i'd be interested in your thoughts on louisianna lafayette C john lucroy. i really liked him going into the draft, but he went about 50 picks after i thought he would. any thoughts on why he dropped?

and also, i have a feeling that if you take a look at corey gearrin, you'll really like what you see.

Gearrin is almost a lock to be in of course.... I checked out the Braves' picks last week, and I was like "yeah, him. I want him." LOL

Just checked out Lucroy...
WOW, he's an EXCELLENT receiver of the ball and has a pretty quick release and arm from what I could tell. His swing...poopy, line drive potential type where he is another guy who won't really develop too much power with it. HE can certainly make it to the bigs on defense and hitting some line drives, but I just don't see a monster offensive player there.

Good stuff. I'll admit that being a Razorback fan I'm disappointed to read about Nick Schmidt. Honestly though, it seemed like he was getting overhyped. Having repeating clips of him really helped demonstrate his ability... And my goodness, the way he jerks his arm back immediately after release... Ouch.

A question: Usually, are "tall and fall" guys fixable? Or do they just stay that way throughout their careers? Actually, I'm now wondering how many "tall and fall" guys are successful, long term. I'm like you in that I'm not big on the "tall and fall" guys, I'm more interested in the violent, twisting sonsabitches like Lincecum.

Also: Watching Porcello pitch, he reminded me of Trevor Hoffman. I can't, for the life of me, explain why. Any similarities there, or am I zoning out?

I'm more interested in the violent, twisting sonsabitches like Lincecum.

That is a beautiful statement. I love it and I agree.

And anyone is fixable. The question is whether or not the organization wants to do something with them about it. I've heard a few minor league coaches that are basically told to "stay out of the way" of certain players (I would assume high draft picks are included here). I'm totally against that idea, but from a Cover-you-arse point-of-view, do you want to be the guy who gets the blame for messing up the club's investment?

Also: Watching Porcello pitch, he reminded me of Trevor Hoffman

Sorry, missed this. It didn't remind ME of Hoffman, but hey, it doesn't mean that you're wrong about it.

You mentioned that you like Alderson, but you also said he is risky. Why do you believe he might be a risk pick?

I worry about his mechanics leading to arm problems, especially his elbow. It looks like he puts a lot of stress at the wrong time on his UCL. That's all the really concerns me....

You're gonna be doing all the supplemental guys, right? I mentioned Bachanov when you asked for names before, and I'm also interested to read your comments on Wes Roemer, who the D-Backs grabbed in the supplemental, as I saw him once in person and once on TV this year. Do you think Roemer will ever retire a LHB in the major leagues?

And I know you mentioned you're gonna do Matt Harvey, though at this point, we could write it for you ... he needs to speed it up.

And "step over", as you put it.

I won't do all the supplementals. I've got every single suggestion I've gotten and I'll try to round up my top 20 to do two more installments. I may even do another one after that with maybe 5 more if I need to though.

i agree with your thoughts on john lucroy's defense, but from everything i've read and seen, it's his bat that is going to carry him. i think that, at this point, most people who question lucroy's defense are working from an outdated scouting report. he's really improved that facet of his game these last 3 years. lucroy actually started his college career DHing because his bat was so highly thought of by the coaching staff, while his defense was questionable.

looking at collegesplits.com, lucroy flat out kills LHP, so, maybe the video you saw of him was just against a righty with a deceptive motion, but that's just kind of grasping for straws.

thanks for weighing in on him with your opinion.

If you havent stopped taking votes already I'd like to put in 5 votes for Greg Peavey from Vancouver. I forget where he ended up being taken (10-14 round by Yankees)but, when i saw him i said wow! Laser quick arm, good deceleration, very repeatable, attacks! When he bats he looks like an athlete jumping out the box after a hit. Just looksd like a baseball player in every way. My personal opinion is that you should just do group of players that YOU find interesting CBWB? But, I am intersted in what you think of Greg Peavey and Porcello's teamate, Danielli...sorry if mispelled.

-casedog

Peavey has been suggested and has a really good chance of getting in. His swing looked pretty brutal, but luckily they drafted him as a pitcher.

There's probably around 50 players that have been suggested, and I'll try to narrow them down to about 20 on mostly, those that are interesting to me.

so, a reader sent me this link, where you see a tidbit about Aaron Poreda, the White Sox pick..

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/cs-070713soxbits,1,7410479.story

Poreda was clocked at 97 m.p.h. in his last start for Advanced-Rookie Great Falls on June 28 but experienced tenderness in his left arm.

Just sayin'

Again, thanks to a reader that pointed me to this article:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20070813-9999-1s13minors.html

"General Manager Kevin Towers said Nick Schmidt, shut down this month because of an elbow injury, raised no health concerns before the Padres selected him 23rd overall in the draft in June and guaranteed him $1.29 million. “(The doctor) thought he was one of the healthier guys he had seen,” Towers said. A former professional player, Carlos Gomez, who does video analysis of pitchers' mechanics for Harballtimes.com, had red-flagged Schmidt before the draft, writing that the left-hander's abrupt finish “would scare the hell out of me in terms of his durability.” Said Towers: “From a delivery standpoint, we didn't send up any red flags.”

Not happy about him being injured, but maybe someone will start listening to me.