Inside Pitch

It's funny. I have been one of Trumbo's harsher critics due to his lack of plate discipline for most of his career and yet it cracks me up to see how easily his power is written off. He's overrated by many, he really only has one tool, but if he continues to show the slight improvements to his plate discipline he had that one tool is such a rarity currently that it's actually quite valuable. I understand the notion of having to give something to get something, and that's likely what some are trying to say but you're talking about a guy who's power is so impressive he can go yard in any park anywhere with very little effort... Given our home field and the division we play in, that's possibly more valuable to us than it would be on the open market.

I'm hoping they pull the plug on contending soon and do just that....

Nah, he'll sign with the Red Sox or A's for the league minimum and pitch in the ASG.

Frightening thought.

He's 23 in a league where the optimal age is 20. While the Midwest league had traditionally favored pitching, it's become a very neutral league and ranks 5th among the minor leagues offensively. The league tends to deflate hits a great deal and HRs to an extent but, Burlington is probably one of the top 3 offensive parks in the league. He's basically a tall pygmy. Whatever positives we can try to make about his numbers, the parks and his age tend to balance those out. What I don't get is why the Angels traded for an older, slower, weaker, version of a player they already had in Low A.

Rickey agrees with your position. Two of my favorite baseball stories are about Rickey Henderson and his personality quirks.. We could probably make a pretty decent thread just on funny Rickey Henderson stories.

Goins is a massive UT fanboy. It would be miraculous if they did sign him. They have had a good draft signing wise

All that means is the team threw in some sweetener to get him to sign.

Supposedly he was throwing 97 in TJ.... Yes, he's 26, which really all that means is he's physically matured and a safer bet injury wise that your average pitcher, all of which are one pitch away from retired. This guy is there for the taking. This is the type of move they need to make.

The draft strategy they have employed under Wilson has been much less volatile. College seniors don't have many options, College Jr's, while having the option to go back for their final season often are just ready to start their careers. The good thing about the college route is that there typically is a lot less risk, the flipside being the reward isn't nearly as high in most cases. Given the state of the farm system, getting as many replacement level players as possible is really a good way to go.

We have been missing the boat on these guys of late -- the recent waves post Kendrys have almost all made it to the majors and become decent players. This isn't the Andy Morales era of Cuban imports and the Angels are IMO just being negligent.

Scott and Scott... Do any of your sources or contacts place the Angels anywhere near this guy? 26 years old... Some feel he could pitch in MLB by the end of the year. I've read he was flashing mid to upper 90s in workouts.

Unless things have changed, HS left-handers have the lowest chance of making it to MLB of ANY position. Would be foolhardy to risk a future number one on someone who is at best, an extreme long-shot regardless of talent level. Risk a first rounder for a SURE thing.. fine, thats how guys like Josh Hamilton get 5 years 125 mil... but I can't see a MLB team looking to rebuild their farm system being willing to do that with a HS lefty. BTW, the most recent information I could find for success and failure rates by position had LHPs as a whole, with the highest bust rate of any.. 79% and the lowest rate of reaching star status at 8%... and this was among players considered true prospects. The Angels don't have to look too far back for a reminder of how long the odds are. Joe Torres was also 17, about the same size as Green and also a lefty.. only he had a much more impressive and even more dominating career in FL Vs significantly better competition. Torres was so impressive his first season after being drafted that he was ranked as the 50th best prospect in all of baseball prior to the 2001 season, a season he pitched as an 18 year old. Injuries and ineffectiveness resulted in his still being no higher than High A at age 23. Hunter Green is talented, but the odds are stacked against him and IMO, the Angels would be pretty stupid to blow a first rounder next year to sign him. If indeed he wants to pitch then he best get used to the idea that MLB has capped what teams can spend.

It comes down to the Giants being a bag of dicks.... Back when the Giants were threatening to leave the Bay area to TB, the A's tried to help them out by signing over THEIR rights to San Jose, in hopes of the team finding a local place to build a park. The problem is Sandy Alderson didn't write the document so that those rights would revert to Oakland within a certain period of time... So now that the A's are in need the Giants are being grade A douchebags,

Green isnt worth losing a 1st round pick over....

And the jinx is in.

Basically, Reagins was a dolt.

It's not really a tough league to hit in, it's actually the 4th best hitters league in the minors.. it's just got some tough parks to hit in. The HR index in Arkansas has a 30 point difference between Lefties and RHBs... So, it's not just as simple as look at counting stats. Team R/G H/G HR/G PF-R N.A. 10.86 19.00 1.90 1.132 Spr 10.09 18.14 2.35 1.019 Mid 9.95 19.19 1.12 1.023 CC 9.39 17.97 1.76 1.023 Fri 8.98 17.20 1.77 0.994 Tul 8.75 16.98 2.01 0.995 S.A. 8.29 16.70 1.21 0.928 Ark 7.67 15.64 1.00 0.902 Springfield, the number two park in terms of league offense is also the 6th best HR park in the entirety of MiLB

LeMahieu played in tougher hitting environments than Lindsey did before this season and even at AA, he was in the tougher league to hit in. If you park adjust they are very similar hitters, albeit he was a year older than Lindsey has been. I see more in common there than with Kendrick, but I would argue that Lindsey is trending in a very good direction. DJ isn't a bad player. Looking at raw OPS figures, Lindsey's career OPS of .806, seems much more in line with DJ's .770 than it does Kendrick's .972

We should offer to trade them Hamilton and he can lead them in their team sing-alongs....

Only in Angel land is a well above league average 2B (Career OPS+ 108) signed to a team friendly deal considered expendable and a barely above league average (career ERA+ 91) SP someone you build around. Jason Vargas is a middle to back end of the rotation guy. If this team is tanking at the deadline, and someone is offering real value, tell him thanks, tell him you would really like to re-sign him, but you try to make the team better and trade him, particularly if the team still intends to roll Blanton out and has Williams in the pen. Weaver and Vargas are supposedly close, his family is nearby.. He may love it somewhere else, he may like his family, being close to home and playing with a college teammate. He might even like playing for a team better than the one he's currently playing for.

DJ LeMahieu

How about you consider how the change of usage has made for a difference in his performance? Angels once had this smallish RHP from Venezuela. Strong FB, dirty slider, but poor command made him a middling SP. Then some smart guy made him a reliever.. BOOM. Alex Torres is K-Rod 2.0. Not saying he will enjoy the same success K-Rod did, but he's clearly following the same career path.

"Bill Stoneman wouldnt have made that trade" Followed a month later by.. "BIll Stoneman sucked.. He never made trades"

Guess it depends on where we are. But lets assume we did trade him.... Since he started the year with us, there wouldn't be any loss of picks if we signed him in the offseason. So why not trade him, get some talent, then sign him in the off-season? Angels need to be as creative as possible to get talent into the system. If they can find a way to work the current CBA, they should.