epic failure

Well the Major League Baseball Amatuer Draft signing deadline has officially passed, and only three 1st rounders went unsigned:  Aaron Crow (Missouri), Josh Fields (Georgia), and Gerrit Cole (Lutheran HS – pictured above).

Seattle has until a week before the 2009 Draft to come to terms with Josh Fields because he was a college senior, and there’s a 90% chance that he signs on the dotted line in the next few days. However, the Nationals failure to sign Aaron Crow over a gap of less than an extra $1 million in bonus demands is inexcusable.

It is equally as bad for the New York Yankees to have lost Gerrit Cole, although no one saw this coming. The tall right-handed pitcher from California evidently had a change in heart and was unwilling to sign for any amount of money, as he wanted to attend UCLA this fall. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Cole made this decision just days before the signing deadline, rather than in early June.

In the next couple of days I’ll sort through the names and see what team had the best draft, and what team had the worst.

why don’t you use terry crowley as a DH all the time?

Earl Weaver.. classic.  Apologies for the language.

harden trade update

Remember the young catcher, Josh Donaldson, who I remarked could be a gem in the Rich Harden deal? Well, small sample size aside, he’s been absolutely raking in High-A Stockton of the CAL. All he’s done over there is hit .362/.429/.638/1.077 with 5 HRs and 8 walks versus 13 strikeouts in 58 ABs.

Even though Rich Harden has been mowing down batters in the NL, Billy Beane may have done it again. Stay tuned.

why don’t you and i

Mark Shapiro continues to amaze me. He is as smart as Ned Colletti is dumb. While Cleveland hoped to be in a pennant race, they are not, but that doesn’t mean their front office is just going to stand-pat. Having already obtained one of the best bats in all of the minor leagues in Matt LaPorta, Mark Shapiro went at it again this weekend.

The Indians shipped off Casey Blake and Luis Perdoma, a minor league relief pitcher. Perdoma brought Anthony Reyes over from the Cardinals, who was once a top pitching prospect but never quite put it all together in St Louis. A change in scenery may be all he needs. However, the real coup was the deal involving Casey Blake.

Blake went to the Dodgers in exchange for Carlos Santana (explaining my obscure post title) and Jonathan Meloan. Carlos Santana is a young catching prospect signed as an IFA back in ’04. He has the arm strength to remain at the all important catcher position, just needs to improve his receiving skills. If he can remain a catcher, this is a great acquisition because he can absolutely rake. He currently sports a .323/.431/.563/.993 line at Advanced Single-A.

Then there’s Mr. Meloan. He’s been the single best reliever in the minors over the last couple seasons, however his interest is in a starting role. His control has been suspect, so many have doubts about his ability to be a starting pitcher at the major league level. It remains to be seen how the Indians will want to use him, but if they wanted to he could end up with the 9th inning role as early as September this year. Meloan sports an electric fastball, with two above average breaking pitches: a mid 80s slider and a pitch I’d classify as a knuckle-curve of sorts that sits in the high 70s. An absolute gem of an arm, providing further evidence of Ned Colletti’s stupidity.

Mark Shapiro on the other hand, is nothing short of brilliant.

Indian fans, you have a lot to look forward to.

action reaction

The Chicago Cubs recently acquired Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin from the Oakland Athletics. This is quite the coup for the Cubs, acquiring Harden who is just 26 years old, and has a $7 million dollar club option for ’09. However, Harden is oft-injured and already spent time on the shelf this year and is reportedly experiencing dead arm and decreased velocity lately.

My prediction? While it’s unlikely this will backfire on the clubs, it probably won’t help them this year when Harden finds himself hurt yet again. However, it must be noted that the Cubs didn’t trade any player that they may really regret giving up. Matt Murton is serviceable, but not an outstanding player. Sean Gallagher is alright, but nothing special. Eric Patterson has a nice combination of power and speed for an infielder, but he is probably behind where the Cubs had hoped he’d be development wise at 25 years old.

The only real intriguing prospect the Cubs gave up, in my opinion, is their young catcher Josh Donaldson. Drafted in the 1st round in 2007, Donaldson had a phenomenal showing at the Cubs low Single-A affiliate Boise last year, where he led the Northwest League in OBP. That is likely what caught Beane’s eye, along with the scarce and important position he plays, but Josh has been struggling in Single-A Peoria this year where he’s shown very little competence at the plate. However the talent is there, and he should hit for both power and average with some more development. He also has a good release from behind the plate, so he should be able to stay at catcher as long as he improves upon his receiving skills.

So with the MLB Hot Stove heating up, who is next? The St Louis Cardinals find themselves only 3.5 games behind the Cubbies in the NL Central, and leading the NL Wild Card, so you’ve got to think their front office is working overtime now.

mlb trade value: a ray is number one

Dave Cameron over at fangraphs.com just did a phenomenal job ranking the Top 50 major league baseball players in terms of trade value. Evan Longoria took the top spot, and anyone who has seen him play (and checks out the contract he signed just over a month ago) would be hard-pressed to argue for him to be placed anywhere outside of the Top 3.

The way Dave handles this ranking exercise is much the same way Bill Simmons does his annual piece on ESPN.com for the NBA. As you move down the list, you must ask yourself “would you trade him, straight up, for any of the players listed ahead of him?” He takes into account the player’s ability, projectability of skills, age, and contract.

It’s a great piece and very well done. See players #11-50 here: MLB Trade Value ‘08: #11-#50 Recap.

Dave just finished his Top 10, which is as follows:

10. Troy Tulowitzki

9. Tim Lincecum

8. Felix Hernandez

7. Chase Utley

6. Brian McCann

5. Albert Pujols

4. David Wright

3. Grady Sizmore

2. Hanley Ramirez

1. Evan Longoria

Highly suggest you head over to fangraphs.com to check out the rest of the Top 50 and read through all the analysis. Very well done.

the new captain intangibles?

Ladies and Gentleman, your AL All-Star Reserve Catcher… JASON VARITEK! Despite the fact that Tek can’t hit anything in the last month plus, as shown by his recent 15 for his last 114 with only 3 of those hits going for extra bases (2 doubles and 1 homer), he also has to be one of the worst all-stars ever selected.

Varitek currently sports a line of 218/.300/.358. Yes that’s right, he is slugging .358. For point of reference, Neifi Perez has a career slugging percentage of .375. To go along with that, in a very good offensive line-up, Varitek has managed to score only 18 runs and collect only 27 RBIs. His VORP (Value Over Replacement) stands at -2.4, which means you could replace him with virtually any player and add wins to your team. Words and stats cannot describe how bad a season Varitek is having. Stats cannot cover his intangibles though, which he must be chock full of!

Francona did not even select him. Varitek made it to the team due to the players vote, in which he finished a distant second to Joe Mauer. However, due to an awful rule, because Mauer was already selected by the fans, Varitek had to go because he in essence was selected by the players. Maybe we can have the top fantasy baseball writers in the country vote in the All-Stars, as I’m sure they wouldn’t cause this much controversy.

What a disgrace. Somewhere in the South Side of Chicago, AJ Pierzynski is crying, and the MLB players don’t seem to care.

 

UPDATE: Varitek went 0-3 with a strikeout tonight to bring his average down to .215 on the season. He now has just 12 hits in his last 117 at-bats. He should withdraw from the All-Star festivities out of embarrassment at this point.

what are you waiting for?

Rumor has it the Milwaukee Brewers have offered Matt LaPorta to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for CC Sabathia. If this is true, Cleveland needs to just accept this before the Brewers change their mind.

LaPorta was drafted by the Cubs out of high school in the 14th round, however he did not sign and instead went to the University of Florida. Despite putting up fantastic numbers in his first 3 seasons with the Gators, his stock did not improve much at the end of his Junior year when the Boston Red Sox selected him in the 14th round. Again LaPorta decided to return to school, and he responded with a monster senior year. In just 52 games, LaPorta hit .402/.582/.817 (.1399 OPS!!!!!!) with 20 HRs, 55 RBIs, and just 16 strikeouts vs 55 walks. He was expected to be a late 1st round pick, but the Brewers wasted no time selecting the talented hitter in the 1st round, 7th overall.

LaPorta has since been an absolute beast, arguably the most productive hitter at any level in the minors. Through 82 games this season in Double-A, LaPorta is hitting .291/.404/.584 with 20 HRs and 66 RBIs.

The Brewers can probably afford to lose LaPorta, as they already have a multitude of great offensive players with sub-par defensive skills. With a core of Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks, Prince Fielder, and Corey Hart already producing for the club, the Brewers also have Matt Gamel, who is absolutely dominating at Double-A Huntsville, as well as Matt Salome who is a top catching prospect. Assuming the Brewers can also sign 2008 1st round draft pick Brett Lawrie, they’d be an embarassment of riches.

The Indians badly need offensive help. With Victor Martinez out, and Travis Hafner hurt and completely lost when he’s healthy, it’s been Grady Sizemore shouldering the entire load himself. They should jump at the opportunity to get LaPorta, rather than mess around with using this as a chance to cause a bidding war.

 

UPDATE: It’s official. The Cleveland Indians sent LHP CC Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for OF Matt LaPorta, LHP Zach Jackson, RHP Rob Bryson, and a player to be named later (possibly 3B Taylor Green). Great move by Indians GM Mark Shapiro. As for Brewers GM Doug Melvin, he only comes out a winner in this if the Brewers make the playoffs and put up a decent run at a World Series title.

adis portillo update

Just 5 years ago, Adis Portillo was pitching in the Little League World Series (pictured above). Now he’s signed with the San Diego Padres, collecting a sweet $2 million dollar bonus.

The right-handed pitcher is among the most complete pitchers in Latin America, and was the most sought after international free agent pitcher once Inoa was inked to a deal. Portillo can already throw about 93 mph, and that velocity is likely to improve once he matures and is put into a major league throwing program.

Adis Portillo was one of several big-time IFAs landed by the Padres this week, who also acquired SS Alvaro Aristy, OF Luis Domoromo (great name!), RHP Elvin Tavarez, and OF Corey Adamson of Australia. This is nothing short of a coup for the Padres organization.

I also believe there is a new trend in baseball. Teams avoided signability cases in the draft this past June, and clubs that are not normally thought of to be big spenders are opening their wallets to young IFAs now. I think we won’t see many multi-year mega-contracts being offered to MLB Free Agents this off-season. There seems to be a craze of building up the farm system to stockpile talented prospects, and buy-out a portion of their arbitration eligible years for the successful ones that begin to contribute at the Major League level. Examples of this include: Robinson Cano, Grady Sizemore, Evan Longoria, Ryan Braun, and several others.

It will be interesting to see if team’s let their superstars walk in their contract years in order to acquire compensation draft picks, that is if they can’t find a deal that lands enough prospects in exchange.

baby i got my money(ball)

Still in disbelief that Billy Beane would give a 16 year old International pitching prospect nearly $4.5 million, but if the rumored reports are true, that’s exactly what he did in landing Michel Inoa. The IFA signing period is a dirty business though, so I won’t believe it until it is officially announced by the Athletics in a press conference.

The IFA attention now falls on the other prizes available, most notably two youngsters out of Venezuela: OF Yorman Rodriguez and RHP Adis Portillo. Open those wallets!