Fox Sports's top NL Central Prospects

[Post Count Padder]

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/3899654

 

Pie at 4, Harvey at 8, and Gallagher at 9. Also says our system ranks 3rd in the division.

[CubinNY]

I figured the Brewers would be ahead of the Cubs but I didn't think the Reds would rank ahead.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

For perspective, BA before the season ranked the NL Central as follows:

 

Brewers(3rd overall)

Cubs(10th)

Pirates(18th)

Astros(22nd)

Reds(23rd)

Cardinals(30th)

 

Also, since I wasn't sure that Reyes should be ranked higher than Pie, here are there pre-season placement in all of baseball by the BA writers.

 

Pie: 33rd, 48th, 46th, 35th,

Reyes: N/A, N/A, 41st, N/A

[Outshined_One]

I figured the Brewers would be ahead of the Cubs but I didn't think the Reds would rank ahead.

 

That's because, in reality, they don't.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Hahaha. Reyes ahead of Pie. Hahaha. Reds ahead of Cubs.

[wastra]

Edwin encarnacion is NOT going to be a perennial all-star.

 

 

He'll be good, but not all-star quality. I'd pencil him in for .285, 20-30 homers, .340 OBP.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Edwin encarnacion is NOT going to be a perennial all-star.

 

 

He'll be good, but not all-star quality. I'd pencil him in for .285, 20-30 homers, .340 OBP.

 

yeah, I dont see it either...he reminds me of Morgan Ensberg potential

[Tim]

Edwin encarnacion is NOT going to be a perennial all-star.

 

 

He'll be good, but not all-star quality. I'd pencil him in for .285, 20-30 homers, .340 OBP.

There was a time when that was perennial all-star level at 3B. But with the flood of good - great 3B in the game right now, it's not good enough to be an all-star.

[T2E]

I'll disagree here and say that Encarnacion has a good chance to be a perennial all-star. You have a 22 year old prospect hitting .314/.388/.548 in the pitching favored International League. In addition, he plays good defense and has plus tools pretty much all the way around. I see a lot too like and not much to dislike.

[Derwood]

page not found

 

:cry:

[Laura]

Try again, it's coming up for me.

[Tim]

I'll disagree here and say that Encarnacion has a good chance to be a perennial all-star. You have a 22 year old prospect hitting .314/.388/.548 in the pitching favored International League. In addition, he plays good defense and has plus tools pretty much all the way around. I see a lot too like and not much to dislike.

To be a perennial all-star at 3rd in the NL, he's going to have to be consistently better than Aramis, Rolen, Wright, Cabrera (after Lowell moves on), Ensberg & Glaus. It's simply a pretty tall order to call any 3B prospect a perennial all-star right now given the quality (and fairly young) talent in the league at the position.

 

Now, if you're just counting on him being the Reds' best player and therefore getting their auto-representative, then he just has to be better than Dunn, Griffey, Pena, Kearns & Lopez.

[1908]

I'll disagree here and say that Encarnacion has a good chance to be a perennial all-star. You have a 22 year old prospect hitting .314/.388/.548 in the pitching favored International League.

Wright's two weeks older than Encarnacion and he's hitting .303/.385/.509 playing half his games at Shea. That's your perennial 3B all-star in the NL most likely.

[Tim]

I'll disagree here and say that Encarnacion has a good chance to be a perennial all-star. You have a 22 year old prospect hitting .314/.388/.548 in the pitching favored International League.

Wright's two weeks older than Encarnacion and he's hitting .303/.385/.509 playing half his games at Shea. That's your perennial 3B all-star in the NL most likely.

Cabrera's younger than both of them and the Marlins have said that he'll be moved back to third when Lowell moves on. And he's hitting .336/.397/.591.

[Iceblink]

"Pounds the strike zone."

 

Now been overused enough to go into the goofy sportscaster guy dictionary (along with "filthy stuff", "tremendous upside", and "booyahtzee".)

 

Ok, I made the booyahtzee one up, but someone should use it. :p

[TrueBlueCubFan]

I'll disagree here and say that Encarnacion has a good chance to be a perennial all-star. You have a 22 year old prospect hitting .314/.388/.548 in the pitching favored International League.

Wright's two weeks older than Encarnacion and he's hitting .303/.385/.509 playing half his games at Shea. That's your perennial 3B all-star in the NL most likely.

Cabrera's younger than both of them and the Marlins have said that he'll be moved back to third when Lowell moves on. And he's hitting .336/.397/.591.

 

Well that might be a while b/c after the 04' season I think Lowell signed a 4 year deal with the Marlins.

[Laura]

Wasn't the length of Lowell's deal contingent on the Marlins getting a new ballpark? I have no idea what the status of that is.

[Tim]

I'll disagree here and say that Encarnacion has a good chance to be a perennial all-star. You have a 22 year old prospect hitting .314/.388/.548 in the pitching favored International League.

Wright's two weeks older than Encarnacion and he's hitting .303/.385/.509 playing half his games at Shea. That's your perennial 3B all-star in the NL most likely.

Cabrera's younger than both of them and the Marlins have said that he'll be moved back to third when Lowell moves on. And he's hitting .336/.397/.591.

 

Well that might be a while b/c after the 04' season I think Lowell signed a 4 year deal with the Marlins.

Lowell has an out-clause in his contract for this season unless the Marlins get a new park approved by the end of the year (not very likely!). Even if he doesn't exercise it, speculation is rampant that the Marlins will dump his contract in the offseason, play Cabrera at 3B, promote Hermida to the OF in 2006 and use Lowell's money to replace Burnett in the rotation or shore up the pen.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'll disagree here and say that Encarnacion has a good chance to be a perennial all-star. You have a 22 year old prospect hitting .314/.388/.548 in the pitching favored International League.

Wright's two weeks older than Encarnacion and he's hitting .303/.385/.509 playing half his games at Shea. That's your perennial 3B all-star in the NL most likely.

Cabrera's younger than both of them and the Marlins have said that he'll be moved back to third when Lowell moves on. And he's hitting .336/.397/.591.

 

Well that might be a while b/c after the 04' season I think Lowell signed a 4 year deal with the Marlins.

Lowell has an out-clause in his contract for this season unless the Marlins get a new park approved by the end of the year (not very likely!). Even if he doesn't exercise it, speculation is rampant that the Marlins will dump his contract in the offseason, play Cabrera at 3B, promote Hermida to the OF in 2006 and use Lowell's money to replace Burnett in the rotation or shore up the pen.

 

I think Lowell got rid of that clause, I'm not sure though. I remember reading something about it. Let me do some digging.

 

EDIT: The Marlins and Lowell agreed to drop the clause in exchange for guaranteeing Lowell's option year in '07.