SB Nation User Blog: wildcatlh

Phillies top 10 prospects, circa 2000

wildcatlh — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:06:42 -0000

This really isn't in response to all the prospects traded lately, since I'd been planning to post this sometime soon anyways when I had the time. I have (still) a copy of the 2000 STATS, Inc. Minor League Scouting Notebook. Rather than ranking prospects by team, they gave each prospect a grade, from A to C-. These were the top 10 players listed, by grade:

1. Pat Burrell, 1B-OF (A)

2. Brad Baisley, RHP (B)

3. Eric Valent, OF (B)

4. Brett Myers, RHP (B-)

5. Jimmy Rollins, SS (B-)

6. Marlon Byrd, OF (C+)

7. Jason Michaels, OF (C+)

8. Franklin Nunez, OF (C+)

9. Carlos Silva, RHP (C+)

10. Reggie Taylor, RHP (C+)

Of that, we had 3 pan out very well for us, including one of our all-time greats. As for the rest, there's a mixture of a little bit and nothing.

Geoff Geary is the onle other one of our prospects at the time that became relevant. He was given a C- grade. Rollins was called a "utility infielder" who could start if he learned to hit. Burrell was rated as the #3 prospect in baseball (behind Corey Patterson and Rick Ankiel).

A look at the top 50 overall prospects (lengthy for this post, will put in the comments if someone asks) shows you more failures than there were successes.

Like I said, this isn't in response to the prospects changing hands recently; I was going to post this anyways at some point. It's interesting to look at though. Or at least I think so.

Louisville hires Florida's Charlie Strong as HC

wildcatlh — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:55:57 -0000

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4725530

I don't like this at all. I really have to say this is a great hire for Louisville. Strong's a great coach and an excellent recruiter. He's also apparently going to take Florida WR coach Billy Gonzales with him. Gonzalez is a great recruiter. Now, can they recruit as well when it's Louisville and not the great University of Florida? Who knows. All I know is that I'm really going to miss Kragthorpe.

Rivals names Fab Melo the top signing in the Big East (so far)

wildcatlh — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:28:59 -0000

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1018019

Rivals.com listed the top signings by position from each conference as of the end of the early signing period. Dion Waiters was named the top SG signing in the conference, and Fab Melo was named the top center signing and the top overall signing in the conference.

Even if we don't end up with Tobias Harris, that's still a pretty nice haul for Coach Boehiem.

Syracuse a 10 seed in the year's first bracketology

wildcatlh — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:41:04 -0000

Syracuse a 10 seed in the year's first bracketology

The terrible week continues: Suter, Catalina out for the season

wildcatlh — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:07:03 -0000

We just cannot catch a break.

http://www.suathletics.com/news/2009/11/8/FB_1108091627.aspx

At this point, I'm seriously questioning whether we have enough players to field a full roster. We might have to place an ad. Or call random people out of the crowd to play. Or... something.

I've never played organized football, and I'm a 5'7" skinny Jewish boy. But just in case, I'm going to put an e-mail to Coach Marrone. I still have eligibility left!

Remember 1994? Or, why you don't worry about last week's loss.

wildcatlh — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:59:13 -0000

Was reminded of this by an ESPN Football Outsiders story in a similar vein...

So, the 1994 NFL season. It's week 5. The Eagles are 2-1. The 49ers are 3-1, and they're the Super Bowl favorites. The Eagles go to San Francisco. They play a team that's beaten up on the offensive line, and absolutely embarass the 49ers, 40-8. The Eagles were taking advantage of that offensive line to the point that Seifert pulled Steve Young from the game in the 3rd quarter because he was afraid the Eagles d-line would kill him.

What happened from that point out? I'm sure you remember the 7 losses to finish that season. And I'm sure you remember the 49ers going on to pulverize the Chargers to win the Super Bowl that year.

Another Eagles related example? Look to 2004, and the Patriots team that beat us in the Super Bowl. Week 15, they lost to the Dolphins. The 2-11 Dolphins. And blew an 11 point 4th quarter lead in the process.

If you look at nearly every winning Super Bowl team's schedule, you're going to see a loss that makes you scratch your head and say "how in the hell did they lose that one?". Not saying this team's going to the Super Bowl. But you can't panic about a loss like this. Good teams can overcome it.

JA Happ named Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year

wildcatlh — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:08:11 -0000

JA Happ named Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year

Congratulations to JA Happ on his award. Hopefully he gets the real award next month (right after the World Series victory parade, of course).

Dallas Cowboys release Jerry Jones [The Onion]

wildcatlh — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:16:17 -0000

Dallas Cowboys release Jerry Jones [The Onion]

This would concern me greatly if it could actually happen...

The race to watch...

wildcatlh — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:51:42 -0000

At 7.5 up on the division on September 2, it's time we turn out heads to the other race to watch -- best record in the NL. I do realize that we can't count on anything yet, just look at the Mets the last couple of years. But I... just can't see us doing that. Hopefully I'm not jinxing anything.

But back to looking at the best record in the NL. The race is incredibly tight...

NATIONAL	W	L	PCT	GB
LA Dodgers	79	54	.594	-
Philadelphia	76	53	.589	1
St. Louis	78	55	.586	1

Note that the Phillies (.589) are ahead of the Cardinals (.586) on winning percentage, for now.

Remaining schedules:

LA Dodgers: 14 home, 15 away. Opponents current winning percentage is .457

Philadelphia Phillies: 16 home, 17 away. Opponents current winning percentage is .469

St. Louis Cardinals: 14 home, 15 away. Opponents current winning percentage is .490

Similar schedules. Dodgers have the easiest remaining. Of their 15 remaining away games, 9 are against either the Pirates, Nationals, or Padres.

Current playoff matchups would be (3) St. Louis at (1) LA Dodgers (Cardinals lead the season series 5-2) and (4) Colorado at (2) Philadelphia (Phillies lead the season series 4-2).

In other words... this last month of the season is vitally important, and it's no time to rest on our laurels. One game could be the difference between having the favorable home field throughout the NL playoffs, or having to travel to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers for the first game of the NLDS.

Blasphemy!

wildcatlh — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:43:18 -0000

Blasphemy!