Yes We Can

48 minutes ago, Revad said:

Solid choice IMO.  He’s got Trout, Rendon and some good young players.  If he thinks he’s going to be here for 4 years that will make a big difference.  The GM search had a good outome.

I agree. Very solid. Great story also.

I think Minasian is going to build a great team. I like what I hear and read so far.

I don't think Adell gets traded.

First, you rarely see top 10 MLB prospects get traded. I can't think of one but I'm sure it has happened. Secondly, I don't think the Angels get the value they would want because of how poorly he played.

I think Adell starts the season in SLC if there is a MiLB season.

On 11/12/2020 at 7:12 PM, Chuckster70 said:

 

"His experiences make Perry Minasian perhaps uniquely suited to run a major league team at the moment. The game has skewed toward more and more data-driven decisions. Data is a great tool. But data can’t predict how a team on the same page might outperform its projections. It can’t predict how an organization, from isolated scouts in far-flung locations to minor league instructors to front office types, can better function if the boss understands and empathizes with their issues because he’s been in their exact situation. It’s still a game played by and maintained by people."

"For too long, baseball has swung from one end of the pendulum to the other. In Perry Minasian, the former clubhouse kid from Arlington, the Angels may have found a way to combine best of both worlds."

He seems to have a really nice hybrid mentality of old school and new school. I think he and Maddon will be a nice duo.

3 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

You have hindsight to work with and still you have no idea if what you think would be true.  For all we know they would simply have a different set of problems.  Facts are that when drafting pitching not only do you have to trust you're making the right choice but you have to also be lucky to avoid arm injuries which we have seen isn't anything remotely close to science.

Reality is the Angels ended 2020 with four SPs sporting an ERA+ over 100, three of them 113 or better and none of them are named Ohtani.   Had the defense not been a joke the SP would have likely done a better job of limiting runs.  Obviously pitching depth remains an issue, but there is a decent pipeline of position players in place everywhere except at catcher.  

The Angels needed everything by 2015, they chose to focus on the least risky of those needs .. position players.  They loaded the back of every draft with arms and backed that up with more arms via the international market as @tdawg87pointed out.  Moving forward my guess is we see a more balanced approach, but if they end up going hard after pitching it will be because of their decision to try to fill the many positional black holes there were in the system.

They still need catching in a big way...

My belief is a team needs to look for high end pitchers in the first two rounds. This is where nearly all of the drafted top of the order SP's are found. Every year is different and it's always going to be hit and miss. I'm not saying we shouldn't still go after toolsy teenagers but let's balance it out. In the five years prior to this most recent draft there were 10 picks in the top two rounds. Only one was a pitcher, Griffin Canning. And he is the only one of those 10 draft choices that has had a positive impact. If 5 of those picks were pitchers instead of only 1 the team would be in a better place in my opinion.

So it's obvious you don't agree with my opinion, and I respect that. Others agree. That's how it works. Let's move on. Enjoy your day.

Packy Naughton. LH SP from VA Tech. AA in 2019.

17 hours ago, Jeremiah said:

Also, this happened while she was working for the Dodgers:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=1662212

So, yeah, her hiring as GM is a big deal.

I am guessing Bill Singer was fired soon after this was written?

11 hours ago, cvdog said:

Can we please start developing pitchers in our farm system once again? His #1 job is obviously beefing up our pitching staff.

I agree. 

1 hour ago, Inside Pitch said:

The decision to focus on bats was 100% predicated on the total lack of position player depth up and down the system. 

My point is exactly this. I think this strategy was a mistake. From 2015-2019 the Angels drafted only one pitcher in the first two rounds of the draft. I think if they had gone after more high level college pitchers the team would be in a better place.

I don't understand why some people are against the draft strategy the team employed in 2020. I think if they had used the same strategy for the last 6 years the team may be in a better place.

19 minutes ago, Stradling said:

This is just false.  There are literally dozens of pitchers drafted in the first round that never make it to the majors. Those are worse whiffs. 

So the Angels shouldn't draft a player because they may fail? Got it. Another great plan.

1 minute ago, Stradling said:

No but to pretend drafting a pitcher that fails is better than drafting players that play in the big leagues is just incredibly stupid. 

I don't think any teams draft players in the first round they expect to fail. To think this and to post it is "incredibly stupid".

7 minutes ago, Stradling said:

This is just false.  There are literally dozens of pitchers drafted in the first round that never make it to the majors. Those are worse whiffs. 

So draft college catchers in the first round because there is a chance a college pitcher may fail.

Got it. Good plan.

28 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

I have no doubt Minasian will focus on SP, but the interesting thing will be to see how he does it.  There are two routes he can go:

1.  Use most of the money he has available to sign Bauer, thus securing a #1 to our rotation

2.  Spread his free agent money to areas that are more economical (2B, LHH OF, relief, backend SP) to fill up those areas, and instead, utilize prospects to acquire a more prominent SP to put at the top (or towards the top) of the rotation

As cool as #1 would be, I could see the 2nd route being more likely, given that it probably will lead to a better overall club, as for the price of Bauer, you can probably sign 4-5 other guys to patch up weaknesses and strengthen this team overall.

But yeah, that said - I do expect pitching to be addressed, both SP and relief.

#2 without the LH outfielder. 

7 hours ago, tdawg87 said:

And I mean, hindsight, 20/20, yada yada. Dakota Hudson was drafted in the 36th round. You know how many picks went before him?

What? Yes we all know. 33 picks went before him.

Dakota Hudson was drafted in the 1st round not in the 36th round??

The point is this team could have prioritized SP in the draft. They did not. And even if they whiffed with a college pitcher the chances are they would not have whiffed any worse than selecting Ward and Thaiss in the first round.

12 hours ago, Stradling said:

She was interviewed in 2011, when they hired Dipoto.  She likely wasn’t interviewed this time because they didn’t see it as a good fit.

Good fit? Really?

42 minutes ago, cvdog said:

Can we please start developing pitchers in our farm system once again? His #1 job is obviously beefing up our pitching staff.

Yes. Taylor Ward in 2015 and Matt Thaiss in 2016 could have been Mike Soroka and Dakota Hudson. Even if they failed, would they have failed worse than they did with Ward and Thaiss? If you need pitching then maybe draft pitching in the first round, not catchers!!

That was ridiculous behavior for an MLB club!!

I use BR WAR because I use baseball reference for other non-deep dives daily. It's my go to site.

3 hours ago, rafibomb said:

 

 

I think he signed the wrong Wong.

5 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

I have no idea if he chose anyone.  There was friction between Dipoto and Scioscia and Dipoto quit over it. 

I agree 100%. We don't know.

So for someone, not you, to post here it was not Arte is an uninformed opinion

1 minute ago, Dtwncbad said:

It appears he told Dipoto to put on his big boy pants and deal with it, and Dipoto had a tantrum and left?

So you think Arte chose Scioscia over Dipoto. If he chose Dipoto over Scioscia he would have had that conversation with Scioscia. 

3 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Except one guys actions lead to him losing the clubhouse and that guy was Jerry Dipoto.  He was the one that tried the power move in the clubhouse (which isn’t his place) and he lost the clubhouse.  This is on Jerry.  

So if this is true, when the clubhouse chose Scioscia over Dipoto what did Arte do?

4 minutes ago, Stradling said:

This is a narrative that isn’t all that accurate.

Why did Dipoto leave?

4 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

The common denominator is the Angels play in Anaheim and wear red. 

And Arte is the owner.

20 minutes ago, Yes We Can said:

My comment was based on Billy Eppler's tenure, not Reagins, Dipoto, Herzog, Port, Dalton, Walsh or Haney.

Our next guy should perform better than these guys. Right?