This year's Oscar nominations were announced today, so it's only fitting that we check out the latest baseball news from Hollywood. The envelope please…
- Mike Trout holds the #1 spot on MLB.com's 2011 Top 50 Prospects list. Trout is the only Angel on the list, while Dee Gordon (#44) is the only Dodger.
- Toronto sent $5MM to the Angels as part of the Vernon Wells trade, tweets Jon Heyman of Sports Ilustrated. The cash transaction wasn't officially reported since the clubs "apparently just didn't want to" do so.
- News of the $5MM payment might have changed Fangraphs' Matt Klaassen's analysis of the Wells trade against the Giants' signing of Barry Zito in a "which move was worse?" breakdown.
- If Jonathan Broxton loses the closer's job and Hong-Chih Kuo can't stay healthy, Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com suggests Vicente Padilla as an outside-the-box closing candidate.
- Billionaire Alec Gores may have an interest in buying the Dodgers, but his equally-rich brother Tom won't be joining the bid, reports Gregg Krupa of the Detroit News. Tom Gores is reportedly focusing his attention on buying the NBA's Detroit Pistons.
- ESPN NFL Insider Chris Sprow finds "it hard to fathom" that Jake Locker would consider leaving the NFL behind to refocus on his baseball career. Locker was a 10th round pick of the Angels in the 2009 draft, but is projected to be one of the first quarterbacks taken in this spring's NFL draft. ESPN.com's Jason A. Churchill opined that Locker could look to baseball as a fallback option if the NFL's labor troubles threaten the 2011-12 season.
$5mil? Angels still got fleeced.
Like spending $20 000 on a decent used car and getting a bottle of washer fluid
Analogy of the day.
all season washer fluid or that summer pink crap?
Probably the pink crap…speaking of which I’ve got a beauty 97 Dodge Ram for sale, I’ll give you a sweet deal and maybe a few perks. Wonder if Reagins needs a new truck?
How do we even know if the report of 5 million dollars is true? Both Gms have denied that any money changed hands? I say this is Heyman trying to save face
If Heyman is trying to save face then he could have made up a much bigger number.
No, he first said 5 million the night of the trade. Then backed off
No that money was sent over because it was Wells bonus money, its on top of his 86 million dollar salary. Check out Cots contracts.
2000 likes, just noticed. ok anyways,
I have a question for NFL draft followers since i’m not a huge one. If Locker chooses MLB, can he go back to the NFL? Sign as an undrafted free agent or something along those lines?
Actually it says 1999, but I pity you so I will give you one. LOL
you can tell how many likes a poster has?
click on his avatar, and look at the “thumbs up” sign
Yeah just click the picture besides his name and you can look through his profile. # of posts, where he’s posted and you can look through each one.
after 2500 posts, i can’t believe i never noticed that. Well they haven’t used this format for a long time either but still.
lol you got caught saying you had 2000 when you really looked and saw you had 1999
Busted!!
when i posted that comment, it said 2000 on my screen. must have gotten one on another thread recently.
I took one back. Just because…
you “just noticed” that you had exactly 2000 …. lmao get your “comment to like” ratio game up
a 5 to 4 ratio isn’t too shabby.
You are the kind of guy who takes a ruler in to the bathroom, I can just tell
LOL funniest thing i have read all day. I’m not that compulsive >.>
Finally, something positive comes from Anaheim.
Because “only” paying Vernon Wells $20.5 million a year is that much more digestible?
The list is wrong in so many ways that I don’t even know where to begin. How are Hosmer and Montero #8 and #9. Dominic Brown #4? Casey Kelly ahead of Matt Moore and Manny Banuelos?WTH!
I think he´s better than Montero and Hosmer because Montero is awful behind the plate, and he´s probably a future DH, Hosmer has a lot of tools, but not enough time in profesional baseball, and finally, Kelley is more polished than Bañuelos and maybe than Moore too…
I think the way they rank Kelly has been overstated myself. I don’t get too caught up in most rankings because it’s all about what the evaluator appreciates more (projection vs performance) but according to “experts” it’s Banuelos’ polish and “pitchability” at 19-20 that has them frothing over him so much. 2011 is a big year for both Kelly and Banuelos, but Kelly MUST show some better results to keep his high rankings justifiable.
As for “Will Ferman’s” remarks : “The list is wrong in so many ways that I don’t even know where to begin. How are Hosmer and Montero #8 and #9. Dominic Brown #4?”
Reading that I can’t really tell who’s ranking he has a problem with either way.
Im quite sorry, but Jake Locker is not going to make it in the NFL. He won’t quite make it in the MLB, either. CFL and Independence league baseball are options, respectively
that still isn’t gonna stop teams with so many QB holes from taking a chance with him. I mean, Blaine Gabbert is the top QB, its not the greatest class.
I was just joking around to be honest. I’m no NFL expert, but I would say Locker can be benched/coahed a few seasons and might return an Aaron Rodgers type.
Um, you mean return as what, the second best QB in football? Huh. Chyeah. Just like that. Aaron Rodgers. No big deal.
I, for one, think Hyman might have been speaking tongue-in-cheek in reference to his initial report. It can’t be a serious statement that money changed hands and the GM’s “didn’t want to” admit it. That’s just stupid.
Heyman will be on Wfan 660 in a minute if you want to call in and ask him
Just wanna go ahead and point out here that MLB’s top 50 list is F’ed up. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I want to know their perspective with one.
It usually is pretty stupid. Personally, I stick to Baseball America and glance through KLaw’s.
I have this song in my head. I just cant get rid of it. It goes like this “The big big bang, the reason im alive……..
If the LA Angels have this seemingly “can’t miss” outfield prospect, you just have to ask the question, why Vernon Wells??
He’s still a ways away. You have to ask why Vernon Wells regardless though. Repeatedly.
By all accounts I’ve read, Trout can be in CF by the end of the year, 2012 the latest. That being said, Wells will be in LF and Hunter in RF. Still…..”why Wells” is a valid question. If anything, Wells blocks Peter Bourjos who I think will be a good player too.
Trout can be ready by the end of this year, but that would just be rushing him up. A Bourjous/Trout outfield is deadly. And I guess Wells and Hunter and Abreu are sort of like mentors. Really expensive mentors at that.
Mentors? If they were all in a nightclub looking for play then Wells and Hunter would be deemed “c**k blockers” to at least Bourjos. He’s safe for the start of 2011 but my guess is that Bourjos would be the odd man out when Trout is ready. Hunter has 2 years left and Wells 4. Maybe they’ll let Abreu walk after 2011 and move Wells to DH, slide Bourjos to LF and start Trout at CF?
ahhhh can you imagine wells making 21 million a year as a DH with his .330 obp
that would just be the icing on this lit paper bag with poop in it
I expect Abreu to be gone after his contract is up. But no way Bourjous is removed from his OF spot. Remember the Angels moved a perfectly fine and healthy Torii Hunter to RF just so Bourjous, who was unproven and is still fairly raw, could start. Thats how much the Angels value Bourjous’ defense. Now way they bench him for Wells or Hunter.
As for your question, you basically answered yourself LOL. Trout/Bourjous/ Hunter or Wellls. Im thinking Hunter is our DH, because he is older. And you said Hunter has 2 more years, he’s probably going to be here for one year with Trout anyway. But the way I see it, its better to have 4 quality OF, even though 2 are super-expensive, than have a shortage. Oh and Trout should not be called up this year, so Hunter/Wells/Bourjous OF is the what it looks like for this year.
I was pretty surprised with Arencibia at 48. I didn’t think he would crack top 50.
Happy to see Lawrie at 28 and Drabek at 12.
Iglesias at 42 is too high IMO.
hetch in the just missed category…
Hech will be the better player in the end
Iglesias is good, I think he’s a deserved 42. It’s pretty crazy watching him play defense…
Yea that short video was the first time I saw him play defense and he looks really quick. Cant wait till hes up.
I don’t disagree with you but defense can only be valued so much. You still need a solid bat otherwise you are just a bench player. He didn’t show a whole lot of power and does have some plate discipline issues (should improve as he gains further experience though). He is definitely a top 100 prospect, just not that high.
Hech is too high too IMO. I would rank McGuie re, Stewart and maybe even D’Arnaud higher than him. He should be in 90’s. I would put Iglesias somewhere in 60-70’s.
Well he did actually show a strong bat in AA I thought, although not much power as you said. I guess I agree with you for one reason, that because of his 2010 injury he’s still way too hard to quantify right now. I think the MLB list just was really really high on his defense. Personally I thought he showed a lot of promise with the bat in 2010, but he still needs 2011 to prove he can sustain that for longer than the 70 or so games he played. And if he shows some power, great. But otherwise it seems like he could end up being an Andrus-esque player, and for the Red Sox, that would be pretty fantastic to have at shortstop.
I tend to agree. I think I would put Iglesias just out of the top 50, while his defense is otherworldly his offense is still suspect. He had a good year with the bat last year and I think he probably ends up a .300ish hitter with a reasonable OBP, but at this point I don’t think he has shown the ability to continually hit enough to be top 50.
If Josh Hamilton starts out the season bad and Julio Borbon, David Murphy, and Nelson Cruz get hurt and the back up outfielders all play bad and the minor league guys all go on the DL the Rangers might look at Michael Young as an outside-the-box outfield candidate.
-Tony Jackson
I know you’re being facetious,and I dig that, but in all seriousness you mentioning David Murphy did remind me of a thought I had earlier. What do the Rangers do with him? They have to play Hamilton in LF over CF to preserve his body, and David Murphy is too good to be a 4th outfielder
OH yeah huh… hm…
And doesn’t Hamilton go to RF with Cruz in LF?
David Murphy is a borderline starter/4th OF, and it looks like he just crossed the border from baseball diamond to bench.
David Murphy is one of the most underrated players in the MLB. He hasn’t OPS’d under .785 in the past 3 years and has had over 400 PAs each year. Last year, he put up a 115 OPS+. He deserves to start.
I bet if his name was Mike Pike, or Mike Bass he wouldnt be in the top ten lol
What about Mike Rotch?
No, He is out on a hunt.
Mike Oxlong?
Lol. Dude, I am ashamed to say that it took me this long to get it. Good job.
Bet you he wouldn’t be in the top 50 if his name was Dusty Kuntz….. son of Rusty.
Padilla will be good in the 7th and 8th, and likely start 4-6 times, but if Broxton fails, it’s Kuo and Jansen.
anyone else a bit shocked that Alex White didn’t crack top 50?
No A’s in the top 50, so much for them “flipping for prospects”. Thats been beaten and is dead, the new thing you have to say with them now is “win now mode”.
All I have to say is, what the heck are the Marlins spending their money on. Doesn’t appear they are putting much into the farm.
To be fair to the Marlins, most of their top guys have been called up over the past couple of years. Stanton, Morrison, Gabby Sanchez, Sanabia, and Coghlan being the main ones.
But I hate the Marlins and hope their farm system tanks.
I dont see why they shouldnt be in win now mode. Their rotation is really good, they have a strong bullpen, they signed a few bats too. Obviously their offense is still rather weak but that rotation now has one more year of experience.
I’m actually shocked Chris Carter did not make the cut. After going 0-32 in 11 games to start his career, he put up a 1027 OPS in the last 13 games. He’s a lot better a prospect than many on that list.
I guess Reagins believe Angel fans would be happy he took on the one of the heftiest contracts in baseball. It’s probably best for us that we are kept believing we just took on a huge contract by ourselves with no salary cap relief.
Damn if Toronto would have gotten Chapman their farm would be so awesome right now, even still…nice to see 3 Blue Jays in the top 50, with one more just on the outside.
Drabek & Arencibia will be off that list next year
but Stewart, Mcguire, Gose, D’arnaud, Perez, all have chances to make their way on to the list..
Watch out for Sanchez. Wolj is a solid sleeper as well.
Plus, we’ll stack on that 2011 draft.
Wouldn’t it be great though if Jays had drafted Trout instead of Jenkins?
Teheran at 10 and Drabek ahead of him? I know Drabeck is a little closer to cracking an MLB rotation, but Teheran could be up at some point in 2011 and just flat out has better stuff. Braves had 3 in the top 21, so I can’t really complain…..But homerism aside, Randall Delgado should’ve cracked the list. I’d be willing to bet that Baseball America will have 6 Braves, Minor, Freeman, Teheran, Delgado, Vizcaino, Kimbrel, and possibly Lipka, although he’s definitely on the outside right now. I also think they’ll have Teheran in the top 5, he’s arguably the best pitching prospect after Hellickson.
Ok, homer rant over.
Not sure what you’re talking about…Teheran was at 10, Drabek at 12.
Drabek was at 12 and Teheran at 10…
fyi, the lower you are the more highly rated you are, in case your confused
I didn’t read the list, I watched the live countdown on MLBTV, and I could’ve sworn they had Drabek at 8 or 9……oh well.
I was pissed to see Randall Delgado not on that list. Does him being on the 40 man roster now have anything to do with it, were he doesn’t qualify or something? He’s only 22 but we got him at the age 16.
No, their only criteria is that players are rookie eligible in 2011.
Thanks.
Wasn’t pissed, but he should’ve been on there. He wasn’t listed in the 10 that missed the cut either, yet Jarred Cosart comes in at #51…..lol.
Singleton at 30, sweet! I hope his transition to LF goes well. Also Cosart at 51, and we have Colvin and May right on his heels. Phils low minors are still stacked, despite all the trades.
Also John Hart said on MLB network that he projects Drabek as a #3 or #4 starter. That’s kind of odd since they ranked him at #12 prospect.