Saga of Taylor Featherston continues.......

[disarcina]

transaction report from 7/16/17 : Tampa Bay Rays option Taylor Featherston to the DURHAM BULLS"

 

Taylor Featherston, who spent a whole season (pretty much on the Angels bench) on the Angels 25 man big league roster as a Rule 5 pick -- which means the team can't send him to the minors or they lose the player to his former team -- in Featherston's case that would have been the Colorado Rockies --  he didn't play much, got his first hit of the season about ten days after the All Star Break and generally cost the Halos a roster spot (that could have been used for an extra arm in the pen or some real bench depth, perhaps someone with some power at the plate).

Anyway, the Halos after having him warm a bench seat all season, one of the more expensive seats at the ballpark (which have said Josh Hamilton's seat, but he wasn't at the ballpark), unceremoniously traded him for next to nothing shortly after the season ended.

He bounced around a bit and spent parts of this season up with the Tampa Bay Rays........and now........Durham.

[Broad Street]

The Angels didn't get next to nothing silly, they got absolutely nothing.

[Broad Street]

If I recall correctly he was released to sign someone else who then failed a physical and so we lost both of them.

[fan_since79]

Did he have a walk-off hit for us at some point, or is my memory failing?

 

[jsnpritchett]

8 minutes ago, fan_since79 said:

Did he have a walk-off hit for us at some point, or is my memory failing?

 

Yep, June 24, 2015 in the 13th inning vs. the Astros:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ANA/ANA201506240.shtml

 

[Angel Oracle]

Another case of Dipeutered only caring about trying to outsmart MLB, as Feather Bat was nowhere nears ready for MLB. 

[Jason]

Featherston was not good at baseball so non of this is surprising 

[TheHeathen]

Hell of an arm, loved showing it off, ask Robinson Cano.

[disarcina]

Featherston, good, bad, indifferent was less of an issue than the fact the Halos had him on the roster all season taking up a roster spot that could have been used to fill a need -- either bench depth with a power bat off the bench or another arm in the pen.......

but a prior post rings exactly accurate -- DiPoto with his Rule 5 'strategy' was trying to out-smart everyone.

Of course, like DiPoto, Featherston came from Colorado and DiPoto probably over-saw the draft where the Rockies picked him out of college.

I think he played at TCU and was a pretty good college player with a program that did well in the College World Series that one year, at least.

oh well.

spilled milk to be sure - but along with a lot of Halos moves, signings that don't make sense, the keeping a Rule V guy on the roster all season, not playing and then just cutting him loose right after the season was over -- seems one of the oddest ones.....

[tomsred]

Dipoto thought he found the Golden Goose.  Only problem it didn't lay any eggs, only turds.

[Angel Oracle]

Each week that goes by, Dipeutered becomes even more Dipeutered to this org.    Yep, can't really determine which one caused the most damage (Reagins or Dipeutered).   They both did a lot of harm to it in their 4 seasons at the GM helm.  

[Angelsjunky]

Who was that pitcher the Angels carried as a Rule V player all year about ten years ago? If I remember correctly, he went elsewhere after and became pretty good for a bit.

[Angelsjunky]

Derrick Turnbow - but it was in 1999. Man, I feel old. 

[mtangelsfan]

1 hour ago, Angelsjunky said:

Derrick Turnbow - but it was in 1999. Man, I feel old. 

I think he had one or two good seasons and then fell off the map.

[Docwaukee]

the Feather had a much better 2015 season than Danny Espinosa's 2017.    

[Angel Oracle]

Only one Halo compares to Espinohitsa.......2006's Edgardo Alfonzo.

[disarcina]

Derreck Turnbow was a Rule 5 guy for us I think -- but didn't he get some innings with us -- I remember being impressed by his stuff -- he was not MLB ready when we got him and had to keep him on the roster -- like a lot of young pitchers walked a lot of guys -- but I liked his stuff -- and I thought the Halos held on to him for more than a year and really gave him a shot to be part of the pen.......he then was part of a trade or something and went to Milwaukee? where he had a few very good seasons.

The Edgardo Alfonzo comparison to Danny Espinosa is dead on in terms of Halos acquisitions that became total busts for us.

Both were 2B/ 3B types -- Alfonzo actually played pretty well for a few years with the Mets and then went to the SF Giants where he didn't do much and his performance deteriorated......but our front office couldn't detect that apparently and traded for him (we sent Steve Finley to the SF Giants -- so not much given up at that point).

One thing Alfonzo and Espinosa share is that they got their biggest pay day (contract) with the Halos for the least amount of production in their careers, Both were starters for their previous teams getting 450 to 600 ABs in several seasons -- without big contracts. Alfonzo got his biggest pay day ($5.5 million or so) to play about 50 games with the Halos and bat .100,,,,,,,,,,,Espinosa signed a $8 million deal (biggest contract of his 5 year career) to hit .160 or whatever he was batting for us this year.

While Alfonzo had a few good seasons with the Mets, Espinosa is a career ,221 hitter ---to expect him to do much more than that was asking too much.

And there were Angelswin.com posters who pointed that out back when the Halos signed him -- they said - AT THE TIME OF THE SIGNING - he wouldn't hit for his .221 career average - and they were right.

Me?  I sort of liked the signing, it filled a need at 2B and I liked the solid, strong defense at the keystone with A. Simmons and Espinosa........A, Simmons, a great field, no hit rep -- is hitting way above his career average this season and fielding like the Gold Glover he is.  Espinosa is DFA'd batting .160 and , quite frankly, I was not all that impressed with his D at second base........he wasn't bad -- but he wasn't gold glove like as A, Simmons is at SS either......and I thought he would at least hit his weight which he didn't.

Now if a guy like Bartolo Colon hits his weight...........(he lost his Minnesota Twins start tonight).