Spring Training: Minor league game with Esposito, Sano and more
Sometimes, the timing just works out. Not always, maybe not often, but when it does, it can be very nice.
Case in point: On Tuesday, I was going to drive from Fort Myers to Sarasota bright and early to talk to the Orioles’ Jason Esposito (No. 5 on the O’s Top 20). I had to drive north anyway, what with an assignment to cover the Twins against the Tigers in Lakeland on Wednesday, so it was no big deal.
As it turned out, Esposito was coming with the A-level Orioles down to Fort Myers for a Minor League game, so I was able to stick around and wait for him there. The interview we did resulted in this story about the third baseman, including some of the video interview we did.
If that’s not enough Espo for you (I hope it’s OK to call him that — you can ask him on Twitter @JasonEsposito), here’s the interview in it’s entirety, uncut.
Pretty well-spoken, mature young man, don’t you think? Those Vandy products do tend to come out with a pretty good head on their shoulders.
The added bonus of being able to stay in Fort Myers is that I got to watch the Twins’ A-level team play (actually, 2 of them, but the game I focused on was the low-A one). Esposito was playing in that game (so was Glynn Davis, No. 8 on that O’s list). But the real fun was that they were playing a Twins team that included Twins’ No. 1 prospect Miguel Sano, No. 4 Eddie Rosario and No. 9 Adrian Salcedo, not to mention first-round pick Levi Michael. Sano and Rosario should make for a very exciting combination in Beloit this year and Salcedo could start the year in Fort Myers.
Salcedo is typically around 93 mph, maybe touching a 94 and he was right around that area in this start, mostly 91-92 mph, from what I saw. He showed some good ability with his breaking ball and his changeup. The outing overall was up-and-down. Salcedo cruised through the first inning and did a fantastic job keeping the ball down in the zone. In his second inning of work, he was up and he got hit as a result. Things unraveled a bit for him and he had a hard time stopping the bleeding — “damage control” as one Twins executive put it at the game.
Now here’s where the luck of the day kind of ran out. I was so excited to see Sano hit — it was fun watching him take BP (he’s the type people are going to stop what they’re doing to watch hit). The previous day stalwart baseball writer LaVelle E. Neal III was excitedly telling me about seeing Sano triple twice and homer in a Minor League game he had just watched.
I had no such luck. Facing lefty Tim Berry, Sano was lost in both of his at-bats, striking out swinging wildly both times. The second at-bat, he swung and missed badly at soft stuff then whiffed on a fastball. I tell you this not because I think it’s some warning sign, that he’s overrated. Hardly. Maybe just take it as a reminder that he probably has a long way to go. Or, as that Twins exec mentioned above, said, “It will take time.”
Spring Training, Day 2: Rays camp – pitching everywhere you see
If you went to the back fields of Port Charlotte today, you could have watched 3/5 of the Triple-A Durham rotation in action, obviously a rarity.
Two of them were going at the same time, with Alex Torres starting in the Double-A game and Alex Cobb starting the Triple-A contest against the Orioles (Don’t read into Torres starting down a level. The Rays wanted to make sure everyone got the innings they needed.). Chris Archer pitched in the Triple-A game after Torres. It was a whole lot of fun to station myself between the two games and track all that pitching depth (not to mention seeing Orioles’ prospect Manny Machado playing shortstop and singling off of Torres).
Cobb was pretty sharp throughout his outing. Torres scuffled a bit in his first inning — fastball command was the culprit — but settled down. Archer had some command issues in his first inning. He was supposed to go three, but because of the length of that first frame, his day was done after two innings. For all three, it was just one step in getting ready for the start of the Triple-A season on April 5.
Archer, of course, was in the Matt Garza trade and he was at the Rookie Career Development Program in 2011 when the news broke. He came across as a very thoughtful and well-spoken prospect and that clearly hasn’t changed, even with the struggles he had in the first part of the 2011 season.
There will be a story on Archer on the site in a while, along with some of the video interview I did with him. Here is the entire interview with the right-hander, who hopes to help out in Tampa at some point in the near future.
I also got to have a nice chat with Rays farm director Mitch Lukevics about some of the other players in the system, especially some from the bountiful 2011 Draft.
In general about the crop: “It is early. All have come in great shape. You never know in a young player because they don’t know exactly what to expect even though you tell them what to expect. They have offseason programs they have to do in preparation, but you still don’t know. All have come in great shape. There’s plenty of room for everyone to get at-bats and innings pitched.”
On Mikie Mahtook: “He came in here ready to go day one. He’s taking full advantage of our camp. I wouldn’t think he’ll break with double-A. We want to see him here. Keep in mind, he’s only been with us a little bit. We saw him a little bit in instructional league, some have seen him a little bit in the fall league. We don’t have a lot of history with Mikie. So there’s no rash decision on Mikie Mahtook. He’s a good player now, he’ll be a better player later. We want to assess and see and put him where we think he fits best.”
On Taylor Guerrieri: “Taylor is really doing great. He has so much upside. Historically, we are slow with young pitchers and young players. That’s our philosophy, our overall development philosophy. He shows great stuff. Now it’s a matter of tying everything together and it takes time. There’s a process they all have to go through. We all know the physical and mental process. As that all comes together, we expect these kids to do great things.”
On how Guerrieri fits into that overall philosophy: “What’s the rush? Historically, we’re slow with our youngest players. But our players tell us when they need to be moved or when they can be moved. Despite our overall philosophy, they make our decisions for us. But it’s a long-distance race. If there’s doubt, why rush? We have players in place at the Major League level and at the upper Minor Leagues, so what’s the rush? We’d rather make sure that when a player gets to the big leagues, there’s impact and longevity. We don’t have to force-feed players to get there. That has been from day one, since we started in 2006, that’s been the philosophy from ownership on down.”
(As an aside, I really like that line about ensuring impact and longevity. I think it speaks to why the Rays have had so much success in developing successful big leaguers.)
Finally, on others who have made an early impression: “Jake Hager. He’s a good looking infielder who’s done a nice job (also from the 2011 Draft). It’s going to take time to grow. You have young guys like Brandon Martin and James Harris, two young up and comers. We have some Dominicans, one in particular, Roberto Gomez, he’s on the radar. Those are just a few kids to mention.”
I’ve got big league game coverage the next couple of days, but will do my best to throw up some prospecty info on here along the way. Oh, and in case you missed it, here’s my story on the Dominican Prospect League tour in Florida.
Spring Training, Day 1: Twins camp and the DPL
Now that I’m down here in Florida, my hope is to blog a bit more consistently on what I’m seeing and hearing and who I’m talking to. Today was my first full day and I took advantage of a fine day in Ft. Myers
I’ve been saying for quite some time that one of the gaping holes in my coverage of prospects has been on the international front. Luckily this year, Jesse Sanchez (follow him on Twitter at @JesseSanchezMLB) is helping out a ton on that front. But I wanted to pick up the slack, too. And today proved to be a perfect remedy.
First, it started with a trip to the Twins’ Minor League facility. There, I got to chat with long-time Twins farm director Jim Rantz and interview Twins’ top prospect Miguel Sano, who is ranked No. 23 on the overall Top 100 list. It resulted in this story about the teenaged phenom. You’ll see a snipped of the video interview I did with Sano (and translator Rafael Yanez). As I’ve done in the past, I’m posting the entire interview, without editing, here for your viewing pleasure. Watch until the end to see Sano using some English as he continues to work on learning the language.
Rantz and I also discussed some of the other players in the Twins’ system, focusing on some of the question marks. Here’s what he had to say about a few of them:
Kyle Gibson: (Gibson is currently rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.) “He’s worked hard, he’s very dedicated. He’s in our rehab program. He’s throwing now. We don’t think he’ll hit the mound until about August. Everything is good to go. If work has anything to do with it, he’ll make it.”
Alex Wimmers: (Wimmers was shut down following one of the most bizzarely afwful full-season debuts in 2011. You probably read about it. He couldn’t throw a strike and didn’t retire a batter. He did, however, make it back and threw seven no-hit innings to close out the year). “It was a strange thing that we’ve never seen before. We shut him down, brought him back here, threw him on the back fields where there were no people, no fans. Eric Rasmussen, our pitching coordinator, worked very hard with him. This kid never gave up. He didn’t hang his head, he had a lot of pride. He worked hard and inched his way back by the end of the season to the point where his last game was a seven-inning no-hitter, after everything he’d been through. We had him in the instructional league and he was fine and he’s been fine here. He’ll probably start here, get him going and then move him up.”
Aaron Hicks: (Hicks, the former first-rounder, has plentiful raw tools, but hasn’t been able to consistently turn them into performance as of yet). “Last year, he started out so-so, then he got hot. We thought we were going to move him last year, but then he hit a wall and slid back and finished alright at High-A. Then we sent him to the Fall League and he did alright. He’s going to go to Double-A. This is a big year. I and the staff, individually, said to Aaron, ‘This is has to be your year. You need to break out and do what you can.’ He has all the tools and skills you’re looking for. I’m anxious to see what he’s going to do. He can do so many things. What the answer is is consistency. All the things you want to see in a five-tool player. This is a big year and I think he understands that. I think he sees people, because it was their protection year, passing him by a little bit. Hopefully, he has a little in him that says, ‘It’s my turn, I’m better than this guy or that guy.’ I think he’s going to have a good year. Rod Carew has taken him under his wing a little bit. Not only with his hitting, but with his bunting because he has that kind of speed. They’ve gotten together during the offseason. You have to stay positive with these guys and not let them think we forgot about tthem. Just go out and relax and let your skills play.”
***
My day was not yet done. I went over to JetBlue Park, the new home of the Red Sox (my first time there — very nice digs). The Dominican Prospect League was playing a game in its tour of Florida and Arizona Spring Training sites, giving teams the opportunity to see some of the better Dominican amateur talent eligible to be signed this summer. Look for a story on that tomorrow. The only down side of the whole vent was seeing infielder Wendell Rijo go down with a knee injury when he got caught in a run down. It looked awful at first, but word is he should be just fine. One of the better prospects in this year’s crop, I’ll be sure to update with any news on the injury. Another infielder, Richard Urena, plays a good shortstop and used his legs to manufacture a run with a pair of stolen bases. Other top Dominican prospects on hand were OFers Gustavo Cabrera, Luis Barrera and Jose Pujols, infielder Amaurys Minier, 3B Nathaniel Javier and many more intriguing players. There were many scouts on hand to watch the action and the teenagers were given the tough task of facing Red Sox minor league pitchers for much of the game. While many put on a huge show during BP, there weren’t as many fireworks during the game against the advanced pitching.
One fun little bonus came as a result of the Red Sox chipping in with pitching, though. Right-hander Francellis Montas pitched for the Red Sox. Montas is making his United States debut this year after spending time in the Dominican Summer League the past two years. He has a mature body and throws pure heat, cranking it up to 98 mph on Tuesday. Have to give the DPL kids credit. Some got their hacks in and did not seem overwhelmed. Montas is all power right now, but a guy that bumps up to triple digits in mid-March is a guy worth watching.
Sometimes you get lucky and get to see something additional like that. I hope that continues as my time here wears on.
More in the near future… Wednesday I head to Rays camp.
What the Lucas Giolito injury means
Lucas Giolito, the top-rated high school pitcher in the 2012 Draft class is now out for his high school season with what has been reported as a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. The UCL doesn’t need surgery, but will keep him out for up to 10 weeks. Then there’d be rehab, etc., so he very likely will not throw another pitch for Harvard-Westlake High School.
So, what does this mean? In the short-term, it makes USA Baseball’s National High School Invitational, which Harvard-Westlake is playing in, a little less exciting. In terms of the Draft, it certainly changes things at the top of the board, doesn’t it?
Giolito was thought of as the top prep arm in the class as the season began and when he hit 100 mph early on, it created quite a stir. There were even those who thought perhaps he could become the first high school right-handed pitcher to go No. 1 overall. That, clearly, will not happen now with this injury.
The question remains just where Giolito will go in the June Draft. He’ll have to show his elbow is sound to any teams interested in taking him. In the past, it would be possible for a player like Giolito to slide a bit because of the injury, with a team taking him later in the Draft (either in the first round or much, much later) then going over slot to get him to sign.
With the new rules, however, that might not be possible. Remember, every team has a pool to draw from in the first 10 rounds and they run the risk of penalties if they go too far over that pool. Let’s give an example. I’m sorry for always picking on the Red Sox as a team that picks deep in the first round and/or takes over-slot guys later in the Draft. But they often do and they work as a good example here.
Boston picks No. 24 and No. 31. In the past, that may have been a good spot to take a chance and see if they could get Giolito signed. But it’s more complicated now. If Giolito had gone, say, No. 2 overall (we’ll go with Stanford’s Mark Appel as the No. 1 pick), he could have received $6.2 million, according to the CBA’s guidelines. If he’s able to show teams he’s healthy, it could stand to reason that he could tell a team like the Red Sox he’s worth what he would have received as the No. 2 selection. But the Red Sox’s pool for the first 10 rounds in total is just over $6.8 million. They wouldn’t be able to meet the asking price, unless they only want $600,000 for the rest of their picks, an unlikely scenario.
Obviously, we’ll have to wait and see what happens, both with Giolito’s health and his expectations. Perhaps he’ll be willing to take less because of the injury. Or maybe he’ll end up spending three years at UCLA as a result of all this.
It certainly adds an interesting twist to the Draft now. And it makes his Harvard-Westlake teammate, Max Fried, the guy to watch at USA Baseball’s event and the top prep pitcher in the class.
An uber top 100 (and then some)
So, the prospect ranking season has come and gone. Obviously, it continues all year as prospects on various rankings either live up to, exceed or fail to meet expectations. Over on our Prospect Watch, we will update lists especially as players “graduate” off of them (when they get past rookie status levels).
By now, though, most, if not all, of the big prospect watchers have put out their lists. It’s always fun to compare and contrast the lists — it’s why we do them in the first place, right? It leads to more conversations and debate.
It seems like there is general agreement on a “Big 4″ and I’m honored that people put me on this Prospect Mount Rushmore. The others, in no particular order, are the fine folks at Baseball America, Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus and ESPN’s Keith Law. You’ll need a subscription to read some of the stuff, but if you’re a junkie, it’s worth it.
That doesn’t mean, by the way, that there aren’t many, many other prospect rankings to digest out there. There’s Project Prospect and John Sickels’ MinorLeagueBall (list coming out today, it seems), just to name a couple more. Seriously, a search for rankings would keep you busy for a long, long time.
For now, though, lets stick to the first four mentioned. What would a combined list of all four of our rankings’ look like? Would it be the most thorough list ever? I started compiling in a spreadsheet a while ago, thinking I’d post this. Before I got around to it, BaseballbyTom beat me to it with a combined Top 50 list, something he called the Frankenlist.
I’m going to go a little further. It’s a simple process really. Average out the placement on all four of our lists and rank according to that average. For simplicity, anyone who didn’t appear on one of our lists got a 101 ranking. I’m not breaking ties, just running the ranking as is (Matt Moore and Bryce Harper have the same average, for example. Moore has two No. 1 rankings, Harper has one. But Moore has one No. 3 ranking and Harper was ranked No. 2 by the other three who didn’t put him first… you decide who’s No. 1 there). In total by count, 138 players made at least one Top 100. While Yu Darvish and Yoenis Cespedes only made it into one list, I included them (BA’s rankings with 101s from the rest of us). Here’s all 138 with their average score:
| AVG | Name | Team | POS |
| 1.75 | Matt Moore | TB | LHP |
| 1.75 | Bryce Harper | WAS | OF |
| 2.50 | Mike Trout | LAA | OF |
| 6.25 | Jurickson Profar | TEX | SS |
| 7.00 | Shelby Miller | STL | RHP |
| 7.25 | Manny Machado | BAL | SS |
| 8.00 | Julio Teheran | ATL | RHP |
| 8.50 | Jesus Montero | SEA | C |
| 9.25 | Dylan Bundy | BAL | RHP |
| 10.50 | Gerrit Cole | PIT | RHP |
| 12.50 | Trevor Bauer | ARI | RHP |
| 13.00 | Jameson Taillon | PIT | RHP |
| 15.50 | Devin Mesoraco | CIN | C |
| 16.00 | Travis d’Arnaud | TOR | C |
| 19.00 | Taijuan Walker | SEA | RHP |
| 19.75 | Wil Myers | KC | OF |
| 20.00 | Tyler Skaggs | ARI | LHP |
| 20.25 | Jacob Turner | DET | RHP |
| 20.25 | Miguel Sano | MIN | 3B |
| 20.75 | Bubba Starling | KC | OF |
| 22.25 | Anthony Rendon | WAS | 3B |
| 23.50 | Manny Banuelos | NYY | LHP |
| 25.25 | Archie Bradley | ARI | RHP |
| 25.50 | Danny Hultzen | SEA | LHP |
| 27.50 | Nolan Arenado | COL | 3B |
| 27.50 | Carlos Martinez | STL | RHP |
| 29.00 | Martin Perez | TEX | LHP |
| 30.00 | Zack Wheeler | NYM | RHP |
| 30.25 | Francisco Lindor | CLE | SS |
| 33.25 | Drew Pomeranz | COL | LHP |
| 33.25 | Jarrod Parker | OAK | RHP |
| 38.00 | Arodys Vizcaino | ATL | RHP |
| 38.75 | Matt Harvey | NYM | RHP |
| 39.25 | Christian Yelich | FLA | OF |
| 41.75 | Hak Ju-Lee | TB | SS |
| 42.00 | Billy Hamilton | CIN | SS |
| 43.00 | Gary Brown | SF | OF |
| 48.75 | Anthony Rizzo | CHI | 1B |
| 49.25 | Jonathan Singleton | HOU | 1B |
| 49.50 | Brett Jackson | CHI | OF |
| 50.00 | Jake Marisnick | TOR | OF |
| 50.25 | Rymer Liriano | SD | RHP |
| 51.00 | Nick Castellanos | DET | 3B |
| 51.50 | Mike Olt | TEX | 3B |
| 51.75 | Mike Montgomery | KC | LHP |
| 54.50 | Zack Lee | LAD | RHP |
| 55.25 | Jean Segura | LAA | SS |
| 55.75 | Jake Odorizzi | KC | RHP |
| 55.75 | Anthony Gose | TOR | OF |
| 56.00 | Yasmani Grandal | CIN | C |
| 56.75 | Yonder Alonso | SD | 1B |
| 56.75 | Randall Delgado | ATL | RHP |
| 57.00 | Xander Bogaerts | BOS | SS |
| 57.25 | Gary Sanchez | NYY | C |
| 59.00 | Wily Peralta | MIL | RHP |
| 59.00 | Casey Kelly | SD | RHP |
| 59.25 | Jarred Cosart | HOU | RHP |
| 59.50 | A.J. Cole | OAK | RHP |
| 59.75 | Josh Bell | PIT | OF |
| 59.75 | James Paxton | SEA | LHP |
| 60.25 | Starling Marte | PIT | OF |
| 62.50 | Dellin Betances | NYY | RHP |
| 62.50 | Trevor May | PHI | RHP |
| 62.75 | Oscar Taveras | STL | OF |
| 63.00 | George Springer | HOU | OF |
| 63.75 | Michael Choice | OAK | OF |
| 65.75 | Will Middlebrooks | BOS | 3B |
| 69.00 | Brad Peacock | OAK | RHP |
| 71.00 | Javier Baez | CHI | SS |
| 71.75 | Nick Franklin | SEA | SS |
| 72.75 | Mason Williams | NYY | OF |
| 73.75 | Sonny Gray | OAK | RHP |
| 76.75 | Yu Darvish | TEX | RHP |
| 77.75 | Cheslor Cuthbert | KC | 3B |
| 78.00 | Wilin Rosario | COL | C |
| 79.00 | Jedd Gyorko | SD | 3B |
| 79.25 | Yoenis Cespedes | OAK | OF |
| 79.50 | Cory Spangenberg | SD | 2B |
| 80.25 | Garrett Richards | LAA | RHP |
| 80.50 | Chad Bettis | COL | RHP |
| 81.00 | Jonathan Schoop | BAL | 2B |
| 81.75 | Chris Archer | TB | RHP |
| 82.50 | Taylor Jungmann | MIL | RHP |
| 84.00 | Allan Webster | LAD | RHP |
| 84.75 | Eddie Rosario | MIN | OF |
| 86.00 | Addison Reed | CWS | RHP |
| 86.25 | Drew Hutchison | TOR | RHP |
| 86.25 | Luis Heredia | PIT | RHP |
| 86.50 | Nathan Eovaldi | LAD | RHP |
| 86.50 | Joe Ross | SD | RHP |
| 86.75 | Daniel Norris | TOR | LHP |
| 87.25 | Brandon Jacobs | BOS | OF |
| 88.50 | Aaron Hicks | MIN | OF |
| 89.00 | Zack Cox | STL | 3B |
| 89.00 | Robbie Erlin | SD | LHP |
| 89.25 | Daniel Corcino | CIN | RHP |
| 89.75 | Andrelton Simmons | ATL | SS |
| 91.00 | Jesse Biddle | PHI | LHP |
| 91.00 | Robbie Grossman | PIT | OF |
| 91.75 | Bryce Brentz | BOS | OF |
| 91.75 | Matt Szczur | CHI | OF |
| 92.50 | Leonys Martin | TEX | OF |
| 92.50 | Jed Bradley | MIL | LHP |
| 92.50 | Tyrell Jenkins | STL | RHP |
| 93.00 | Matt Adams | STL | 1B |
| 93.50 | Blake Swihart | BOS | C |
| 94.25 | Joe Wieland | SD | RHP |
| 94.50 | Taylor Guerrieri | TB | RHP |
| 94.50 | Neil Ramirez | TEX | RHP |
| 94.50 | Zack Cozart | CIN | SS |
| 95.25 | Jeurys Familia | NYM | RHP |
| 95.25 | Matt Davidson | ARI | 3B |
| 95.75 | Brody Colvin | PHI | RHP |
| 95.75 | Jose Fernandez | FLA | RHP |
| 95.75 | Kolten Wong | STL | 2B |
| 96.00 | John Hellweg | LAA | RHP |
| 96.25 | Drew Smyly | DET | LHP |
| 96.25 | Mikie Mahtook | TB | OF |
| 96.25 | John Lamb | KC | LHP |
| 96.50 | Alex Meyer | WAS | RHP |
| 96.75 | Christian Bethancourt | ATL | C |
| 96.75 | Enny Romero | TB | LHP |
| 97.00 | Oswaldo Arcia | MIN | OF |
| 97.25 | Sammy Solis | WAS | LHP |
| 97.50 | Matt Dominguez | FLA | 3B |
| 97.50 | Noah Syndergaard | TOR | RHP |
| 97.75 | Derek Norris | OAK | C |
| 97.75 | Joe Benson | MIN | OF |
| 98.25 | Ryan Lavarnway | BOS | C |
| 98.50 | Matt Purke | WAS | LHP |
| 98.75 | Tim Beckham | TB | SS |
| 98.75 | Jordan Swagerty | STL | RHP |
| 99.00 | Grant Green | OAK | OF |
| 99.25 | Austin Hedges | SD | C |
| 99.75 | Aaron Sanchez | TOR | RHP |
| 100.00 | Tim Wheeler | COL | OF |
| 100.25 | Francisco Peguero | SF | OF |
| 100.75 | Christian Villanueva | TEX | 3B |
Just who did the Yankees get for Burnett?
The deal is now official and A.J. Burnett is a Pirate. I think this was a good deal for the Pirates, a flier worth taking. Rather than get into that into too much detail, I suggest you read my colleague Matthew Leach’s take on it. He’s smarter than I am anyway.
One of the things that does make it a positive is that the Pirates didn’t give up too much from their ever-improving farm system to get him. Not that long ago, of course, any trade that sent minor leaguers away from Pittsburgh hurt. But there’s so much more depth now. Even if the Pirates don’t have the top system in baseball, it’s come a long way. I noticed it particularly when I was constructing their Top 20 prospects list. It used to be difficult to find 20 guys worthy of being listed on such a rankings. Now there are leftovers who could be legitimate prospects in the future.
When you have some depth, you can trade a couple of pieces away and not have it derail efforts to build a system up. In the past, a player like Diego Moreno, the pitcher going to the Yankees in the Burnett deal, may have been protected on the 40-man roster. But not this past offseason.
The 25-year-old Moreno, signed back in 2006 for $6,000 out of Venezuela, hasn’t exactly moved quickly, with just a smattering of games above A ball. And yes, he had some disciplinary problems earlier. But he does have arm strength that’s allowed him to strike out 9.8 per nine batters. He’s also walked only 2.3 per nine and a scout I spoke with said he’s generally a strike-thrower. When he first signed, he was throwing about 86-88 mph. Today, he’ll touch 98 mph and couples it with a wipe-out slider that breaks bats. He’s started and relieved, with most thinking that his plus two-pitch mix is ideal for bullpen work. He still needs to show he can get hitters out at higher levels, but perhaps his strong showing in the Venezuelan Winter League this offseason will help.
The Pirates spent much more to sign the second player in the deal, outfielder Exicardo Cayones. Both Cayones and Moreno were signed by Latin American scouting director Rene Gayo and scouting supervisor Rodolfo Petit in Venezuela. The Pirates gave Cayones $400,000 in 2008, the most they had paid any player from Venezuela (It had been noted it was the largest payout given to any international amateur player by the Pirates and that was true, at least until they gave Mexican RHP Luis Heredia $2.6 million in 2010.
Cayones is still just 20, so there’s time for him to tap into his solid tools. He’s a graceful player who still needs to develop and mature physically. He’s received comps to Carlos Beltran, both in terms of his actions and temperament. For him to reach his potential, though, he’ll have to show a little more intensity, a little more sense of urgency in his game. He’s spent two summers in the Gulf Coast League and will have to show soon an ability to move up and face the challenge of a more advanced league.
So while the Yankees largely made this deal to rid themselves of Burnett and a chunk of his salary, and while the Pirates didn’t give up anyone “of note” for Burnett, there is the chance that this pair of Venezuelans could pay some dividends. The chances might be slim, the payoff might not be huge and it may take some time, but there is a little talent there to keep an eye on in the coming years.
The Burnett deal: Who the Pirates won’t include
Well, it looks like this A.J. Burnett to the Pirates trade is all but official. One thing that’s not known at this point is who the Pirates are sending to the Yankees in return, other than what are being considered “low-level prospects.” So the question is: What does low-level mean?
There are some obvious prospects who won’t be on the table either, starting with names on the Top 20 list.I’ve been told by a source that no one on that current Top 20 is involved in this deal. So, Pirates fans who were worried that “low-level” for one person might not be for someone else, you can relax. Anyone from the 2011 Draft is excluded anyway — you can’t trade them yet — so here are the rest of the names of Pirates prospects who will not be included in this deal:
Jameson Taillon
Starling Marte
Stetson Allie
Luis Heredia
Tony Sanchez
Robbie Grossman
Jeff Locke
Justin Wilson
Kyle McPherson
Nick Kingham
Rudy Owens
Bryan Morris
Alen Hanson
Colton Cain
Zack Von Rosenberg
Jarek Cunningham
More as I can get info…
Annnnd, we’re back
If you’ve been over on Prospect Watch the last couple of weeks, I’m hoping you’ll understand why I haven’t been on here in a while. We’ve provided quite a bit of prospect-related content over there:
- Top 10 by position
- Top 100 overall
- Top 20 per organzation
That’s at least 600 player profiles for your perusal. Needless to say, this took a while to put together. It was largely a labor of love (at least that’s what I tell myself). I’d also like to say that every effort like this has unsung heroes, those who do all the heavy lifting but don’t get any credit. For Prospect Watch, that person is Jason Ratliff, who’d likely get annoyed I mentioned him in this capacity. But without him, Prospect Watch doesn’t exist. Plain and simple.
Please look around PW (as we like to call it) and let me know what you like, don’t like, etc. I’ll leave you with 2 questions and with a promise to start blogging more consistently again.
1. Who is the best prospect not listed on a team Top 20? Give a few nominees if you’d like in comments.
2. What else would you like to see on PW? Some things we might have in the works include an international amateur Top 20 and a Draft Top 100… so keep coming back.
What to do about Yu?
Now that Yu Darvish is officially a Ranger (nice job by our intrepid Rangers beat writer T.R. Sullivan on that crazy deadline. Be sure to read his blog, Postcards from Elysian Fields and follow him on Twitter at @Sullivan_Ranger), the question is: How to deal with the Japanese right-hander on the prospect front.
It’s not an easy question to answer. In the past, our requirement was rookie status. If a player was eligible for Rookie of the Year voting, he belonged on a prospect ranking. Last year, for instance, we added Tsuyoshi Nishioka to the Twins’ top 10 after he signed, coming in at No. 7.
Darvish, of course, would rank much higher, both on his new organization’s list and on the overall Top 100 (Coming on Jan. 25 if you hadn’t heard). But here’s the thing. I’ve never been all that comfortable with including a player like Darvish on a prospect list. To me, he’s not a prospect. He’s a big leaguer and already an established star in another high-level league. Deciding on what the line is for rankings is always arbitrary, but I adhered to the (admittedly self-imposed) rookie status rule in the past.
I suppose the argument could be made that since the league Darvish is coming from isn’t at the same level as MLB (most put it at a Triple-A-ish level), he should count the same as, say, Matt Moore, also coming up from Triple-A. I just don’t see it that way and the Rangers didn’t just shell out all that cash to get anything but a finished product who will produce right away.
So, in 2012, we’ve decided to take our cue from the newly bargained CBA, as it pertains to international signings. They put particular rules in place about which international players will fall under the international player pool each team will be allotted. More advanced players like Darvish can be signed in the future without it counting against a team’s pool. Neither, by the way, would Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes.
If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for us. So here’s the new rule as it pertains to such international acquisitions:
Not all international players will qualify for these rankings. Prospect Watch will follow the guidelines laid out by the new CBA: Players in leagues deemed to be professional (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Cuba) and are at least 23 years old and have played a certain number of years in those leagues will not be considered.
So, Mr. Darvish (and Mr. Cespedes eventually), you might qualify to be ROY, but you won’t show up on Prospect Watch.
Jonathan Mayo
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