Links for Monday, as the Yankees' Ivan Nova prepares for his first big league start in Toronto…
- RotoAuthority looks at the five first basemen who returned good value in fantasy baseball mixed leagues this year.
- The Dodgers led baseball by spending 224% of their estimated slot on the draft, according to Baseball America. Most clubs spent more than MLB suggested, but only eight exceeded 150% of MLB's preferred budget.
- BA's Jim Callis creates a fresh Pirates top ten prospects list, given all the new talent entering the system recently.
- U.S.S. Mariner's Dave Cameron would like to see the Mariners acquire recently-designated Matt Downs from the Giants.
- In a FanGraphs article, Cameron examines the Royals' situation with Wilson Betemit's last arbitration year coming up.
Honestly, Wilson Betemit is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
To the Pirates, Anytime you add Luis Heredia, Stetson Allie, and Jameson Taillon in to your system with the course of 3 days, you obviously did something right. I really like the Pirates future now. With Pedro Alvarez, McClutchen, Tabata getting aclimated in the Majors, prospects like the afformentioned Pitchers, Tony Sanchez, Mel Rojas, Justin Wilson, Michael Dubee, Bryan Morris, and others…And if you add in Anthony Rendon eventually, the Pirates might be able to compete by 2013/14.
You left out James McDonald, Evan Meek, Neil Walker, Garret Jones, and Tim Alderson as well.
The Pirates are headed in the right direction.
Tim Alderson might he the biggest disappointment in Professional Baseball and I was just naming a few.
As a Ranger fan THE biggest dissapointment in Professional baseball is CHRIS DAVIS…end of discussion.
Well a 6-7 pitcher throwing 83 isn’t any better.
Alderson is gonna need a miracle of a turnaround. Dubee isn’t worth mentioning. I really don’t think that Garrett Jones is a part of the next winning Pirates club unless it’s as a bench player. His OPS is below average for both RF and 1B, defense is shaky at best particularly in right, has a -0.7 WAR…’09 was a total fluke.
However, in the positives…Jeff Locke and Rudy Owens need to be in that discussion and I’m praying for Rendon if the Bucs wrap up the first overall pick. Lincoln still has time to make something of himself, might get another crack in September.
WAR isn’t the be all end all in baseball statistics. Once GJ learns to hit LHP he could be a very good MLB 1B. I’m not saying he will be Mark Teixera, but he could very well turn out to be an Adam LaRoche type player. Worst case scenario he is Russel Branyan.He has his moments but has been REALLY slumping lately.I do see Alvarez moving to 1B in the near future however.
Alderson is struggling this year. He still has great stuff. One bad minor league season is common for a lot of prospects. I wouldn’t be so quick to write him off. He could be injured, you never know.
Deolis Guerra had a wretched past couple of seasons and he has rebounded some this season.
Purke could go ahead of Rendon. The Pirates definately need pitching more than hitting. Anytime you can get a LHP that throws 95 with a plus-plus slider, and a plous changeup you have to consider him.
You don’t draft for need with the first overall pick.
Purke is arguably the better player. Rendon is good but so is Purke. Purke did single handedly lead his team to the CWS as a TRUE Freshman.What I am trying to say is that when the talent level is negligible you do draft based on what you need more. They already have some promising bats, but they don’t have an ELITE LHP pithcer on their team or in their system.If I had to compare the two players I would say Purke is a David Price ceiling pitcher. They both have fastballs that top out in the high 90’s both have ++ sliders, and ++ changeups.Anthony Rendon is a Ryan Braun ceiling player…it is scary how similar Rendon and Braun are, and I see Rendon moving to LF as well…there are questions about his glove at 3B and he isn’t big enough to be a 1B. They are also almost identical in size and use their quick wrists to put up the numbers they do.PS: I am the same guy you tried to argue with over the Rangers…JasonH. I created a profile for this site instead of logging in to my !yahoo ID everytime I post.You KNOW I know my shyte…
Yes sir no arguments JH.
I’m not saying Rendon won’t go #1, just saying Purke is just as deserving. Whoever has the better season, and workouts, will probably go #1.
Hey, Tim Dierkes, for how long do you suspect the Yanks to use Ivan Nova? It would be great if he can log a couple of good starts in for us, with Pettitte on the DL, and Burnett and Javy not performing well, CC and Phil Hughes are the only ones who you can probably trust right now.
Betemit is finally reaching his potential, 14 years after ATL Signed him…
He will win MVP, this year.
You forgot the GG and Silver Slugger awards. He should also capture the AL ROY and CY Young as well.
Is he related to Aldo Nova…or is that just a fantasy? (sorry..couldnt resist..Ill be here all week) 🙂
The only reason the dodgers exceeded slot by so much was to sign Zach Lee. They had to give him $5 mil+ in order to sway him from LSU.
That figure is a tad misleading .
I object to the whole idea of Selig offering how much a team should spend on it’s picks. Draft picks are a commodity and if you draft a player in the 3rd round or after then, as far as I know, you don’t receive any compensation for that pick the next year thus wasting an oppurtunity to add talent to your farm. And from the perspective of a consistant winner like the Yanks, Sox, Angels, etc the only way you get to acquire really top caliber players is if you take risks on players who slip down to the bottom of that round. Risks apply because they may not be able to sign that player but so long as they are willing to gamble then they should be able to spend as they wish to turn the risk into a reward. When the Yanks gambled their 1st rnd pick on Gerrit Cole in 2008 they knew he was a tough sign but easily a top 5 talent. They offered the #28th overall player (or whatever # it was) $4 mil + but he turned them down to go to UCLA. They wasted a pick that year but man……if he had signed that would’ve been a sweet prospect to have in the system.
Surprised to see a team like the Brewers underspend. I wonder if they drafted according to signability by choosing players that weren’t the best or simply better negotiators?
Ok, since this post mentions Ivan Nova’s 1st start today I have a question. Since when did this kid start throwing above 95 mph? Haha.. From all the scouting reports I read he was always around 92-94 and so far in the 1st inning he’s thrown 7 pitches above 96 mph including one @ 98 mph. Is he jacked up on adrenaline or is the juggs gun a little fast?
I have always found the juggs guns high at Yankee Stadium and Fenway.
When Tommy Hunter pitches in Texas he sits around the 88-90 range. Wheh he pitched at Yankee Stadium earlier in the year he was sitting at 92 and toppping out at 95.
When he was at Fenway he was sitting at 93 and topping out at 96.
When Lester pitched against us in Texas, he was topping out at 94 and sitting around 92. When he pitches against us at Fenway he sits at 96 and tops out at 98-99.
I don’t think our guns are low either. Neftali Feliz can still hit 100 occasionaly, and I’d have a hard time believing he is throwing 103-105…
Regardless of if the radar guns were a bit high, the kid looked good tonight. He has loads of potential and is a better option than David Mosely.
I think with him and Phil Hughes, unfortunately, the Yankees roation is in good hands for the future….
Matt Downs is a solid ballplayer, but he isn’t the answer to the MAriners problems….
I meant Mariners problems at 3B. Obviously he won’t be THE solution to their problems.
I have always found the juggs guns high at Yankee Stadium and Fenway
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Yeah but he was pitching in Toronto. Maybe it’s common place for home teams to ratch it up a bit for the fans?
Yeah, I just saw the highlights. I didn’t know it was in Toronto. Maybe its an AL East thing. Maybe the humidity effects the juggs gun in Arlington. I don’t know.