Angels Seek Starter, Relievers

Alright. The Angels are one farm I know almost nothing about... What is their best offer for Halladay?

I read they're deep on SS and C and that's about it. but i don't know anything specific either.
maybe they package wood, napoli, and three others with their respective mommas

"Alright. The Angels are one farm I know almost nothing about... What is their best offer for Halladay?"

They can't make one without giving up one of Saunders, Napoli or Weaver, which they won't do.

They don't have the top level talent in the farm system to put together an offer for Halladay using prospects alone.

Can Kendry Morales play the outfield ?

CSG,

i was thinking Gonzo from ATL as well, but not JV. I was really intersted in Juan Rivera and have posted a couple times before about trying to acquire him. LF who is RH with some power and signed for one more year.

What is Brandon Wood's value around the league right now? He seems to have lost his luster as a top prospect, but should still be a solid SS.

I would love a deal involving Wood for Manny Delcarmen, depending who else would have to be added on either side. Bard would not get traded for Wood.

Sure would be nice to add another arm. Lackey has been outright bad for a year now. While that's good in some ways (his price will be significantly discounted in the off-season if the Angels resign) he is no longer that top front of the rotation type of a guy.

I had issues with the Santana extension this off-season and that's coming back to bite us. Saunders started off strong but has been awful the last few months. Weaver is drifting back to 3/4 starter. Escobar is nowhere to be found even though he was throwing 95MPH in extended Spring.

Point is, I don't trust any one of our starters right now. The Angels need a big time starter.

However, as Melonis Rex pointed out, we just don't have the names to make a trade. Lack of talent at AAA is a killer. No way would I move Weaver/Santana/Saunders + another 3 or 4 top prospects for a single pitcher.

Brandon Wood's always benefitted from playing in the best hitters parks in the minors. I think in a system like the Angels that values fundamentals, situational hitting, and defense, they never promoted him because other aspects of Wood's game weren't compelling enough to start over other inhouse options. It says tons that they went with Aybar who was about the same age who has much less power but more glove, arm, speed, and contact ability. Wood strikesout a ton. Most might say on any other team he could be a Uggla type at a premum defense position, and, you'd take the strikeouts with the big HR totals. The problem with that might be that his basic contact ability is suspect.

"The problem with that might be that his basic contact ability is suspect."

Greatly improved this year. 56 K's in 264 AB's. Similar rate to most of the Angels starters including Figgins,Abreu,Hunter,Morales,Hunter,Kendrick,Mathis,Napoli

Brandon Wood is the best SS in the minors, despite the fact that he plays in a hitter's park. Over half the stadiums in the bigs are hitters parks, Salt Lake City is no different. Right now, given a full year in the bigs he'd be a .260 30 DB 30 HR SS with average range, above average glove and very good arm.

Just because the Angels like to play small ball, and prefer a toolsy defender like Aybar over the power threat that is Wood, doesn't mean other teams will. For those who still think he K's a lot, check out his stats in AAA this year. Even in the midst of a slump he's still batting over .310 18 DB and 15 HR. He's taking the ball to all fields, he works the count and since they don't make him steal bases, you'd never know that he could also swipe 20 bags a year.

Think Dan Uggla, but faster, with better defense and a better BA.

The Angels would have to be literally insane to deal Wood for a middle reliever like Delcarmen. Don't get me wrong, Delcarmen is good, and so are some of the Reds relievers, but we're talking about a kid who is going to be one of the top 5 offensive SS for the next 10 years. Brandon Wood in Fenway would equal 40 HR a year from the SS position. If Wood is dealt, it would either be for top of line young pitching like Clay Bucholtz or Bowden.

If Boston wants a shortstop for Masterson or Delcarmen, they can have Aybar or Izturis.

“Greatly improved this year. 56 K's in 264 AB's. Similar rate to most of the Angels starters including Figgins,Abreu,Hunter,Morales,Hunter,Kendrick,Mathis,Napoli”
Deceiving. His Walk rate also dropped to 8.3% from 10% the last three years. He looks to just be swinging the bat more, and the .344 BAbip coupled with the park is making his Batting Line look much better then it is. His contact rate is basically the same as it has ever been.

"For me personally, he deserves to play over many of the SS/3Bs out there. But the contact rate and K/BB ratios will suppress his effectiveness."

He cant supplant good-glove utility types like Aybar and Izturis in Anaheim, obviously his own manager feels like you do. Talented yes. Amazing prospect, no. Much more hype then anything else, not unlike all the other Angels hitting prospects we have seen over the last 5-10 years.

To put this into perspective, it's very infrequent when you see 100+ strikeout sluggers in the Angels lineup under Scoscia. If you do see them, like Salmon, they were there before Scosica became manager.And once Scoscia got there, the playing time of those sluggers started to decline. I think Wood has always been caught in some strange limbo between org philosophy and unwillingness to trade him to another club.

I don't argue with you that Wood can hit the opposite field with power but I've seen him go into homer happy streaks where he pulls everything in the minors. It may be just an adjustment thing, I remember being impressed with the easy power he seemed to have, but he struck me as a pull guy. That being said, once he spent time in Scocia's clubhouse, and he sees what approaches get playing time, he may have been changing his approach over the last couple years. But we can go back and forth on this forever. Either way I remember seeing him in a All-Star or Futures game in the minors with Nick Markakis, and those two took over the spotlight. At that time Wood's stock was muuuch higher than Nick's and it seemed like Wood was going to reach the bigs that year. I think it was the season he hit around 40 HRs at SS.

It's just downright amazing that his performance has been suppressed because of an org thing.