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.

Is there any information that can be shared that could shed light on whether Arte is "currently" skimping on things such as domestic and/or international scouting budget, international signings, player development (including nutrition)? Although there has been concern about such past skimping, if Arte is currently providing Perry and the rest of the baseball operations departments the funding and support they need, that would be great to hear. (I understand "funding and support they need" could be subjective)

Interesting article about Minasian. https://sports.yahoo.com/were-a-product-of-alexs-success-how-3-friends-grew-together-to-become-some-of-mlbs-most-influential-execs-184747343.html If this was already shared previously, sorry. Regardless of what I think about Arte, I think we should give Perry the benefit of the doubt and a little more patience before giving up on him. Minasian inherited quite a large mess.

Also, "baseball operations" involves much more than the construction of the major league roster or 40 man roster. The quality of the major league roster and 40 man roster should be the end result of all baseball operations related decisions including scouting, drafting, player development, trades, etc.

Ok, you have a point related to some arrogant actions by Tavares (team president). Thank you for the clarification. It doesn't change the the main points about what I said and why it would be beneficial to hire baseball people to run baseball operations and have ownership stay out of such baseball operations related decisions.

Tavares wasn't making the baseball operations related decisions either. The point is there were people who knew baseball that were hired to make the baseball operations related decisions and ownership (Disney) stayed out of such decisions.

Even if not a complete major league roster rebuild, the bigger picture would be the need to rebuild the baseball operations side of the Angels organization from the bottom up. Significantly more than just talking about the current roster. The same ole losing each year is just a symptom. Victor referred to this in the podcast. An example (although not exactly what Victor was referring to) would be a trip down memory lane to the Autry years. Our beloved Halos had a few winning seasons scattered here and there, but mostly disappointment/losing. Gene liked shiney objects (Reggie, etc) similar to Arte and put an arguably similarlly half hearted focus on the farm, organizational depth, lack of an "Angels way" from bottom to top, etc. The relatively weak depth of quality young players put the Angels at a disadvantage when injuries occurred and for trade opportunities. Later, Jackie took the reigns when Gene became less able. Jackie later sold the team to Disney. Disney hired some baseball people to run the baseball operations side of the business as Disney knew nothing about baseball. Disney stayed out of the baseball operations related decisions. Then a handful of years go by, 2002 WS happens, the baseball organization is healthy from bottom to top, and our Halos have the most consistently winning years in Angels baseball history. This was the result of baseball people running baseball operations and ownership staying out of the way (including Moreno for the first few years after buying the team from Disney). Unfortunately, the more Moreno's fingerprints were on baseball operations related decisions that should have continued to be solely delegated to the baseball people, the sicker the organization became from bottom to top which has resulted in what us fans have seen in recent years (consistent losing). Another example of good that can come from rebuilding "baseball operations" side of an organization even if the major league roster did not have a complete teardown/rebuild would be when the current Dodgers ownership group bought the Dodgers from Frank McCourt. I believe Arte could rebuild the Angels baseball organization in a similar way (even if not having a complete rebuild of the major league roster)... if Arte wanted to... This would require an increased focus on bottom to top organizational health rather than predominantly focusing on shiney marketing possibilities for the major league club. The irony is that this bigger picture thinking would likely result in the best chance of rebuilding a "consistently" winning major league team once again. This is the way I hope Arte will build around the current core of major league players.

I would pick Hamilton also (due to limiting the answer to “players”). However, the one most responsible for the signing of Hamilton I would fault more.

Thanks for welcoming me back Chuckster70 (fka chuckyy)! This is a very nice site you created. I also like that it has moderators which I happen to believe is a necessary feature that keeps everything, well, moderated ... Also, thank you too Angelsjunky for welcoming me! Can't believe BigDel is no longer an Angels fan... His SUV in the late 90s or early 2000's was periwinkle (custom painted) due to the Angels team color when under Disney ownership... To each their own though... I am also sorry to hear about Pablo and Salome... Rest in peace...

Seems like a good kid. I am interested to follow his progression. What a fastball!

Consortium? Maybe Arte can sell to a group of Frank McCourt, Donald Sterling, Jackie Autry... We can dream, can't we?