariners: 24-17
Athletics: 21-21
Rangers: 16-27
----------------------------
Ending....
Astros: 94-68.  Pitching won't be as good going forward, but the offense will erupt and their bullpen is deep.
Angels: 90-72. The Angels offense and rotation will both be steady, above average assets. But the difference between them and other contenders is poor bullpen options and management.
Mariners: 84-78. I don't expect Seattle to stay in it much longer. Great offense, but the pitching and defense are lacking. Plus losing Cano is a big hit on the field and in the clubhouse.
Athletics: 82-80. Better than they're given credit for but not a contender yet.
Rangers: 72-90. Outside of Gallo and Mazara, hard to see optimism there.
 
 

And even then, that's an encompassing assessment, and not true of all picks.  Jahmai Jones really bucked the trend for Dipoto.  But it also speaks volumes that his best draft pick (either Hermosillo or Jones) were picks that didn't fit his norm.  Dipoto's norm sucked.  The same goes for his international strategy.  Dipoto's best international signing was a kid from Panama that no one else was really looking at.  Not exactly an international hot bed of talent. 
So we look at Eppler.  His norms are high upside players in the draft and he signed players out of areas that are not your typical international hot beds. 
The best moves Dipoto ever did were those times that he drafted and signed like Billy Eppler. 
Jerry Dipoto is very bad at this GM thing. 

Sticking with Jose Alvarez when it was clear after the second batter that he didn't have it IS Scioscia's fault.  He kept Alvarez in there for another few batters, just long enough for the Astros to stick it to the Angels.  He could've brought in Noe Ramirez, he could've brought in Justin Anderson, he could've brought in Jim Johnson, he could've brought in Blake Parker and we still likely would've won that game. 
His bullpen selection.  
The blame is on Scioscia.

Sticking with Jose Alvarez when it was clear after the second batter that he didn't have it IS Scioscia's fault.  He kept Alvarez in there for another few batters, just long enough for the Astros to stick it to the Angels.  He could've brought in Noe Ramirez, he could've brought in Justin Anderson, he could've brought in Jim Johnson, he could've brought in Blake Parker and we still likely would've won that game. 
His bullpen selection.  
The blame is on Scioscia.