Angels righty Garrett Richards completed his remarkable return to the major league hill, but he had to leave early with what has been diagnosed initially as a biceps cramp, as Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times reports. The club says that the fireballing righty was pulled for “precautionary reasons,” and Richards says that “everything’s fine” with his elbow. For the time being, at least, he won’t even undergo an MRI; indications are that he could be able to take his next scheduled start.
- Speaking of Richards, you’ll want to read the interesting piece that Moura penned recently regarding his stem-cell therapy to treat a partially torn UCL. Taking that course rather than electing surgery is perhaps not as unique as is publicly known, the article explains, with other players quietly undergoing the treatment during the offseason. It wasn’t an easy call, explains Angels team doctor Steve Yoon, but the combined approach has led to “dramatic” improvement in his ligament.
- Angels fans will also want to take a look at Moura’s excellent look back at how the organization landed Mike Trout in the 2009 draft. Richards went to Los Angeles in the same draft, as did a host of other major leaguers. But landing Trout with the 25th choice was one of the greatest heists in Rule 4 history.
- The Diamondbacks are lining up a significant investment in their operations in the Dominican Republic, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. CEO Derrick Hall explains that investing in a facility — either through renovation or new construction — could help the team draw quality youngsters under the new international spending rules, which won’t allow organizations to exceed their pool allocations.
- Diamondbacks prospect Domingo Leyba is slated to miss about two months of action with “a small tear” in the anterior capsule of his right shoulder, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports (Twitter links). Leyba, who came to Arizona as a part of the three-team deal that also delivered Robbie Ray, with the D-Backs sacrificing Didi Gregorius, is considered one of the organization’s top prospects. The 21-year-old infielder put up solid numbers last year at the High-A and Double-A levels after a disappointing 2015 campaign. Over 548 total plate appearances, he slashed .296/.355/.429 with ten home runs.
Hey Diamondbacks and other MLB teams,how about lining up a significant investment in the US! Please don’t mention the RBI program cause it’s not the same. This is one of the reasons US born players are at a significant disadvantage.
Significant disadvantage? US born players make up the majority of professional baseball.
This year marks the highest percentage of foreign born MLB players ever. Take a look also at each teams minor leagues and the percentage there,and the fact there is no draft for those players..except PR. Manfred tried to get an international draft on the last collective bargaining meetings but failed.
Sorry, but this is just not an informed take. The academies are there because these players are signing at 16 years of age and need significant attention — baseball instruction as well as education, health care, etc. US/Canada/PR players do not join professional organizations until they have at least finished high school, and then they go directly to the organizations (their instructional leagues, spring facilities, minor-league affiliates, etc).
MLB teams have slanted their financial attention to these countries while significantly ignoring americas inner cities. The RBI program is a drop in the bucket compared to what they spend on other countries. Sorry but an informed take would be to look at US cities declining youth participation in baseball because of economics and availability.
I don’t particularly understand why the country a player comes from matters to you so much, , although the majority of major-leaguers are American-born. Sure, youth baseball participation is down because of economics, but that’s not something MLB can fix oveernight. Playing baseball, even little league, can be pretty expensive, and requires bigger investments than MLB can absorb.
The country of origin makes no difference to me at all. You stating that playing baseball is expensive is one of my points exactly and by concentrating as much on this countries youth as Latin countries it would alleviate a lot of the burden. One of the reasons MLB concentrates so much on these poor Latin countries is because they can develop players so cheaply. Many people feel an international draft is both fair and needed to balance the economics and alleviate a lot of the underhand stuff going on with players falsifying birth certificates and crooked agents.
Or it is that players from those countries are better prospects? The biggest issue with the economics of baseball in America is not something that just throwing money around is going to fix. The “fake birth certificate” thing is pretty much no longer an issue, by the way. And crooked agents represent American-born players too. This feels like you are proposing a solution in search of a problem.
A clumsy analogy to this, I suppose, is that even though most pro hockey teams are based in America, Canadian players still make up a huge majority of the playing population. It’s like 51% to 25%. You find the best players where you can. I rarely read anything about how the NHL needs to invest more in American players.
I’ve also never heard people complain that almost all the very best NBA players are American-born, right?
Against better judgment, I’ll bite.
What can teams do to spend more on American talent?
Signing bonus money is capped. As much as some teams might want to give five or six preps per season a seven-figure bonus, that would violate spending limits.
How has the birth certificate problem been fixed? Crooked agents you say that represent American players would never pull the stuff that scouts and agents pull in Latin countries..reasons that are corruption in their governments for one which MLB has no control over. You stated that players in those countries are perhaps better prospects,if so then a draft with international players would prove who the organizations feel is best like the NBA. Baseball is a waning sport for many reasons and people don’t complain about the NBA percentage because it’s not a factor. Look at the marketing top fifty athletes and none are active MLB players..and yes money can be thrown towards many things to help..youth leagues,more fields,subsidized equipment for schools,joint projects with athletic companies just to name a few. My point to all this is more teams and leagues investing more in their local reach!
When was the last time you’ve read about a player having to change his age? If you’ve watched pelotero you’ll remember the scene in which teams are doing sophisticated blood marking now to assure that players are the age they say they are. Corrupt governments? What does that have to do with baseball? The United States has a government rotting with corruption and that doesn’t really effect baseball.
An international draft sounds unbelievably unwieldy and unworkable, and even if there was one it wouldn’t solve what you see as a “problem,” which is less American-born players. (For the record, I don’t believe this is a problem).
Sure, it would be nice to have more resources for development, but there are structural issues with that far outside the purview of baseball. City governments can’t pay for fire protection or helping people keep their lights on. They certainly don’t have money for baseball. Baseball itself is a difficult sport to build – it requires a lot of players and equipment to even get a pick-up game going at a park. Little League isn’t ceding its reach, nor is it making things easier or cheaper to get involved. So yeah, maybe less American-born players are growing up in baseball. So baseball looks elsewhere. The cream still rises, no matter where the players claim as a birthplace. I mean, the five best players in baseball are Trout, Machado, Kershaw, Donaldson and Bryant. All of those guys were born in the United States.
I’m sorry I have to bite because there is actually no research or substantive correct point you’ve hit on. We can go on and on but here are the facts an MLB international draft will never work and should never work unless they have recourse. I’m not about telling a poor kid here is you 30K signing bonus, because owners have stagnated the pool, take it or you can go back and work in the fields because you have no other options to escape poverty. Because that’s truly what the international draft was about suppressing the bonus pool. They seemed to have succeeded regardless. They have no legitimate amateur structure, they have no legitimate educational structure, so I would argue the opposite way unless the MLB and its owners pour substantial money into creating that amateur/educational structure there should in no way be a draft. And if you think a draft is going to work you are naive. Players play and usually sign with the team that’s regional. We act as if these players are mobile and can pick up and move freely. I bet you if I told you how much the annual operating cost to just keep the Dodgers and Angels joint urban youth academy in Compton afloat your mouth would drop. That’s even before discussing the multiple other projects they’re invested in. We are talking about businesses here who have to play in multiple countries. Maybe just maybe us as Americans should look at why baseball is dying at the youth level there are actually a couple of big reasons that don’t involve baseball just ignoring Latin America and “not doing enough”.
I’m all about trying to grow America but the fact is they are not at a disadvantage simply because they are born in America and not another country.
I’m guessing you’re from CA and believe everyone should get a participation trophy as well. CMON
Why did the Angels take Grichuk over Trout?
Is there salary slotting or a reason to take Trout lower or did they not know what they were getting either?
It was probably a coin-flip decision. They did pay Trout less but the amount was insignificant. If they knew who the two players they wanted were it probably didn’t matter much in the order in which they drafted them. Trout signed for about 30,000 dollars less, but they would have spent the same aggregate amount of money no matter in what order they were drafted.
According to the SI story on Trout a few years ago, it was negotiation jujitsu. If they picked him after Grichuk then he lost signing leverage. However, the feeling in the war room that day was the team was pleased to get Grichuk, but Trout was a necessity.
Hmmm. they feared Trout might go to college? Wouldnt that have actually forced them to draft him higher? As in, you’re going to get a smaller bonus, take it or go to school? That makes no sense
One way or another, youth baseball in the USA is in a total free fall. It’s not that players are at a disadvantage, it’s that they go play other stuff instead of baseball because most of the rest of youth sports haven’t turned into a slanted pay-to-play industry. Barely anyone plays baseball for recreation anymore.
To be fair, playing baseball for recreation requires a bunch of players and equipment, as opposed to basketball, which requires two people and a ball, or even something like throwing a frisbee or kicking a soccer ball around in a park. If I wanted to play a pick-up baseball game I’d need to find at least, what, 8-10 guys, all of whom have gloves and bats, then find a field with bases – which some parks have here, thankfully. But finding a bunch of people who all have the time to play a pick-up game on a Sunday afternoon is pretty much impossible.