Inside Pitch

This is where I've been for a long long time. In truth, once MLB Network happened, that became my preferred sports channel. These days I'll watch individual events on whatever network but I don't pay attention to their other programming. ESPN became less about sports and more about promoting their own brand and their on air personalities -- it became really difficult to go back once I got a taste of sports programming that was actually about the sport and not some lame attempt to be hip. ESPN could go off the air tomorrow and I wouldn't miss it -- had someone told me that in 1995, I'd have laughed at them.

This blows for Urias -- another example of why some argue there is no such thing as a pitching prospect.

@Angelsjunky, I personally am holding off making any real lists until we see all the leagues up and going -- end of July we will finally see guys like Nonie and the sort. I love the Adell pick, talked him up early and was over the moon he fell to us but I've always had a hard time ranking guys that just signed until they have a track record. But if I had to make a top 5 based simply on tools athleticism it would likely go like this.. 1 - Adell 2 - Jones 3 - Marsh -- excellent start to his season 4 - Williams 5 - Pearson IMO - these are the guys to be most excited about -- not necessarily the best prospects in the system or guys most likely to make it to the majors but far and away the best athletes with the biggest potential upsides. Cole Duensing is the only pitcher I'd consider as a top 5 guy tools wise -- he's got a lot of projection in him. We have a lot of guys that have enough to be MLB players -- but no Sean Newcomb type pure arm types.

I disagree he's a full blown bust -- but he's a bad fit for his home park.... It's dragging him down. Inland Empire LHB HR index - 70 Inland Empire LHB GBh index - 87 Inland Empire LHB Run Index - 85 Thaiss home - .213/.300/.333 - .633 Thaiss away - .302/.389/.442 - .831 His neutral park numbers are pretty much in line with what we saw last year in Low A and I doubt there would be any talk of him being a bust if his overall line was more in line with his AWAY numbers. Right now he's sporting a GB rate of nearly 50% in a park that deflates GB%. Trying to yoke it out of the park isn't gonna happen because the park is even harder to hit for power in - in fact the only significant stat it seems to inflate is K rate. Despite that Thaiss is well below the league average striking out while his walk rate is well above the league average. http://www.statcorner.com/bat/642136/Matt-Thaiss The problem with Thaiss is lacks the sort of over the top offensive skills you want to see in a 1B -- he's got a good batting eye and he will likely hit for average but he's unlikely to show the sort of power you'd expect from a corner IF postion. LF/2B -- his bat would likely profile much better. You look at his overall batting line and it's hard to argue he deserves to be moved up -- I look at his walk and K rates, his league average HR/OF rate and I wonder if moving to a better offensive environment might not just get bat going. Check the park indexes at Mobile http://www.statcorner.com/team/417/2017/Mobile BayBears

No, I was totally kidding -- you got me. People would be much better off ignoring actual data and how a manager compares to other managers in favor of the sort of opinions commonly seen on message board. I'm sure you watch all 30 teams and are intimately aware of how MS uses his pitchers compared to other managers. Forgive my insolence.

His bullpen management was the one thing almost every advance metric system found he excelled at and a major factor into why his teams typically beat their pythag records. The two times in recent years he's had a decent performing pen he's won 98 games and managed to play .500 despite crushing injuries.

LOL -- didn't you start the "trade Bedrosian" thread? Don't get me wrong, I've been on the SELL boat since before the season started, just thought it was funny you're for selling in one thread and buying in another.

He had a pretty heavy workload at a very early age, but they did keep from crossing the 200 IP barrier, so... they didnt go Terry Collins on him. Like the other Angels pitchers it was likely just bad luck. Like others have said, he can put a lot of concerns to rest by coming back and staying healthy.

Juiced balls..... Wouldn't be the first time.

You can never tell because not every PED is about mass -- but that looks like pretty natural maturation. The kid can play...

Reality is he's not been healthy as an Angel -- the narrative that he has always been hurt down to his days as a minor league days is folklore for morons. If Angel fans can't see the difference that's on them.

NOPE!.... I'm not trying to single you out AO, because you're just repeating whats been said a lot here -- the "Tyler Skaggs has always been injured since the minors" line is one of those AW.com narratives that became fact despite it being less than factual. If his pitch counts were at all limited, and it doesn't appear they were based on his pitching totals -- it was due to his age relative to the leagues he was in. Skaggs greatest fault has been that he was a pitching prospect at age 17, and was touted as one of MLBs best arms at age 20. But, let's roll tape... Skaggs gets drafted in 2009 as a true 17 year - signed and made some token appearances totaling 10 innings. Token appearances at best. 2010 -- Skaggs' first real season of pro ball, the dude skips rookie ball completely and starts the season in full season ball -- uncommon for a true 18 year old. He ends up making a combined 18 starts with Cedar Rapids/South Bend (trade), the other 4 SP at Cedar Rapids made 18, 18, 19, and 19 starts -- no injuries, no missed time, his usage was in line with everyone else. 2011 -- Skaggs started in Hi-A was promoted to AA where he was the youngest pitcher in the league en route to 27 starts -- He was one start awat from having lead all D-Backs farmhands in GS -- this despite it being his true 19 year old. Skaggs tosses 158 innings on the season -- remember this when you see the Sean Newcomb reference that will come. At this point it could be argued he's being ridden a bit hard by the D-Backs. No missed time. 2012 -- Skaggs starts in AA, moves to AAA, finishes the season in MLB -- 25 starts -- again zero missed starts 2013 -- Skaggs suffers his first documented injury.... in ST.... he misses 6 days and goes to AZ to get some work. Skaggs makes a rehab start in Hi-A then spends the year on the Arizona/Reno shuffle -- his 147 IP that year are more than Sean Newcomb has thrown in any professional season who is noted as a future rotation workhorse-- Skaggs was a true 21 year old. FOUR YEARS -- 6 days missed. 2014 -- 14 starts -- TJ... The process back ensues and there are setbacks .... Angels fans start calling him a pussy because well, most of them have completely idiotic expectations and are themselves supermen/orthopedic surgeons when not posting on message boards. FWIW -- STATS.Inc keeps track of a player's minor and major league injury status. Baseball Prospectus also tracked it through 2014 I believe.... Narratives>Reality.

I wonder if any of their SP has any real trade value at this point.. They are all expensive and sucking. Cueto, Smardszwhatever, Moore, Cain.. lowest ERA in the bunch is 4.57...

The photoshop part of this takes this pick from a 10/10 to Infinity/10

Or it's a blip... Don't get me wrong -- I'm not trying to be a Pollyanna here, I just don't know that it's anything they could have done differently. I think they were just lucky when they went ten years and only had two major injuries out of a potential 50 rotation spots, and I believe it's just a run of bad luck the last couple years. Remember a few years ago when people were talking about the TJ epidemic? The Angels were just slow to catch on.

By year after year you mean the last 18 months.. The Angels until last year had been among the best teams in MLB when it came to SP injuries...

Personally -- I'd pay top dollar to see the entire Angels team dressed as Hamburglers..... capes, ties, and zorro masks....

Pretty much every memorable baseball memory I have included my Dad. The one thing I'll always treasure.. My Dad worked long long days.. oftentimes not getting home until well after it got dark, but he would always go up to my room and ask if I wanted him to pitch to me, this despite his having built a batting cage for us. He'd throw right handed until he tired, then he'd switch lefty. Even then, as a self absorbed teen I knew that was awesome, and that I was very lucky. I wish he would have been able to see Mike Trout play.

They had McGee last year -- he kinda tanked his first season in Col, but he's turned it around big time this year. 5.9 mil tho -- so he's not cheap.

They both have former Angels' pitching coaches.. There can be no other reason.

No idea how they work it TD -- the Arod trade was years ago -- and the payments dont kick in for a while yet -- may be one of those things that was grandfathered in.

That dude's agent should go directly into the HOF... Talk about getting over... I love that there is such a thing as Bobby Bonilla day in MLB. FWIW -- Arod worked a similar deal when he left Texas, I forget the details but he's going to be collecting money from them again soon as part of a deferral.

LaRoche up and quit too .. but like Meche, he retired -- so the MLBPA couldn't force him to play. If AP retired, they wouldnt be able to do anything either. But anything that would be a reworking of his existing contract would require approval. They always use the whole it has to benefit the player BS...

MLBPA has to approve any changes to his contract.. it would never fly.

I think we all agree that's a fair question down the road.