JVel17

Last decade, not much. After Arte prioritized the glamor FA signings to generate more revenue from TV contracts and seemingly deprioritized scouting/player development (example: firing of Eddie Bane after a great draft class), it seems the slim pickings in the last decade may be the result of that deprioritization. Prior to that, some come to mind such as F-Rod, Aybar, Santana, etc. Agree that a low % of scouted players pan out, but that would generally be true for both domestic and international players. I would prefer the Angels do all they can (more, not less) to scout both domestic AND international players to increase the stable of young players so maybe a few more young players pan out (including having more young players that other teams may want in trade, such as how the Dodgers got Mookie Betts). The Angels, like the Dodgers, are in a large market and should have as much or more revenue to plow back into budget for scouting & player development than other teams like Tampa Bay, Baltimore, and most other teams. Instead of doing only one or the other (build via FA or build via scouting & player development), can't the Angels do both? The Dodgers seem like they do both. Although the Angels have some good young players (O'Hoppe recently obtained via trade, Silseth, Neto, Schanuel obtained via draft), I am hoping more can be done to look everywhere to obtain young players (and then develop them) to strengthen the organization's foundation of having a few good young players pan out to fill holes due to injury or to maybe trade sometimes for quality established players.

How would Mejia compare to Bengie Molina? Would it be too simplistic to say there are some similarities between Mejia and Molina, but with Molina hitting slightly better at major league level, striking out less %, but slower (hitting into more DPs), and a little better defensively (throwing out a slightly better % of baserunners)?

Received a reply message from Jeff Fletcher. Jeff is not aware of any changes (since part III of last year's OC Register article) as pertaining to Angels' priorities relating to player development. This seems like good news as there were positive developments that Jeff reported a year ago about the organization's priorities related to player development.

Thank you Redondo. The thread you noted has much good information about farm related topics. I will review to see if the thread may have info that relates to my questions about current/ongoing organizational "priorities" relating to player development (information that may not be readily available).

Thank you AngelsJunky. Agreed, proof is years away. However I was just wondering if there has been any reports, positive or negative, that would relate to the continuing organizational "priorities" (or regression of such priorities), of the player development "infrastructure" and not necessarily the current quality of the stable of young players. You are right that it is very hard to quantify such a thing that I am mentioning as these types of things are not necessarily reported on like what happens at the major league level. Some examples could be whether there is a continuing highly prioritized emphasis (or potential regression of such emphasis) to build a well paid player development staff (including coaches), improvements in nutrition, conditioning, and anything else that may show Arte and Perry are continuing the higher prioritization of the player development system from the last couple years that was reported by Jeff Fletcher in OC Register approximately 1 year ago. Was not sure if there have been any recent reports of such information (other than what Jeff Fletcher reported a year ago).

Last year our favorite OC Register reporter, Jeff Fletcher, wrote a 3 part article about Angels "Farm Failures" in which the 3rd part noted the player development system was trending upwards. Some examples were not only related to drafting, but a change in some player development philosophies, emphasis on a more balanced approach to modern technologies (rather than an over emphasis under Eppler), increased pay to their minor league coaches, etc. As it is now a year later, is there any feedback on whether the "trending upwards" is continuing? Any specific positives? Any specific concerns? Thanks.

Buzzie Bavasi: "We can get two players to go 8-7 and we wouldn't miss Nolan Ryan."

Fangraphs: Additional info about the what, why, how, etc, of what happened today. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/qa-what-the-heck-did-the-angels-and-some-other-teams-just-do/

OC Register, Jeff Fletcher: https://www.ocregister.com/2023/08/29/angels-waive-5-impending-free-agents-potentially-cutting-7m-in-salary/

Information here could help explain some questions about how August waivers work: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlbs-trade-deadline-has-passed-but-there-are-still-three-ways-for-contenders-to-acquire-players/

Was able to catch up reading all 3 parts. On one hand, the main points are not surprising based on a history of the farm results in recent years. On the other hand, the detail of research, interviews, and reporting is amazing and helps provide confidence in having accurate information about what has been going on. Sort of like the first 2 parts detailing the illness and the 3rd part detailing steps being taken to cure the illness. I almost hope Arte doesn't sell the team in the next couple years for the sole reason it will give Perry and his staff in baseball ops more time to succeed (maybe increasing the possibility a new owner would consider keeping Perry and his staff). Thank you very much Jeff for the best article I have read in years.

Thank you very much for providing.

Grichuck also recently struck out swinging on all pitches outside the strike zone. The pitcher didn't throw one pitch in the strike zone the whole at bat.

Thank you Jeff. If you don't mind, could you provide a link to your series on the minor leagues last year?

Is the takeaway that some of the starting pitchers could prefer the consistency or routine of a 5-man rotation? The recent podcast included Victor touching on the potential negative aspects of a 6-man rotation and how all non-Ohtani starters continually need to adjust their routines around when Ohtani wants to pitch.