Clearly he seems to be the heir apparent to Mike Redmond.  Is he better than a backup?  Probably.

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I'm working on my draft strategy for the minor league portion of our dynasty league.  We get protection of our players for 3 years.  This isn't a ton of time to hold onto a guy if they were drafted in 2007 so a guy like Vitters might be tough to take.  

So last year the 24 best players were taken and only a few have graduated to the MLB.  The nearly MLB ready guys that are available this year are few and far between.  I pick 11th and 23rd so I'm looking a little deeper into the pool.  Any fast risers from last years draft?  (besides Price)  How about guys who are starting out the year in AA that could be premium players soon?  Prospect closers?  

A couple of guys I'm thinking of include: Gio Gonzolez, Morrelo, Wade Davis or Tabata

Any thoughts?  I'm week at 2B and I could always use more pitching but the risk is a concern.

Is there any way to find how a prospect rates on the 20/80 (is that right?) scale?  

Does anyone know how Slowey rates currently?  Do they only use those scores when they are figuring out the draft?  If so are there historical scores for him on that scale?

If not, what are his plus pitches?  Or how about a grade for all his pitches?

Is he about a B on all his pitches?

Good trade for the Twins.  This Macri guy had a down season last year but has rebounded nicely.  He may end up being a utility guy but there are people out there that consider him to have a Jeff Kent upside.

I'd say that is doubtful at this point, but I'm still liking the trade as a Twins fan.  Of course I would've been happy getting rid of Ortiz for a bullpen catcher.

Who would you say are some of the biggest movers this year in terms of prospect status.

Who jumped up WAY up onto your radar and who has completely fallen off of your radar?

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I got into baseball right around 1986 when Bo was really coming on.  I don't know if he was really good or really just hyped as a baseball player.  I would LOVE to hear some opinions on how he projected through the minor leagues and on to the pros.  

Really if you ask me it is a great candidate for Prospect Retro.

I'm going to a game between these two clubs on Sunday, does anyone have any suggestions on who to look out for?  I saw that Baseball America thought highly of Ivan De Jesus and Blake Dewitt for the Dodgers farm club.  Anyone else who I should watch for?  

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Does anyone think he may have turned the corner?  From the reports I've read he has always hit the ball hard and now that he has moved up to AA he has started out really well offensively.  I haven't heard anything about his errors so I don't know how he has done on defense.  I do think he has played both SS and 3B this year and I wonder where he projects at this point.

Hopefully the Twins have gotten a solid 1st rounder because their track record stinks.

With all the talk about the AL and NL MVP it seems the other close race, the NL Cy Young has been a little forgotten.

I think it would be worth a discussion of who should take the award.  Thinking back to my Baseball Tonight watching, Carpenter has gotten the most love so far.  I'd say Brandon Webb is highly deserving of this years award.

Any one else in the mix?  Carlos Zambrano?

It gets pretty thin after that but I'll include a few others as talking points...

I think it is happening a little in the Diaries, but if you are looking for an idea that I think would be well received, you might want to consider my idea.

Monthly or bi-monthly you could do an update on notable performances, players making a leap, instinctual props (I know you love Erik Lis!) and other things worth recognizing.  I know following the Twins, I'm pretty up to date on their players but I fall short following other teams minor league systems and it would be good to hear about the movement within their organization.

Just an idea, feel free to run with it or ignore.

"It wasn't even close; I was awesome."
-- Daryl Strawberry, on whether he saw any similarities between Mets' top hitting prospect Lastings Milledge and himself

I found this on Bill Simmons' Page 2...
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/simmons/index

Sounds like a very humble guy.  But he might be right.....

There has been talk at the GREAT 2006 Minor League Notes thread over at the mlb's Twins Forum about how Durbin is a great pitcher and could still be a star.  I'm starting to doubt that greatly, I just wanted to offer this thread up for discussion about Durbin.  Anyone who has watched him have opinions?  Seems like a cocky guy which isn't really bad in sports, but if he has the stuff, what other explaination is their besides mental?  

JC Romero for Alexi Casilla.

As a Twins Fan, I'm NOT a fan of this trade.  Obviously it shows how strong tensions were between JC and the organization.

I guess it does help our depth in the middle infield position but does nothing for our real offensive problems.  We are in a situation where we can contend (with the pro pitching we have) and the Romero loss weakens that to a certian degree. There was some mention of Casilla here: http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2005/5/9/145759/3425

You have probably started thinking about the top twenties for the up coming season, and I would like to suggest that you include their previous rank.  It will be interesting to see how much a player has jumped or fallen back.  

Gracias. Merci. Gracie. Danke. Thank you.  etc.................................................................................

I think it would be helpful to provide links to past infomation now that you have had this site up and running for quite some time now.  If there were a place where I could link to all of one teams information it would be a great improvement on the navigability of the site.  I suppose I can search for specific things I'm looking for but I would probably stumble across other informative posts that i might have missed.

John,

I think you should do an analysis of the sophmore slump.  Guys like Jerome Walton who are great first year players but never come back.  I think it would help us look at rookie performances and really gain an appreciation for the really good rookies compared to the "lucky" rookies.

what is this intro copy?  i thought it was a way of not hitting the min character limit... but here i am filling up the dairy.

After reading the following, I got to thinking... Do most minor league systems let their guys move up the ladder based on pure ability?  Why wouldn't they instill, what i call, a Major League Approach earlier in their careers.  I was very excited about Bowyer because he has been so dominant but that is just because he could do great things with his fastball.  Who knows if he'll ever be able to throw a major league curve.  

- "Everyone knows Twins righthander Travis Bowyer can bring excessive heat, topping out in the high 90s with his plus fastball, but Bowyer is in the AFL to focus on bringing a quality secondary pitch to the table for next season. Bowyer, who started off as the setup man at Triple-A Rochester in 2005, quickly moved to the closer role--throwing almost all fastballs while mixing in the occasional changeup during a successful first half. Bowyer racked up 17 saves and carried a 2.12 ERA before the all-star break. The second half was a different story, however, as Bowyer worked on a curveball and struggled with its command. "I don't know if it's a curveball or a slider--it's more of a slurve or whatever you want to call it," Bowyer said. "But that's what I'm here working on, just trying to figure out what it's going to be and how to locate it properly. I need that third weapon."

Bowyer played a part in Surprise shortstop Brandon Wood's now legendary day last Monday when he hit four homers during a 20-1 win against Grand Canyon. "I've given up three home runs out here, but that one . . . I have no idea how he got it. It was 97 (mph) and about six inches off the ground. Whatever. Shoot, I don't know. But he drove it like 400 feet. It really ticked me off because I thought there was no way he was even going to swing at it. It wasn't hittable, except to him, I guess."" -

-From Baseball America  

I have been trying to find information on this guy, he seems to be doing quite well at AA New Britain (?).  Is there much of a history of success here or is he a bit of a breakout player.  What is his defense at Catcher like if he is still there.  Did you give him a grade in your book?  I couldn't find much talk about him at Baseball America, let alone the web.  John have you seen him play?

John, Can you go over some of the stereotypes of the different minor leagues.  I have heard some leagues are very difficult for power or some leagues were hitters parks.  I would be interested to hear what you think about the different leagues.  Which are hitters leagues, pitchers leagues, etc...  

What happened to Bud Smith?  I thought he had a lot of potiential after throwing a no-hitter with the Cardinals.  Was that a fluke?  Where is he now? Do you have past grades for him? and up-dated grade?  

300 characters?  damn, I don't know if I can do it. Okay another question, who has the shortest name in MLB history?  Bud Smith has to be up there.

Allan de San Miguel was signed for a fairly large contract at age 16 by the Twins.  All I know is that he is from Perth and could be a very interesting player to watch.  What are some other examples of players that are signed so early.  The Twins also have an intriguing player in Alexander Smit(signed at age 15?) and I remember Miguel Cabrera was highly sought after as a youngster.  What do you know about this young catcher and are there other players in similar situations that would be interesting to watch?