Recent Minor Moves: NL Central

Cubs:

Demoted C/1B/OF Jake Fox and P Mark Holliman from Iowa to Tennessee. Fox was squeezed out of playing time when Micah Hoffpauir was activated from the DL by the ICubs. Holliman was part of a mass shuffle that occurred when Rich Hill was sent down; he’s a finesse guy who survives by changing speeds and keeping the ball down, which is tough to do in the PCL.

DL’d Ps Edward Campusano (biceps) and Jesse Estrada at Tennessee. Estrada took a line drive in the head a week ago. Ps Grant Johnson and Michael Cooper were activated from the DL.

Sent P Billy Petrick to Daytona from extended spring training. Petrick has been held back due to shoulder problems; he will probably pitch for Daytona for a couple of weeks and then head for AAA.

Peoria manager Ryne Sandberg was suspended for three games by the Midwest League after a bench-clearing incident in a game against Clinton, in which Sandberg confronted Clinton manager Mike Micucci about a sacrifice bunt attempt that Micucci ordered with his team holding a 6-0 lead. 3B Josh Vitters was sent back to extended spring training; he’s been nursing a hand injury.

Cincinnati:

Released P Scott Sauerbeck…

Recent Minor Moves: NL East

Atlanta:

Demoted INF JC Holt from Richmond to Mississippi. Holt, a 2004 3rd rounder out of LSU, started the season in AAA, but hit just .215/.333/.228 in 26 games for the RBraves, and became expendable when Brent Lillbridge was returned to the minors.

Promoted P Tommy Hanson from Myrtle Beach to Mississippi. Hanson, drafted in the 22nd round in 2006 out of Riverside CC in Redlands, CA, is the probable starter for the MBraves on Tuesday night against Montgomery. In seven high-A starts in 2008, Hanson was 3-1 with a 0.90 ERA and 49 Ks/11 BBs in 40 innings, and didn’t allow an earned run until his fifth start.

DL’d OF Gorkys Hernandez (hamstring) at Myrtle Beach. Hernandez will probably be out about another week.

Sent 3B Jon Gilmore from extended spring training to Rome. Gilmore, a supplemental first-rounder a year ago out of Iowa HS ball, hit well in the GCL a year ago, but failed to show the power potential that pushed him into the 1st round, and the Braves held him back after he struggled in spring camp.

Florida:

Signed OF George Lombard as a free agent and assigned him to Albuquerque. Lombard, 32 (believe it or not),…

Recent Minor Moves: AL West

LA Angels of Anaheim:

Promoted OF Drew Toussaint from Rancho Cucamonga to Arkansas. Toussaint finally gets a shot at AA after spending two-plus season with the Quakes. He’s been around since 2004, and his debut season in the Pioneer League is still his best; he simply doesn’t make enough contact.

Placed P AJ Ford on the Rancho Cucamonga roster. Ford was an undrafted free agent who signed with the Angels last year and pitched well in the AZL. He’s from Butte, Montana; Scott Brow is the only major league player to hail from Butte. The Quakes also activated P Bobby Cassevah, who had been placed on the DL with “exertional headaches”.

DL’d P Milan Dinga (rotator cuff strain), and activated P Jordan Towns at Cedar Rapids. Both are 2007 draftees (Dinga 10th, Towns 25th).

Oakland:

Activated OF Carlos Gonzalez at Sacramento. CarGo had been on the DL with a right ankle sprain.

Added OF Aaron Cunningham to Midland’s roster. Cunningham had been in extended spring rehabbing a broken wrist. Former Marlins’ pitching prospect Scott Tyler was released by the A’s; Tyler has been battling Steve Blass disease for the past year and was hammered in nine outings for the RockHounds. He…

Recent Minor Moves: AL Central

White Sox:

No transactions of interest.

Cleveland:

Promoted 1B Michael Aubrey from Akron to Buffalo, and added OF Bronson Sardinha to the Buffalo roster. Aubrey, drafted 11th overall in 2003, has battled back problems for years. When healthy, he’s hit pretty well, albeit without a lot of power; he’s just never been healthy, Sardinha was released by Seattle despite hitting .323/.371/.419 for their AAA affiliate, and signed on with the Tribe. A 2001 #1 draft pick, he left the Yankee organization after the 2007 season.

Activated 1B Stephen Head from the DL at Akron. Head’s not unlike Aubrey, in terms of his skill set, and when Aubrey was promoted he replaced him on the Aeros’ roster.

Detroit:

Promoted OF Freddy Guzman from Erie to Toledo. Guzman, who the Tigers acquired for Chris Shelton, has been around, to say the least; it’s a sign of how bereft the Tigers are in terms of real prospects that Guzman was ranked #15 by BA.

DL’d C Jordan Newton at West Michigan. Newton, a 2006 6th-rounder out of Western Kentucky, was off to a blazing start for the Whitecaps, hitting .356/.372/.575 with six doubles and five triples (no mean feat for anyone, especially a catcher).…

Recent Minor Moves: AL East

Baltimore:

Promoted P Chris Waters and OF Sebastian Boucher from Bowie to Norfolk. Waters was picked up from the Braves’ organization prior to the 2007 season and spent almost all of last year at Bowie. He won five of his six starts for the Baysox this year and posted a 1.69 ERA before being bumped up when Lance Cormier was promoted to the Orioles. Boucher replaced Adam Stern, who’s on the DL.

Activated P Pedro Beato at Frederick. Beato had been on the DL. He was roughed up in his return, allowing 9 hits and 6 ER in 4 1/3 IP against Potomac.

Added P Shane Mathews to the Delmarva roster. Mathews was an 8th-rounder a year ago, out of East Carolina.

Boston:

Nothing interesting to report.

Yankees:

Promoted OF Matt Carson from Trenton to Scranton/WIlkes-Barre. Carson, a 2002 5th rounder out of BYU, spent all of 2007 at Trenton, and was off to a good start there in 2008, hitting .277/.331/.545 with 5 HR and 26 RBI in 27 games. He started off 7-13 with a triple in AAA.

Tampa Bay:

Added SS Shawn O’Malley to the Columbus (SAL) roster. O’Malley was a 5th-round pick of the Rays in 2006.…

Rehab updates

Dontrelle Willis was recalled from his minor league rehab assignment by the Tigers. He didn’t pitch badly in his AAA outing - 72 pitches, 4 hits, 2 runs in 4 2/3 innings - but he tweaked his hyperextended right knee while fielding a ground ball.

Rich Harden will make a second rehab start in Stockton tomorrow night. Harden’s outing in Sacramento on Thursday lasted 50 pitches, in which he allowed 1 run on 3 hits in 3 2/3 innings, with 4 Ks and no walks.

John Lackey’s third minor league rehab start yesterday went 4 innings, during which he allowed 4 hits and 2 runs, walking one and fanning 4. Lackey will likely rejoin the Angels when they return home next week. Howie Kendrick also played yesterday, going 2-3 before leaving for a pinch-runner; he’s expected to be reactivated during LA’s current road trip.

BTF Mock Draft

With the annual Rule 4 draft coming up quickly (June 5), I’d like to gauge how much interest there would be among the BTF community in staging our own mock draft. I’d shoot for doing one about a week or so before the actual draft (last week of May).

The purpose of this thread is to do two things:

1. gauge interest. How many people would volunteer to handle their favorite team?
2. discuss logistics. Doing a mock draft in real-time usually requires a time commitment from people that covers hours - if you do a three-round mock draft, including supplemental picks that’s 112 players, which means that if you allow 2 minutes/pick you’re looking at a four-hour time commitment.

Three rounds is about as far as I’d want to take it. The order is:

First round

1. Tampa Bay Rays
2. Pittsburgh Pirates
3. Kansas City Royals
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. San Francisco Giants
6. Florida Marlins
7. Cincinnati Reds
8. Chicago White Sox
9. Washington Nationals
10. Houston Astros
11. Texas Rangers
12. Oakland Athletics
13. St. Louis Cardinals
14. Minnesota Twins
15. Los Angeles Dodgers
16. Milwaukee Brewers
17. Toronto Blue Jays
18. New York Mets (from Atlanta…

Triangle Minor League Meetups: May 24 (Jacksonville at Carolina), May 30 (Pawtucket at Durham)

By a great stroke of good fortune, I happen to have both of these nights free, at a time when some decent teams with some pretty good prospects will be in town. I’ve set up links through Meetup:

Jacksonville at Carolina
Pawtucket at Durham

but post here if you want as well.

Kazmir, Maybin, and pitching

Scott Kazmir pitched on a rehab assignment in Durham last night. He was sharp, hitting 94 on the scoreboard gun several times and making just one mistake, which Diory Hernandez took over the Blue Monster in left. Kazmir’s strikeout pitch wasn’t working all that well - he had just three Ks, getting Brandon Jones twice and JC Holt once - but broke a couple of bats and induced a fair number of weak grounders and fly balls. Other than Hernandez’s HR, the only other hard-hit ball was a deep fly off the bat of Barbaro Canizares, which Fernando Perez hauled in at the warning track. Kazmir was expected to throw around 85 pitches, and actually threw 81, 50 for strikes. For Rays’ fans, he will be starting Sunday in Fenway.

We’re a month into the season, and I’ve seen the Mudcats play six games. The Marlins loaded the franchise this year, placing #1 prospect Cameron Maybin in Carolina along with the cream of Florida’s crop of young pitching arms, and skipping two position player prospects, OF John Raynor and 2B Chris Coghlan, past Jupiter - something Florida rarely does. Already, the Marlins have promoted P Burke Badenhop (probably the least known…

Rehab, rehab, everyone’s on rehab

Mark Mulder pitched six scoreless innings, allowing three hits, in Springfield’s 10-3 win over Tulsa. Mulder is expected to make one more rehab start on Friday, most likely in a rematch against the Drillers in Tulsa. In his first rehab outing, Mulder went five innings for the Cardinals’ FSL affiliate in Palm Beach, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits.

Curtis Granderson will play for West Michigan tonight, following two games with Detroit’s AAA affiliate in Toledo over the weekend in which he was 3-9 with a double. Granderson made one earlier rehab appearance with the Whitecaps, going 2-4 with a triple.

Scott Rolen has begun a rehab assignment with Dunedin, going 0-3 in his first appearance there.

Moises Alou went 3-3 with a double and run scored in his initial rehab assignment for St. Lucie, although he came out after five innings. Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez is supposed to make another rehab start there sometime this week; he hasn’t pitched since his initial start on April 3.

Promotions, promotions, promotions

No, not the Mike Veeck kind…

Clayton Kershaw, the #1 pick out the Dodgers a year ago, has been promoted from low Class-A Great Lakes to AA Jacksonville, where he’ll start tonight against the Mudcats. This shocks me. Kershaw is just 19, and while his Ks and H/IP ratio in low-A are outstanding, he’s had a lot of command issues (50 BB in 97 1/3 IP, less than 5 IP/start) and has been showing some signs of wearing down in his more recent outings. The Dodgers don’t have any particular reason that I can see to push him, and their track record with younger pitchers (Greg Miller, Scott Elbert, the since-traded Blake Johnson and Chuck Tiffany) hasn’t been especially good recently, with only Chad Billingley and now (maybe) Jon Meloan clearing the minors without development and/or injury issues.

Cameron Maybin has been promoted to Erie by the Tigers. Maybin is just behind Jay Bruce, who’s moved through three levels this year without skipping a beat, in the race for “best prospect not currently in the major leagues” (with apologies to Fernando Martinez). Maybin’s raw numbers are pretty good - .304/.393/.486 at high-A Lakeland, with 83 Ks in ~340 PAs the lone…

College World Series (DISCUSSION THREAD)

Friday schedule:

Game 1: Louisville vs Rice, 2 PM ET, ESPN2
Game 2: Mississippi State vs North Carolina, 7 PM ET, ESPN2

Saturday schedule:

Game 3: UC Irvine vs Arizona State, 2 PM ET, ESPN
Game 4: Oregon State vs CS-Fullerton, 7 PM ET, ESPN

Sunday schedule:

Game 5: Game 1 loser vs Game 2 loser, 2 PM ET, ESPN
Game 6: Game 1 winner vs Game 2 winner, 7 PM ET, ESPN2

Monday schedule:

Game 7: Game 3 loser vs Game 4 loser, 2 PM ET, ESPN2
Game 8: Game 3 winner vs Game 4 winner, 7 PM ET, ESPN2

Tuesday schedule:

Game 9: Game 5 winner vs Game 6 loser, 2 PM ET, ESPN2
Game 10: Game 7 winner vs Game 8 loser, 7 PM ET, ESPN2

Wednesday schedule:

Game 11: Game 9 winner vs Game 6 winner, 2 PM ET, ESPN2
Game 12: Game 10 winner vs Game 8 winner, 7 PM ET, ESPN2

Thursday schedule:

Game 13: Game 9 winner vs Game 6 winner, 2 PM ET, ESPN2 (if necessary)
Game 14: Game 10 winner vs Game 8 winner, 7 PM ET, ESPN (if necessary)
If only one game is played, the game will be in the…

Draft signings

Post ‘em here - keep ‘em coming.

Shadow Draft

I thought it might be fun for people to volunteer to do a shadow draft for their teams. I got the idea from John Sickels, who does one for the Twins every year.

The idea behind a shadow draft is this: When your team picks, make a pick based on the players that are actually available to the team at that spot. For example, if you’re doing a shadow draft for the Cubs, at pick #3 you can pick anyone except the players actually picked by the Devil Rays and Royals ahead of you. If the D’Rays take Price and the Royals take Parker, for example, you have your choice of Wieters, Porcello, Vitters, et, al. You can certainly pick the same player your team picks, if you think that’s the best option, or pick someone else.

I’m doing one for the Pirates. Because I’m working the Mudcat game tonight, I probably won’t be able to do anything in real-time after the second pick, but I’ll come home and do them later (honestly). If anyone else wants to do one, feel free to post your team and your choices here. Go as deep into the draft as you want and think…

John Sickels Mock Draft

Mock draft is underway. I’m drafting fifth for the Orioles.

UPDATE: Supplemental round about to get under way.

UPDATE: 2nd round.

UPDATE: 3rd round.

UPDATE: 4th round.

UPDATE: 5th round.

The 33 Percent Solution

John Manuel, in a premium article at Baseball America’s Web site, writes about NCAA rule changes scheduled to take effect following the 2008 season that were also discussed at some length in the News and Observer last week. The rule changes came about in response to an NCAA study that showed poor performance by college baseball players on the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) scale, in large part because baseball’s transfer rule allows players to transfer once without being required to sit out a year, leading to a high transfer rate. Manuel writes:

In the wake of the NCAA’s emergency legislation to improve baseball’s APR performance, (Mississippi State baseball coach Ron) Polk used some characteristic and heated rhetoric, calling it a death blow for college baseball.

Now, we haven’t found a coach who likes the legislation--rules that force players to sit out a year when they transfer, become certified academically in the fall to play in the spring and, most significantly mandates a minimum of 33 percent scholarship money for every player who receives athletic aid. But Polk, who once went so far as to quit his coaching gig at Mississippi State to fight the NCAA on scholarship reductions (only to…

Rule 4 Draft (DISCUSSION THREAD)

The Rule 4 draft will be held beginning at 2 PM on June 7, extending into June 8. Baseball America has the complete draft order for the first five rounds, with Arizona getting the additional draft pick (#65) if they fail to sign Max Scherzer by Thursday (a scenario which is looking pretty likely).

On Sunday, beginning at 2 PM Central Time, John Sickels will be hosting a mock draft, covering five rounds. I will be handling the Orioles, who have picks in only the 1st, 4th, and 5th rounds.

While Tampa’s front office insists that they haven’t yet made a decision, almost everyone expects the #1 pick to be Vanderbilt LHP David Price. The Royals, drafting 2nd, are likely to take Seton Hall Prep RHP Rick Porcello, even though Scott Boras is his “adviser”. Assuming those two picks go as advertised, the fun begins. The Cubs, picking 3rd, like Cypress (CA) HS 3B Josh Vitters, but might also go for Georgia Tech C Matt Wieters, who is also a Boras “advisee”, and who may very well drop to #10 (Giants) if the Cubs don’t take him, even though he’s a consensus top-5 player; it is very unlikely that any of…

NCAA Tournament

The field of 64 has been announced.

The NCAA rewarded teams that played tough schedules this year, leaving out schools like Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Tech, and putting Memphis and Troy in the field primarily because of their decision to schedule top-50 teams rather than lesser Division I lights.

Rice, the #2 overall seed, got screwed a little bit, I think. TCU has a very good team, and Baylor can also play with a lot of teams, as they demonstrated by marching to the Big 12 title game. If Ryne Tacker isn’t healthy (he left his start in the C-USA tournament early with arm trouble), the Owls might not even escape their regional, and they could definitely have some problems with Texas A&M (which looks like a strong favorite to win its regional).

Arizona State is overseeded at #5, IMO; Florida State and Arkansas are better, I think, and one could make a good argument for San Diego as well. It was kind of a down year for the Pac 10.

Organizational Reports: NL West

Arizona

There aren’t any real surprises here, with one or two exceptions.

AAA Tucson (PCL)

Record: 15-16, 3rd in PCL Pacific South

Roster moves: P Eric Butler (from extended spring/to South Bend), P Randy Choate (signed as free agent), P Dustin Nippert (from Diamondbacks/to Diamondbacks), OF Rich Thompson (from extended spring), 3B Brian Barden (to Diamondbacks/from Diamondbacks), P Dana Eveland (to Diamondbacks/from Diamondbacks), P Randy Johnson (to Diamondbacks following minor league rehab), OF Dave Krynzel (to temp inactive list), INF Augie Ojeda (to DL), P Micah Owings (to Diamondbacks following minor league rehab), P Yusmeiro Petit (to Diamondbacks/from Diamondbacks), OF Carlos Quentin (to Diamondbacks following minor league rehab), P Mike Schultz (to Diamondbacks/from Diamondbacks)

Moving up the charts: 1B/3B Jamie D’Antona (.333/.423/.532), RP Jailen Peguero (1.59 ERA, 23/10 K/BB in 17 IP)

Struggling: 2B Danny Richar (.246/.295/.333), Barden (.206/.280/.250)

Comments:
Looks like the D’Antona catching experiment is over for the time being. Peguero, picked up from Houston in the offseason, might be this year’s version of Tony Pena (the D’backs pitcher, not the former catcher/manager or his son the SS) - someone who comes out of near-anonymity to pitch his way to the major league bullpen. I don’t think Barden’s that…

Organizational Reports: NL Central

Chicago Cubs

The prospects at the top of the chain are having their issues, but there are some pleasant developments going on in the lower reaches of the system.

AAA Iowa (PCL)

Record: 15-15, 3rd in PCL American North

Roster moves: INF Ronny Cedeno (from Cubs), P Angel Guzman (from Cubs/to Cubs), UTIL Mike Kinkade (from DL), P Sean Marshall (from Daytona/minor league rehab), P Carmen Pignatiello (from Tennessee), C Tony Richie (from Tennessee), OF Chris Walker (from Tennessee), P Hector Almonte (released), P Federico Baez (to Tennessee/from Tennessee), P Rocky Cherry (to Cubs), INF/C Casey McGehee (to Tennessee), OF Felix Pie (to Cubs)

Moving up the charts: INF Mike Fontenot (.298/.340/.479), SP Carlos Marmol (3.74 ERA, 39/11 K/BB in 33 2/3 IP)

Struggling: 3B Scott Moore (.238/.351/.313, 27 K in ~90 PA), Guzman (12.19 ERA in 3 starts/10 1/3 IP)

Comments:
Marmol got off to a good start, pitched poorly in two starts against Nashville, then righted the ship with a seven IP, no BB, 9 K outing against New Orleans. Fontenot is showing a bit of power and had hit lefties hard so far. Guzman was also lit up twice by Nashville; his other start, against Memphis, was decent…

UPDATED Organizational Reports: NL East

Atlanta

The Braves’ top prospects, for the most part, are doing very well. There are also a few potential candidates for breakouts in the lower minors who are also off to strong starts. Atlanta has a nice mix of prospects at all levels of the minors, although Myrtle Beach’s initial roster has been hit fairly hard by injury.

AAA Richmond (IL)

Record: 16-5, 1st in IL South.

Roster moves: P Jeff Bennett (from Mississippi), P Macay McBride (from extended spring), INF Jonathan Schuerholz (from Mississippi), P Joe Winkelsas (from Mississippi), P Steve Colyer (to Braves), UTIL Willie Harris (to Braves), P Peter Moylan (to Braves), P Rich Scalamandre (to DL)

Moving up the charts: OF Gregor Blanco (.338/.427/.415), SP Anthony Lerew (1.83 ERA in four starts, 8 BB in 19 1/3 IP), RP Manny Acosta (17 K, 1 ER allowed in 13 2/2 IP).

Struggling: OF TJ Bohn (.222/.310/.302, 18 K in ~75 PA)

Comments:
The relationship between Richmond and the Braves has been a bit testy over the past few years, and perhaps in response Atlanta sent a mostly veteran bunch to The Diamond this year. So far, that’s paid off in a winning team (something that hasn’t been seen…

Where’s Waldo….err, Mike?

I am in the middle of a major life change triggered by a realization that I absolutely HATED what I had been doing - proof that you’re never too old to start over again, I suppose - and for that reason I haven’t posted much here in recent weeks. That self-imposed hiatus will be ending in a week or two; I should be back on a regular basis sometime in the first couple of weeks of February (in time for all of the prospect books to come out). At that time I’ll let you all in on a couple of projects that I’ve been working.

Sleeper Prospects: AL

Installment #2, looking at the AL list of guys who aren’t on a lot of radar screens but who have a chance to be productive players some day.

For some reason, there are a lot more undrafted free agents from overseas in this group. That wasn’t exactly by design, although I do think the AL teams do a better job covering Latin America and the Far East than do the NL teams; it probably has more to do with the relative amount of coverage that AL farm systems tend to get.

Baltimore: David Hernandez, RHP
Age 21, Drafted: 2005, 16th round

Hernandez fits the mold of pitcher with excellent stuff/needs better command and a passable third pitch that you find in many organizations. He has the low 90s fastball and moving slider that you like to see, but he walks too many guys and leaves the slider up in the zone far too often. He’s also averaged 9 2/3 K/9 over his career so far, even given those shortcomings. In an organization which isn’t especially hip-deep in prospects, he could show up on some top 10 lists.

Boston: Tony Granadillo, 3B
Age 22, Selected by Red Sox from Cardinals in 2004…

Rule 5 Draft (DISCUSSION THREAD)

It used to be that the clock started when the player signed his contract - so a player who signed before the Rule 5 draft in the year in which he was drafted would lose that year even if he didn’t play in the minors that season. Now, the clock starts beginning with the player’s first minor league season - so a player who signed in 2003 but didn’t play until 2004 would have his eligibility counted beginning with the 2004 Rule 5 draft instead of the 2003 draft. The age limit is still based on the date when the player signs, though. There aren’t a lot of players for whom this matters; a couple of guys about whom I do have questions are marked, usually because I can’t find out whether or not they played in the DSL or VSL before their debut in the US minors.

I’ve got some lists of eligibles here. These aren’t close to being complete, and I really don’t want to list everyone that’s eligible, merely those who might be interesting to someone.

Arizona: P Adam Bass, 1B Javier Brito, SS Derek Bruce, 3B/C Jamie D’Antona, P Esmerling Vasquez.
Atlanta: P Devin Anderson, P Paul…

Sleeper Prospects: NL

Mister High Standards, during one of the Primer World Series chats, asked if I would point out some “sleepers” among the minor leaguers – and I’m going to try to oblige.

In some ways, I don’t think there are any real “sleepers” any more, in the sense of someone who comes out of nowhere; there’s far too much coverage on the Internet for anyone to do that. The players I’m listing here are probably known to some of you, especially those of you who follow specific teams on a regular basis and know the third-string catcher on the short-season team. But these are guys who (a) aren’t on a lot of national radar screens, (b) have had some success, and (c) also have enough tools/skills, in my best assessment of the scouting reports on them, to succeed as they move up the ladder as well. None of these guys are likely to be stars, but I think most will eventually be useful major leaguers.

With occasional exceptions, I haven’t seen a lot of these players play; I’m relying to the same set of scouting reports and stats that you do. I tend to rely more on intuition and evalution of trends…

Prospect Ratings, Part 7: Top Prospects for 2007 (composite)

Top Prospect Alert has the first composite listing of top prospects for 2007 that I’ve seen. More will be forthcoming shortly, I presume.

Prospect Ratings, Part 6: Sickels/minorleagueball.com

I haven’t posted much of John Sickels’s work in a while, but now that he’s putting out his prospect lists, it’s time to get back over to minorleagueball.com.

Padres
Rangers
Pittsburgh: Andrew McCutchen
Tampa Bay: Delmon Young
LA Dodgers: Andy LaRoche
St. Louis: Colby Rasmus
Florida: Sean West
Chicago WS: Ryan Sweeney
Milwaukee: Yovani Gallardo
Oakland: Travis Buck
New York Mets: Fernando Martinez
Cleveland: Adam Miller
Philadelphia: Carlos Carrasco
Seattle: Adam Jones
Houston: Hunter Pence
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Brandon Wood
Chicago Cubs: Felix Pie
Detroit: Cameron Maybin
Cincinnati: Homer Bailey
Boston: Jacoby Ellsbury
Toronto: Adam Lind
Colorado: Troy Tulowitzki
Arizona: Justin Upton
Baltimore: Billy Rowell
San Francisco: Tim Lincecum
New York Yankees: Phil Hughes
Washington: Chris Marrero
Minnesota: Matt Garza
Atlanta: Eric Campbell
Kansas City: Alex Gordon (the best prospect in baseball).

Prospect Ratings, Part 5: Baseball Prospectus (Goldstein)

I would expect that most of the details of Kevin Goldstein’s rankings will be behind the Prospectus premium divider, with the usual rules applying to the discussion here (summarize, don’t cut-and-paste, etc.)

Pittsburgh: Andrew McCutchen #1.
Philadelphia: Carlos Carrasco #1.
New York Mets: Fernando Martinez #1.
Milwaukee: Ryan Braun #1.
Los Angeles Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw #1.
Houston: Jason Hirsh #1.
Florida: Sean West #1.
Colorado: Troy Tulowitzki #1.
Cincinnati: Homer Bailey #1.
Chicago Cubs: Donnie Veal #1.
Atlanta: Jarrod Saltalamacchia #1.
Arizona: Chris Young #1.

Prospect Ratings, Part 4: Baseball America Team Top 10s

Texas Rangers top 10: #1 John Danks
Seattle Mariners top 10: #1 Adam Jones
Oakland Athletics top 10: #1 Travis Buck
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim top 10: #1 Brandon Wood
Minnesota Twins top 10: #1 Matt Garza
Kansas City Royals top 10: #1 Alex Gordon
Detroit Tigers top 10: #1 Cameron Maybin
Cleveland Indians top 10: #1 Adam Miller
Chicago White Sox top 10: #1 Ryan Sweeney
Tampa Bay Devil Rays top 10: #1 Delmon Young
Toronto Blue Jays top 10: #1 Adam Lind
Boston Red Sox top 10: #1 Jacoby Ellsbury
New York Yankees top 10: #1 Philip Hughes
Baltimore Orioles top 10: #1 Billy Rowell

The New CBA and the Prospects

I was going to write this nice big analysis of the new CBA on the draft and on prospect development in general, but David Cameron saved me the trouble.

One thing that David doesn’t mention is that minor leaguers now have an extra year in which they can be left off the 40-man roster without being subject to the Rule 5 draft. On balance, I think this might make picking someone in Rule 5 more attractive to major league teams, because the prospect will have had an extra year of development under his belt and might be better able to adjust to a year of relative inactivity a major league roster. The flip side is that it allows teams to control a prospect for an extra year before they have to fish or cut bait on him. It’s probably of minimal impact in the long run, since useful prospects rarely make it to Rule 5 anyway.