I know I had mentioned that I was going to try to do a retro live blog of the NBA draft since I couldn't watch it myself, but I just couldn't do it. I already knew what happened. It's kind of like tivoing a Gopher basketball game, finding out the lost by 10, and then watching it anyway. You just wouldn't do that, because the fun of watching sports is watching an event with an uncertain outcome in which you are emotionally invested in the result. Knowing what happens and then watching is stupid. I know there are people who would tivo a game and then watch it even if they know the end result already. Those people are psychopaths.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Minnesota Timberwolves. I think they'd have been better off using #20 by either keeping Motiejunas or grabbing Marshon Brooks (or trading it for a veteran SG or C - Brad Miller is retiring) but I can be talked into Kahn's madness because #1 - it's fun and #2 - they did get a future 1st. The real reason I'm going to praise the mad man here is because, despite himself, he did the right thing and picked Derrick Williams - and kept him (at least thus far). In my opinion Irving is the surest thing - his downside is probably a long-time starter - but I think Williams has the most upside in the draft. I suppose this belongs in the back-handed insult department, but kudos to Kahn for not outsmarting himself even though it became abundantly clear he wanted to. So hurray for competence, accidental or otherwise.
2. JaJuan Johnson. The awesome thing for him is that he managed to get himself drafted in the first round, so like, congrats. What I'm really fascinated about, however, is that the player Snake and I have been calling "College KG" for four years because his skill set was so similar to KG (and Hakim Warrick, FYI) will now be playing with the real KG. I'd say he couldn't find himself in a better situation with the perfect player to pattern himself after on the same team, but the word "mentor" doesn't exactly come to mind when you think about Garnett. How is he going to react to a young, new player showing up who has the same game KG himself had 15 years ago? Fights? Verbal assaults? Undermining his confidence? Or maybe he'll actually see an opportunity to sort of live on after he retires by doing everything he can do help Johnson. I doubt it, and I'm thinking more of the pushing and yelling is likely, but I'm totally fascinated here. I've never watched Hard Knocks or whatever, but if they did a show like that on the Celtics this year I would totally watch. And just fast forward to the KG/JJ parts.
3. Evan Longoria. Big sexy is back, in case you missed him. Longoria struggled so far this year after returning from injury, but he finally broke out this week. Well, maybe not a total breakout, but in his last four games he has two 2-HR games, including Sunday's game against the Astros where he went 4-6 and missed he cycle by a triple. Interestingly enough, this little hot streak has started ever since Longo dropped the batting gloves which reminds me of this dude I played amateur baseball with. See, I hit with no batting gloves because I like to feel the wood (insert your own joke here). Snacks played on the team too, and he liked to wear eye black because it was the most effective way for him to keep the sun out of his eyes in the outfield. We had another guy who used a ton of pine tar, another guy who wore two big wristbands around his forearms, and another guy who wore his hat slightly cocked to the left. All these things were done because they worked for people. But then we had this one little weiner dork on on our team who did all of them - no batting gloves, eye black, pine tar, wrist bands, and hat cocked. God he was such a little idiot, and he sucked too. This really has nothing to do with Evan Longoria any more.
4. J.J. Hardy. Well the Twins didn't need him now did they? While the revolving door of Tolbert/Casilla/Nishioka/Plouffe has put up a combined .225 batting average and a whopping .339 slugging, Hardy hit as many home runs this past week (3) as Twins' shortstop have all year. He also has multiple hits in 6 of his last 7 games, and for the season has the 4th highest average of all MLB shortstops (.304), the second-highest OBP (.369), the highest slugging (.538), the highest OPS (.907), and the fourth most homers despite only playing in slightly more than half the team's games. Basically he'd be the best hitter on the Twins: only Kubel has a a higher average and he'd lead the team in both on-base and slugging and be tied with Cuddy for the HR lead at 10. Meanwhile Jim Hoey's averaged more than 2 base-runners allowed per inning in his 17 shitty innings. I hate you, Bill Smith.
5. Justin Verlander. I think he's a cyborg of some kind, sent from the future to rescue major league baseball from crappy, wussy pitchers who both suck and are marshmallow soft. Him and Roy Halladay (and maybe a couple of others) are just a completely different species. I've always wondered what would happen if Gardy was managing Verlander. Say it's the bottom of the 7th and the Twins were up 2-0, Verlander is at 98 pitches and just gave up back-to-back singles with Mijares warm in the bullpen. When Gardy goes out there to try to get the ball from him do you think they would actually get in a fist fight? Is there any way we can make this happen?
WHO SUCKED
1. Minnesota Twins. Well it's over. I hope you didn't get sucked into believing this team actually had the ability to turn around that 13-29 start or whatever it was. I know the weak division and sliding Indians and everything made things look possible, but all you had to do was keep looking at that lineup. 50% of that lineup every game should be hitting ninth, which, based on the rules of baseball as set down by the great Abner Doubleday, is illegal. I know injuries have played a huge part of it - the team only has four guys who have enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title for christ's sake - but there were some pretty bad decisions made this offseason. Specifically not looking for a viable back-up catcher when you know your starter is a china doll who only plays 2 out of every 3 games when he is healthy, deciding, "yeah, we'll go to war with Alexi Casilla as an everyday regular even though he's failed year after year after year" and not getting someone, anyone, to be insurance in case Morneau wasn't ready. The season was set-up to be a high-wire toward success, and the team tipped over and has gone splat on the city street below. When you dig yourself a hole you can't weather a 5-game losing streak. 2 or 3, yeah. Five? It's over.
2. Sacramento Kings. Let me get this straight. First, the Kings trade the only guy on their roster who ever considers passing for John Salmons, a gunning ballsink with an absolutely enormous contract and the right to move down in the draft. Then they usually their newly acquired 10th pick to draft Jimmer Fredette so they can team him up with Tyreke Evans in their back court. This means their two starting guards both need the ball in their hands at all times and are both shoot first kind of guys, and their first man of the bench shoots the ball every time he touches it. I think the two second round picks they made in Tyler Honeycutt and Captain Circus Ball himself were solid, but that can't over shadow this insane roster. Fredette, Evans, Salmons, and DeMarcus Cousins? Is anybody ever going to pass the ball? And how quickly do you think Jimmer asks for a trade, before or after he's threatened with bodily harm by Cousins and/or Evans?
3. Adam Dunn. I'm going to admit that I was terrified when the White Sox signed Dunn. Since he basically only hits homers, walks, or strikes out and the Twins' pitchers don't walk or strike out anyone I figured he basically just stand at home plate and hit tape measure home runs all day. Turns out, however, the he's decided to completely suck instead. This entire week he managed all of 2 hits (which both came in a game where he got 7 at-bats) and struck out 14 times. 14 times in one week! I'm not a guy who looks at strikeouts as a huge negative, especially when balanced out with power, but holy crap that's ridiculous, especially when he's now struck out in his last seven consecutive at-bats and is now hitting .179 on the year with an OPS nearly identical to Luke Hughes. Of course, it's still higher than Justin Morneau's so there's that. Plus Morneau is a huge girl.
4. Madison Bumgarner. It already feels like it happened 100 years ago, but you remember Captain Stripper Name's game against the Twins, don't you? Let me refresh you: single, double, single, double, single, double, single, double, strikeout, double, gone. 1/3 ip, 9 hits, 8 runs allowed. Now he did bounce back with a good game last night against Cleveland, but I feel like when you get shredded in such an epic way these things need to be mentioned whenever possible. Especially when the team that shredded you ranks in the bottom 7 of all of MLB in runs scored, batting average, OBP, slugging, and OPS. God what a fun year this has been. I'm going to become a Lynx fan.
Just kidding.
5. All the idiots who shouldn't have entered the NBA Draft. There are always plenty of idiots who get bad advice and/or have an overinflated ego who go into the NBA Draft despite everyone knowing they have no chance of getting drafted or maybe a slight prayer at getting snagged in the second round except for them. Some of those geniuses this year include Terrence Jennings of Louisville, who could have been a major player in the Big East next year, Jereme Richmond of Illinois who had a ton of potential but didn't bother to let it develop, Willie Reed of St. Louis who never had a prayer, Josh Selby of Kansas, who did get picked in the late second but probably could have been a lotto pick in a year or two, and Jordan Williams of Maryland, who was also picked in the late second but, like Selby, could have ended up a lottery pick in another year or two. Well done, gentlemen. Well done. All of you will be awarded an Anderson Hunt Memorial Award for terrible draft decisions.
I finally started watching Game of Thrones. Best show on TV, and it's not even close. If you don't have HBO do yourself a favor and order it, download all the Game of Thrones episodes on HBO on Demand, watch them, realize how good this show is and how you've been wasting your time, and then cancel HBO after a month. Brilliant.
Showing posts with label Madison Bumgarner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Madison Bumgarner. Show all posts
Monday, June 27, 2011
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Where for art thou, Deolis Guerra?
Yes, I know we are in the heart of the Big Ten season, but if I write too many times consecutively about Gopher basketball I start to have heart palpitations mixed with a deep depression, and since I already took every pill in the house (uppers, downers, hallucinagins, antidepressants and sexual performance enhancers all in play) after the Indiana loss, my only possible solace here is to turn to Twins talk. Since it's not even February yet, optimism can reign supreme. Maybe. Until June, at least.
Keith Law of ESPN.com put out his list of the top 100 prospects in baseball, and I'm going to go ahead and give a few comments about those players of which I am knowledgeable enough to speak, and a few that I'm probably not. Full list is at that link right there above. If you still have your little heart set on reading about the Gophers, the preview of the Ohio State game is in the post directly below this one. [SPOILER: I bet they lose.].
The interesting people, in reverse order:
97. Miguel Sano, SS, Twins. You remember this guy, he's the supposed 16 year old from the Dominican the Twins signed this summer when they shockingly opened up the wallet. He signed too late last year so there really isn't any way to evaluate him against professional pitching, but he's supposed to have all the tools. He projects to end up becoming a 3b, which means he'll probably be ready to take over just as Danny Valencia is leaving to sign a 7-year, $140-million contract with the Yankees.
91. Jose Iglesias, SS, Red Sox. I mostly just included him because being given that name must have sucked something fierce. Also, Law says he could end up as an "Adam Everett" at worst. Dude, that's pretty bad. I wouldn't be using that as a positive argument.
90. Jake Arrieta, SP, Orioles. He finished last year in triple-A and is already 23, so there's a good chance he'll be in the bigs this year. The Orioles are actually quietly starting to move back in the right direction after many, many, many years of spending stupidly and making really dumb decisions. They have a nice lineup this year, and a good number of young arms. If everything works out, they might end up challenging for second in the division sometime in the next ten years.
89. Kyle Gibson, SP, Twins. Above average command and control, three good pitches, a lot of groundballs, and a 93 mph heater - sounds like a prototypical Twins pitcher, except this one was projected to be the 10-12th pick in the draft. The Twins stole him at 22 due to a stress fracture in his arm, but all indications are he's back to normal. And hopefully not like the Liriano back-to-normal, but a real back-to-normal.
87. Aaron Crow, SP, Royals. Could be a Greinke-level monster once he gets to the bigs. I'm hoping the Royals do something really stupid and end up trading him for like, Alfonso Soriano or something just to get him out of the Twins' division.
73. Fernando Martinez, OF, Mets. I think this guy has been on the list for about five years now, but has yet to make any real progress due to constant injuries. He was the top prospect in the Mets system at one point, but, as Phil Humber, Carlos Gomez, Deolis Guerra, and Kevin Mulvey have shown us, that doesn't necessarily mean squat.
72. Mike Leake, SP, Reds. I don't think this is Kelly's dad, since they spell their last name's differently and he'd be far too old at this point.
70. Austin Jackson, OF, Yankees. If this name rings a bell it's probably because at one point his name was being bandied about in the Johan discussion all those many years ago, when we were still optimistic that we would end up getting more than two seasons of great center field defense and a whole bunch of flailing about at the plate out of the best pitcher of the 00s. Well, now he's in the Tigers' system, coming over for Curtis Granderson. At 23 and with five years in the minors, it's probably now or never.
58. Tyler Flowers, C, White Sox. Coming soon to a Twins' game near you. He might start the year in the minors, but he'll be in the majors at some point and might even end up starting by the end of the year. His last two seasons he's OPSed .939 and .921 at AAA and A+ ball, although his defense is subpar at this point.
57. Jose Tabata, OF, Pirates. This is the main guy the Pirates picked up in the Damaso Marte/Xavier Nady trade with the Yankees, so it would be pretty sweet if he ends up being good. Plus, I'm still rooting for the Pirates. I think they're starting to do some smart things, and this would be a big step in the right direction - and it's starting get late on his clock, so a good year this year would be a nice start.
54. Alcides Escobar, SS, Brewers. This is why they traded J.J. Hardy. He should be in the bigs this year, so we'll see if that works out for them. Well, it pretty much already will when Carlos Gomez turns into the next Tim Raines, but we'll see how the SS part works out.
52. Hank Conger, C, Angels. Just wanted to point out that this guy's name is Hank and he's Asian. That's weird.
42. Wilson Ramos, C, Twins. There's no doubt this guy can hit a ton and is a very good catcher as well, as long as he can stay healthy. If the Twins end up not signing Mauer, he's the catcher of the future. If they do, he's going to be a very valuable chip - the kind that could be used to grab some valuable help for a pennant race at the trade deadline. I'm just kidding of course, you know they'll never end up trading him, regardless of what kind of help is available that they would need.
40. Kyle Drabek, SP, Blue Jays. Maybe the key to the Halladay/Lee deal, Drabek has a chance to end up as a top-end pitcher if he can recover all the way from Tommy John surgery. He returned last year and had a very good showing at A and AA ball, so things look good for the kid.
33. Chris Carter, 1B, Athletics. I say first baseman, but it's pretty clear this guy is really more of a DH. There's no doubt he can hit, though. He hit 25 home runs in the minors in 2007, 39 in 2008, and 28 in 2009 (while hitting .329/.422/.570). I would anticipate him starting at AAA, but we should see him in the majors this year - probably taking Jesse Crain deep.
30. Josh Vitters, 3B, Cubs. I just get a kick out of this guy because he just hates to walk. Hates it. In his minor-league career he's just 26 times in 830 pro plate appearances. For reference, that's the same amount of walks Carlos Gomez had in his first year with the Twins, but Gomez had 200 less plate appearances, and nine fewer than Delmon Young had, again in about 200 less at bats. I mean, this guy might very well be insane.
28. Madison Bumgarner, SP, Giants. Was a top-5 or top-10 prospect on pretty much everybody's list at the beginning of last year, but has fallen a bit out of favor due to a drop in velocity. Of course, he looked great in his 10 major-league innings last year, posting a 1.80 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP with a nice 9.0 K/9 ratio. Velocity drop or no, those are really impressive numbers for a 19-year old major leaguer. I'm stunned that he's as low as 28th. Stupifyed, really. Like a spell from Ginny Weasley's wand.
25. Zack Britton, SP, Orioles. Just another young O's pitcher like I was talking about before, although he's probably not quite major-league ready just yet.
22. Tyler Matzek, SP, Rockies. I just wanted to mention him here because he's the top prospect in the Rockies' system and the Rocks are my National League team. He's brand spanking new, just picked last year right out of high school, so we have no data to look at, but he's apparently already got four pretty good pitches. Could be the next Jason Marquis - stay tuned.
19. Aaron Hicks, OF, Twins. I feel encouraged by having a Twin in the top 20, even if the team's overall farm system is only ranked 13th overall. Basically the scouting report on this kid is that he's a true five-tool prospect, who, although he has a ways to go to completely realize those tools, has as much potential as anybody, especially for a 19-year old. He's everything we wanted Carlos Gomez to be.
16. Aroldis Chapman, SP, Reds. I smell bust. Way to blow your load on an absolute question mark, Cincinnati. Seriously, you outbid the Yankees for a Cuban. I have a feeling this was kind of like an auction for something you don't really want, but you're sure somebody else wants and you want to keep bidding them up, trying to make them pay more. Then they stop bidding when you're winning, and you're like "oh shit."
17 & 15. Jeremy Hellickson and Wade Davis, SPs, Rays. Just in case you thought the Rays didn't have enough young, potential superstars. Davis cracked the majors last year and looked good in his six starts and should start the year as part of the Rays' rotation, and Hellickson might join him there after having a very good year in AAA in 2009.
13. Neftali Perez, SP, Rangers. The first of three Rangers in the top 13 on this list, and that doesn't even count Elvis Andrus, last season's runner-up for AL Rookie-of-the-Year. Or Nelson Cruz, who made the all-star team in hi second season. Or Chris Davis, who took a step back last year but hit 17 homers in 317 PAs as a rookie two years ago. Or their bunch of young pitching prospects. How did the Rangers suddenly end up looking so promising?
11. Brian Matusz, SP, Orioles. Yet another Oriole pitcher. Should be in the rotation from the get-go this season.
9. Justin Smoak, 1B, Rangers. Another Ranger. Should be a better fielding, switch-hitting Billy Butler with more power. I'm already scared.
8. Dustin Ackley, OF/1B, Mariners. The second-pick in last year's draft, Ackley is the rare position player who is returning from Tommy John surgery - thus the move from the OF to 1B. The Mariners have discussed making him a 2B, which with his combination of hitting for average/hitting for power/plate discipline, would have a very good chance of making him a perennial all-star.
7. Martin Perez, SP, Rangers. The last of the Rangers. I've never even heard of this guy, but I thought I should put him in here since I'm all up on Texas's nuts and everything.
4. Buster Posey, C, Giants. That's either the best name I've ever heard, or the worst name I've ever heard.
3. Carlos Santana, C, Indians. You got the kinda lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah, give me heart, make it real, or else forget about it. (obvious, but I bet you laughed anyway. or smiled at least. I bet you smiled. Come on. It was funnier than Leno. Admit that much you tough-love son of a bitch).
2. Stephen Strasburg, SP, Nationals. Putting Strasburg second reeks of either contrarianism or an overreaction to his mediocre showing in fall ball. Either way, there's little doubt he's going to be a star. When your downside is as a #2 starter, you know you've got potential. Of course, there's always the ballad of Brien Taylor, if you need a reminder of how potential doens't always = success.
1. Jason Heyward, OF, Braves. I hadn't heard of this dude before, which embarrasses me somewhat, but he ripped the crap out of AA pitching last year, and had a lot of success in a very short AAA stint to close the year. Law says he'll be a star, so I guess we should pay some attention here.
There's the list. There were four notable omissions, or at least there were four names that popped into my head without really thinking about it, so I'll touch on them quickly before I close:
1. Ben Revere, OF, Twins. Depending on who you ask, he's either a future star (John Sickels has him #2 in the system), or nothing more than Juan Pierre (Law's concern). I'm sure you're an idiot who thinks Juan Pierre is good because he's fast and hits right around .300, but that's because you're stupid and I wish I was a GM and you were a GM and then I could trade you Pierre and get way too much for him and you'd feel good about it.
God you're dumb. Anyway, I've seen his absolute upside is Kenny Lofton, which would be pretty good. Let's all hope for that, and not run around trying to make out wiht Juan Pierre, ok?
2. Deolis Guerra, P, Twins. Sigh. The last remaining piece of from the trading of Johan. God I miss him so much. Instead we have this guy. He doesn't make Law's top 10 list for the Twins, and he doesn't make Sickels' top 20. He hasn't posed an ERA under 4.01 in the last three years. FML.
3. Tim Alderson, P, Pirates. Notable because this is who the Giants traded to get Freddy Sanchez. At one point considered a pretty big-time prospect, it seems Alderson has fallen out of favor, ranking #6 on Law's Pirate list and #5 on Sickels' list - not bad, but not as elite as he once was. Prospect in free-fall, or underrated? It's the Pirates, so I'm going to go with the free-fall thing.
4. Scott Sizemore, 2B, Tigers. I actually only know of him because when I learned Polanco might be available I started doing some digging into the fan/blog world of the Tigers and found out most fans were just fine with getting rid of Placido because Sizemore (who I assume is related to either Grady or Tom) was waiting in the wings. He broke his ankle like some kind of girl late in the year last season, but he still ranks #6 on Sickels' list and #5 on Law's of overall Tiger prospects. Expect to be annoyed by him early and often.
So there's your list. Four Twin prospects can't be bad, especially considering the team is fairly young as is. The one major criticism I've seen of the Twins' system is that there isn't much there that is ready right now, but it's in decent shape for future years and I have no problem with that. Of course, if they don't sign Mauer I'll probably just kill myself along with the rest of the state. They all worship him zombie-like, but I can't fault them because he's really just that good (although most of you cretins worship him for the wrong reasons). If there is no signing, short of a trade to Texas for Teagarden, Andrus, Smoak, and Perez, I am pretty sure I'm just going give up and move to either New York or Pittsburgh. At least you know enough to either believe or give up in those states. I'm sick of these games here. It's like taking some broad to the drive in, you don't know what you're getting. I'd rather take the slut or the good-girl, not some middle of road confusing person. I dont' know if you can tell, but I suspect you can, I've been getting progressively drunker as this post has gone on. At this point I've already given up and am trying to figure out ways to trade Mauer and Morneau for more prospects.
"Are you guys ready? We better get going if we're going to stay ahead of the weather."
Keith Law of ESPN.com put out his list of the top 100 prospects in baseball, and I'm going to go ahead and give a few comments about those players of which I am knowledgeable enough to speak, and a few that I'm probably not. Full list is at that link right there above. If you still have your little heart set on reading about the Gophers, the preview of the Ohio State game is in the post directly below this one. [SPOILER: I bet they lose.].
The interesting people, in reverse order:
97. Miguel Sano, SS, Twins. You remember this guy, he's the supposed 16 year old from the Dominican the Twins signed this summer when they shockingly opened up the wallet. He signed too late last year so there really isn't any way to evaluate him against professional pitching, but he's supposed to have all the tools. He projects to end up becoming a 3b, which means he'll probably be ready to take over just as Danny Valencia is leaving to sign a 7-year, $140-million contract with the Yankees.
91. Jose Iglesias, SS, Red Sox. I mostly just included him because being given that name must have sucked something fierce. Also, Law says he could end up as an "Adam Everett" at worst. Dude, that's pretty bad. I wouldn't be using that as a positive argument.
90. Jake Arrieta, SP, Orioles. He finished last year in triple-A and is already 23, so there's a good chance he'll be in the bigs this year. The Orioles are actually quietly starting to move back in the right direction after many, many, many years of spending stupidly and making really dumb decisions. They have a nice lineup this year, and a good number of young arms. If everything works out, they might end up challenging for second in the division sometime in the next ten years.
89. Kyle Gibson, SP, Twins. Above average command and control, three good pitches, a lot of groundballs, and a 93 mph heater - sounds like a prototypical Twins pitcher, except this one was projected to be the 10-12th pick in the draft. The Twins stole him at 22 due to a stress fracture in his arm, but all indications are he's back to normal. And hopefully not like the Liriano back-to-normal, but a real back-to-normal.
87. Aaron Crow, SP, Royals. Could be a Greinke-level monster once he gets to the bigs. I'm hoping the Royals do something really stupid and end up trading him for like, Alfonso Soriano or something just to get him out of the Twins' division.
73. Fernando Martinez, OF, Mets. I think this guy has been on the list for about five years now, but has yet to make any real progress due to constant injuries. He was the top prospect in the Mets system at one point, but, as Phil Humber, Carlos Gomez, Deolis Guerra, and Kevin Mulvey have shown us, that doesn't necessarily mean squat.
72. Mike Leake, SP, Reds. I don't think this is Kelly's dad, since they spell their last name's differently and he'd be far too old at this point.
70. Austin Jackson, OF, Yankees. If this name rings a bell it's probably because at one point his name was being bandied about in the Johan discussion all those many years ago, when we were still optimistic that we would end up getting more than two seasons of great center field defense and a whole bunch of flailing about at the plate out of the best pitcher of the 00s. Well, now he's in the Tigers' system, coming over for Curtis Granderson. At 23 and with five years in the minors, it's probably now or never.
58. Tyler Flowers, C, White Sox. Coming soon to a Twins' game near you. He might start the year in the minors, but he'll be in the majors at some point and might even end up starting by the end of the year. His last two seasons he's OPSed .939 and .921 at AAA and A+ ball, although his defense is subpar at this point.
57. Jose Tabata, OF, Pirates. This is the main guy the Pirates picked up in the Damaso Marte/Xavier Nady trade with the Yankees, so it would be pretty sweet if he ends up being good. Plus, I'm still rooting for the Pirates. I think they're starting to do some smart things, and this would be a big step in the right direction - and it's starting get late on his clock, so a good year this year would be a nice start.
54. Alcides Escobar, SS, Brewers. This is why they traded J.J. Hardy. He should be in the bigs this year, so we'll see if that works out for them. Well, it pretty much already will when Carlos Gomez turns into the next Tim Raines, but we'll see how the SS part works out.
52. Hank Conger, C, Angels. Just wanted to point out that this guy's name is Hank and he's Asian. That's weird.
42. Wilson Ramos, C, Twins. There's no doubt this guy can hit a ton and is a very good catcher as well, as long as he can stay healthy. If the Twins end up not signing Mauer, he's the catcher of the future. If they do, he's going to be a very valuable chip - the kind that could be used to grab some valuable help for a pennant race at the trade deadline. I'm just kidding of course, you know they'll never end up trading him, regardless of what kind of help is available that they would need.
40. Kyle Drabek, SP, Blue Jays. Maybe the key to the Halladay/Lee deal, Drabek has a chance to end up as a top-end pitcher if he can recover all the way from Tommy John surgery. He returned last year and had a very good showing at A and AA ball, so things look good for the kid.
33. Chris Carter, 1B, Athletics. I say first baseman, but it's pretty clear this guy is really more of a DH. There's no doubt he can hit, though. He hit 25 home runs in the minors in 2007, 39 in 2008, and 28 in 2009 (while hitting .329/.422/.570). I would anticipate him starting at AAA, but we should see him in the majors this year - probably taking Jesse Crain deep.
30. Josh Vitters, 3B, Cubs. I just get a kick out of this guy because he just hates to walk. Hates it. In his minor-league career he's just 26 times in 830 pro plate appearances. For reference, that's the same amount of walks Carlos Gomez had in his first year with the Twins, but Gomez had 200 less plate appearances, and nine fewer than Delmon Young had, again in about 200 less at bats. I mean, this guy might very well be insane.
28. Madison Bumgarner, SP, Giants. Was a top-5 or top-10 prospect on pretty much everybody's list at the beginning of last year, but has fallen a bit out of favor due to a drop in velocity. Of course, he looked great in his 10 major-league innings last year, posting a 1.80 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP with a nice 9.0 K/9 ratio. Velocity drop or no, those are really impressive numbers for a 19-year old major leaguer. I'm stunned that he's as low as 28th. Stupifyed, really. Like a spell from Ginny Weasley's wand.
25. Zack Britton, SP, Orioles. Just another young O's pitcher like I was talking about before, although he's probably not quite major-league ready just yet.
22. Tyler Matzek, SP, Rockies. I just wanted to mention him here because he's the top prospect in the Rockies' system and the Rocks are my National League team. He's brand spanking new, just picked last year right out of high school, so we have no data to look at, but he's apparently already got four pretty good pitches. Could be the next Jason Marquis - stay tuned.
19. Aaron Hicks, OF, Twins. I feel encouraged by having a Twin in the top 20, even if the team's overall farm system is only ranked 13th overall. Basically the scouting report on this kid is that he's a true five-tool prospect, who, although he has a ways to go to completely realize those tools, has as much potential as anybody, especially for a 19-year old. He's everything we wanted Carlos Gomez to be.
16. Aroldis Chapman, SP, Reds. I smell bust. Way to blow your load on an absolute question mark, Cincinnati. Seriously, you outbid the Yankees for a Cuban. I have a feeling this was kind of like an auction for something you don't really want, but you're sure somebody else wants and you want to keep bidding them up, trying to make them pay more. Then they stop bidding when you're winning, and you're like "oh shit."
17 & 15. Jeremy Hellickson and Wade Davis, SPs, Rays. Just in case you thought the Rays didn't have enough young, potential superstars. Davis cracked the majors last year and looked good in his six starts and should start the year as part of the Rays' rotation, and Hellickson might join him there after having a very good year in AAA in 2009.
13. Neftali Perez, SP, Rangers. The first of three Rangers in the top 13 on this list, and that doesn't even count Elvis Andrus, last season's runner-up for AL Rookie-of-the-Year. Or Nelson Cruz, who made the all-star team in hi second season. Or Chris Davis, who took a step back last year but hit 17 homers in 317 PAs as a rookie two years ago. Or their bunch of young pitching prospects. How did the Rangers suddenly end up looking so promising?
11. Brian Matusz, SP, Orioles. Yet another Oriole pitcher. Should be in the rotation from the get-go this season.
9. Justin Smoak, 1B, Rangers. Another Ranger. Should be a better fielding, switch-hitting Billy Butler with more power. I'm already scared.
8. Dustin Ackley, OF/1B, Mariners. The second-pick in last year's draft, Ackley is the rare position player who is returning from Tommy John surgery - thus the move from the OF to 1B. The Mariners have discussed making him a 2B, which with his combination of hitting for average/hitting for power/plate discipline, would have a very good chance of making him a perennial all-star.
7. Martin Perez, SP, Rangers. The last of the Rangers. I've never even heard of this guy, but I thought I should put him in here since I'm all up on Texas's nuts and everything.
4. Buster Posey, C, Giants. That's either the best name I've ever heard, or the worst name I've ever heard.
3. Carlos Santana, C, Indians. You got the kinda lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah, give me heart, make it real, or else forget about it. (obvious, but I bet you laughed anyway. or smiled at least. I bet you smiled. Come on. It was funnier than Leno. Admit that much you tough-love son of a bitch).
2. Stephen Strasburg, SP, Nationals. Putting Strasburg second reeks of either contrarianism or an overreaction to his mediocre showing in fall ball. Either way, there's little doubt he's going to be a star. When your downside is as a #2 starter, you know you've got potential. Of course, there's always the ballad of Brien Taylor, if you need a reminder of how potential doens't always = success.
1. Jason Heyward, OF, Braves. I hadn't heard of this dude before, which embarrasses me somewhat, but he ripped the crap out of AA pitching last year, and had a lot of success in a very short AAA stint to close the year. Law says he'll be a star, so I guess we should pay some attention here.
There's the list. There were four notable omissions, or at least there were four names that popped into my head without really thinking about it, so I'll touch on them quickly before I close:
1. Ben Revere, OF, Twins. Depending on who you ask, he's either a future star (John Sickels has him #2 in the system), or nothing more than Juan Pierre (Law's concern). I'm sure you're an idiot who thinks Juan Pierre is good because he's fast and hits right around .300, but that's because you're stupid and I wish I was a GM and you were a GM and then I could trade you Pierre and get way too much for him and you'd feel good about it.
God you're dumb. Anyway, I've seen his absolute upside is Kenny Lofton, which would be pretty good. Let's all hope for that, and not run around trying to make out wiht Juan Pierre, ok?
2. Deolis Guerra, P, Twins. Sigh. The last remaining piece of from the trading of Johan. God I miss him so much. Instead we have this guy. He doesn't make Law's top 10 list for the Twins, and he doesn't make Sickels' top 20. He hasn't posed an ERA under 4.01 in the last three years. FML.
3. Tim Alderson, P, Pirates. Notable because this is who the Giants traded to get Freddy Sanchez. At one point considered a pretty big-time prospect, it seems Alderson has fallen out of favor, ranking #6 on Law's Pirate list and #5 on Sickels' list - not bad, but not as elite as he once was. Prospect in free-fall, or underrated? It's the Pirates, so I'm going to go with the free-fall thing.
4. Scott Sizemore, 2B, Tigers. I actually only know of him because when I learned Polanco might be available I started doing some digging into the fan/blog world of the Tigers and found out most fans were just fine with getting rid of Placido because Sizemore (who I assume is related to either Grady or Tom) was waiting in the wings. He broke his ankle like some kind of girl late in the year last season, but he still ranks #6 on Sickels' list and #5 on Law's of overall Tiger prospects. Expect to be annoyed by him early and often.
So there's your list. Four Twin prospects can't be bad, especially considering the team is fairly young as is. The one major criticism I've seen of the Twins' system is that there isn't much there that is ready right now, but it's in decent shape for future years and I have no problem with that. Of course, if they don't sign Mauer I'll probably just kill myself along with the rest of the state. They all worship him zombie-like, but I can't fault them because he's really just that good (although most of you cretins worship him for the wrong reasons). If there is no signing, short of a trade to Texas for Teagarden, Andrus, Smoak, and Perez, I am pretty sure I'm just going give up and move to either New York or Pittsburgh. At least you know enough to either believe or give up in those states. I'm sick of these games here. It's like taking some broad to the drive in, you don't know what you're getting. I'd rather take the slut or the good-girl, not some middle of road confusing person. I dont' know if you can tell, but I suspect you can, I've been getting progressively drunker as this post has gone on. At this point I've already given up and am trying to figure out ways to trade Mauer and Morneau for more prospects.
"Are you guys ready? We better get going if we're going to stay ahead of the weather."
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Adios Mulvey (+Athlon Sports Gopher preview)
- I missed this until Aaron Gleeman posted it yesterday, but the Twins completed the Jon Rauch trade by sending Arizona the player to be named later; Kevin Mulvey. I have mixed feelings.
On one hand, there is part of me that says the Johan Santana trade suddenly looks better (blown game yesterday by Rauch aside) with him in there instead of Mulvey, who looked terrible in all of the one and third innings he pitched for the Twins. On the other hand, Mulvey is still just 24, was ranked as the Mets #4 prospect at the time of the trade, and put up ok numbers at Rochester this year - his first at AAA.
He has already been promoted to the big club in Arizona, and has made two appearances since they acquired him late last week, totaling three innings and giving up just one hit and a run while striking out three and walking three. So maybe he's fallen to the point where his upside is a middle reliever, I don't know. I'm picturing him suddenly with a name change to K.J. Mulvey (middle name = John) and becoming a shut down 8th inning guy. In any case it's a bit disheartening to know the team has already given up on part of the Johan deal - which continues to look worse and worse.
- In a completely unrelated note, "early season fluke" Jason Bartlett has continued his fluky ways all season long, and is still fourth in the AL in batting average at .331 (just 20 points lower than O-Cabrera's slugging percentage). He also leads all AL shortstops in average, OBP (higher than Morneau), slugging (higher than Cuddyer's), and OPS (would be third on the Twins behind Mauer and Kubel) and is second in steals, third in home runs and triples, and fourth in doubles.
God dammit.
- Since we are talking about MLB prospects and who did and didn't work out, I might as well bring up the unfortunately named but fortunately gifted Madison Bumgarner, a super prospect for the San Francisco Giants who made his debut last night after being a top ten prospect on any list you could find. It was undoubtedly a success, with Bumgarner going 5 and a third, giving up just five hits and walk while striking out four. Two of those hits given up were home runs, unfortunately, but both were solo, so he currently sits with an ERA of 3.38 and a WHIP of 1.13.
The original plan wasn't to bring him up until 2010 at the earliest, and more likely 2011, but the combination of being in a Wild Card race along with his stunning success scuttled that idea. He put up some very impressive numbers in his two years in the minors between A and AA - in 49 games he compiled a record of 27-5 with an ERA of 1.65, WHIP of 0.97, and 256 Ks compared to just 55 walks - so at age 20 he's skipping AAA and hitting the bigs, and it looks good so far. And think on this: The Giants have Bumgarner, 20, Lincecum, 25, and Matt Cain, 24. They're pretty much guaranteed to be contenders for years.
- On the Gopher front, Athlon Sports College Basketball Preview Magazine is out, and they have the Gophers slotted as a 10 seed in the NCAA tournament this season. Without having broken anything down yet on my own, that seems a bit low. I would hope for something more in the 5-8 range. Some other bits from the mag:
Big Ten tournament teams: Minnesota (1 & done), Illinois (2 & out), Michigan (2 & out), Michigan State (Nat'l Runner-Up), Ohio State (2 & out), Purdue (Final Four), and Wisconsin (1 & done). If that comes to pass it will be a very, very succesful conference season.
They predict the Spartans lose in the championship to Kansas - no real shock - with Texas the other Final Four team along with Purdue. Villanova (ick), Kentucky, UNC, and Tennessee round out the other Elite 8 teams.
All American Team is Cole Aldrich, Devan Downey, Luke Harangody, Patrick Patterson, and Kyle Singler, with Evan Turner on the second team, Manny Harris and Kalin Lucas on the third team, and Talor Battle, Kevin Coble, Robbie Hummel, and E'Twaun Moore getting honorable mention (what! No Ralph Sampson or JaJuan Johnson!! Travesty!).
No Gopher makes the mag's All Big-Ten first, second, or third team, but Royce White is their predicted newcomer of the year, and they call out Al Nolen as the most underrated player in the conference (*bring hand to mouth, make fart sound here*). Evan Turner is their conference player of the year.
With the mag out and the weather turning to fall, expect an increase in college basketball posts as I get ridiculously excited for the millionth season in a row.
- Finally, as much as it pains me to praise Patrick Reusse, take the time to check out this very well done article by him on Minnesota Amateur Baseball, something very near and dear to me. If you pay close enough attention (and you know me personally), you may catch a familiar name in there. Way to go Old Man, maybe you weren't all talk after all.
Check back again tomorrow. At some point before the NFL season kicks off I will have my wildly popular NFL predictions. And they're all yours FREE OF CHARGE!!! All I ask in return is that you go click an ad on the right side over there. Go do it now.
On one hand, there is part of me that says the Johan Santana trade suddenly looks better (blown game yesterday by Rauch aside) with him in there instead of Mulvey, who looked terrible in all of the one and third innings he pitched for the Twins. On the other hand, Mulvey is still just 24, was ranked as the Mets #4 prospect at the time of the trade, and put up ok numbers at Rochester this year - his first at AAA.
He has already been promoted to the big club in Arizona, and has made two appearances since they acquired him late last week, totaling three innings and giving up just one hit and a run while striking out three and walking three. So maybe he's fallen to the point where his upside is a middle reliever, I don't know. I'm picturing him suddenly with a name change to K.J. Mulvey (middle name = John) and becoming a shut down 8th inning guy. In any case it's a bit disheartening to know the team has already given up on part of the Johan deal - which continues to look worse and worse.
- In a completely unrelated note, "early season fluke" Jason Bartlett has continued his fluky ways all season long, and is still fourth in the AL in batting average at .331 (just 20 points lower than O-Cabrera's slugging percentage). He also leads all AL shortstops in average, OBP (higher than Morneau), slugging (higher than Cuddyer's), and OPS (would be third on the Twins behind Mauer and Kubel) and is second in steals, third in home runs and triples, and fourth in doubles.
God dammit.
- Since we are talking about MLB prospects and who did and didn't work out, I might as well bring up the unfortunately named but fortunately gifted Madison Bumgarner, a super prospect for the San Francisco Giants who made his debut last night after being a top ten prospect on any list you could find. It was undoubtedly a success, with Bumgarner going 5 and a third, giving up just five hits and walk while striking out four. Two of those hits given up were home runs, unfortunately, but both were solo, so he currently sits with an ERA of 3.38 and a WHIP of 1.13.
The original plan wasn't to bring him up until 2010 at the earliest, and more likely 2011, but the combination of being in a Wild Card race along with his stunning success scuttled that idea. He put up some very impressive numbers in his two years in the minors between A and AA - in 49 games he compiled a record of 27-5 with an ERA of 1.65, WHIP of 0.97, and 256 Ks compared to just 55 walks - so at age 20 he's skipping AAA and hitting the bigs, and it looks good so far. And think on this: The Giants have Bumgarner, 20, Lincecum, 25, and Matt Cain, 24. They're pretty much guaranteed to be contenders for years.
- On the Gopher front, Athlon Sports College Basketball Preview Magazine is out, and they have the Gophers slotted as a 10 seed in the NCAA tournament this season. Without having broken anything down yet on my own, that seems a bit low. I would hope for something more in the 5-8 range. Some other bits from the mag:
Big Ten tournament teams: Minnesota (1 & done), Illinois (2 & out), Michigan (2 & out), Michigan State (Nat'l Runner-Up), Ohio State (2 & out), Purdue (Final Four), and Wisconsin (1 & done). If that comes to pass it will be a very, very succesful conference season.
They predict the Spartans lose in the championship to Kansas - no real shock - with Texas the other Final Four team along with Purdue. Villanova (ick), Kentucky, UNC, and Tennessee round out the other Elite 8 teams.
All American Team is Cole Aldrich, Devan Downey, Luke Harangody, Patrick Patterson, and Kyle Singler, with Evan Turner on the second team, Manny Harris and Kalin Lucas on the third team, and Talor Battle, Kevin Coble, Robbie Hummel, and E'Twaun Moore getting honorable mention (what! No Ralph Sampson or JaJuan Johnson!! Travesty!).
No Gopher makes the mag's All Big-Ten first, second, or third team, but Royce White is their predicted newcomer of the year, and they call out Al Nolen as the most underrated player in the conference (*bring hand to mouth, make fart sound here*). Evan Turner is their conference player of the year.
With the mag out and the weather turning to fall, expect an increase in college basketball posts as I get ridiculously excited for the millionth season in a row.
- Finally, as much as it pains me to praise Patrick Reusse, take the time to check out this very well done article by him on Minnesota Amateur Baseball, something very near and dear to me. If you pay close enough attention (and you know me personally), you may catch a familiar name in there. Way to go Old Man, maybe you weren't all talk after all.
Check back again tomorrow. At some point before the NFL season kicks off I will have my wildly popular NFL predictions. And they're all yours FREE OF CHARGE!!! All I ask in return is that you go click an ad on the right side over there. Go do it now.
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