6 reasons to be optimistic about the Angels being REALLY bad

The article in detail is here:

Mike Axisa wrote an article titled "Six reasons the Angels look like the most hopeless franchise in baseball".  Thanks Mike.  As if we didn't need another guy named Mike to make us depressed and want to see how much alcohol we can consume during the baseball season.

I'm not really going to answer if Mike is right or not, but rather post 6 defensive arguments to his 6 points.

1. Their young pitchers keep getting hurt. Okay, I get it.  We've had a rash of injuries to our pitching staff this year.  But did you catch the key word there?  "Young"?  That means the Angels have a whole bunch of young pitchers available to help propel this franchise forward.  Of course we'll have to hope no one else gets inured (Is there anyone left?), and we'll have to wait until 2018 - but still.  That's less of a wait than the Padres have before they are competitive again.
2. Their big contracts have gone bad. Umm, sorry Mike, but we are getting 41 million off the books with Wilson and Weaver this year, so I consider that good news.  Plus, is it really that bad to be paying Albert Pujols 25 million?  He IS better than you think is, right?  Then there is Hamilton, but we don't mention that name in polite company.
3. They've forfeited too many draft picks. Recently?  Don't think so Mike.  Not since 2013 and that was like FOREVER ago.  In 2014 we snagged Sean Newcomb in the first round, but maybe that's a bad example.  How about 2015?  We picked up Taylor Ward in the first round and HE'S still in the organization doing stuff.  So there.  We aren't forfeiting picks anymore.  Our 2016 pick, Matt Thaiss, is also looking great so far, never mind that he is about 3-4 years away from helping us.  We can wait.
4. Their drafts have been unproductive. By whose standards?  Unproductive?  Last I checked we drafted just as many players per draft as the other teams! Also, as the author even said himself, we have Nate Smith who was drafted in 2013 and he may even be on the 2017 pitching staff as a 6th starter.  6th is better than nothing at all, right?  Ric Wilson is out as scouting director too, so that is a big win considering his track record of suck.
5. They've punted the international market.  I got nothing on this one.  Sorry.  My optimism only reaches so far.  I think the title of this one is misleading though.  It should say something like "they threw the international market in the trash", or "they crapped all over the international market".  There's always the 2017-2018 market - and then we are back in!  Yea baby!
6. Scioscia has too much control.   The winningest active manager in baseball has too much control?  Boo hoo.  Besides, they can't prove it, can they?  Because if they can, could they slip that evidence Arte's way and let him know how he's sucking this team down into a huge gigantic hole of horribleness that makes us all want to curl up in a corner and shotgun Schlitz until the his tenure as manager is over?