Inside Pitch

It appears you've found your newest Angel to demonize....

That was an amazing interview and it's an amazing insight into why the farm system is heading in the direction it is...

Bingo!. Won't keep the usual suspects from trying to make the comments out to be something else.

I don't think Upton is saying anything that isn't true -- front offices are more and more removed from the days when they made emotional buys or held attachments to players. The Angels showed themselves to be part of the new generation when they didn't so much as offer a minor league invite to Weaver. In the past that would have happened if for no other reason because of sentiment, but times have changed and the game is all about getting value ... I'm sure some will try to paint this as something bigger... but really it's just a guy being pretty aware the game has changed. Upton benefited from his still retaining value.. Weaver, not so much. This mindset is also why I doubt the Angels would be willing to stick with AP should his 2018 resemble his 2017...

No, not telling you anything about the Angels, I was pointing out the Rays situation.... There was a thread on this when they first came out.... Projection systems are based on historical data... So, they aren't looking at the Angels players specifically as much as they try to find similar players of the same age and try to formulate future outcomes... Guys coming off injuries, younger players, and older players, those types will always show the greatest amount of volatility... So, when you look at these remind yourself they don't likely have a comp for Ohtani, and that their comps for Richards and Skaggs are likely not at all that similar to them. Given APs foot issues he may be someone the comps might be off on also It's not a lack of respect or anything ... Just an algorithm spitting out numbers.

Those pecota projections came out before they traded off Odorizi and desgnated Dickerson.

Because of the particular situation in Cuba (communism), and the government's usage of sports as a means of national pride there has never been the same sort of age discrepancies as with players from the DR. Players in Cuba weren't ever in a situation where they could profit from being young and good at baseball. If anything the incentive there was to be older and be able to play in their highest league....

I'm hoping they market the 2018 team as having two Cy Young Award winners in the pitching staff... For the LOLs...

Not that it bothers me but how did you get someone else's comments to appear as if I had said them? Lol.... Was reading your response and wondering ....when did I say any of that... Had me thinking I was suffering from some odd memory loss

They need to make Trout sized Foofy-wrap.

Props to the Angels for extending a job to him.... Little things like that tend to come back in a good way to an organization.

He wears three different pieces of body armor on his hand, elbow, and lower leg while he bats and then he was wearing some foofy looking glove when he got on base.... So it's not like they aren't trying to shield him from getting dinged.

With as loaded as draft as some think this is gonna be -- I had a hard time seeing the Angels signing anyone that would cost them pool money... don't believe anything has changed.. They would also lose international money... So.. even less likely.

Was....

Less so given the context of those innings.... calls ups at age 20 and 21.... Only 132 innings above age 24. A total of 26 post Tommy John starts where he's managed a 94 ERA+. If all he ever amounts to is a 4.25 ERA guy ....that's still plenty good in the 4 or 5 spot. I just want to see him go 6 months without an injury to be honest.

I felt he pitched poorly last year... He actually pitched to where his peripherals were. I couldn't really put a finger as to why but he seemed to lack consistency with his stuff and location from pitch to pitch... It's time to step up.

The change was his worst pitch last year pitch value wise..... So you may be right and it's the success of that pitch that may be what finally helps him get to the next level.

Lol..... Good luck on this one... That narrative is already percolating

Or Ron Romanick

Maybe that "majority" views wins and raw ERA differently than you do. Or perhaps those people are aware that his career minor league numbers (including ERA), are more in line with what the predictive data projects for him moving forward. The great thing about both guys is that there are reasons to be hopeful that Bridwell continues to outperform his peripherals and that Skaggs pitches to his... If those things happen the Angels benefit.

The guy who wrote the article references Raffy Palmiero as an example of an aging 1B who lived up to his FA contract in the comments section. Yeah, the same Raffy Palmiero who was popped for steroids.. While I believe the Angels will have to do something if he continues to suck, it's hard to take people seriously when they are willing to ignore the vast differences in aging curves during the the steroid era..

There it is!

But how many batting championships???

Yep, it's anyone's guess how it all would have worked out. I agree the additional seasoning didn't hurt him, but there is little question he would have been a greater judge of talent than JD, and that was always my biggest criticism of JD... As far as the differences between them, there seems to be many beyond the ones you point to here. Personally, I think Jerry's next gig will be as an analyst... He's a good talker. Dude, can talk baseball and he isn't a stranger to sabermetrics. For as much as I may be seen as a Jerry hater, I actually do believe he's a bright articulate dude... but he wouldn't be the first guy to be talented and still not be very good at being a MLB GM . When it's all said and done, it's better late than never.. Glad we got Eppler.

I think in both cases the teams' respective farm systems were better than the media made them out to be. JD has traded away 3 guys who have ended up in the top 100 for MLB's list -- and I believe 4 on BBAs while GM of the Mariners, but whatever it's all noise at the end of the day... The one thing that cannot be denied is that he is in fact repeating everything he did. All the talk about how Arte forced everything on him seems to ring hollow now. JD is who he is.... a poor man's Billy Beane, someone who sees the farm system as a tool for acquiring the players he thinks will help his team win now. To date he's just not had the success Beane has. When it's all said and done it's just a team building model I particularly like.