Angels Vs. Rays - 4:08 PM: John Lackey @ Jeff Niemann

For your LUNCH discussion... A short history of Angel Compensation Picks:

Yesterday:

Randal Grichuk and Tyler Skaggs were drafted by the Angels as compensation from the Mets for Francisco Rodriguez

Mike Trout and Garett Richards were drafted by the Angels as compensation from the Yankees for Mark Teixeira.

Tyler Kehrer was drafted by the Angels as compensation from the Diamondbacks for Jon Garland.

First Round Compensation Picks
Hank Conger: from Indians for Paul Byrd (2006)
Chris Bootcheck: from A's for Mike Magnante (2000)
Roberto Hernandez: from Orioles for Juan Beniquez (1986)
Terry Carr: From Yankees for Al Holland (1986)
Mike Cook: from Orioles for Fred Lynn (1985)

Mike Cook was traded for Bert Blyleven, who was awesome for just over 500 innings as an Angel. We traded Hernandez for nothing and he went on to have a long career. Other than that, these have been busts. Bootcheck was never even league average in the 77 games over parts of 5 seasons he pitched here. We will see what happens with Conger, but it makes suffering thru those seasons of Hector Carrasco a little easier (Carrasco was signed by Angels GM Bill Stoneman instead of re-upping with Byrd).

1st Sandwich Round
Trevor Bell: from Tigers for Troy Percival (2005)
Jeff Mathis: from Rangers for Mark Petkovsek (2001)
Jeff Schmidt: from Royals for Wally Joyner (1992)
Jorge Fabregas: from Twins for Chili Davis (1991)
David Holdridge: from A's for Reggie Jackson (1987)
Mike Fetters: from Orioles for Juan Beniquez (1986)
Daryl Green: from Yankees for Al Holland (1986)
Dennis Rasmussen: from Astros for Nolan Ryan (1980)

Holdridge was traded one-for-one to the Philies for Lance Parrish - one of the 5 best catcher in Angels history! Fabregas yielded us Chad Kreuter and Tony Phillips (not bad at all). Fetters yielded us Chuck Crim (bad trade). Rasmussen was a league average pitcher for 12 seasons with a great 1986 campaign where he won 18 games... but he did it for the Padres, we had traded him in 1982 as the player to be named later for Tommy John who kinda helped at the end of 1982 for us, than was league average in '83 and '84 before being released early in 1985.

2nd Round Compensation Picks
Ryan Mount: from Tigers for Troy Percival (2005)
Chris Smith: from Royals for Wally Joyner (1992)
Marquis Riley: from White Sox for Kirk McCaskill (1991)
Mike Erb: from A's for Reggie Jackson (1987)

Mount is good right now in the minors. None of the others ever even made the show.

3rd Round Compensation Picks
Steven Shell: from Rangers for Mark Petkovsek (2001)
Chris Collins: from Orioles for Don Aase (1985)
Wally Joyner: from Yankees for Don Baylor (1983)

Nothing here except, oh, the 9th greatest Angel in franchise history... Holy SheeYITE!

RESULTS:

CURRENTLY: Compensation picks have given us three of our current top prospects and our current backup catcher.

'00s: Earlier this decade they gave us a not-good middle reliever.

'80s and '90s: Compensation picks in our farm system yielded us Top 100 Angels Bert Blyleven Lance Parrish and Tony Phillips. And Wally Frackin Joyner.

We squandered most of our picks form the 1980s, as Hernandez, Rasmussen and Fetters would not only go on to have decent, long major league careers, but they yielded quite a bit in trades for their respective teams on many occasions.

The 9th greatest player in Angels history, however was acquired as a compensation pick, so the Angels can be seen as having an overall success from this bit of baseball minutiae which, if you have read this far, confirms your status as a total baseball nerd.