The Official 2024 Draft Thread

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

On 6/10/2024 at 10:31 PM, Angel Oracle said:

The latest mock from June 6 shows the Halos taking Tibbs 8 spots under slot.   Certainly is better than taking Schanuel 15 spots under slot.

I don’t know, unless they trade Ward and Tibbs plays LF.  

The bat plays (solid Cape Cod batting and monster college batting).

Arm rates as a little above average, but maybe not enough for RF, although playing there the entire 2024 season.

Left field should translate with the arm SAME SPOT Ward is playing now. Sometimes, I watch Taylor out there and it looks like he is waiting for help from someone else to run down the ball in the alley.. His instincts are $hit!

[Ron Mexico]

Espn Plus Mock draft from this Am

[DMVol]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5572706/2024/06/19/mlb-mock-draft-2024-charlie-condon-bryce-rainer/

8. Los Angeles Angels: Hagen Smith, LHP, Arkansas

This would be a dream scenario for the Angels, who everyone thinks will take a player they can bring to the majors in August. They’ve been linked to East Carolina right-hander Trey Yesavage, Kentucky outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt, and Florida State outfielder James Tibbs III, as well as the top group of college guys.

 

[Stax]

Perhaps the Angels can draft Braden Montgomery, OF, Texas A&M in the 2nd or 3rd round after his injury.

[Lazorko Saves]

1 hour ago, Stax said:

Perhaps the Angels can draft Braden Montgomery, OF, Texas A&M in the 2nd or 3rd round after his injury.

No dude, he's not dropping to the 2nd or 3rd round just because he broke a bone in his ankle or severely sprained it, or whatever it was.

[Angel Oracle]

Warming up to the Rainer idea, solid athleticism, hit tool, power, defense, and arm, projecting as a potential GG 3B

Haven’t had a 3B with real talent potential/ability since Glaus.

Maybe he could do what Lansford and Schofield did, make the majors 2.5 seasons out of HS?

 

Edited June 19 by Angel Oracle

[totdprods]

I’m guessing Montgomery, Tibbs or Smith if available. 

[Dave Saltzer]

On 6/10/2024 at 10:31 PM, Angel Oracle said:

The latest mock from June 6 shows the Halos taking Tibbs 8 spots under slot.   Certainly is better than taking Schanuel 15 spots under slot.

I don’t know, unless they trade Ward and Tibbs plays LF.  

The bat plays (solid Cape Cod batting and monster college batting).

Arm rates as a little above average, but maybe not enough for RF, although playing there the entire 2024 season.

You should clarify that the whole point of the Mock Draft 4.0 from BA was an all underslot/value pick. So, it's definitely not a likely Mock either. 

[jsnpritchett]

Please, no.

 

[totdprods]

44 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Please, no.

 

No because Janek or no because below-slot?

[jsnpritchett]

Just now, totdprods said:

No because Janek or no because below-slot?

Both.

[Angel Oracle]

Janek is projected to go at 20, 23, and 30 in 3 mock drafts.

Wasting a HIGH 1st round pick on a college catcher predicted to go pretty much where Schanuel went a year ago, when O’Hoppe has 4 more years of control after the season?

That would be the height of not very bright.

Edited June 22 by Angel Oracle

[jsnpritchett]

17 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Janek is projected to go at 20, 23, and 30 in 3 mock drafts.

Wasting a HIGH 1st round pick on a college catcher predicted to go pretty much where Schanuel went a year ago, when O’Hoppe has 4 more years of control after the season?

That would be the height of not very bright.

Theoretically, I don't mind an underslot-to-get-a-guy-who's-dropping philosophy--but not when your pick is this high.  And obviously that approach only really works if a guy you really want DOES drop due to signability concerns.  Just seems like a lot of risk.

[Angel Oracle]

They should be focused on Wetherholt, Rainer, Smith, Yesavage, and Tibbs.

Edited June 24 by Angel Oracle

[Angel Oracle]

Bumpamundo

Cam Smith is looking like a little more intriguing draft selection.   3B has been a long time hole in the lineup, partly thanks to Rendon’s injuries.   He wouldn’t be the drastic above slot selection that Schanuel was.

Smith has the arm, and potential for playing a very good 3B, and a solid hit tool.    

Drastically improved plate discipline as a sophomore at FSU, only 15% K rate and 14% BB rate.

.981 OPS in Cape Cod League over 187 PAs isn’t chopped liver either, put up 22 XBHs including 6 HRs.

At this point, I’m leaning towards either Rainer or Smith, depending on if they choose longer development or college guy.

Edited July 2 by Angel Oracle

[Angels in 2030]

Janek at #8 would be such a classic, typical Angels move.  

Just pick the guy who your scouts love the most and think has the best chance to be an impact player for your team the next 10 years.

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, Angels in 2030 said:

Janek at #8 would be such a classic, typical Angels move.  

Just pick the guy who your scouts love the most and think has the best chance to be an impact player for your team the next 10 years.

Give us an example of a Janek type draft pick in the first round in the last 5 years.  

[Angel Oracle]

24 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Give us an example of a Janek type draft pick in the first round in the last 5 years.  

Schanuel, predicted to go late in the first round but selected at #11.

[sctorero9]

Thaiss?  Will Wilson? Ward (even though that one seemed to work out)? Bachman maybe?

If we are defining terms, I am referring to "players that were expected to go later that the Angels grabbed seemingly to save money or rush to the show."

I am not looking up to see if all of those were in the last 5 years, but the point stands.  Of course, the Angels scouts may have loved those dudes, but it is reasonable speculation that they may have had additional motivation with respect to those picks.  Certainly, I will stipulate that many teams do this.

 

Edit: Responding to Stradling.

Edited July 2 by sctorero9
Clarification

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, sctorero9 said:

Thaiss?  Will Wilson? Ward (even though that one seemed to work out)? Bachman maybe?

If we are defining terms, I am referring to "players that were expected to go later that the Angels grabbed seemingly to save money or rush to the show."

I am not looking up to see if all of those were in the last 5 years, but the point stands.  Of course, the Angels scouts may have loved those dudes, but it is reasonable speculation that they may have had additional motivation with respect to those picks.  Certainly, I will stipulate that many teams do this.

 

Edit: Responding to Stradling.

It’s not to save money, they spend their entire allotment every single year. Of those only Bachman was in the last 5 years. 

[sctorero9]

Posted just now

  2 minutes ago, sctorero9 said:

Thaiss?  Will Wilson? Ward (even though that one seemed to work out)? Bachman maybe?

If we are defining terms, I am referring to "players that were expected to go later that the Angels grabbed seemingly to save money or rush to the show."

I am not looking up to see if all of those were in the last 5 years, but the point stands.  Of course, the Angels scouts may have loved those dudes, but it is reasonable speculation that they may have had additional motivation with respect to those picks.  Certainly, I will stipulate that many teams do this.

 

Edit: Responding to Stradling.

Expand  

It’s not to save money, they spend their entire allotment every single year. 

 

I am not sure if we are moving goalposts, as I have not followed the thread closely enough.  My apologies if I am missing context, but I defined my terms to avoid this type of argument.  The issue is the Angels not taking BPA.  Why they are not taking the BPA is a separate question.  Spending the allotment over the entire draft is a red herring, as going under slot on Rd 1 leaves money to go over slot later.  Further, we don't know if the Angels "BPA" would have signed for slot, which means it is possible that they drafted based on money even though they paid slot.  

[drpiranha]

I will be very upset if Wetherholt is available and the Angels don't take him. Having a Wetherholt-Neto 2B-SS combo for the next 10 years would be exciting.

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, sctorero9 said:

Posted just now

  2 minutes ago, sctorero9 said:

Thaiss?  Will Wilson? Ward (even though that one seemed to work out)? Bachman maybe?

If we are defining terms, I am referring to "players that were expected to go later that the Angels grabbed seemingly to save money or rush to the show."

I am not looking up to see if all of those were in the last 5 years, but the point stands.  Of course, the Angels scouts may have loved those dudes, but it is reasonable speculation that they may have had additional motivation with respect to those picks.  Certainly, I will stipulate that many teams do this.

 

Edit: Responding to Stradling.

Expand  

It’s not to save money, they spend their entire allotment every single year. 

 

I am not sure if we are moving goalposts, as I have not followed the thread closely enough.  My apologies if I am missing context, but I defined my terms to avoid this type of argument.  The issue is the Angels not taking BPA.  Why they are not taking the BPA is a separate question.  Spending the allotment over the entire draft is a red herring, as going under slot on Rd 1 leaves money to go over slot later.  Further, we don't know if the Angels "BPA" would have signed for slot, which means it is possible that they drafted based on money even though they paid slot.  

No, it really isn’t. If they drafted based on money then they wouldn’t spend their entire slot amount. They draft below slot to draft and sign guys like Dana later in the draft. You can question who they draft but you can’t pretend it’s to save money when it isn’t. 

[Ron Mexico]

2 hours ago, drpiranha said:

I will be very upset if Wetherholt is available and the Angels don't take him. Having a Wetherholt-Neto 2B-SS combo for the next 10 years would be exciting.

I highly doubt that dude will be there at the 8th spot 

[sctorero9]

"No, it really isn’t. If they drafted based on money then they wouldn’t spend their entire slot amount. They draft below slot to draft and sign guys like Dana later in the draft. You can question who they draft but you can’t pretend it’s to save money when it isn’t."

First, you are talking about "money," but you really only mean the draft pool.  The Angels have been pennywise and pound foolish regardless of whether they are paying first rounders slot value.  I also said "save money or to rush guys."  I should have just said some picks have seemed suboptimal.  In any case, I was not just talking about slot values.

Second, you don't know what you are purporting to know. 

We don't know why they drafted anyone over anyone else (other than vague notions about liking the player drafted).  It is all speculation.  It is not particularly hard to understand the fan gripe here.  There are guys on-site with better track records of 1st round selections than the Angel front office.  You have industry experts questioning certain picks.  There is clearly the impression that the Angels are not always drafting BPA, or at least not drafting based on the long-term health of the franchise.  I already acknowledged that all teams deal with the fanbase or industry experts second guessing to some extent.

I think it is reasonable to evaluate the Angel strategy until very recently as "win now" at the expense of the overall health of the franchise.  There are multiple indications that this is the case, including drafting, promoting, free agent, and trade deadline moves.  One could posit that drafting BPA and not being able to sign the pick due to bonus demands would be particularly catastrophic for this team given the ostensible mandate from ownership.  In this hypothetical, the monetary demands of the draftee are absolutely relevant.  In other words, one can reasonably speculate that taking the extra pick in the following year wasn't really an option for this team, which means the team had to factor in money more than another team might when putting together a draft strategy.  Of course, this is just a hypothetical.  I don't "know" it to be true, nor am I "pretending" it's true.

I do think it is a little bit silly to play coy about why fans would second guess the front office(s) or worry about the FO making an "Angel-style" pick.  This team has been doing dumb stuff for over a decade.  "It isn't about the money" isn't really advancing the substance of the conversation, which is fine I guess.