Four Giants made the top 20 prospect list for the Arizona League. Baseball America has a nice write up here.

No. 4 Ehire Adrianza, SS

No. 9 Jose Casilla, RHP

No. 17 Kyle Nicholson, RHP

No. 20 Wendell Fairley, OF

Buster Posey gets mentioned in the intro as the best prospect in the league, but he didn't play enough to make the list.

It's nice to see some recognition for Adrianza, a teenage shortstop. He gets praised for his defense, and he may just be able to hit a bit, too. I think Baggs was talking him up, too, particularly as a possibility for a promotion to Augusta, but he got hurt.

All in all, not a bad haul for rookie leaguers.

Henry Schulman says the Giants are denying they have a deal done with Buster Posey or that they're talking about $7.5 million. A Pittsburgh newspaper is also reporting that baseball officials deny all aspects of the Posey deal outlined in the Mercury News.

To further confuse matters, Baseball Prospectus says the Giants and Posey are just dotting the i's and such, and the Giants' Web site says team officials are talking privately like he's signed.

What to make of it all? I don't know. I think it's pretty unlikely that the Giants would bring him in for a physical if the deal wasn't close, as they did last week. And I don't think Baggs would report on it if he had any doubts.

I'm a worrier by nature. I think he'll sign, but I'm not certain.

If this goes down to the deadline, it's going to seriously interfere with all the drinking I have planned.

A television station out of Kansas is reporting that Conor Gillaspie signed with the Giants and is on his way to Arizona. Supposedly, he's going to get slot for the No. 37 pick, which is surprising to me 'cause I thought he'd get more.

Also, Andy Baggarly recently reported that the Giants are in the "finishing" stages of negotiations with the top four picks.

I suspect Gillaspie's deal will be a 2009 contract and that he won't play in games this year.

Wow. I'm surprised, but the Associated Press reports that the Giants are calling up Manny Burriss and cutting Rajai Davis.

They  must have a ton of faith in Burriss. He hasn't really done much above Augusta, and he's already in the bigs. On the one hand, I'm pleased they like what they see in the guy, but on the other, I'm skeptical that he's ready. I wonder whether he'll steal some time from Bocock.

I caught a few innings of Augusta here. The Minor League Baseball site is now offering video of minor-league games, which I hadn't noticed before. I was able to watch parts of two games for free. (I'm pretty sure you have to buy a $30 subscription eventually.)

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I often daydream about the Giants plowing an obscene amount of money into amateur talent. Say $10 million for draft bonuses and $5 million for international players. You could build a farm system pretty quickly for the price of one year of Rowand or Zito.

The Giants aren't going to win anything in the bigs this year, and their minor-league system is in the bottom third, according to Baseball America. My one hope for the off-season: bringing in high-ceiling talent at any level.

The Giants have been unable to trade for Edwin Encarnacion or Andy LaRoche or Lastings Milledge or any of the advanced players I dreamed of.

I've slowly turned my eyes to the international market. The Giants' most promising prospect from Latin America, Angel Joseph, was unable to sign because of a paperwork problem.

Now this make my heart go pitter-patter: Baseball American reports that Edward Salcedo, the top Dominican prospect available, has rejected the Giants' offer of $2.5 million. I hope negotiations aren't over.

Salcedo is a right-handed-hitting shortstop with first-round tools. He's represented by Boras. It's hard to know whether he'd be worth the money, but, damn, if any team needs to take risks and spend money on youngsters, it's our Giants.

Cleveland is supposedly in the lead for Salcedo, but I'm hoping the Giants push for the kid. Also, I've had four beers and my judgment is bad. Links:

http://www.perfectgame.org/players/playerprofile.aspx?ID=123749
http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=743
http://mvn.com/mlb-indians/2008/02/06/the-myth-of-edward-salcedo/