Bryan Smith

Randar-- I'm not going to start fighting with you like I was some guy at U.S. Cellular Field, sorry. I don't have the ability to see minor league games, or get minor league scouting reports. I go off statistics, and would tell you that on my site. Francisco Hernandez caught my eye while looking at Bristol's stats, and while seeing his youth on Kannapolis' roster. Switch-hitting catchers interest me. It would almost be too easy to rip into you for saying pitch count systems should be thrown away. My collegue Will Carroll would love me too, but instead I'll just recommend you read Saving the Pitcher, and then tell me that. Radar guns? I guess we agree on something. Finally, the Cubs have handled Bobby Brownlie exceptionally well since drafting him. He had some arm troubles in college, but the fact that they got a full season from him this year speaks well of shutting him down early last year. If Ryan Sweeney turns into a star, I'll be happy. I ranked him fifth, behind four very good prospects. That's not an insult, at all.

First of all Randar, it's rude to say I've been 'poaching' info off this or other sites. You are calling me out for plagirism? I love dialogue between me and readers, but that pisses me off. You definitely reflected poorly on yourself there. But, I guess you're just searching for things to disagree with. Ok, I'll admit mistakes on Lopez and Gray. Spidale should have been on the list, and I would put Wing in as well. I considered Valido, who is probably a year away. And I'll back off the McCarthy comment. The Cubs shut down Bobby Brownlie last year, because they thought he had pitched too much that season. I like the idea in a lot of ways, and probably did not evaluate the relationship between team and affiliation enough. But creating a stricter pitch count system would be good (see Scott kazmir), even if he was drafted from Junior College. I knew that Sweeney had a good second half, and I do love that in a prospec. I'll be plugging August stats soon, and I can't wait to see what Sweeney did. But, his sub-.100 ISO has to be worrisome for fans, since it was his power that was touted out of high school. He's only 19, and many say power is the last to come. I just can't see putting him above fifth. Finally, let me say I love Chris Young. If they can get him to cut down on the strikeouts, he very well could be the best player in this system. And that's high praise when considering McCarthy.

Hi guys, I'm the half-idiot that created this list, Bryan Smith. I saw through my list of referrers that I was linked here, and wanted to come over and respond. I should start off by saying that I'm from Chicago, and while I lean to the Cubs, definitely like the Sox. I went to probably 8 games during the summer, because my family has season tickets there. First of all, in response to Soxman, I definitely didn't try to make it sound like the Sox have nothing. Ken Williams has sacrificed the farm system in recent years, and it shows. But the Sox have proven very resilient, and keep finding players worth talking about. And now to my largest critic, Rex... I will definitely stand by the fact that Lopez and Rodriguez shouldn't have been promoted to AAA, and McCarthy shut down. The fact is that prospects need to be treated like the bonus babies they are. Kris Honel threw more than 300 innings in 2002-2003, and it proved to hurt the system. I like Honel, I saw him in high school, and I would hate for what happened to him to happen to a talent like McCarthy. Is a minor league playoff push worth the second coming of Black Jack? Do you honestly care about your minor league teams that much? Same thing for Lopez and Rodriguez. Both handled the promotion well, and it probably won't turn out to be a big deal. But, the potential damage to a pitcher's psyche was not worth it. And yes, my wording was hard on Ryan Sweeney. No, he didn't fall flat on his face. But if I remember correctly, and I'll try to find the link, the Sox were saying in Spring Trainining that Sweeney was advanced enough to go to AA and possibly be up by year's end. He's a good prospect, in the Brad Nelson mold, but he isn't what they thought in Spring Training. I'm sure from Ozzie's expectations, it's fair to say he fell on his face. Maybe I dropped the ball down the rankings, and I'm sorry for that. Spidale looks solid to me, and probably shouold have been before Gray. I like constructive criticism a lot, as it helps me learn what I did wrong. You guys probably know the system better than I do, this was what my bird's eye look did. Thanks for calling me out on it.