Farewell, Brandon Wood.

Andrew broke the news to me, and I figured there was no way I could let this one go by without a post. I'll let the Los Angeles Times fill us in,

"...the Angels decided to cut ties with Wood, leaving them 10 days to trade him or place him on waivers, where he's all but certain to be claimed by another team."

Mik Scioscia said, "We just had no way out of this. It's tough. We all had high expectations for when he got the opportunity in the big leagues. And he struggled. His struggles were well documented last year."

We've all been waiting for this to happen. He's just been so bad, the Angels really did have no other choice. With Erick Aybar coming back of the DL, the Angels being unwilling to drop a pitcher, Bobby Wilson being out of options, and all the other younger Angels doing well, they really had no other choice. But, this was going to happen eventually, with how horrible Wood has been. When will we Halo fans realize that we shouldn't get as pumped up about minor leaguers as we do? Probably never. Names like McPherson, Mathis, Kotchman, and now Wood keep letting us down over and over again. While there are plenty of guys meeting our expecations right now, it's more likely that we'll continue to expect more than we'll ever see out of these youngsters. 

While so much has been made of Brandon Wood being a let down, do you actually realize how big of a let down he was? He was drafted in the first round of the 2003 MLB draft, the 23rd overall pick. The Austin native was rated the #83 overall prospect pre-2005, the #3 overall prospect pre-2006, the #8 overall prospect pre-2007, and the #16 overall prospect pre-2008. That's not his ranking in the Halo organization, that's for all of baseball. Let's look at the actual stats to see why there was all the build up, and to compare that with just how bad he was once he came to the show.

Minor League Stats:

2003 (Rookie Ball)- .288, 5 jacks, and 44 RBI in 61 games

2004 (Low-A)- .251, 11 jacks, and 64 RBI in 125 games

2005 (High-A & AAA)- .321, 43 jacks, and 116 RBI in 134 games

2006 (AA)- .276, 25 jacks, and 83 RBI in 118 games

2007 (AAA)- .272, 23 jacks, and 77 RBI in 111 games

2008 (AAA)- .296, 31 jacks, and 84 RBI in 103 games

2009 (AAA)- .293, 22 jacks, and 72 RBI in 99 games

Those are all big numbers, especially in 2005. But he wasn't just a 1 year wonder. He kept up the jacks and RBI, and a pretty nice average for being a "slugger." Despite all that, in his minor league career, he struck out 73% more often than he walked, and got punched out in 26% of his total at bats. That's bad, and the Halos and their fan base always hoped that he'd bring that 26% mark down once he got to the bigs. It didn't really happen. 

So, his overall season-average numbers from his minor league career is as follows:

.284 average, 20 homeruns, and 68 RBI.

You can see why we were all excited about his progression, and why we all feel so let down by his performance in the show.

Major League Stats:

2007 (13 games)- .152, 1 jack, and 3 RBI

2008 (55 games)- .200, 5 jacks, and 13 RBI

2009 (18 games)- .195, 1 jack, and 3 RBI

2010 (81 games)- .146, 4 jacks, and 14 RBI

2011 (6 games)- .143, 0 jacks, and 0 RBI

His 162 game average, based on what he accomplished in the show was:

.168 average, 10 home runs, and 31 RBI

He was even worse in terms of swinging and missing, as he struck out in 33% of all his at bats in the big leagues, and got punched out 92% more often than he was able to work a walk. You can read and re-read that, and it still boggles the mind. 

 Not exactly what we were all hoping for, eh? I look to 2010 as the most important year. It was last season when the Angels gave Brandon Wood a full shot, even though some could argue that his goose was already cooked after his 51 game failure back in 2008. I was always on Brandon's side, until 2010. I always said that we need to reserve judgment until he got a fair shot. That fair shot was 2010, and we learned absolutely at the point, that he had no future with this team (and I'd guess no real future with any team in the bigs).

So, now we're parting ways with the once beloved Halo prospect. What will come of him? Do other clubs see enough potential to give us something (anything) in return? Or, will we simply let him slip away and watch him flounder with some other team much like Dallas McPherson on the Marlins? Only time will tell.

However, I still say this from the bottom of my heart: Best of luck in the future, Brandon.

*I'd just like to note that since we've gotten him off the roster, we blasted the Rangers 15-4 and look to take the series in game three this afternoon. At least Trumbo is meeting our expectations.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē