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QUOTE (Jake @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 06:45 PM) I don't like the "helps every day" argument. He does, but he rarely can win you the game. A pitcher requires relatively little assistance to directly and almost completely determine the outcome of a game. And he'll do it every time he pitches. A hitter bats 4 times a game and makes a handful of defensive plays. When he can do too much damage at the plate, they'll walk him. Whether Abreu is at bat when you need a run is a matter of luck. Whether the starting pitcher is pitching when you need to hold the lead is a matter of skill. An average hitter gets 10% of his team's PA throughout the season. While an average starting pitcher pitches 13-14% of his teams total innings. The amount of defensive responsibilities a position players has over a pitcher brings that % of impact a little closer. I'd still pick the position player given they frequency they play.

QUOTE (Jake @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 05:44 PM) I would imagine there are more "good" starters, but the problem is the need for five of them. By this logic, starting pitchers just became the most valuable position in baseball and relievers became a lot more valuable as well. I think it's more fair to look at it from a value perspective. At the end of the day is it harder to replace a true ace or true middle of the line up hitter? I think the Sale over Abreu give the park factor they are performing in.

If Kevin Martin goes to Sixers in a three way, I really hope Bulls jump in and scoop him from them. Snell and Dunleavy for Martin gives them both a young asset and more cap space next year.

Brewster is on the Brad Goldberg track. Hopefully he fares better than Goldberg did in his sophomore year.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 1, 2014 -> 09:37 PM) What's the recovery time for that? 5-6 months? I would say he's done for the year. Hopefully he comes back healthy next year.

That looks like a Shaun Livingston leg break for Paul George. This really blows

Ideal (not necessarily realistic) starting lineup. CF - Eaton SS - Sanchez 1B - Abreu DH - Martinez (2 years $30M) LF - Cabrera (4 Years $48M) RF - Garcia 3B - Gillaspie 2B - Micah C - Flowers Bench - Phegley, Wilkins, Michael Taylor, Tyler Saladino Trade Alexei to Giants for Clayton Blackburn 1 - Sale 2 - Quintanna 3 - Masterson (3 years, $24M) 4 - Danks 5 - Rodon/Beck/Rienzo/E Johnson/Bassit

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 08:15 PM) 1b- Abreu 2b- Semien (for 3 months until M. Johnson is ready) SS- Alexei 3b- Gillaspie Lf- Viciedo Cf-Eaton Rf- A. Garcia C-J. Castro (Montas and T. Thompson) DH-A. Lind (Sanchez and Beck) SP- Sale, Quintana, Danks, J. Hammel, Noesi (until Rodon is ready) No way am I giving up Montas for Castro. He could be our number 1 pitching prospect as early as next season.

He's just not that good. We are stuck with $33 mil for a fifth starter for the next 2 years folks.

With the exception of Tank, everyone's hitting the ball well against Smyly, he won't last long out there today

Tyler Flowers please don't attempt any bunts, ever, again

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 10:20 PM) Just the 8 home runs through 5 innings in the Great Falls game Wind must be blowing crazy today. 9 HR's in a rookie ball game is pretty much unheard of.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 10:17 PM) I hope we don't respond to Mitchell's first strong run of play ever by once again moving him up too fast For the first two months of 2012, Mitchell put up similar numbers as he did now while he was in Double A, batted .300 and had an OPS of over .900. Everyone on this board thought the real Jared Mitchell had arrived. Then he stank for the next 2 months or so but got promoted to Triple A, where he was miserable ever since, until now going back to Double A. Is there anything called a 2 1/2 A player?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 12:42 PM) Thibs needs to paint some hair on like Carlos Boozer did a couple of years ago. Don't know if that's a good look. It'd be like Jonah Hill with Drake's hairdo.

Rose needs to call up Tony Snell's barber and get a fresh cut.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 02:47 PM) I don't get all of you guys rating Davidson so high. I'm trying, but it just doesn't compute. He is hitting .200 with a ton of strikeouts and is clearly regressing from 2013, and those numbers were not so hot. This is his 6th pro season. He has 2650 at bats as a pro -- almost 3000 plate appearances. Not a small sample size. What do you guys need to see in order to put him further down on your list, or gone completely? You also need to consider tools, not just stats when evaluating a prospect. He's a 23 year old 3B who brings plus power and plays good defense at the hot corner, and is very age appropriate for Triple A. That alone puts him ahead of many prospects. He may never hit better than .220 in the majors, but at the same time if he can hit 20 HRs and play good defense at third, he can be a good bench player and stick around for a few years. Simply put, he has a higher ceiling and floor than many prospects in our system.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 02:36 PM) He's only pitched that much above low-A because he was a senior draftee and pitched late ino his senior year, plus I think the Sox were a little too slow to move him up to high-A. This is his first proper year in pro baseball and he was exceptional at low-A and has been even better at high-A. And he has improved his secondary stuff, as I said his change-up is getting good reviews and Stoltz thinks his curve can be his best pitch. He's already been getting buzz as a fringe prospect in scouting circles, more so than Bassitt. I'd be surprised if he didn't put up better numbers than Bassitt in Birmingham when he goes up. Actually, Bassitt has been considered as a sleeper by many in the scouting circle for quite some time now. It's just that he's easily forgotten given he's already 25 years old and missed the first half of the season. He has the potential to be a mid rotation starter, if not a high leverage reliever. Here's an in depth scouting report of his, and it's a good read if you have time. http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/chris-bas...ching-prospect/ And I would take Dykstra's draft spot with a huge grain of salt, as NSS pointed out, he was signed for dirt cheap, the draft position was a by product of the new draft slot system. A few years ago, there was a fella in the system by the name of Stephen Sauer, also a sinker baller working in the 90's MPH. He had a really good campaign as 23 year old in Low A, with similar BB% and K/BB ratio as Dykstra, but he topped out in A+ and was out of baseball shortly. Not saying Sauer has the same kind of secondary stuff as Dykstra, but I wouldn't rank him high on the list just based on his raw numbers, as sinker ballers (especially more experienced ones) can offset the fact that they do not have any plus stuff by commanding their pitches and limiting their BB% in the lower level. Now, if Dykstra has truely improved his secondary offering like you mentioned, and can perform in the same fashion in a higher level, then he should be considered a Top 15 prospect. Right now it seems a little premature to put him ahead of guys like Beck and Bassit.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 02:03 PM) Dykstra was the much higher draft pick, is 2 years younger, and his K:BB rates are incredible. Last year in A+, Bassitt, struck out 22.8% and walked 9.5%, at the same level this year Dykstra is striking out 23.8% and walking 2.4%, after putting up pretty much the same ratio at Kanny. When Bassitt was the same age as Dykstra is now at the same level, he struck out 18.6% (5.2% less) and walked 13.4% (11% more). As for stuff, Dykstra sits 91-93, has a sinker with good sink, has a much improved changeup, a decent curve and immaculate control. Bassitt has about the same velo (maybe tops out higher but also occasionally seems to sit lower), has a good slider to righties, an inconsistent curve to lefties, doesn't really throw a change and has decent control. I don't really see the gap in stuff that makes up for the gap in performance. It's too early to rank Dykstra in the top 15 or even top 20. He's only pitched 20 innings above Low A so far and turns 24 at the end of the year. Given he's a sinker baller with good command, you would like to see if he can continue to miss bat while maintaining the same command in the upper levels before really believing in him. Hitter are hitting in the .260's against him this year, that's a split between mostly Low A and High A. While Bassit has limited his opponents to a BA of .220's in his career. I also wouldn't bank on Dykstra's keeping up K%. It's easy to get the less experienced hitters to strikeout in the lower level with good command of your pitches, but without any true "out" pitch or any plus offerings, I highly doubt that he can keep up that K%, unless he takes a giant step forward in his secondary offering. I'd like to see more from him in Double A next year before putting him in the top 15, as we have plenty of guys who are more accomplished than him or has a higher ceiling in the system.

I am surprised to see some guys put Dykstra over Bassit on their list or leaving Bassit off entirely. Bassit is almost 2 years older than Dykstra, but has proven he can handle Double A, and is generally considered to have better stuff. I'd be surprised if he doesn't get invited to ST to battle for the 5th starter spot next year along with Beck, Snodgress and Johnson.

For Funsies. Overall, I think we have many guys in the top 10 who has a strong chance of being solid regulars, and there are many intriguing talents in the bottom of the list to keep an eye on over next couple of years. 1. Rodon 2. Anderson 3. Micah Johnson 4. Montas 5. Danish 6. Hawkins 7. Sanchez 8. Adams 9. Davidson 10. Michalczewski 11. Ravelo 12. Wilkins 13. Beck 14. Bassit 15. May 16. Engel 17. Kevan Smith 18. Barnum 19. Thompson 20. Adolfo 21. Snodgress 22. Saladino 23. Rondon 24. Luis Martinez 25. Guerrero 26. Austin 27. Jace Fry 28. Jaye 29. Lopez 30. Mitchell The next 10 31. Freudenberg 32. Coats 33. Narvaez 34. Recchia 35. Ortiz 36. Lowry 37. Robinson Leyer 38. Jake Peter 39. Salgado 40. Dykstra The 2015 Watch List Andre Wheeler Zach Thompson Johan Cruz Antonio Rodriguez Jose Barraza Kevin Escorcia Nelson Acosta Ramon Beltre

Any publication that has Rodon and Adolfo arriving in the same year shouldn't be taken seriously. And since it's an MLB piece, it shouldn't be taken seriously to be begin with.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 11:26 PM) I'm a little bummed by this mini HR drought Fixed it for you

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 09:19 AM) Messing around with NBA trade machine, Bulls would have to send back 18M in contracts to make it work....Niko/Taj/DMD is 15.5. So pretty much they'd either have to include MJD or Butler and Snell. Trade MJD...Convince Marion to play for the min....go with... Rose/Hinrich/Brooks Martin/Butler Marion/Snell Love/Pau/Bairstow Noah/Pau/Naz ...Championships I did the math as well, and after that trade (which I think would never happen), Bulls should be at $68.7 mil salary wise for 10 roster spots, still way under the tax apron. In this dream scenario though, I have a hard time seeing a 36 years old Marion starting at SF over Butler, who Thibs obviously trust too much. He's better suited as a backup so he can play some 3 and 4 on this team. A healthy starting 5 over Rose-Martin-Butler-Love-Noah with Brooks-Hinrich-Snell-Marion-Gasol off the bench would easily be better and DEEPER than any of the Heat teams we seen in the past 4 years.

Sale must have enjoyed the 12 day rest with 1 inning pitched during the time frame. He was hitting 96/97 regularly tonight. That's just awful news for his upcoming opponents.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 21, 2014 -> 04:29 PM) Jacob May stole another base, now 36-for-42 in that department. Impressive for a guy who hasn't gotten on base all that often this year. His bat has cooled off some though. Coats 2-3, BB. He has not cooled off, .925 OPS in July, over .950 in last 10 games. Rondon doing better in A+ than I thought he would, went 2-4, hitting .266. Omar Narvaez splitting time but hitting well over .300. And he's an excellent defensive catcher. That's good to know about Narvaez. I wish they would play him more. He seems very age reasonable for his position for the league, and he seems to be a good contact hitter with good plate discipline. If he starts showing some power, he should rise through the ranks.