The Dodgers moved Elbert to AAA, and he got his first start last night (6/25).  Judging from his line, he must have looked pretty darn good.  6IP, 1H, 1BB, 7K and a win.  That comes after he put up a nice line at AA, with 62.1IP, 59H, 30BB and 87K.  His walks were obviously a little high, but it sure looks like he's all the way back from his injury. 

The obvious question is: what do the Dodgers do with him?  He's been starting in the minors, but they've used him out of the pen on the two occasions they called him up to LA. 

I'm a Giants fan who happens to have Elbert in his Strat-O-Matic league, so I'm hoping he becomes a dominating starter that goes 0-32 with a 1.00 ERA in 2010.  From his first AAA start, I think that sounds just about right.

It sounds like Texas has moved Feliz to the AAA bullpen, with a thought of bringing him up to support the Rangers' bullpen in the second half.  What do people think about that?  Personally, I think it can be a good move, so long as they view him as a multi-inning guy for this year and then plan to return him to starting next season.  IMO, he's too young and effective to move to the bullpen full-time right now. 

 just traded for my Strat league's #1 pick.  I gave up the #13 overall pick and Chien-Ming Wang (who was signed for the 2008-2010 season only) for the top pick.

I'm nearly certain that I'm going to take Stephen Strasburg with the pick, but I thought I'd see what you guys thought.

Here are the potential top picks, as I see them.

S Strasburg
B Posey
M Bumgarner
T Hanson
B Wallace
T Cahill
D Holland
M Inoa
L Morrison
G Beckham
G Green
M Stanton
C Santana
Wilmer Flores
K Skipworth

M Gamel
P Hughes
P Sandoval
A Salome

Each team is permitted to carry seven players that have never appeared in MLB.  With that in mind, a MLB player is more valuable than a non-MLB guy, as he won't take up one of those precious seven slots.  So, all else being equal, you take the MLB guy over the non-MLB guy.  Does that make sense?

My current non-MLB guys are: M Wieters, N Feliz, R Porcello, A Villalona and E Beltre

So, I'd love to hear if people think I made a good trade, or if I screwed up.  Should I take Strasburg or someone else?  (Bumgarner seems like the only other logical choice.)

Also, not everyone drafts prospects in the draft.  Guys like Mike Aviles, Brad Ziegler and Jose Arredando will likely go relatively high, as they can contribute immediately.  So, the #13 overall pick wil likely get a top 8-10 prospect, at worse.

It's a 24 team league, if you're interested in checking it out.  www.brassball.org

My team is the Metropolis Avengers.

Oh, one last note.  My second pick is #40 overall.

I'm in a 24 team Strat-O-Matic baseball league and each team can have seven players that have never played in MLB.  Unfortunately, none of my guys graduated last year, so I have a full seven heading into the off-season.  I really like to scout and draft the minor leaguers, so it's a bummer that I won't have any open slots for our draft next spring.

With that in mind, I wonder if I should consider cutting one of these guys.  I like them all, but I could be convinced to cut one or more.  So, what do you think?  The top four are obvious keepers.  I like Beltre as a "lottery ticket" type player.  Teheran is similar.  I'm a Giants fan, so I'm probably biased towards Sosa.

Matt Wieters

Rick Porcello

Neftali Feliz

Angel Villalona

Julio Teheran

Engel Beltre

Henry Sosa

I've been playing in a great Strat-O-Matic league for about ten years, and I'm going to host a Futures Game this year.  I don't post here much, but I read the fan posts quite a bit, and I was hoping some of you might want to help me pick the rosters.  Each team has seven players (before trades) that have never seen MLB time.  I'm going to draw the Futures Game rosters from these players, and would like to have at least one player from each team, if possible. 

I've pasted the rosters below.  If you're interested, respond with your suggested AL and NL rosters, recognizing that I'll actually be playing this game, so I need to have at least two guys at every position.  I'm thinking of rosters of 25 or 27 guys, if it works out.

I know many of these guys are in MLB right now, but they're still eligible for this game.  Feel free to use whatever criteria you want when making your selections.

Any questions?  (Remember, one AL roster and one NL roster.)

Oh, if you're curious, I'm the Metropolis Avengers, and you can see our full league website here Brassball. 

Thanks a bunch for the help.  I'll be sure to report back with the results after I play the game...

Here are the rosters:

I picked up Felix Pie as a throw-in in a Strat-O-Matic trade, and he disappeared from the box scores for the last week or so.  Now, he appears to have landed in the Rookie League.  Is that true? 

www.milb.com says he went 2-3 with a homer, walk and five ribbies on June 29.

Really?  That seems like a pretty big sign the Cubs are fed up with him.  What are the odds he's in the Cleveland system sometime in the next couple weeks?

Baseball America is reporting that the Team USA roster will play in the Futures Game, as opposed to the traditional roster of the top American players in the minor leagues.  Does that mean we'll be seeing foreign minor leaguers play the best American college players?  If so, I'm extremely disappointed.  I've got decent seats to the game, and I was really excited to see some of the top American minor leaguers.

Am I reading this wrong? 

Anyone else going to the game?

I'm assuming that many of the readers here have noticed how great Neftali Feliz has been lately.  If not, here's a quick recap:

Four starts

20.1 IP

12 Hits

6 Walks

25 Strikeouts

He only got one decision in this stretch, and he must be on a fairly strict pitch count, as he tossed exactly five innings in three starts and 5.1 in the other.  Still, I'd love to hear what others have to say about this guy.  Has anyone seen him this year?

Totally unrelated, does anyone know Henry Sosa's current status?  I know he had an injury to start the year, but what's his ETA?  What about Julio Teheran?  Any idea when he'll show up in a boxscore?

Thanks,

ajw