Slap hands! Slap hands!

With leadoff homer, Trout reaches milestone

There’s this guy Mike Trout. He’s really good at baseball. Oh, you’ve heard of him? Well then, that saves me the trouble of explaining how great he is to you. Trout did another Mike Trout thing by becoming the first Rookie EVER to have 25 home runs and 40 stolen bases during his Rookie campaign. The next logical step is that he runs for president.

Money Quote:

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine simply called Trout “one of the best players I’ve seen in a long time.”

Ditto Bobby. Ditto.

Morales’ two-run home run

In case you missed it last night, Kendrys Morales hit an absolute rocket of a home run to right field. The term “no doubter” is kind of an understatement.

Careers of Mike Trout and Randal Grichuk picked apart

Randal Grichuk, also known as “the player picked in the draft directly in front of Mike Trout” has done a lot of injuring himself since signing with Angels in 2009. He’s not Trout, and personally I wouldn’t have taken him in the first round, but the kid can play. He’s put up good numbers this year for the 66ers of the California League and he has managed to stay healthy all year. Next year he should get a bump up to AA where we will get a better idea of what kind of hitter he will be going forward.

Money Quote:

“I wasn’t the only one, like some people make it seem,” Grichuk said, laughing at the conversational thread that has dogged him throughout the Summer Of Trout.

“There were 24 guys picked in front of him.”

Sorry Randal, but, before Trout, there was nothing.

No. 2 prospect Cron has season-ending surgery

When the Angels drafted Cron there were rumblings about his Labrum being torn then. He wasn’t much of a defender at the time of his drafting, so I have a really hard time accepting that his labrum was the reason for his 19 errors this year. Maybe it was and maybe I’m wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time, but I don’t see a fit for him in the coming seasons and suspect he will become a trade chip as soon as he gets healthy.

Are the Angels already in must-win territory?

I am pretty sure that every team is in “win-now” mode. That’s the point right? To win? I don’t remember an Angels team having this high of expectations coming into a season, and it has been a severe disappointment so far, but it’s not over yet. And until this team is mathematically eliminated, I wont give up hope.

Money Quote:

But there remains reason for optimism, despite the deficit they still must make up over this final month of the season.

And it’s hard to explain except to say that the Angels are not the Boston Red Sox of last season.

Their clubhouse is not toxic. Their manager is not loathed.

Wait? You mean to tell me there’s no beer and chicken? That’s it. I quit.

Cowart heads list of prospects going to AFL

Who doesn’t love the Arizona Fall League? Some of the best prospects in all of baseball, in the same league. It’s a scouts favorite time of year, and a Minor League baseball fans favorite time of year. This year the most notable Halo farm hands are Kaleb Cowart, Randal Grichuk and Nick Maronde.

Should Angels Pick Up Haren’s Option?

Alright. Time to get down to the nitty gritty. Dan Haren has been very not good this year (The word “bad” just sounds so, bad). Not good as in, this has easily been the worst season of his career. For 2013, Dan Haren’s contract includes a $15.5M Club Option. Does Jerry Dipoto look at Dan’s 2012 and say; “Thanks for the good times Danny” or, does he look at what’s available on the market and decide to stick with the bird in his hand? Along with Dan’s numbers being down across the board, his velocity has also took a tumble this year. It’s a very complicated situation made even more complicated by Ervin Santana having a club option for next year as well on top of their being very little on the Free Agent market this offseason. Would you pick up Dan Haren’s option?

Money Quote:

When it comes down to it, the Angels are making a $12M decision because Haren has a $3.5M buyout. Assuming teams are paying roughly $5M per win on the open market, they don’t even need Haren to fully bounce back to his elite status in 2011 for the option to be worth it.

Yeah, still on the fence.

Ah, the joys of teaching your son how to hit a OUCH!

(Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE)

Trout and Bryce Harper were the main attractions at last year’s prospect showcase and both have since graduated to The Show. Dylan Bundy (Orioles) and Jurickson Profar (Rangers) will be playing in this Future’s Game and are the favorites to be next year’s number one and two prospects.

Segura is hitting .287/.328/.398 with five home runs and 25 stolen bases but, more importantly, has stayed healthy. The injury bug plagued Segura’s 2009 and 2011 seasons. Hopefully, the Angels middle infielder of the future won’t only be healthy on even numbered years.

Segura was ranked the Angels second best prospect by Baseball America and Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus but should take over the top spot now that Trout is all finished with the minors. KG had him 67 in his top 101 rankings. Segura is currently blocked by the extensions and disappointing play of Erick Aybar and Howie Kendrick.

Angels prospect not making the Future’s roster

Garret Richards, RHP
Richards is pitching better in the majors than he was the minors after being called up to start for the injured Jered Weaver. With Weaver back, Richards should hang on to his rotation gig a little longer with Jerome Williams on the DL and Ervin Santana giving home runs away at an alarming rate.

Johnny Hellweg, RHP
Hellwed isn’t lighting up Double-A with a 4.01 ERA and 4.67 FIP (fielding independent pitching). He’s also not blowing hitters away either. His 6.84 K/9 is a far cry from his 11.38 K/9 in High-A last year. Hopefully, that’s just adjusting to life as a full time starter after converting from the bullpen.

C.J. Cron, 1B/DH
Cron is hitting .306/.348/.500 with 11 home runs in High-A. The 3.4% walk rate is less than ideal.

Kaleb Cowart, 3B
While he might be my favorite prospect in this system, Cowart is far from the majors. He’ll have a Future’s Game in his, well, future. Cowart is hitting .293/.348/.479 with nine homers and nine steals in Low-A. Cannon for an arm.

Jean Segura, definition of a blocked prospect (Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE)

Kaleb Cowart LoA Cedar Rapids
Cowart is playing his first year of full season ball in Cedar Rapids. He’s just 19-years-old (which IS young unlessyou’re Bryce Harper or Trout) and raw. While the potential third baseman of the future is years away, he is already displaying some much needed power from the hot corner. Cowart went 2-3 Monday night with his fifth home run of the season. The 4BB/22K is kinda gross and the .263/.300/.456 isn’t great good but it does put Pujols’ slash line to shame. Too soon? Let’s move on.

Cowart was the sixth best prospect in the Angels system according to Baseball America before the season (and before last season).

Taylor Lindsey HiA Inland Empire
Lindsey was the Angels sandwich round pick in 2010 and the second baseman has hit ever since. The hit tool is impressive but there isn’t much pop to go along with it. He went 1-4 Monday night and has a .306/.361/.444 line with two home runs and five doubles on the season. Again, his 7BB/19K is nothing to write home about but these are young kids.

Lindsey was BA’s seventh best Angels prospect before the season.

C.J. Cron HiA Inland Empire
Cron shouldn’t take much seasoning in the minors considering he only does one thing. Hit. And hit for power. Cron went 2-4 Monday with his fifth double of the season but his SLG is down to start the year. A trend throughout the Angels system apparently. Cron does have four homers to go with his .248/.306/.398 line but the times should get better for him quickly. He is playing some 1B in the minors but, let’s face it, has DH written all over him.

Son of former major leaguer, Chris Cron, C.J. has the pedigree and ability to be a professional hitter. Cron was the 17th pick overall in 2011 out of the University of Utah. Already 22-years-old, he should move up fast only to find his positions blocked by Pujols, Kendrys Morales and Mark Trumbo. Good times. Of course, Morales is a free agent after this year.

Cron was ranked the Angels fifth best prospect after the 2011 season by BA.

Jean Segura AA Arkansas
Segura went 1-5 Monday with a caught stealing. He’s only hitting .265/.320/.376 this season with two home runs, three doubles and two triples. Segura, a solid second baseman, has turned out to be a capable short stop as well. Unfortunately, that means nothing considering the Angels just locked up Howie Kendrick and Erick Aybar to four year extensions.

Baseball America ranked Segura as the Angels second best prospect after the 2011 season and 55 in their top 100. Segura is an intriguing prospect in the Angels system now. Is he a trade chip? He’s their best non-pitching prospect so it will be interesting to see how Jerry Dipoto handles Segura’s future with the club.

Tyler Skaggs AA Mobile
Oh, right. Okay so maybe Skaggs isn’t in the Angels organization anymore but he was in action Monday with another ho-hum seven innings of five hit, one walk, seven strikeout ball. Luckily, I’m one of the biggest Dan Haren fans around so I’m not one to look back on dealing Skaggs for him in an unfavorable light. But Skaggs has looked exception since entering the Diamondbacks system and is living up to his 13th best overall prospect ranking by BA.

Austin Wood LoA Cedar Rapids
Wood gave up two earned on seven hits and three walks over five innings Monday. He did strike out six, though, and now has 38 Ks in 32 innings for the season.

Dylan Bundy LoA Delmarva
I don’t really care that Bundy has absolutely nothing to do with the Angels. He is ridiculous and you should know who he is. The fourth overall pick by the Orioles in 2011 has allowed an earned run in 20 innings this season while striking out 33 and walking TWO. Bundy pitched three innings on Monday and gave up one hit and one unearned run. He also failed to strikeout ONE of the nine outs he recorded. And that does, indeed, qualify as a poor outing for him. Welcome to next year’s number one prospect.