Angels close to acquiring Kyle Kubitza from Braves

I just don't understand the point of acquiring more and more pitching when it is considerably cheaper than hitting in today's environment.

Because high-end pitching is NEVER cheap. Add to that the fact that money SPENT on high-end pitching is hands down the easiest way to cripple a franchise that has (and always will have) limited resources, and it should become apparent that acquiring as much of it when it's inexpensive as is humanly possible has always been and always will be the best formula for building sustainable success.

God forbid 2017 arrives and Teheran, Wood, Miller, Fried, Banuelos, Sims, Jenkins, and Sanchez are all healthy and pitching up to expectations - we'd NEVER be able to move one or more of them to plug a glaring hole to get us over the top. Dealing Wheeler got the Giants Beltran when trying to make a run (fixed). The reason we weren't able to go out and get that kind of piece during the Wren era wasn't finances - McGuirk and JS have ALWAYS maintained that the payroll has ALWAYS been flexible depending on the situation, and Liberty proved they weren't lying when they OK'd the Santana signing after Medlen and Beachy blew out last spring - it's been that we haven't had pieces to offer anyone to land a significant piece in return.
 
Actually, the Giants didn't even make the playoffs that year with Beltran.

Yeah, realized it after I hit post, but the point is still the same. Anyone who believes you pass on the opportunity to stockpile high-end pitching when it's cheap is making a HUGE mistake. The Mutts have done exactly that and could pull the trigger on getting someone like Tulowitzki as that kind of piece whenever they wanted if they decide to WITHOUT hurting their rotation.
 
Yea I think it's a combination of the Braves not valuing Kubitza as high as some on this board/consider him replaceable but also probably having scouts love Sanchez. I'm fine with this trade because even though Sanchez is far away he could be a very exciting prospect. We just need to cool it with pitching prospects now. Need to start getting bats in the system.

Of course, I was one of the first to downplay Kubitza as an option, but was beaten down repeatedly over the last season-plus. I'm thinking this was purely a trade of opportunity; betting that the Angels approached Atlanta, not the other way around. Sounds a lot like Chris Johnson has some support in this front office.

What intrigues me is the clearing of two 40-man roster spots, not one, right?
 
Of course, I was one of the first to downplay Kubitza as an option, but was beaten down repeatedly over the last season-plus. I'm thinking this was purely a trade of opportunity; betting that the Angels approached Atlanta, not the other way around. Sounds a lot like Chris Johnson has some support in this front office.

What intrigues me is the clearing of two 40-man roster spots, not one, right?

We're currently at 39 but easily could dump Constanza and a few others. We need to keep one spot open for Toscano.
 
Kubitza was our 16th ranked prospect, he is now the Angels 7th. Sanchez was the Angel's 2nd best prospect, he is now our 17th. And I thought our farm system was bad.

We traded our 16th best prospect plus a prospect reliever and got back our 17th best, but no doubt with a much, much higher ceiling.

I like the trade in that we traded a low to mid ceiling prospect for a very high ceiling one, but I hate that we traded from an area that we are seriously lacking. Maybe they are really high on Jace taking over 3rd.
 
Kubitza was our 16th ranked prospect, he is now the Angels 7th. Sanchez was the Angel's 2nd best prospect, he is now our 17th. And I thought our farm system was bad.

We traded our 16th best prospect plus a prospect reliever and got back our 17th best, but no doubt with a much, much higher ceiling.

I like the trade in that we traded a low to mid ceiling prospect for a very high ceiling one, but I hate that we traded from an area that we are seriously lacking. Maybe they are really high on Jace taking over 3rd.

I'm all for Jace getting a long look at 3B.
 
Everybody is on the same playing field in terms of the delta in production. I don't see how pitchers are less valued than hitters.
 
Good trade, high end pitching is something you can never have enough of.

Kubitza may be good, but more pitching you have, more assets you have in trades.

Per usual, people complaining.
 
Also, high end pitching is expensive as hell.

More than hitting.

Lester got 23-24 in AAV, maybe more i think.

Scherzer will top that.
 
The Angels have a bad farm system so this kid being ranked high for them isn't saying a lot.

At the end of the day, scouts love his projection and I'm all for this trade. I liked Kubitza a little more than most, but being a #2 prospect in any organization is not just fodder I don't care where he's ranked with us. I like the shots at lottery tickets, but I also think it's time for the John's to focus on upside position players. If all these pitchers reach near their ceiling, everyone of us on the board will be loving the returns we could get to make a consistent run each year. That is the goal, like it or not.
 
@BenBadler
Scouts who love Ricardo Sanchez see flashes of Martin Perez. Beat Cuba in the 15U gold medal game in 2012. Good pickup for the Braves.
 
Heyward, Freeman, Simmons and Gattis are an outstanding group of position players that we have drafted and developed in recent years. We have to be careful not to make assumptions based on what our comparative advantage might have been 20-30 years ago. I hope nostalgia is not turning out to be our great flaw.
I understand the blow back on only focusing on pitching prospects, but when pitcher development is clearly our strength wouldn't we rather try to accumulate young pitchers and develop them instead of position prospects with whom we struggle to develop?

At the end of the day it's about acquiring as many quality assets as possible. I think we are better served investing in our strengths and then dealing from them when we are ready to compete to augment our weaknesses.
 
Per usual, we thank you for bringing us the facts and nothing but the facts. :)

No, seems like you and others have something against the new FO and always have to complain about something.

I could be FOS, but JMO.
 
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