CJ Cron to Angels Edition of Halolinks

Last night a CJ saved my life ... Burn down the Disco, draft the bloody CJ ... I am a CJ, I am what I play ...

Basically the ceiling of our first round pick C.J. CRON seems to be a right-handed Prince Fielder or a righty Sean Casey with more power. That's the good news. The bad news is he needs shoulder surgery. The silver lining is that with a torn labrum he led the NCAA in slugging with the new "deadwood" bat, the post-aluminum composite material bat that has made college ball far closer to High-A for purposes of scouting and player development.

The analysis of this pick: The Angels will not be pursuing Fielder. The Angels have lost faith in Kendrys Morales. The Angels envision spending free agent dough on pitching, most likely pressing Scott Boras for a Jered Weaver extension as a way of not publicly bowing out of the coming Prince Fielder Free Agency circus. WEAVE will be like Car-Gon and get a seven year deal soon. Okay speculation, but this is how domino trails that fall get pushed... Look around, this is a very un-Scioscia era pick.

Okay here are the only four news stories an Angels fan needs to read.

•The Salt Lake Tribune has reported on Cron's career as a Utah Ute and was on the scene with him for the draft. They have a good inside take on how sneaky the Angels were in this whole thing.

•Angels' top pick has shoulder tear that will probably require surgery - latimes.com ...The LA Times calls Cron "somewhat damaged goods" in reporting news of CJ's torn labrum. Money quote from scouting director Ric Wilson on the injury: "It's a testament to his grit." Ha ha ha, gotta admire the consistency of the most antiquated anti-stat organization in all of baseball, counting most teeball leagues.

•In case you are wondering how highly regarded Cron was, some baseball sites had the Red Sox taking him two picks after us or the Rockies taking him three picks after us, but here is one Oakland insider pleading with the organization to take Cron with the 18th pick in the draft. Money quote:

With their first pick, Oakland needs to shoot for a 1st baseman or 3rd baseman who can knock the cover off the ball, and you can trust me ...CJ Cron is the answer.

•And finally a complete overview of the first round and the supplemental first round from the SBN Mother Ship.

Round two starts at 9 AM Pacific Time today... The Angels do not have a pick until #104, 14th selection of the 3rd round. Tune into LunchTime HaloTalk our Angels internet radio show at 11 AM for more coverage of the draft.