Angelsjunky

Andy Sheets Jeff Huson Tim Unroe Steve Decker Bret Hemphill Mike Colangelo Mike Magnante Mike Holtz Mark Petkovsek

Rene Gonzales Rob Ducey Ken Oberkfell Greg Myers Alvin Davis

Dallas McPherson Trent Durrington Nick Gorneault Brian Specht John Orton Johnny Ray Hubie Brooks

Jeff Mathis

So you're saying that the Angels medical staff might have a better clue as to how to handle Ohtani's injury than the Angelswin pundits?

I'm normally in the School of Stoneman--that is, one to overvalue prospects--but in this case, yes, absolutely. As great as Adell could be, Syndergaard is already, and still quite young. Furthermore, the Angels have far more depth in the outfield than they do in starting pitching. The Angels have no one even close to Syndergaard's talent in the minors.

Not a glowing scouting report on Rengifo. I guess he projects as a bench player. I know I'm biased but I just think he's going to outperform the scouting report.

I've got a Rengiboner.

I have scoffed at some (Chuck, I think) comparing Ward to Donaldson, but when you look at the minor league numbers it isn't so far-fetched. Donaldson was drafted #48 overall in 2007, in the supplementary round. He advanced quickly to A+, but then stalled out a bit at AA/AAA, finally breaking out in 2012 at age 26, his third year in AAA: .335/.402/.598, making his major league debut that year (.241/.289/.398 in 75 games). He adjusted in 2013 at age 27 (.301/.384/.499, 24 HR, 7.2 fWAR) and was the second best player in the majors from 2013-17 behind You Know Who. Now I highly doubt Ward becomes a superstar, but give how unexpected his offensive surge was this year, who knows. I'm hesitantly optimistic he can hit .270/.800 with average defense.

I will also add that the 2018 draft was pitcher-heavy, so if players progress as hoped--and if we see positive development from some of the low level pitchers--the pitching should improve somewhat.

Our farm is top 15 right now, possibly top 10. IMO, of course. As I said elsewhere, for position players we're probably 5-10 range, but for pitchers we're more like 20--25. Overall I'd say 10-15.

It is a subtly nice haul that isn't well represented by their pre-season organization rankings. While Diaz is the obvious centerpiece (.314/.428/.477 as a 21 year old in AA), Bannon is a nice grap: hitting .296/.402/.559 in A+ at age 22. Kremer, also 22, is having a good year, 3.03 ERA with 29 walks and 125 K in 86 innings between A+/AA. Pop is a solid middle relief prospect and Valera looks like a minor league journeyman/bench player. Off the top of my head, an equivalent package from the Angels would have been something like Brandon Marsh, Jose Suarez, Jose Rojas, Tyler Stevens, and Sherman Johnson. (Suarez might be a touch better than Kremer, but Bannon is better than Rojas).

I normally don't give much weight to such PR statements, but this was golden.

Trout now in a three way fWAR tie at 6.5 with Ramirez and Betts. His Def has also continued to go down, now at 1.3...it seems his so-called defensive improvements aren’t holding. Pretty disappointing last month considering if he had come close to keeping pace he’d be close to 8 fWAR by now. Let’s hope he has a better last 65 games and leaves Ramiréz and Betsy in th dust.

Is it just me or does Foltynewicz have crazy movement on his 97-99 mph fastball. What nasty stuff.

Three true outcomes.

Dude, he gave props to Trout. He wasn't talking about himself. I think the whole douche thing is overblown with Harper.

Nice props Harper gave to Howie Kendrick.

Stuff is definitely part of it. Sometimes pitchers are considered "pitchability" types (Suarez, Barria) or upside/stuff types (Soriano, C Rodriguez). The former get by on guile and the craft of pitching and tend to have lower ceilings but higher floors, while the latter have great stuff but also lower floors. Before this year Canning was considered more in the pitchability category but I think his stuff has improved and he's somewhere in-between, although more towards pitchability. The very best pitching prospects--the guys that are considered "#1 for sho" are usually advanced upside types -- that is, very young guys with great stuff who are succeeding in the high minors (AA/AAA). But they are very rare, indeed. And yes, Ohtani was (and is) considered a future #1, at least as his upside. As for descriptions of #1, 2, etc. I'd say something like this: #1 starter: Sub-3.00 ERA, possible Cy Young candidate #2 starter: ERA in low 3.00s, very good pitcher #3 starter: ERA in mid to upper 3.00s, good pitcher #4 starter: ERA around league average, something like 4.00-4.50 #5 starter: Filler, below league average >4.50 ERA In terms of Angels pitching prospects, I'd say their ceiling/floors are: Canning: #2/3 Suarez: #3/4 (like Barria) L Pena: #3/5 Gatto: #4/5 Castillo: #4/5 Some say that Soriano and C Rodriguez have true #1 potential but I'd like to see more before hazarding a guess. But those two could be #1s or they could flameout before reaching AA.

I remember A-Rod saying something to the effect that three true outcomes wins games over a season but doesn't win short series and playoffs. He suggested that we'll see a comeback of contact and speed type players. Anyhow, I think Maicer is more of Rengifo's floor. Maicer didn't really blossom in the minors until 2004 at age 23, while Rengifo is blossoming at age 21 at A+/AA/AAA. This would imply greater upside for Rengifo.

F*ck YOU.

I think so, yes. He's one of those guys who does a lot of little things well, but nothing that stands out as super flashy (this is where the Jose Reyes comp doesn't quite work). I could see Rengifo hitting .290/.380/.430 with 30-10-10 2b-3b-HR, and 40 SB in the majors.

Not worried about Canning: he still projects as a #2 or very good #3. I just love what Rengifo brings to the table and hope it translates to the majors.

I’d add Rivas to that second list. And then we have a third list of players whose stock has stalled: Nonie, Maitan, Torii, Duensing.

That pitching line for Rivera looks much better. He was totally overmatched at Orem. I feel like Deveaux is slowly improving. Nice plate discipline.