Morning Angels fans, have some links.
Angels News
The Angels lost last night. Why did this team buy again? Oh yeah, because Neto and Adell hit home runs. Neat.
Oh and Kikuchi was trying a new grip in the game. For reasons?
Anderson is on paternity leave so Kochanowicz is starting today. Not Caden Dana.
But hey, at least the 2026 schedule is out!
Around Baseball
Verlander is still pitching, still striking guys out, and now 9th all time in that. Still think he is too whiny about Aybar and bunting though…
As other teams get their schedule, a few things are set. Like Opening Day, and NY vs NY on the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
Empty Home runs are an Angels thing historically. Except no one has ever gotten 20 home runs and less than 40 RBI before. Until now. By Matt Wallner of the Twins.
The Vedder Cup is an actual thing now and the Mariners won it. It is a guitar. Cal Raleigh deserves to hold it. After all, he hit 50 home runs, the most by a catcher and first switch hit to hit 20 home runs on each side of the plate.
Anything I missed? Post below for upvotes!
They need to put all of the expiring contracts on waivers and see if they can trade them
Today’s lineup.
Can we not refer to Christian Moore as ‘CMo’ until & unless he gets above the Mendoza line?
Also, I would’ve been perfectly fine to NOT see another start from Koch again this year. On a team with Tyler Anderson & Kyle Hendricks, he’s somehow laughably worse.
……
When Peraza is in the starting lineup, it’s clear Monty stopped trying.
At this stage, play the kids and see if we have something. We know what Moncada is.
Would you rather CMen? 😉
Today’s News Crash post mentions that Justin Verlander is still pitching.
Verlander is an aging veteran, with declining stats, and (-) WAR for 2024, and 2025 (although there’s still a chance for him to have positive WAR once 2025 ends).
So, he’s a perfect candidate for our 2026 team.
Management loves to get these types of players (i.e. aging veteran, with declining stats) – much like when we got Lamont Wade, Jr.
Also perfect candidates: DJ LaMehieu, Michael Conforto, Nick Castellanos.
For today’s game:
Latz has faced the Angels, in relief duty. In 3 appearances, spanning 6-2/3 innings, he’s given up 1 ER.
For the season, he’s 1-0, ERA 3.05
Kochanowicz has faced the Rangers 8 times, going 0-4, with ERA 6.48
For the season, he’s 3-10, ERA 6.19
I think Kochanowicz should continue as a starter for the rest of the season. Give him a chance to prove he does (or does not) belong on the 2026 roster). So far, he’s proven he should not; but, how could starting him for the rest of the season hurt the Angels? It’s only a matter of time before Angels are mathematically eliminated.
Or, does management still believe Angels can make the playoffs?
I watched Verlander pitch against the Giants a couple weeks ago when I was in SF. He pitched a gem of 7 shutout innings with 8 Ks and 0 BBs, then the SF BP immediately blew the game. Told my daughter we were watching a HoF’er, she didn’t care in the least. haha
Should be fun tonight. Koch returns against not Eovaldi
$87 million tied up next year on Soler, Trout and Rendon. OUUUUCCCHHH!
I don’t expect much money being spent this offense season. My guess is another sp like kikuchi and then filler for the rest.
Trout’s been super glued to 399 for a few weeks now. Hopefully he can open a can of whoop ass on the baseball tonight. Geez.
He’s been stuck at 398 for a few weeks. 🙂 He hit #398 on August 7.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/troutmi01.shtml
Jeebs. We are gonna win like 5 games this next April.
after we finish March winless in six games
At least that will give lots of time to test out the young guys.
Who?
I would like to see us get off to a bad start in 2026. That may convince management to jettison players and start over.
As opposed to what we’ve been doing for the past umpteenth years, during April-June: hang around the AL West leaders, providing false hope we could make the playoffs.
All the while (during April-June of the past 10+ years), we have:
— hitters who routinely cannot make contact with man on 3rd and 0 outs
— with bases loaded and 0 outs, most runs we score is 1. And that run is via a walk or getting hit
— pitchers who routinely cannot get past 5 innings.
I would love to see us get to the playoffs.
But, management keeps sticking with the likes of Rengifo, and then adding aging veteran players with declining stats (Jorge Soler, Lamont Wade Jr., CJ Cron, Eduardo Escobar, Randal Grichuk, Hunter Renfroe, etc).
We’re not going to make the playoffs by keeping under-performing players who contribute to losing seasons (Jose Suarez, for instance), all the while adding aging veterans with declining stats.
Prospect or Not?
OF Raudi Rodriguez
• Dominican native drafted in the 19th round of the 2023 draft as an athletic but geriatric 20-year-old HS senior out of Georgia Premier Academy. (Must have lost a year or two academically while immigrating?)
• Not highly ranked by the usual prospect lists… nonetheless per the Future Stars Series website… he had “a vast toolbox that saw future grades of no lower than 50 assigned to his last scouting report with the New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series. In part, it read: ‘Line drive hitter with impact skills — pitches stay hit and has carry to all fields — setup and overall hitting approach is solid and very little to work on except game AB’s.'”
• Hit well in limited action in 2023 ACL (.368) but less well in more sustained action in 2024 (.233).
• Broke out of the gate in a big way this season in the Cal League, earning April Player of the Month honors (.294/3HR/37RBI over 37 games) before crashing to earth in May (.198)
• Is once again killing it, slashing .430/.516./.620 in August. Has 12 HR and 33 SB for the season… avg. now north of .270
He’s almost exactly age-average in the Cal League… basically an older college junior or young college senior. Not mentioned in MLB’s Top 30 list for the team but I imagine he might crack Fangraph’s list this winter.
He’s intriguing. Offers interesting contrast with Rio Foster… about the same age but playing a level lower… better speed and power numbers.
👀 .430/.516./.620 in August
put up 4/5/6 will always get one’s attention
Fo sho!
The jury of 🍍 has deliberated and the verdict is in … Raudi Rodriguez and Rio Foster = legitimate prospects
Also want to point out how stupid good Rio Foster has been recently
First half:
140 AB
.193 / .335 / .264
Second half:
137 AB
.321 / .453 / .562
I feel the same as I do with every player. Let’s see what he does in Alabama. That usually tells me if we have a prospect of some kind or not.
Both have 4th OF looks to me. They’ll need to refine their OF defense to get there. Maybe a cup of coffee at age 23-24.
One or both might get an AFL stint if the org believes in them and wants to give them a taste of higher competition.
The kid shows some promise. We get 10 kids who show promise, we might net 2 MLB regulars and 2 role players out of it.
Let’s see what happens as Raudi moves up the ladder. Hopefully at a gradual pace so he’s actually given a chance to develop.
Should Nelson Rada turn out to be better than we expected and is able to hit lead off and play CF as a regular, that would be a big deal.
Exactly and if Nelson Trout can play RF as a regular and hit better than we expect him to, that would be a big deal too. Nelson, Nelson & Ward
Get pitchin perry
You have 3 guys, Trout, Soler, and Adel to DH and play RF. 1 of them probably needs to be moved over the winter.
Jo is the RF. Trout is the DH.
Albeit a very unproductive DH.
I don’t see them paying Soler 13M to sit on the bench so we’ll see what happens.
True but they need somebody to play CF, so maybe one of Ward or Adell gets traded during the offseason. Unless Trout buys a first baseman’s glove.
Very possible but you will upset Pineapple.
Trading Jo would break my heart lmao
I know.
My fear is that he gets traded to the Guardians and he beats up on us like Joe Carter did.
Turk’s has pointed out several times that Cincy has a lot of infield prospects that are near MLB ready but lacks power.
Adell certainly has power and has cut back on K’s lately.
Two years of Adell for 4 years of Noelvi Marte and a mid level prospect would help both teams.
The Halos don’t have enough offense now. Both Ward and Adell hit 30 HRs and drive in some runs. Adell is just finally figuring things out. Ward looks like a solid vet for the next 2-4 years. Why would either of them not be on the team next season? They need better offense, not worse.
The team will have over $50M committed to Trout and Soler next year. I just don’t see them sitting that much money on the bench even if the team’s competitiveness would benefit by it. I would rather see Ward and Adell flanking Rada in the outfield, but either would fetch a better return than Soler or Trout. I do want the team to be better next year, but also in following years, so a trade makes sense to me.
Noted, but they will likely try to play all of those guys together or find other interesting options. They don’t have too many other choices.
Ward is only under contract for next year. Keeping him 2-4 years would require an extension that would take him to his mid 30s.
And cost a lot of money. We need to get younger and cheaper.
Yes, which would appear to make sense based on current performance.
I’m going to take the opposite view and say that there is enough offense. But this team strikes out 4% over league average which has ended up, so far, 200 more strikeouts than league average. If this team would be league average in striking out that would be 200 more opportunities to put a ball in play and with a .280 team BABIP maybe they would score a few more runs.
This team needs at least 3 #3 pitchers. Good ones. If this team could strike out 100 times less and improve pitching to league average they might really compete for a WC sometime.
Please don’t put Trout back in RF. Everything says no.
there goes the Ozzie and Harriet OF – it lasted a few hours.
Everything including his knees.
I keep getting a non versitle Chone Figgins when I look ar Rada
Not a bad thing at all, since Rada plays CF far better than Figgins.
It’s a dream, but man, if Teodosio could just hit .250…. man an OF with Adell, Rada, Teo would have little power but be fun anyway maybe.
I may be misunderstanding how the 5-year rule works, but do you think the team will actually put Rada on the 40-man before they need to so he can be called up this September? It might be more likely Guzman gets the call if he’s eligible for the 5-year draft this winter. And the team has a more pressing need at 3B right this moment.
Of course, the team could bring up Paris or Lugo for September without messing with the 40-man roster.
Jo Adell thru April:
89 PA
.190 / .236 / .545
2 HR
27% K rate
4.5% BB rate
Jo Adell May – present:
380 PA
.245 / .312 / .528
28 HR
25.5% K rate
6.6% BB rate
Let’s trade Jo too 🔥!
Jo is the prototypical DH. I’d love to have him as our full-time DH.
He was solid in RF last year! The CF experiment was a massive failure lol
Jo could also slide over to left if that position opens over the winter. He’s been a mixed bag fielding in left but close to neutral from what I’ve seen.
I don’t think he’s a DH, personally. He has the arm and defensive chops for a corner, RF especially. Positive defensive metrics in right last year, and roughly neutral defensive metrics there this year, but improving.
He never should’ve been in CF this season – that made little sense. They just didn’t want to bruise Trout’s ego by finally shifting him to LF/DH where he belongs, and they suffered 2/3 of a season of excruciating defense from Minasian not putting on the big boy pants and doing what should’ve been done all along.
No kidding, and he needs to do the same this year with Adel, Trout, and Soler.
I screwed up the March+April slash 🤦🏼♂️. Should be .190 / .236 / .310
8 year experiment of “best possible athlete” instead of “best baseball player” available. Next year will be year 9 of less than league average performance. Yeeesh. We are just going to take a football player and make him a baseball player, just like in high school!
In the case of Adell, this is bullshit. I think you are thinking of Jordyn Adams maybe? Adell was a full on baseball player in HS and I think he was the top player in Kentucky. I know he was the king beast in a bunch of those YOUTH BLAST SPAZZ!! summer showcases. I think he was also the top or near top HS position player in the draft. He was, in fact, a “best HS baseball player available” pick.
I know we had some pick, I think the year after Jo, that was a kid who was thinking of going to UNC for football….
According to our AI overlords, he played basketball and football in high school before deciding to concentrate on baseball. And after 8 years in the organization, I still think he is below or at replacement level in the league. He does flash some long ball now and then, but the whole entire body of work, not just in small stints, is not star quality. If they traded him for some prospect with a high OBP and BA, I would be happy.
Yes. He played other sports. It doesn’t mean we drafted a football player and tried to make him a baseball player.
And the total buggery that has gone into making Adell an 8 year experiment has been covered so many times that archeologists will find it perfectly preserved thousands of years from now.
And it has nothing to do with him playing football his sophomore year of high school.
This undersells Adell’s reputation in 2017. He wasn’t just the best HS player in KY, he led the nation in HRs for a prep prospect, and was #1 nationally ranked by ALL-USA. He was Baseball America’s top prep bat in the nation, and #7 overall, when the Angels selected him tenth in the draft.
He was also #1 ranked in the Pioneer and Cal Leagues in the years he arrived. He really didn’t have much of a hiccup in his MiLB progress until the pandemic, when the minor leagues shut down and the Angels prematurely promoted him to the MLB rather than have him idle for a full season. (But he really needed that extra year, to focus on swing decisions and getting his K rate down.)
He’s also better than replacement level, as his positive WAR and 114 wRC+ attest to.
So…. football player.
I understand that Bo Jackson was a football player too.
Bo was a unicorn.
Yeah, I think he was The unicorn.
He was the original unicorn. The new unicorn is an imported imitation.
Exactly.
I was delighted when the Angels selected Jo in ’17, and baffled/disappointed when they selected Jordyn in ’18.
Not remotely the same player.
Just as a reminder of what a touted prospect he was, here is his BA scouting report at draft time (which also shows how deeply baseball-committed he was as a senior – basically attending every possible showcase opportunity).
7. Jo Adell
OF
Ht: 6’3″ | Wt: 215 | B-T: R-R
Adell’s explosive raw tools are rarely matched. He’s a workout legend, capable of running a 6.4 60-yard dash, smacking a 450-foot home run with a wood bat or making a 70-grade throw from the outfield. He’s got all the body cliches–the high-waist, the broad shoulders and the defined muscles stretching his sleeves. When the players walk off the bus, Adell’s the guy scouts want.The degree to which Adell translates those attributes into baseball-specific skills will determine whether or not he becomes a superstar. On the summer showcase circuit–both as a rising junior and then again as a rising senior–Adell’s game skills were raw. He’d botch plays in the outfield and often expand the strike zone and swing at bad pitches. Every so often, though, he’d do something flashy to remind scouts of his promise. After a tough week at the Tournament of Stars, Adell made adjustments to his swing and showed more contact ability at the Metropolitan Baseball Classic and the Under Armour All-America Game. He had closed off his open stance and reduced the load of his back elbow, improving his direction to the ball, helping his head stay on plane and allowing his bat to stay through the zone longer. The changes yielded a much more functional swing. He concluded the showcase circuit with a strong performance at the WWBA World Championships, playing for the Evoshield Canes travel team. After a dedicated winter, Adell has done everything possible to reduce concerns about the swing-and-miss to his game. After swatting three home runs in a game on May 3, Adell had 21 on the season with only seven strikeouts. If his improvements hold up against next-level pitching after the draft, he could prove to be a true five-tool talent. Adell is also a significant prospect as a righthanded pitcher. His athletic body plays well on the mound and when he’s in prime pitching condition he’s capable of pitching at 92-94 and touching 95 with life on his fastball. His 12-to-6 breaking ball has powerful bite and low- to mid-80s velocity. Adell is committed to Louisville but is expected to have a team meet his bonus demands.
Things haven’t changed. All these things are still true. It’s still about can he stay consistent enough to have sustained success.
Yeah, baseball ain’t easy. Swing decisions and consistency were always the red flags / challenges with Jo.
But he’s always been a hard worker and smart player, and willing to be coached. It’s the fan comments that suggested he was a dumb, lazy oaf that drove me crazy.
You really only need to hear him talk for 30 secs in a post-game interview to realize that he’s one of the most intellectual players in the clubhouse – maybe occasionally to his detriment in the field and at the plate. And coaches and scouts are uniform in praising his work ethic.
Absolutely! Attitude and work ethic have never been the issue which is why he is so popular and has so many here rooting for him.
If he is still here next year and can become a consistent .830 OPS guy, that would be great, although he only has 2 years before he becomes a FA.
So, apparently his last two years he dedicated himself to baseball by going to showcases, and impressing with his size and speed. Not his baseball skills.
I read this as “he has size and is a great athlete, but is raw and make blunders on defense and has a lot of swing and miss, but if he does connect, he can send it out”. Pretty much what I saw of him in person when he was on the 66ers. The most glowing thing on the scouting report is his pitching, maybe they should try him in the pen, he won’t like it because it will hurt his earning potential. To my Lyle-in eyes, I see him and think that for 8 years he has been working on nothing but baseball with the highest level facilities and coaching, yet still (except for last year) making errors on defense, and still swinging at low and away pitches, etc. I know it’s a very hard game, but at the upper echelon, when you are highly touted as a baseball player, you should be far above the Mendoza line.
You can convince folks that he’s got holes in his game still because he does and no one is arguing he doesn’t.
The “we drafted a football player” hill? That’s yours, all yours, a nice private hill to die on I guess. If you think that a team has “drafted a football player” every time they take a high school kid who was also good at football or basketball you’re gonna be unhappy about a lot of draft picks.
It probably is just me, as when I see him, I see the same players in local high school ball. The coach has them on the team because they also play football and are big kids. The fact that they go 1-35 and that was one solo home run, and there defense sucks, doesn’t stop them from taking the field, and the coach will tell you that in practice they are crushing the ball.
Wait…I’m just learning today that Adell can pitch?
Jo has kind been all over the map this year. 20 of his 30 HRs have been hit in June and August. He only hit 10 HRs in April, May, and July combined. Also, if you just removed the month of June, like you removed the month of April, his numbers would look way different. He has been very inconsistent. After his monster June, he tanked in July but then had a very solid August. We’ll see what happens in September. He’s not going to be like June all the time when his OPS was 1.038, but if he was able to be like May and August when his OPSs were .836 and .834 instead of April and July when they were .514 and .659, then he we’d have something.
I’m guessing here, but I assume the hamstring strain in ST and adapting to CF hurt Jo’s start to the season.
You are correct on his frigid July. What I find promising is that after the league adjusted to Jo, he adjusted back this month. 380 PA is a large enough sample size for me to say this breakout is real and sustainable.
If September is a repeat of August then I agree but if it’s a repeat of July then we’ll see what his actual breakout is. Just a few weeks ago, his OPS+ was only 106, which is an improvement for him but not so much relative to the league. His 380 PAs currently yield a .234/.298/.485/.782 slash line for an OPS+ of 113 not including September. His HRs are very expensive as they cost a lot of outs.
For what it’s worth, his statcast metrics look really good for the year.
xWOBA of .381 puts him at 91st percentile in the league.
Even his xBA is good at .277
And of course his xSLG is great at .561, good for 97th percentile.
This kind of quality of contact would place him near the top of the league in terms of OPS. Maybe he has just been unlucky this year??
I agree that when he hit’s the ball, he hit’s it hard. He just doesn’t do it very often. When he makes consistent contact, he has a month like June, and even May and August.
Zach Neto has the 11th highest bWAR in baseball. Definitely want to trade him at peak value this offseason!
According to fangraphs he’s 59th among all players? The only place I saw him 11th was for total WAR for shortstops.
Yea, FG doesn’t like Neto as much. Split the difference and say he’s a top 30-40 position player in the game?
Yes, Neto is a stud on a lower performing team. Move him to a different team and his bWAR would change.
bWAR is Wins Above Replacement as calculated by Baseball-Reference, a comprehensive advanced statistic that measures a baseball player’s total value to their team by quantifying their wins above a hypothetical replacement-level player. It differs from other WAR calculations, such as FanGraphs’ fWAR, in its use of different metrics for offense, pitching, and defense, notably employing Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) for fielding metrics and Runs Allowed (RA) for pitching instead of FIP.
Key aspects of bWAR:
In essence:
When you see bWAR, it refers to the specific version of WAR calculated and published by Baseball-Reference, a statistical website that takes a particular approach to evaluating player performance.
Thank you Senator. For some reason I never realized that the b was for BR and the f was for Fangraphs. I knew they were different WAR calculations.
I get it thanks for the info Pineapple. We agree, Neto is a very good player and the best overall player on the Angels.
bWar rankings for position players
We should consider it. If we want to, you know, change the team’s future down the line. Or we can make bold moves like replacing Kavedas with Rada and Soler with Paul DeJong on the 26 man. PLUS signing Merill Kelly for too much money.
Look out Astros. Here we come.
You’re joke is actually the reality. If a team is in our position, soon to finish last for the second year in a row, with all of the other teams in the division getting better and no farm to speak of, what you do is build players up to peak value, and then trade them.
Same with Adell. I hope he slashes .250/.350/.500 in RF from April 1st onward. But we should probably trade him then.
Otherwise you are just relying on a ton of luck to eeeek out one good season and then return to crap. And these are players that I really really like that we’d be trading. It would be great if we can hold onto everyone, extend them etc and end up good but we kinda screwed that pooch the last three trade deadlines/off seasons.
So true. To get better we need to make some hard decisions and just because I believe it makes sense to trade them under the current circumstances doesn’t mean I don’t like them. We should trade them all or build a team around Neto with players who have 4-6 years of control left.
8/26 standout performances on the farm:
Nelson Rada (AAA)
4/5
3 runs
double
SB
BB
K
Mitch Farris (AA)
6.2 IP
0 ER
5 hits
1 walk
13 strikeouts
Raudi Rodriguez (A)
3/6,
2 runs
BB
2 Ks
SB
Dylan Jordan (A)
5 IP
0 ER
2 hits
1 walk
6 strikeouts
I assume Rada will get a well-deserved September callup. Jordan has put together an absolutely sensational year. Fellow 2024 draft bonus baby, TGA, looks to keep up tonight.
Watching DJ and TGA going back2back the last six weeks has been very fun 🤩
Gives me hope for all the new HS pitchers we drafted
Everyone is completely underestimating the beast Shores will be.
i see him at LSU; he even bigger and stronger now, and is now in the lab.
There is something about being The Man in Omaha during CWS, and it’s easy to see Moore and Shores as best players and alpha dogs in the next couple years.
Yup. That is one thing PTP did NOT fail at. There is a large pile of pretty darn good arms to pass through the lab. We will certainly get to see what we have there.
And who knows? Maybe he has so many prospect arms that he can trade for some hitters?
Equipped with a special fastball, 19-year-old righthander Dylan Jordan is making waves at Low-A Inland Empire.
The 2024 fifth-round pick out of Viera High in Florida has an up arrow next to his name thanks to his 93-95 mph sinker from a low three-quarters arm slot that averages 18-21 inches of horizontal break.
“I love it,” Inland Empire manager Dave Stapleton said. “It’s deceiving as can be, the way his arm slot is. He’s got a plus there.”
Despite a humdrum start to his season—and pro career—in the Arizona Complex League, the 6-foot-3 Jordan turned a corner in his strike-throwing after his first five starts in which he had a walk rate just north of 13%.
From his sixth outing to the end of the ACL season, Jordan held a 7.1% walk rate, which not only helped him limit runs with a 2.21 ERA but also miss bats with a 29.5% strikeout rate.
“The big thing for Dylan was the continued focus on fastball execution and overall strikes,” Angels assistant GM Joey Prebynski said. “It’s a good profile from the stance of his fastball getting groundball contact.”
Though Jordan’s fastball has been vital to his late-season success—including a one-run, six-inning start in the ACL championship game and holding down a 1.72 ERA through four starts in the California League—the refinement of his secondaries has become the new focus.
“When you look at the two secondaries in his slider and changeup, they both have the ability to create swing-and-miss,” Prebynski said. “We think he’s going to be able to get outs, not just on the ground, but through swing-and-miss.”
Though his fringe-average low-80s gyro slider and firm mid-to-upper 80s changeup don’t match the quality of his plus fastball, his pitchability and growth have garnered the attention of the Angels’ front office and development staff.
“There’s a growing period here that I think he’s going to have to go through,” Stapleton said, “but he shows some tremendous maturity for his age. It’s just a matter of time between now and when that phone call (to MLB) happens . . . and it will happen.”
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/angels-prospect-dylan-jordan-makes-waves-in-pro-debut-with-special-fastball/
“ Angels assistant GM Joey Prebynski said”. Lies. We don’t have a whole staff of guys in our FO.
Similar to what I saw over the course of the season. Early in the ACL, I wasn’t particularly impressed, as Jordan’s FB control was fringy, the change wasn’t very differentiated, and the slider was inconsistent. That started to change mid-season, as the FB control and command sharpened up and he started locating his SL better.
In the Cal League, he still fights control here and there, but the FB is getting more whiffs, and there’s a projectable three pitch starter mix there. More than I see with TGA, who is just dominating younger hitters with velocity, while often having little clue over where his secondaries are headed. The ceiling remains higher with TGA, but there’s more work to be done to make him a sustainable starter who can get AA+ hitters out.
Those younger pitchers, the ones who came in “with the lab”…. it sure seems like, at least at the lower levels, it has worked well and given them some skills A Ball hitters can’t beat regularly.
I’m excited to see what happens with these guys in AA. If the info+adjustment machine keeps rolling and they stay good, at least some of them. Talent will fail for some at higher levels.
But if this method works for these guys all the way through to the MLB it will be great because it will even change the way our org handles pitchers in the pros. An actual system!
THEN we can even start looking for cast offs and pitchers with 4.70 ERAs that fit what we can repair well and get some bargains maybe. Even cooler.
And maybe build on for hitting!
End of season farm ranking by Kiley McDaniel (ESPN)
The top 10 in his list were:
28. Los Angeles Angels ($85 million FV)
Preseason rank: 28
The Angels have been between 25th and 30th in these rankings since the end of the 2021 season, as they’ve been focused on moving prospects quickly to the majors while trying to make the most of having Mike Trout in the organization.
A solid group of players is getting close to the big leagues from the past two draft classes, last year’s trade deadline return and the international department’s signings.
Righties Tyler Bremner, George Klassen, and Trey Gregory-Alford have the potential to be impact-type arms with some further development, but I don’t see star potential in the position player group.
Dylan Jordan looking good again last night, struck out E. Holliday too.
Rada went crazy- on base 5 times
To be fair, everyone is striking out Holliday at the moment. 🙂
40.5% K rate. Honestly, you watch the ABs, and the plate knowledge is there – he’s just overaggressive and can get long. This has been a part of his game (and a small red flag) for a while – he’ll need to adjust.
Not to brag, but I think I might have struck Holliday out recently.
You didn’t just strike out during the holidays? Tbf, barfly life is part buzz, part flyswatter – not a bug, but a feature etc etc etc.
Save your approbation for a different strikeout, Rex!
So in seeing the Dodgers and the Mets at the top of the list it doesn’t seem as though you have to have a high position in the draft to draft well, you just need to draft well.
Believe it or not, if you actually draft humans with inherent baseball talent that can be developed to deliver positive results at the major league level, draft order becomes a secondary matter.
Great farm systems graduate players and still have depth to remain high performing. The Angels under Perry Minisian’s leadership are not one of those teams.
angels FO is basically me chasing loses at the roulette table.
When was the last time the Angels had a stacked system? 2003? With McPherson and Wood plus Mathis (look at his MiLB stats sometimes, he was a “complete” prospect) Weaver, Kendrick etc etc?
this may not be beyond the BA Paywall
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/mlb-farm-system-rankings-for-every-team-in-the-21st-century/
anyway best I can read it, we fell off the cliff after 2007
2008 11th
2009 25th
you know the rest
Before that –
2007 4th
2006 4th
2005 1st
2004 3rd
2003 3rd
2002 5th
There’s a correlation somewhere.
The last good MLB team was 2009 (besides ’14)
Prospects are lame anyways.
There’ve been several studies that show strong correlation between farm depth/strength and playoff appearances / contention windows.
It’s usually when the farm is ailing that fans break out the “maybe farm strength is overrated” theories, as it’s always easy to find a handful of exceptions. But a 360 degree study across multiple seasons tends to demonstrate that teams shorten rebuilds and return to playoff contention by improving the depth and quality of their farm systems.
Thanks for the course correct.
Looking at the Top 10 makes me wonder if we’re over valuing farm systems. Both the Pirates and Marlins have worse records over the past 10 years, although to be fair both have had one or two winning seasons during that span.
Both those teams have issues with talent in/talent out. They also have juju issues. The Marlin…. man if you are listed as a top Marlins pitching prospect you better get insurance. The Pirates. I swear to the gods they have some weird curse where NO ONE is allowed to develop fully as a hitter there. I’m talking at least a dozen pretty solid position prospects who just fizzle out.
If you were wondering if the Angels players know that they are not making the playoffs and are just riding out the season, well, your answer is found in Kikuchi trying out a new grip in an actual game, and failing miserably, but he, as well as the rest of the team knows that it doesn’t really matter.
But, hey, these are “meaningful” games….not for the team winning, but for individual glory like new pitching grips. meaningless HRs, and just being all-around “en fuego” for the fanboys.
Sorry, Perry’s an idiot.
I finally got to ask an actual human from an actual FO about Perry’s “meaningful baseball” comments. His draft too. Granted it was from a totally different org, but he gave me a general sense of how those things work.
The comments are what I thought they were. The GM making the best flowery talk he can about his preferred plan being scrubbed and the top brass telling him what’s gonna happen. This is a normal part of the job and yes, even POBOs have to do it. And no. There is no FO head who just “handles” the owner and “does the right thing”. They all go into the job knowing these sunshine pump statements will probably be required at some point.
The skinny on the draft is that the outside impression is that PTP is indeed VERY in on the pitching development pipeline. He scouted A TON of arms. He drafted arms that they think they can develop fast. This guy’s guess is that they will try to carve out a huge chunk of very good and cheap pitching both in relief and rotation. If payroll is limited, this will be important so they can spend on hitters on top of the fact that high end arms making it to FA will get even rarer.
This guy told me that, as the draft was going, the talk was sort of “he’s doing it” and some people think it’s bad while some are really interested in what he’s doing. Oh, and that Bremner likely fit a bunch of criteria they used to determine who will work best with the development methods. Plus, as some of us said, he’s actually a really good pitching prospect.
He said PTP is considered a fairly good GM that is trying something kind of wild.
He also confirmed that Arte is considered, in his words, one of the five worst owners to work for in an FO and that he is, as we sort of suspect, sort of like Jerry Jones in the way he works with the FO. That he is very involved.
But he did say he suspects the pitching lab and draft is all PTP. The trade deadline was supposed to net some position prospects, and the “stand pat” was an executive decision. That there was no way any FO employee anywhere was looking at the Angels as play off ready.
He thinks Perry is done after next year if he had to guess.
Very insightful, thanks for posting. Of course, people will probably zero in on your last sentence.
I think the idea is that Arte will just say “Well, we tried him. Didn’t work.” and move on.
Again, weirdly what most of CtPG Guy is basically saying.
When the problem is clearly that Arte & Co are still not willing to face the pain and take their hands off the wheel.
Again. Much like CtPG Guy.
I’d still rather have Arte than a pile of other owners. But I’d REALLY actually like him if he just eased off and set a budget, then let the GM do his thing.
I just can’t follow you here: “I’d still rather have Arte than a pile of other owners.”
The man’s baseball instincts are atrocious, and there’ve been few Moreno-motivated roster decisions that have been anything but net negative. Hardly matters that he puts silly-level dollars behind his own ideas, when his own ideas are silly-level.
If we buy your FO friend’s POV that Perry’s failures are just a fig leaf for Arte’s tightfisted failures, it’s hard to reverse engineer this Rube machine toward an even-handed view of ownership. Arte is the deus, and Perry is just the PR machine, with a little side hustle in Arizona to try to manufacture cheap pitching on the quick.
I’d rather the Angels have a mediocre vanilla group of corporate owners with slightly less capital who simply hired good baseball minds and let them sink or swim within clear budget parameters and without constant intervention. Arte sucks.
Oh, the pile isn’t very big. I’m just very familiar with Reds and Guardians and Pirates ownership. Where serving as a AAAA team for richer owners is just a way of life. That shit sucks A LOT. A’s and Rays too. It’d just be harder on me knowing that winter will bring nothing exciting and any player I get attached to will likely be leaving soon.
For example, Reds and Pirates friends pretty much already know De La Cruz and Skenes are gone in a couple years. That’s friggin sad.
Good stuff here. Thank you
watching the Cowboys Netflix series reminded me why I left the Cowboys in 1998. Arte is no Jerry Jones.
Jer has served as the GM of the ‘Boys since 1989
Jer is the FO
Thank you for the insights Gitch.
this is cool if you asked him about 3B, what’d he say? I Don’t Know?
Oh. I didn’t. I was more curious about how a FO actually feels and acts when something like “we are IN IT!” happens. Do they really think they are in it when schmucks like us can see they are not, and are far from being in it for the long haul even if they luck out this year?
The answer is no. They can also see the numbers and other team’s rosters and know that they aren’t “just a move away” etc.
But they are required to act like they are. All of them.
Which is why you have never seen a GM or POBO come out and say “My plan was this. They changed it up on me. They are stupid” or go in and yell at the C Suite.
Hell, even in the movie money ball, Billie Beane begged, he didn’t demand.
Maybe someone needs to tell Perry.
Perry’s head is so far up Arte’s intestinal tract that using a bullhorn to inform him still would be but a faint whisper to Perry’s ears
To me, watching Kikuchi fumble and nibble all year has been the most frustrating part of 2026 Angels baseball. Here’s an idea, throw some strikes and use your freaking fastball!
THAT has been the most frustrating part of Angels baseball?