Danny Duffy is topping out at 98 mph tonight against the Yankees. Did I miss something? When did he start throwing this hard? He's throwing harder than Matt Moore has thrown this year. I never realized he had that kind of stuff. I guess he has the highest average fastball in baseball this year. That's crazy.

Dumb word limit. Dumb word limit. Dumb word limit. Dumb word limit. Dumb word limit. Dumb word limit.

I'm not sure if anybody has ever noticed this before, but Bryce Harper has two different hitting mechanics. I've read hundreds of scouting reports on Harper and have never seen this mentioned. I find it very interesting. I've been watching baseball since I was a kid (I'm 31 now) and I've never seen another baseball player have two different hitting mechanics depending on the count.

Harper's main hitting mechanic is a normal lift and drop of his front foot. There's nothing different about it. It's identical to thousands of baseball players around the world professional or amateur. His second hitting mechanic is a toe tap. He barely brings his foot up and kind of twists it. This is pretty common now in baseball today. B.J. Upton comes to find when I think of a player that deploys this hitting style.

It seems to me Harper mainly uses it when he is down in the count. He will also use it early in the when he thinks he's getting an off-speed pitch, which also explains why you uses it when he's down in the count because he thinks the pitcher is going to try to get him out with off-speed stuff. This makes sense to me because he's using the toe tap as a timing mechanism to help him stay back on off-speed pitches.

I watched him tonight against the Mets where he faced a lefty and only used the toe tap. He was thrown off-speed stuff on every pitch.

Anyway, I can't be the only person that has noticed this. That being said, I've never read anything about it. It seems important because I've never ever seen this done before.

I took a lot of flak for the trade I made this past weekend.  I think it's a really good deal for my team, but others disagree.  I came here to get your opinion.  Maybe I'm just crazy.

I traded Matt Cain and Kyle Drabek for Troy Tulowitzki.

 

Just for background:  I'm in a keeper league and my starting pitching consists of King Felix, Verlander, Ubaldo Jimenez, David Price and Roy Halladay.  I have Jeter at short, but I need to replace him soon.  I also drafted Manny Machado with my first pick this year.

Don't lie to me.  If you think I gave up too much, let me know, I can take it.  I thought I made a good trade and was going to get a pat on the back from the rest of the guys in the league, instead they all pretty much told me that I gave up too much and Tulo gets hurt too much.

Thanks.

I've been reading a lot about Royals catching prospect Wil Myers.  I really like what I've read so far.  I know his sample size after signing was small, but he performed very well.  I'm not sure if he will stick at catcher, but I think his bat could be special.

 

Any other thoughst on Wil Myers would be helpful.  What kind of player do you project for him?  A year from know, could you see him being among the better catchers in the game?

Does anybody know when BA's Top 10 prospects from each minor league level comes out?  Has anybody gotten it in the mail yet?  I'm just curious because I haven't received mine yet.

Thanks for any help.

 

Does anybody know when BA's Top 10 prospects from each minor league level comes out?  Has anybody gotten it in the mail yet?  I'm just curious because I haven't received mine yet.

Thanks for any help.

Does anybody know when BA's Top 10 prospects from each minor league level comes out?  Has anybody gotten it in the mail yet?  I'm just curious because I haven't received mine yet.

Thanks for any help.

Hi, I was wondering if anybody knows of any good sites that list defensive coverage for minor league players.

I tried Minorleaguebaseball.com, but they don't seem to list the positions that the player has covered.  I could be missing it, but I don't think so.

The player I'm interested in is Brett Lawrie.  I'm pretty sure he has played enough games at second base, but I need to print out proof for the league.

Thanks

Has anybody seen Keith Law's top 100?  I only saw the first 25 because I'm not an ESPN insider, but I must say I think he could have done better.

I like Heyward but he's not the 3rd best prospect in baseball.

Desmond Jennings at #25?  I never agree with people calling for a mans' job, but in this case it might apply.  How he gets paid to put a list together and puts Jennings at 25 is beyond me.

I fall in love with prospects too, but you can't place him there.

 

I'm looking for second base help in my upcoming draft.  I need a backup second baseman for this year and maybe another young second baseman that can take over in few years and be a starter.   As we all know, second base is one of the harder positions to fill.  Most guys move from other positions and settle at second base at the major league level.  So I was wondering who are your favorite second base prospects for the future and present.   Some guys I'm looking at are Daniel Murphy (in our league you need just 10 games at a position to cover for the next year).   I also like Jemile Weeks and Gordon Beckham.  I'd be willing to draft Beckham and hope he moves to second base.  If not, at least I have a solid SS.   Who are some of your favorite second base prospects?

I hope you didn't come in here hoping to see a comparison between two prospects without the gift of eye sight.

Instead I'm going to give stat lines for two prospects.  I feel that the lines are fairly similar and it kind of confuses me that one of the prospects is considered among the best in baseball and the other is hardly ever considered among the top 100.

Prospect A:

High-A 431 abs, 91 runs, 129 hits, 25 doubles, 4 triples, 14 homers, 77 rbi 60 BB, 116 SO, 27 SB, 10 CS, .299 avg., .392 obp., .473 slg.

Prospect B:

High-A 436 abs, 70 runs, 128 hits, 34 doubles, 8 triples, 10 homers, 43 rbi, 40 BB, 95 SO, 19 SB, 11 CS, .294 avg., .354 obp., .477 slg.

Both players are the same age and both are outfielders.  Also, both struggled in Low-A in 2006.

Prospect A is considered a top 10 prospect in his organization.  Prospect B is considered the #1 prospect in his organization and in the top 25 in baseball on most lists.

Prospect A is Michael Saunders OF for the Mariners.

Prospect B is Jordan Schafer OF for the Braves.

I thought that this was an interesting comparison.  Yes, it's true that Schafer tore the cover off the ball in Low-A before getting the call up.

However, Saunders held his own for a cup of coffee in Double-A.

I'm not saying Saunders is as good as a prospect as Schafer.  I just think Schafer gets a little bit too much attention and Saunders doesn't get enough.  I'm also not taking difficulty of leauge into consideration.

While looking through the numerous fantasy baseball magazines at my local Barnes & Noble, I came across a magazine called Scout.

It dealt purely with prospect reports.  It's a pretty good magazine, although I didn't find out a whole lot of new information on any prospects.

They also have a top 300 list, which is a mess.

They are really high on Carlos Triunfel and describe him as somebody with Miguel Cabrera like potential.  They envision him hitting 30-40 homers a year.

My question to you guys is, is this an accurate forecast?  It seems to me that every report I read on Triunfel is different.

I'm having a hard time gauging him.

The magazine also describes Villalona as a potential 40-40 player.  I thought that was off.  At least on the 40 stolen bases.

Does anybody know where I can find a Minor Leauge positional breakdown of B.J. Upton?

I've looked on a number of sites but they only give his Major League breakdowns.

I'm trying to find out if Upton played at least 10 games in the outfield in 2006.  In order to cover a position in my league, a player has to have played 10 games at a position.  For some reason I thought B.J. played a little OF before moving to 3B.  I could be wrong though.

Any help would be great.  Thanks.

I'm not sure if this has been discussed already but in Jim Callis' ask BA section he listed a few players that did not make the top 100 cut.

Johnny Cueto
Kyle Drabek
Akinori Iwamura
Angel Villalona
Hank Conger
Nolan Reimold
Tony Sipp
Adrian Cardenas
Tyler Colvin
Sean Gallagher
Deolis Guerra
Brandon Jones
Tyler Lumsden
Mark Reynolds

A few names jump out at me.  I think Reimold is at least a top 100 prospect, but I like him more than others.  I really like Tony Sipp.  I know BA's top 100 is never very nice to relievers, but I think Tony Sipp will emerage as the closer for the Indians sometime this year.  

I also figured Villalona would be on there just because BA loves guys like him but it's not a shocker.  I also thought Hank Conger and maybe even Drabek is worthy.

Any thoughts?  I'm interested to see their list because there are some good players that were left off.

I just wanted to get your thoughts on 2 young, interesting, Rockies second basemen.

Corey Wimberly and Eric Young Jr.  Both have a lot of speed and young looks to have the potential for a little bit of pop.

Second base has always been a tough position for me to draft, so I was just wondering what you guys think of these two.

I'm looking for some breakout 5 tool players for the coming season.  Guys that are developing their 5 tools and are beginning to turn them into John's 7 skills.

The two guys I'm looking at right now are Dexter Fowler and Lorenzo Cain.

Can you guys think of a few more that I should be looking at.  I'm mainly talking about guys who may not be as well known so guys like Tabata and F. Martinez down apply.

I would also like to hear your opinions of Fowler and Cain.

Hi guys, I need your help.

I have to set my roster by May 1st.  I'm starting 4 starting pitchers and the 4th slot is between Ervin Santana or Jeremy Bonderman.

This is a very important decision because both have 3 options meaning we will have to cut one from the league.

I've always liked Bonderman, but my CO-owner is leaning towards Santana.

What do you guys think? Who has the better short term potential?  Who's going to be the more productive pitcher in the long run?

Thanks

Second Base.

I have not heard anybody else mention this.  Outfield is not an option with Baldelli, Crawford, Gathright, Gomes, Young and Dukes.  Even if you put Gomes at DH you still don't have a spot and they will not be able to keep Young in the minors after this year.

Many people have been saying Upton may move to third base because there is an opening there.  But if B.J. is struggling with his throws from SS what makes you think the hot corner will be any easier?

I think the best place for him would be second base.  It's a shorter throw and he wouldn't have to worry about his D as much.  He could just concentrate on hitting.

Cantu has played 3B in the past and can move back there.  This also allows the Rays to hold on to Lugo.

Thoughts?

Here's the deal, in 2002 I drafted Joel Guzman.  It was probably not a very smart choice at the time because Guzman was 16 and had not taken an at bat yet and since our league employs a 3 option system, there was no chance for Guzman to make it in 3 years.

I cut him and he was picked up by a team last year, that guy then cut him.  This year I have a plan that would make it so I could keep Guzman on my starting roster and not really take much of a hit.

On my starting roster last year, I started B.J. Upton backing up Jeter at SS.  He didn't play in the majors so he got 0 points.  Despite the 0 I still almost won the championship if it wasn't for injuries to my rotation.

So here's what I'm thinking.  I send Upton down and start Guzman at SS.  If he gets called up and gets points for me great, if he doesn't it's no big deal.  Then next year I put him in my outfield.

My question to you guys is do you think this is a good risk?  Do you think Guzman has a chance to play left field this year for the Dodgers?  If not, do you think he will be ready by 2007?  Who do you think has a chance of recording 2006 stats first B.J. Upton or Joel Guzman?

I just really love Guzman and think he's going to be a great player.  I would hate to have him be ineligible for my league.

This is the bust thread.  No matter how many great drafts we have, we all have picks that just turn out to be busts.  The player just doesn't work out for different reasons, maybe he gets hurt or maybe he just never develops.

Here's my list of my busted picks over the past 10 years.  Some of the earlier picks are especially bad due to the fact I had no idea how to evaluate minor league talent.  Thankfully, I've learned:

My league has a max of 12 picks per year.

1996

David Yocum - I don't even remember this guy.
Andy Vessel
Steve Cox
Jesse Ibarra
Andy Yount
Jaime Jones

The good news is I also drafted Vlad, Kerry Wood and Darin Erstad.

1997

Dante Powell
Mike Caruso
Kevin McGlinchy
Edgard Velazquez/Clemente
Jackson Meilian (2nd rnd.) - taught me to never take a teenager who has never played so high.
Travis Lee (1st rnd.)

The good news is I also drafted Adrian Beltre, Kelvim Escobar, Eric Chavez and Livan Hernadez.

1998

Manny Aybar
Rickey Ledee
Rolando Arrojo
Nelson Lara
Luis Rivas
Mike Cuddyer
Darnell McDonald
Ceasar King
Ruben Mateo - I loved him, I probably wasn't alone
Rich Loiselle (1st overall) - Don't laugh, I needed saves bad and he's all that was out there.

This might have been my least productive draft ever, however I also drafted J.D. Drew, Francisco Cordero and Javy Vazquez.

1999

Jesus Colome
Jose Paniagua
Sean Burroughs
Scott Elarton
Vladimer Nunez
Jeff Austin
Chad Hutchinson

Looks like a bad draft but I also drafted Pat Burrell, Mark Mulder and Felipe Lopez.  I later traded Lopez for Curt Schilling who helped me win the title the next year.

2000

Wilson Betemit
Chris George
Jeff Zimmerman
Robbie Morrison
Wes Anderson
Abraham Nunez
Kip Wells
Josh Hamilton - Damn

I also drafted Jon Garland and Danys Baez.

2001

Matt Harrington
Luis Torres
Pat Strange
Rich Stahl
Ben Diggins
Adam Johnson
Shawn Sonnier
Chin-Hui Tsao

I drafted Kaz Sasaki that year.  He helped me with some much-needed saves that year.  I then traded him and Betemit for Mo Rivera.  Won the title the next year.  Might be the most lopsided trade in the history of fantasy baseball.

I also drafted Miguel Cabrera (8th rnd) and Brett Myers that year.

2002

John-Ford Griffin
Chris Burke - Still might be good, I no longer own him.
Ryan Jensen
Adam Wainwright
Xavier Nady
Gavin Floyd - See Burke.
Denny Bautista

I also drafted Mark Teixeira, Joel Guzman (as a 16 year old with no stats) and Victor Martinez (9th rnd.)

2003

Mike Jones
Jeremy Brown
Dustin McGowan - Injury questions
Angel Guzman - See above
Jonathan Figueroa
John VanBenschoten

I also drafted Jeremy Bonderman, B.J. Upton (5th rnd.), Felix Pie and Ervin Santana (10th rnd. each).

2004

Alexi Ogando - Thanks John.  Just kidding.
Adriano Rosario
Kris Honel
Aquilino Lopez

I also drafted Cole Hamels, Fernando Rodney, Jose Valverde, Dan Kolb (helped me win title), Ryan Sweeney and Matt Cain with the last pick of the draft.

2005 (Only time will tell, but this might turn out to be my best draft.)

Ryan Wagner - I don't know what to think.
Francisco Hernandez - Young, could bounce back.
Chris Nelson (1st rnd.) - Injuries ruined year, will bounce back.  I know it.

I also drafted Jose Capellan, Jeff Francis, Kendry Morales, Scott Olsen, Daric Barton (8th rnd.), Jared Weaver and Stephen Drew ( with the last two picks of the draft.)

As you can see, there are a lot of prospect busts there.  One excuse I could use is that I have a co-owner and some of those were his picks.  With the bad, there was also a lot of good.  My theory is if I can get 2 really good players from a draft it was a good draft.

Hope you enjoyed it.  I would like to hear some of yours.  It doesn't have to be as extensive as mine.

I'm not sure if you guys have seen this, but in Ask BA Jim Callis posted players 101-105 that just missed their annual list of the top 100 best prospects in the game.

Here are the 5 guys:

101. Joaquin Arias, ss, Rangers
     
102. Colby Rasmus, of, Cardinals
     
103. Yovani Gallardo, rhp, Brewers
     
104. Yunel Escobar, ss, Braves
     
105. Brent Clevlen, of, Tigers

I'm not sure about anybody else, but I'm not really surprised or disappointed by any of these.  Although, if I'm not mistaken, Arias did make the top 100 last year.

Also, if I may read into this a little, assuming the people at BA consider Maybin and McCuthen better prospects than Rasmus, then they both should be in the top 100.

Another thing is that one might also assume that Elvis Andrus made the 100 because he was ahead of Esocbar on the Braves top 10 list.  That doesn't always mean anything as well all know, but it's an educated guess.

I'm not sure how many of you guys buy USA Today's Sports Weekly.

It used to be Baseball Weekly, then they started covering Football and now they are covering NASCAR.

Anyway, I usually only buy it around this time of year for their prospect write ups for each team. It's not that they are particularly informative, because they aren't (mainly just giving when the player was drafted and his stats).

With John's book and BA, I don't need the small bit of prospect information they give, but since I can't get enough of it and love to absorb every ounce of material, I buy them anyway.  Also, the Stop & Shop I buy them from has not adjusted the price to $1.75, so I still get them for $1.50.

Here's my beef.  They also rank the minor league power rankings and ranked the A's #1 and the Angels #12 and the D'backs #23.

How is that possible?  It seems like they were using the cumulative minor league record for the teams as a main component.

The record of your minor league teams should in no way help evaluate talent.

They also said the A's have more depth than other teams.  I don't know about you guys but I would rather have 4 or 5 elite prospects than 20 mediocre guys.

What do you think?

Which closer prospects for the upcoming season do you think are going to win the closing job for their respective teams?

Which ones are going to perform well in the short run?  Which ones are going to be stud closers for years to come?

Here are some of the possible closers:

Chris Ray
Bobby Jenks (sure, he's got the ring, but now he has to do it for a whole year.)
Joey Devine
Travis Bowyer
A. Burgos (maybe isn't considered a prospect anymore, but I will list him anyway.)
Add anybody else I have missed.

So who's the next Huston Street or the next Matt Anderson?

Before I get to my real question, I was wondering if Cameron Maybin is a switch-hitter or not?  I read in BA that he's switch-hitter, but in John's book he has him as a right-handed hitter.

Does anybody know which is correct?

Anyway, out of some of the top outfielders drafted last year, who do you think is going to be the best player?  Who's going to be the fastest to contribute to his ML team?

Cameron Maybin
Andrew McCutchen
Jay Bruce
Nolan Reimold
Colby Rasmus
Jacoby Ellsbury

Don't forget to add anybody who you feel deserves consideration.

Also, let's not consider Justin Upton as an outfielder because as well all know, he would be at the top of all our lists.