So the Nats just sent down Dukes and are supposedly looking to dump him. I really hope Dombrowski has his eye on that. Dukes is incredibly talented and seems to have shaken off a good deal of the baggage he had in Tampa. We could use an athletic power hitter like Dukes. He seems like a younger, cheaper, more athletic Thames at worst and has the potential to be a middle of the order power hitter.  What are your thoughts?

How long do you think it will take before baseball teams will start pushing for pitch f/x systems in the minors? It seems to me that it would be invaluable to a team's ability to scout their and other young pitchers. Not only being able to get an accurate idea of the movement and velocity their young pitchers are generating, but in being able to diagnose problems. Having an easy way to see quickly if they are struggling with a certain pitch in a certain area or whatever.

It would be interesting to see if a team could gain a noticeable scouting advantage by installing them in their own minor league parks before everyone else.

Just some thoughts

ESPN was reporting that the Cubs are looking to trade Prior and are likely to non-tender him otherwise. Does anyone think that hes not a lost cause at this point? Who do you think takes a gamble on him?

I have to think that he has some value, even after all the injuries. He was arguably the most valuable pitcher in baseball after 2003 given his age and performance. At this point it is probably unreasonable to expect him to regain his stuff, but its not impossible that he could at least be a solid pitcher with weaker stuff given his control.

Should the Cubs be able to get even a marginal prospect for him from a team? Does anyone want him bad enough to give up even a marginal prospect to make sure they get him?

Does anyone even care at this point?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3129805

5th Round Draft pick Casey Crosby is likely going to need Tommy John surgery.

He was supposed to be a high upside arm that they paid over slot to get. All the scouting reports were very promising, but this is an obvious setback.

Tommy John is not nearly as career threatening as it once was, but the Tigers must handle him very carefully now. It is still risky, and if he's mishandled he could easily develop other arm problems or never fully recover from this one.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/665900,CST-SPT-baseplug25.article

He cleared waivers and is now a free agent. He has a great arm out of the pen. Hes young and shows a lot of promise. Hes not going to be worse than Grilli and we dont need 3 LOOGYs. He could potentially be great. Plus the Indians are giving him away for nothing, so, hopefully, we can motivate him with the ability to get them back.

He'll cost nothing and has some good upside.

The Tigers need to go get him now before someone else gets a good steal!

Before the season I predicted Ollie would be. He, Glavine and Maine have all been very good, and Sosa has been quite good lately as well. I absolutely love watching Ollie pitch and am very happy that Peterson has been able to turn him around.

As a Tigers fan I would love to see us face him in the World Series, though I'd be scared to face him as well.

What do you all think?

Sorry I was away from a computer most of the weekend due to visiting my parents for Mother's Day.

AAA:
Saturday:
Trahern 6.1IP 5H 2ER 3BB 2K 14-3 GO-FO
This was his first AAA start and he had a very solid outing. Good to see his extreme groundball tendencies translating upward. It would be nice to see him K more batters, but he's getting terrific results so far.
Sat and Sun:
Shelton 0-0 Sat; 2-4 2B, BB, K
I dont know why he left Saturday early, but he had a decent game Sunday. I cant complain about the K when he had a BB and a XBH.
Raburn 1-4 HR, 2RBI Sat; 0-5 3K Sun
That Sunday line is pretty bad and hopefully is just a blip in his hot streak and not him slowing down.
Clevelen 0-4 2K Sat; 1-3, K Sun
Struggling very badly in AAA right now. .260 OBP in May. Striking out way too much. Couldnt hit AA last year. Even worse this year. Did he get hot at the right time (MLB callup last year) to save his prospect status? Last two years would have made most players completely forgotten. I have heard that he can become disinterested in the minors, though pushing him to AAA should have dealt with that.

AA:
Saturday:
An. Miller 8IP 6H 1ER 0BB 7K 14-2 GO-FO
AA Debut and its easily his best game of the year so far. Could A+ troubles have been to working on things and not worrying about results? Very encouraging start, lots of Ks and groundballs.
Sunday:
Jurrjens 7IP 4H 1ER 5BB 5K (2IBB)
Another very good start out of Jurrjens. 2 of the walks were intentional. Got the no decision against Lofgren. Only 2 decisions on the year. I'd like to see him K more batters, but he's having a very good year.
Sat&Sun:
Larish 0-4 K Sat; 0-3 RBI, 2K Sun
Average down to .231 and OPS under .800 for a 1B is really poor for a AA 1B. I had high hopes that he would start pushing Shelton, but he's faded pretty badly. He shows a lot of promise at times, but lately he's reminding why he gets little prospect talk.
Kirkland 2-4, 2B, RBI Sat; 0-3 Sun
No Ks in either game. The way Lofgren was dealing, 0-3 with 0Ks Sunday was ok. Good game Saturday. Not showing the power that he has, but slugging .535 in May, I feel like the power will come around. Hitting very well overall though.
Holliman 1-4 2K Sat; 0-2 K Sun
Im really down on him overall. I just dont think he will ever be a major league caliber hitter. This weekend did nothing to sway me otherwise. He gets talk for keeping his OPS above .800 for a 2B, but he's always been old for levels and his best asset has been his eye.

A+:
Saturday:
No pitcher worth mentioning in either game, but Lakeland did win a 17 Inning game Saturday getting a lot of good innings out of the pen. Benitez, Witt, Hammond, Ramos and Dolsi through 9 scoreless innings out of the pen.
Sat&Sun:
Maybin 4-7, 2B, R, 2RBI, BB, 3K Sat; 2-5 2R, K, SB Sun
Still hitting the ball and striking out in May. Average is staying up, but power hasnt been there in May. It will come around, but as has been talked about, he really needs to get the ball off the ground still. All his singles were on the ground, though 3 found holes, he only beat out 1 infield single and one bunt single. Non-K outs were all in the air though and he had a well hit double.
Justice 1-4, R, 2B, BB, 2K Sat; DNP Sun
Decent game Saturday. .293/.394/.534/.928 line so far this year. Has cooled a bit in May, though he has a 13/10 BB/K in May, so it looks promising.
M Hernandez 2-8 R, RBI Sat; 3-5 2 2B, R, Sun
Im always back and forth about putting him on here, but he is hitting .312 with a .956 OPS this year. On the other hand he's 24 in high-A and didnt hit in low A last year and is a corner OF. Very good weekend though driving in 3 runs and hitting a pair of double Sunday.

A:
Saturday:
Cody 7.2IP 10H 3ER 0BB 13K
Wow. Another excellant game. 8th inning just fell apart on him. After a leadoff double. A bunt single set runners up at 1st and 3rd and a groundball single back to the pitcher scored the 2nd run. 3rd run was allowed in by a reliever that failed to strand him. Great game overall though, was totally in control for 7 innings. 58/8 K/BB for the season.
Sat&Sun:
Gorkys H. 0-4 RBI, K Sat; 2-5, R, RBI, BB, 2K
Okay weekend out of him. Nothing real bad or real good to speak of. Batting .336 this year. Really a good hitter.
Sizemore 1-3 BB Sat; 1-4 R, 2RBI, BB, K Sun
Pretty good weekend for him overall. Hits in 7 of his last 8 and controlling the strikezone well, though only one of those was a multihit game. At least he's making contact though.
Skelton DNP Sat; 4-5 2 2B, R, 3RBI, K, SB
Hitting .366 this season. Splitting time with Kunkel but seriously out hitting him. In May he's hitting .533/.559/.700/1.259 with a 3/3 BB/K.

Eulogio De La Cruz has really started looking good in Erie. He is 23 and repeating a level, but he is also improving in all the areas that were considered a problem for him.

Hes another hard throwing young tiger. John talked about him as throwing "consistantly 95-96" and "capable of hitting 100". He also said he has a "good curve" and "non-terrible change".

One knock on him was his average K rate for someone with such good stuff, but this year he's right near a K an inning and has struck out 10 in each of his last two starts. He's also kept his BB rate down, only 8 walks in 32 innings. His ERA is a bit high, but hes only allowed 33 baserunners in 32 innings and he has been improving after a slow start. He also has a terrific 3.05 GO/AO which is all the more encouraging to his future success. His last two starts he went 8-4 GO-AO and 15-2! GO-AO.

He looks like a great guy to go after just as he's starting to breakout before the hype shows up for those of you in leagues with minor league players. For us Tigers fans, its exciting to see our farm system reload on arms with De La Cruz, Jurrgins, Vasquez, Trahern, Cody and of course Andrew Miller

It seems that not everyone caught onto the April Fools joke.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_blogs/baseball/fungoes_blog/

Near the bottom of todays blog on there:
"John Sickels reports that the Cubs' 2005 first round pick, Mark Pawelek, has been awesome in minor-league camp in Arizona after a disappointing 2006. He's been clocked at 99 mph and showing a "Koufax-like" break on his curve. "

Does anyone know how his stuff has looked this spring? Hes been pretty successful and looking solid, but does anyone know where his fastball has been sitting and peaking? and how does his slider look?

Im a huge fan and think he's in for a big bounceback year. He seemed to be turning it around a bit near the end of last year and it would be HUGE for the Mets if he could flash some of his former glory.

Im sorry to bring up a personal matter on the board, but it is deeply important to me.

I have a close friend whose younger brother is in the hospital tonight. He OD'd on something (hes not a drug user, hes a young teen) and they are not sure how he is doing. We are all very concerned for him and are asking for the prayers of all who care to give them. It doesnt matter what religion. Personally, I am not a religious person, but my friend is, and I just want to help in whatever way I can. It certainly cant hurt. His name is Stevie and he is a wonderful kid and has not yet even reached high school. He is also high level autistic. Again, I just hope that those who wish, keep him in your prayers in the coming days.

Im sorry to have brought up a personal event on the board, but it really is important to my friend and I. I am sorry to anyone that this may offend, and I am sorry that I am taking up space on the diaries list. I dont mean to start a trend of people bringing up family or friend issues.

I also beg of you whom are upset about my post, not to post anything insensitive or insulting. If you are upset and have an opinion about my post, feel free to berate me at my email address, grossy1983@yahoo.com. Just please do not do it here.

Lastly John, I will understand if you need to delete this diary if you feel it is not the sort of thing that should be posted, or that it will start a poor trend. I do ask that if you delete it that you somehow send me a copy of the responses to the email above. Thanks and sorry if that has to be the case

Thank you to all those who keep Stevie in their prayers.

I was reading back over some old stories and such on Matt Kemp and Lastings Milledge and was wondering how people would compare them and some other toolsy players in the high minors.

Matt Kemp:
Kemp really broke out this year, getting the call for a while and really hitting well in the majors at first before his struggling plate discipline caught up to him and he slowed significantly. He was sent down to AAA ball where he has gone back to killing the ball. Not only has be hit the ball very well, his plate discipline has seemingly gotten much better as evidenced by his very good K/BB rate in AAA. I dont know anything about his attitude/work ethic, but he was very raw two years ago but seems to have made huge strides refining his skills at each level.  He is a large man (something like 6-4 220) which would hint that he could develop outstanding power and has already shown some. For such a large player he runs very well and is generally regarded as an outstanding athlete. Do people think that his developing plate discipline in AAA is real and will translate when he comes back to the majors? Will he be able to keep getting better and be an elite hitter or will he stall out.

Lastings Milledge:
Milledge has been considered one of the top prospects in baseball for a couple years now and his tools are considered top notch. He is younger than Kemp and started the year at a higher level and excelled at first, showing a greatly improved plate discipline to go along with his usual tools. The plate discipline did not carry over well to the majors at first and he did not hit very well in his first stint with the Mets. He seemed to be making strides with that in August, drawing more walks but still striking out a lot. For a player with the speed he has, he has never been very successful stealing bags. He supposedly has a lightning quick bat and projects to have decent power, though he isnt as big as Kemp and probably wont develop as much power. I have heard he is a bit of a primadonna but dont know if its true, though I also heard he looked lazy in the field for the Mets occasionally, which isnt what you want from a player who should be working hard to prove he deserves to be with the big club. Will he regain his plate discipline at the major league level or will his eye not hold up against major league pitchers? Will he work hard enough to continue improving at the major league level and become a great player or will he just coast by with his tools and just be decent to good? Will Kemp hit the same discipline problems that Milledge hit going between AAA and the majors?

Elijah Dukes:
Elijah Dukes is another toolsy OF that has a ton of upside but has a hurdle that neither Milledge nor Kemp seems to have. While Dukes has yet to make an appearence for the big league team, he has  had an outstanding showing in the minors. His tools are considered amoung the best in the minors and he has developed them into skills well. He is a large player and has already shown outstanding power at times. He drew rave reviews after spring training and has excelled in AAA. His plate discipline is outstanding for a young toolsy player in the high minors. He doesnt run as much as some could hope, but he projects more as a power hitter than a speed-power combo player in the majors. I'd be surprised if he steals more than 10-15 bases in an average year for him. As everyone on this site knows all too well, he is considered to have a very volatile temper and gets in trouble often. If he could keep his head on straight he would probably be in the majors by now. On the other hand he also seems to be smarter  than most people would give him credit for and supposedly has a good work ethic. He came off as being fairly mature in the infamous USA today article, talking about how it was his own fault he was still in the minors and giving me the impression that he is trying to get his head on straight but hes still a kid and tends to lose his head when he gets emotional. Its not impossible to think that mentally he could grow out of that a bit and even possibly be able to use that fire inside him to drive himself to become and elite player. Will he though? Can he still be a great player if he doesnt? Will his skills (not just his tools) translate to the majors right away and if not, will he get discouraged and let his anger get the best of him?

Delmon Young:
Everyone also knows about Delmon Young so I wont really write much about him. Everyone knows about his attitude and his plate discipline being his only majors problems, and that his tools, skills, and age all point toward him being an elite player for a long time. Will he hit like everyone expects though? If he doesnt will he work hard to work through it or will he just expect that he will hit and be overly stubborn? Are his primadonna attitude and similar tools to Dukes actually being a poor influence on Dukes and not vice versa?

Well there are some long and rambling thoughts on the players above. Personally I think that Delmon will still turn out to be the best of them, followed by Kemp, and then Milledge. I leave Dukes out for reasons I will get to below. I think that Kemp will be very close to Young though, as I think that his plate discipline is real and that his general pattern of quickly refining his tools will make him an elite player. Its not at all unlikely that he could be better. I just dont think that Milledge will be great, I think he will just be a good player. I also get the feeling he wont be a good playoff preformer, that he will feast on weaker teams, but not develop his tools enough to excel against the best teams/pitchers and that he will never be the sort of player that comes up big in the playoffs as such.

I think that Dukes could be the best of all if he uses that fire in him to fuel him as a player, but it takes a special person to be able to do it, and while he could be, I think its too rare to count on. As such, I think he will either be the best or the worst of the above, not much in between really.

What do other people think? I'd like to hear other people's opinions on the players and on my analysis of them and such. Really I would just like some good discussion. I am not really a fan of any of the teams involved and if I had any bias it would be against the Dodgers so take that as you will. Also, I admit that I gave it that title to try to get more people to read it. Sorry its so long, I just had a lot to say.

Just my (long rambling) thoughts

... might just have been a little early.

"Israel's foreign ministry says it has information that Lebanese guerrillas are trying to transfer the captured Israeli soldiers to Iran, The Associated Press reports. CNN is working to confirm."

I really hope this between Lebabnon and Israel doesnt start spreading in a hurry, but if Iran gets involved against Israel I dont see it going well.

Im sorry for bringing up a news event that could turn political and I encourage any followup posters to refrain from political fighting. If it gets out of hand or if John feels this is inappropriate to bring up please feel free to delete this diary. I dont want to cause and problems between people.

Our biggest need is a patient/impact left handed bat in LF. It wouldnt be awful to have a better bat at 3rd or to get some more pitching help for the stretch run.

Target 1: Bobby Abreu.
I know he plays RF but Im sure we could figure out how to get him into the lineup. He's very patient with good power and as a bonus he is also dangerous on the basepaths. I think that we could tempt them with Sanchez and another minor leaguer, possibly Larish or Tata or Jurrgins. I really think he would be the perfect fit and I hope that we pursue him heavily. (Side note: Its irrelevent but, he looked really good in Comerica in last years HR Derby)
Possible Deal: Sanchez, Larish, Low level Pitcher for Abreu

Target 2: Carl Crawford
I really like the idea of Crawford a lot also, but he would probably cost more to get from the Devil Rays and wouldnt be as good a fit. He would still be a great player to add especially because he is still developing as a player and would be an impact player for years to come.
Possible deal: Sanchez, Tata, Maybin for Crawford (I wouldnt do it because I am a big Maybin fan, but that might be what it would take)
Sanchez, Jurrgins, (one of Miner/Tata/Ledezma) for Crawford would be something I would want to do but doubt the Rays would do.

Target 3: Griffey
He would have to be willing to move to corner OF cuz I would rather have Granderson in CF especially with Griffey's injury risk, but he would also be a good bat and if the Reds are falling out of it, he's potentially much cheaper than Abreu. Especially because they could use pitching prospects which we have a lot of. His contract would be somewhat hard to swallow though.
Potential Deal: Jurrgins and Tata for Griffey

Target 4: Adrian Beltre
Someone suggested this to me and I laughed in his face at first, but the more I thought about it, he plays excellant D and has a reputation for hitting late in the season, which is when we would need his bat the most. I think Seattle would love to unload his contract, but I dont want to take it in full so we would probably have to offer a real prospect in return for them paying a large portion of his contract. The last deal in the list below also gets us a future C for when Pudge leaves and Seattle has Johjima so they can afford to part with Clement.
Possible Deal: trash for Beltre
Sanchez and Jurrgins for Beltre + significant money for contract
Sanchez, Jurrgins, Tata for Beltre, J. Clement and some $$ toward Beltre's contract

I could do more and may add more later, but I would like to hear other comments to my thoughts above and other suggestions of trades that could be made. Also, maybe getting a real discussion going about this can get more people to this site so we can have larger discussions than 1 or 2 repl comments.

..... but does anyone here think Ledezma will end up being a good major league pitcher. He has good stuff and is having great results again in AAA. I really think that he would be better long term than Robertson and Miner and that really he should have gotten the chance before Miner (probably only didnt because he has run into some injury problems a little).

Long term I would like the rotation to look like:
Verlander, Miller, Bonderman, Ledezma, ?? I would like Zumaya there too but he fits really well in the pen.

I think that could give us one of the best rotations in baseball in a couple years barring injury.

After yet another very questionable outing by Perez, the question has to be asked whether he will ever be the pitcher that he hinted at with that outstanding 2004 season. Perez is one of my favorite pitchers and it saddens me to see him struggle like he has. His control has never really been there, but his wicked stuff allowed him to get by that one year. Though his slider is still a big K pitch, his fastball is consistantly high 80s, only touching low 90s when he reaches back for a big pitch. Unfortunately, when he does that, he tends to not be able to put the pitch near the strikezone. His line for the year is 8.10 ERA and a 2.25 WHIP with a 15/12 K/BB ratio in 13.1 Inns. His walks often arent even close and his Ks are often as a result of players swinging at bad pitches, a testament to his terrific stuff.

If his stuff begins to come back he could gain control over time and have a Big Unit type career, or he could pitch his way out of baseball. I really would like to see him succeed but for now hes a complete mess. What does everyone else think? Is he fixable or is he just going to continue to disappoint?

Everyone knows Zumaya and Verlander are top prospects, Bonderman is an ace in the making, but what are your opinions on Colon and Ledezma? I am particularly high on Ledezma but seem to be in the extreme minority. He throws low 90s, though Ive seen him hit 94/95 and scouting reports have said he has good movement on it as well as a good change and a developing breaking ball. He had an outstanding year for Erie in 2004 (10-3 2.42 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 4.08 K/BB) but struggled mightily last year with his command in the majors and then wasnt healthy much of the remainder of the year in AAA ball. I really think he could be a breakout pitcher if given a starting spot in the next year or two and would fit in the rotation perfectly, splitting up any two of the 3 top RHPs for the Tigers in the future. As with many young pitchers, the big improvement needed is in control on the MLB level. Watching him I thought he got hit a bit early (particularly by ARod - go look at their batter vs pitcher numbers - http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7086/batvspit?year=career&type=Pitching)
and I think his confidence suffered and he started missing the plate trying to avoid getting hit up. Thanks for any opinions.

Has anyone else noticed that the AL's (and probbaly MLB's) two best pitching prospects - Felix and Fransisco - have both made their big league starting debut against the Tigers at Comerica? What makes it a shame is that, because the Tigers and UPN couldnt work out a contract, both these games have gone completely untelevised. I guess I cant wait to see highlights/MLB.TV's terrible camera from Felix's game tonight to see how Liriano looked.

Whats going on with him? I havent seen him listed as having a start in half a month. I know he was struggling with his command but I still think he has excellant stuff and hopefully can recover and become a terrific pitcher for the Tigers in the future. I was really hoping he would put it together this year but am really hoping to see him in the rotation next year for the tigers.

1.) maybe ive missed some because I have been busy lately, but I think it would be fun to see Prospect Retros of prospects who were sure things and then flamed out lately.

2.) I also may have missed this, but I dont think there was ever a writeup on Wilfredo Ledezma that had been mentioned back at the beginning of the season.

I know Omar Infante and Wil Ledezma are no longer really prospects, but they are young talents. I was curious what you think of either of them. Infante looked much better last year and Ledezma put up amazing numbers in the minors. Ledezma in particular interests me as I saw him pitch a couple times at comerica last year and he looked really good but his K rate was lower in the majors than I had expected from him. Thanks a bunch for your time and any responses I get.