Inside Pitch

What.... are you one of our pitchers? Who else gets hurt that easily?

I don't so much think he fell as much as he was the fastest hardest riser in the draft class. Sometimes when a guy sees that much of rise it's dismissed. Adell was a known guy for years, there was always a buzz and there had been talk of him as a potential first rounder for 2-3 years -- but as you pointed out the concerns were always about the parts of his game that weren't as advanced. Everyone believed he had it in him to do the things he did his final year of HS, but few expected him to do them as quickly as he did.. His dominance was so swift and so complete this year people stopped talking about how he was destroying the competition and started questioning if the level of competition was lacking. The Angels were on him early, they made their intentions known if not verbally by virtue of having people at most of his games... Where other teams may have seen him once or twice and been more willing go with the notion the competition was weak, the Angels saw enough of him to bank on it being him being that good... Early results are making the Angels look very good.

AJ its one thing that most of us find ourselves thinking that -- but what really sends it home is that you have people at BBA, BP, and Fangraphs making similar comments... As difficult a season as this has been at the MLB level, seeing whats happening farm wise makes it a lot less painful.

Number one prospect? Did you actually see that said somewhere? Care to cite a single source anywhere that has him ranked highly? https://www.minorleagueball.com/2017/1/17/14297686/milwaukee-brewers-top-20-prospects-for-2017 Sickles has a top 20 and then another 15 or so prospects ranked at C or better.. Cooper failed to make the rank but guess who did? Damien Magnifico who the Angels acquired. MLB.com has their own top 30 list.. http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2017?list=mil No Cooper. BB America's top 10... http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2017-milwaukee-brewers-top-10-prospects/ Still no Cooper. The only place he's ranked at all is here http://prospects1500.com/top-50-lists/milwaukee-brewers-top-50-prospects-2017/ where he comes in at 43. Seriously, you may want to scale back the praise for the Yankees - -they found a 26 year old "never was" putting up huge numbers in an offense happy park and environment... If the Angels had made this move you'd be going on and on about them having resorted to dumpster diving again. If Cooper hits - great! they gave up nothing. If he fails, who cares -- they gave up nothing.

Jo Adell was a wish come true as far as pure upside goes. He's got a lot of volatility in him regardless of how well he's doing right now. Chances are he will hit a wall at some point when met with premium pitching because of how relatively raw he is but we haven't see a pure upside guy like him in a long long time... Trout aside because he's Mike Trout, but you have to go way way way back..... maybe Troy Glaus but he was a high floor guy to start with. Adell is easily the biggest lottery ticket type in ages. But like Trout, Adell is more than just tools, there was a very strong family unit there along with the family sports history. I think it's that component away from the diamond coupled with the genetics that ultimately helps him reach his potential. At least, I'm hoping. All I know is Tank might remember how high I was on Glaus prior to the draft and the lengths I went to talk him prior to us drafting him. I haven't been that high on anyone the Angels had a legit shot to draft since Glaus until Adell. To be fair, it's partially because they just had not been in the top 10 in a long, long time.

It's been a long ass time since this team had multiple farmhands actually worthy of comping to MLB stars....

I have a buddy, grew up on the Cape, huge baseball and Red Sox fan.. When I brought up Hamilton in response to his ranting about Sandoval he was super quick to point out that despite all the drama and disappointment Hamilton actually played in more games and had a positive WAR while in Anaheim. Sandoval has played in 80 fewer games and put up a negative 2.0 bWAR for the Red Sox.... Crazy how bad both those deals were and even crazier that the Sox deal might end up being worse.

Except the stats do tell the story and you're just misinformed. The CWS defensive efficiency in 2017 is at .711 -- 6th best in MLB. The Angels are at .714 third best in MLB. Both teams play well above average defense. The Cubbies BTW are sporting a defensive efficiency of .713. Quintana's a much better pitcher than Ramirez with a much more impressive track record of performance -- really it's a non argument.... but defensive shortcomings haven't been an issue.

If you want to buy into raw numbers without any perspective then the Angels 26 year old DH in SLC is putting up a .393.464/.550/1.013 line. He's the same age as Cooper, plays a more demanding defensive position too. If Carlos Perez doesn't tickle your fancy then Cesar Puello is hitting .390/.447/.644/1.091. He too is 26 years old and even better those two are putting up those numbers in the tougher pitcher's park... SLC's run index is 107, a pitcher's paradise compared to the 141 at Colorado Springs -- let that sink in a little before you go too deep into praise for the Yankees. Cooper's numbers at Colorado Springs should be taken in the same exact context as Perez and Puello's at SLC. Prior to this season Cooper's never put up a SLG% over .467 in any season.

Hopefully the Angels are in position to be able to make trades like this in a few years. For now, it's all about laying the foundation again. From the Cubs POV... Gleyber Torres and now Eloy Jimenez in back to back midseason deals. They are spending a lot of the currency they were able to acquire before the rule changes -- prettty sure they won't mind if they get back into the WS. Quintana eases their need to overspend on Arrieta, so I like it. from the CWS POV..... Rick Hahn seems to have maxed out Quintana's value pretty well IMO. I wonder how many of their recent acquisitions they will bring up in the next few weeks. Moncada can't be that far off and that park can only help his numbers.

I have a hard time finding good comps for him too... There has been an uptick in his velocity/stuff so, he's not completely devoid there by any stretch, at worst he's starting to look like he will have three pitches no worse than MLB average. But the one guy that IMO probably does the best job of outperforming his stuff by just pitching his ass off is maybe Kyle Hendricks of the Cubs. I don't think he even touches 90 on an even semi-regular basis -- but you watch him pitch and it's inside/outside up down.. He's always working...

NFL teams are uber valuable in large part because they share their money much more than any of the major sports. So even the worst NFL franchise guarantees it's ownership a generous return.. The NFL was always the Billionaires Boy's Club of pro sports leagues.

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/the-prospect-stock-watch-with-a-futures-game-flavor/ The first sentence of the article says it all...

Well, considering the local TV deal is estimated at 150 Mil per, and the nationa TV deal is another 50 mil per.... That's 200 Mil before selling a single ticket or hot dog and BEFORE considering the money MLB is making and that is split evenly thanks to MLB Advance Media. Honestly, all the MLB teams could be spending a lot more money.

Alonso career OPS+ entering this season... 103 Lomo career OPS+ entering this season .. 104 CJ Cron career OPS+ entering this season... 111 Considering MLB fully admits the balls are juiced and they will be keeping closer tabs on how they are produced moving forward I think it would be a grave mistake for the Angels to sign anyone by virtue of their performance this season. BTW - Hosmer... Career OPS+ entering this season -- 107

Arte's brand snuck into the top 50... https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2017/07/12/full-list-the-worlds-50-most-valuable-sports-teams-2017/#508673864a05 I believe this is the first time the Angels have made the top 50.

My all star game observations.... Bryce Harper did something and his hat fell off. I'm pretty sure Bryce Harper's hat falls off while he takes a shit. No matter how many times I see Neshek pitch, I can't not think that he throws like a girl with palsy. Yadier Molina's catching gear looks like it was taken straight from the set of the 80s Flash Gordon movie... Hey, look -- it's our boy.... Chinstrap. Edit: Look! he's still a HR pitcher!

Really? is that was he was shooting for? It was .800 OPS or bust??? Did he tell you that? Because what you refuse to accept but anyone with the slightest bit of intelligence is able to discern is that if he ends the season as a 3 WAR player he's been useful -- particularly at his price tag. You're the only person here constantly whining about what he isn't instead of appreciating what he is. A useful player -- nothing else.

Wait -- you're for signing Melky? A guy that's been with 5 teams, released once, and been popped for PEDs? And Rasmus? A former first rounder who's failed to live up to his draft status and projections and has also been on 4 different teams? Rasmus BTW carries the reputation of being difficult too. FTR Claude -- I've said this numerous times. I think Maybin's skill-set carries some value, I just want him to do well enough to possibly get us a player back via trade. I've been consistent since before the season started that while I'd like to see them contend, I'm hoping they sell. Extend him, cut him -- I figure they will cross that bridge when they come to it. This should be an interesting offseason. LF, 2B, and 3B will all need help -- and barring some miraculous turnaround at 1B and DH -- those two spots leave a lot to be desired currently.

You're right of course -- but it's not like ignoring him changes anything. It just means he will go into every thread and spew the same exact tripe over and over until someone gives him the reaction/attention he craves. To recap. Calzone trolls, someone always eventually responds.. someone else points out he's trolling... It's agreed upon that he's trolling and then he pulls out the "I'm just voicing my opinion" card. It's the circle of life..... AW.com style. Don't fight it.

At the time the Angels signed him Torii Hunter was a 32 year old with a career .271/.324/.469 -.793 slash line -- good for an 104 OPS+, 27 career bWAR. Those numbers got him a 5 year 90 Mil contract. Neat how you think a guy with half the WAR over with 1500 fewer at bats and 13.2 WAR is only worth 2/10. Meanwhile Ben Revere was able to get 1/4 after putting up a 48 OPS+ negative 1.2 WAR season... Also, Melky Cabrera once got popped for PEDs, was with 5 teams before age 29 (even got released), and yet he managed to get a 3 year 42 million dollar deal three years ago. I'm guessing Maybin ends up getting better than 2/10 on the open market from someone.

Unless they are doing what they did in Stoneman's day and keeping hitters clumped in groups, this promotion might be an indication they are considering the impact of the park on his overall performance... His neutral park slash line was close to .300/.390/.440 .vs .240/.330/.370, at Empire... Will def be interesting to see how he adjusts to AA.

Likely means it was a genetic thing and not a case of bad training or anything else.. His arm held on as long as it could then it left the building.

I think it's great that the patients at Arkham Asylum are periodically given access to the internet.

And? If he had any power over the draft then you'd think the team would have continued his draft strategies -- they didn't. The guy he left in charge of player development and who he went to great lengths to bring over from TB (Bane), was fired by Reagins. The Sutherland brothers one of which had been named minor league exec of the decade by BBA while in Montreal, Ken Forsch, all the scouts, and the international guys got fired by Dipoto... There was no trace of the Stoneman front office after 2012. It takes a great deal of creative thinking to believe that the GM that fired the entire scouting department then turned around and drafted based on the recommendations of the guy who's staff he just fired.