1. Hank Conger, c, Angels
   
2. Jeremy Jeffress, rhp, Brewers
   
3. Cedric Hunter, of, Padres
   
4. Marcus Lemon, ss, Rangers
   
5. Brent Fisher, lhp, Royals
   
6. Matt Sweeney, 3b/1b, Angels
   
7. Sharlon Schoop, ss, Giants
   
8. Kyler Burke, of, Padres
   
9. Jason Taylor, 3b, Royals
   
10. Vladimir Veras, rhp, Angels
    
11. Brent Brewer, ss, Brewers
    
12. Gerardo Avila, 1b, Mariners
    
13. Luis Durango, of, Padres
    
14. Jose Ceda, lhp, Cubs
    
15. Manuel Cabez, rhp, Giants
    
16. Derrick Robinson, of, Royals
    
17. Nick Van Stratten, of, Royals
    
18. Carlos Peguero, of, Mariners
    
19. Warner Madrigal, rhp, Angels
    
20. Felix Carrasco, 3b, Padres

Where's Alex Liddi?

in the draft, as their status BEFORE the draft occured. I think they're something like this

1. Volstad
   
2. Pawalek
   
3. Kershaw
   
4. Jeffress
   
5. Willems
   
6. Kiker
   
7. Anderson

Im sure I'm forgetting a guy from last year's. This years draft seemed to have a little more depth but not the high side. I could also be a moron and completely wrong.

Frank Boal (KC's FOX) reported that according to Lincoln's advisor that he had been assured that his client would be the overall #1 pick in the draft tomorrow.

I dunno I am torn. I keep telling myself everyone but me thinks that Andrew Miller is the best pitcher in the draft, but the more I read up and check out Brad Lincoln, I think he's better. Either way the Royals win as I think their value is about the same and Miller is much more expensive. Maybe those darned Miller 8 figure demands are true and he can fall to my Cubs, but I'm smoking the  biased train.

Anyone know what's happened to David Price of late? A few weeks ago it looked like he was the best college prospect for the 07 draft - right up there with Joe Savery and a few others.

4/14 - 5.2 IP, 8 H, 5 ER vs UGA
4/22 - 6.1 IP, 10 H, 8 ER vs Bama
4/28 - 6.0 IP, 10 H, 4 ER vs UK
5/5 - 3.1 IP, 9 H, 8 ER vs Tenn

Granted, this is the SEC but Price is a talentled lefty with three good pitches and good command. Is he hurt or something? Or is he doing his best Ian Kennedy impersonation. His ERA was like 1.70 a month ago.

I know this is not minor league related, and not even 2006 draft related but I do know we have some avid college baseball fans across the country who visit here.

Oh what a 6.61 ERA in 3 AAA starts can do for Guzman. His ERA was inflated by a bad start where he allowed 3 HR in Albequerque, but he had a fabulous 23:3 K:BB in 16.1 IP. Jerome Williams was sent down after a horrible start. Guzman is in the bullpen for todays game, so it is unknown whether or not Guzman will make the start on Wednesday.

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A bit of a shocker. He's made a grand total of 10 starts in AA and zero in AAA not to mention just 22 above the Midwest league. Oh well, the Cubs are agressive promoters. He's also never made more than 16 starts in a season (sounds like a lot of Cub starters), but a couple of the injuries are more freak in nature.

Sean Marshall came into the Spring with about a 10% chance of getting 1 start before June, at best. He made just 4 starts in West Tenn last year and was seventh or eigth on the Cubs depth chart. Since then  Jerome Williams forgot how to strike out people. While it's true he was never good, but 2 K's in 18 innings is flat out awful. Williams may have pitched himself to Iowa for the start of the season, maybe longer. Mark Prior continued to be glass, and who knows when he will back. Kerry Wood's been hurt, but who knows. Rich Hill struggled mightily with the command of his duece in early spring, although he's been a bit better. Voros McCracken be damned, Sean Marshall has given up 3 hits in 10.2 IP, with a 9:6 K:BB and 0 runs allowed.

Most Cub radio stations have pretty much pegged him in as the #4 starter. Jerome Williams has appeared to have been demoted to having a chance to get the #5 spot when needed. If he can't get his act together Guzman or Hill will burn ahead of him. Now it looks as if Marshall will making his debut against Pujols, Edmonds, Rolen, Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field. Yeah, let's throw into the dogs. Dunno if LaRussa will pitch Carpenter on normal rest skipping Ponson.

Last week Daisuke Matsuzaka had a solid outing against the Mexican National Team. I wrote up a simple scouting report on it. For the championship game I did the same thing. Even though he had a 95 pitch count to work with, Dai-san only went 4 innings. Shunsuke Watanabe was brought in after, and deservedly so.

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We can all read his linescore, but I decided to look at what he did from a pitch to pitch level.

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It doesn't look like he'll get a chance to face the United States at all, in Round 2  or even the semis if both teams make it there.

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And it could not have been better. I went to the Minute Maid Classic today, featuring Rice vs Texas and TCU vs Houston. The UT/Rice game had half a dozen potential first round draft picks. They did not disappoint, that's for sure. I've been to LCS games, but no game I have ever been to had the vibe and atmosphere of this game. Over 27,000 people showed up for the UT Rice game, the 4th largest crowd in NCAA history (includes CWS games). The crowd was split down the middle as well. The game featured 2006 potential first rounder Kyle McCulloch against 2007 potential #1 overall pick Joe Savery.

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RIGHT-HANDER SHANE LINDSAY, who emerged as one of the top pitching prospects in the system last summer at short-season Class A Tri-City, has suffered what is believed to be a torn labrum in his right shoulder, which would sideline the Australian native for the 2006 season.

The Rockies had a magnetic resonance imaging exam shipped from Australia and plan to bring Lindsay to Denver the week after New Year's to be examined by Dr. Tom Noonan of the Steadman-Hawkins Clinic. Featuring a fastball that has hit 97 mph and a hard curveball, Lindsay was 6-1 with a 1.89 earned-run average in 13 starts at Tri-City, striking out 107 in 67 innings.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_83_4325976,00.html

This sucks, I was expecting big things from this kid. He had an absolutely great year, granted in in the Northwest League. The injury was inevitable, in my opinion. All Colorado arms get chewed up and thrown out when they reach Coors.

This has been something that has not been common, but I think it is something that may happen down the road. You always see teams trade proven MLB players for prospects, but you rarely -- if ever -- see trades that are prospects for prospects. Of course each GM is not going to be the one who let so and so get away and they may be covering their butt, but it is something that scouting/statistical analysis-oriented teams could benifit on. Just an idea.

Poll

Will we ever see prospects traded for prospects?

56%

Yes

22 votes

43%

No

17 votes

39 votes | Poll has closed

Wow. Just wow.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=2103198

ATLANTA - Corey Patterson's struggles have landed him in the minor leagues.

The reeling Cubs optioned the disappointing outfielder to Class AAA Iowa of the Pacific Coast League following Thursday night's game against the Atlanta Braves.

After batting .266 with career highs of 24 homers and 72 RBIs in 157 games last season, Patterson - the Cubs' starting center fielder - has endured a nightmarish 2005 campaign.

Patterson entered the second game of Thursday's doubleheader against Atlanta, mired in a 2-for-25 slump over his last eight games. Over the weekend, Patterson was booed loudly at Wrigley Field.

Patterson, 25, is batting .232 with 11 homers, 24 RBIs and 12 stolen bases in 83 games this season. He also has struck out 83 times in 314 at-bats.

Mired in a season-high eight-game losing streak after dropping both games to the Braves, the Cubs (40-44) also optioned outfielder Jason Dubois to Iowa while purchasing the contracts of outfielders Adam Greenberg and Matt Murton from Class AA West Tenn of the Southern League.

Dubois, 26, had spent the entire season with the Cubs, hitting .289 with seven homers and 22 RBIs in 52 games.

Greenberg, 24, was hitting .278 with four homers and 28 RBIs in 74 games. The 23-year-old Murton was batting .342 with eight homers and 46 RBIs in 78 games.

I don't know if Greenberg was a good choice at all.

Obviously, me and other Cubs fans are mad about the Prior injury, who knows if he'll pitch again this season. Who do you guys think should be his replacement?

Poll

Who do you think?

15%

Renyel Pinto

4 votes

0%

John Koronka

0 votes

3%

Ricky Nolasco

1 votes

0%

Raul Valdez

0 votes

7%

Jon Leicester

2 votes

3%

Bobby Brownlie

1 votes

26%

Todd Wellemeyer

7 votes

11%

Other

3 votes

15%

Rich Hill

4 votes

15%

Ryan Dempster

4 votes

26 votes | Poll has closed

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Is Felix Pie quickly moving into the elite class of prospects? He hit his 10th HR of the season in walk-off fashion. He is now hitting .342/.397/.650.  His career high in HRs was 8 before this season. Pie is now tied for the Southern League in HRs with Hermida and Guzman. He is 5th in the league in steals. He is also second in the league in SLG%.