Rob

1-1) Washington Nationals - Stephen Strasburg, RHP - San Diego State 1-2) Seattle Mariners - Dustin Ackley, OF - North Carolina 1-3) San Diego Padres - Grant Green, SS - USC 1-4) Pittsburgh Pirates - Aaron Crow, RHP - Ft. Worth Cats 1-5) Baltimore Orioles - Alex White, RHP - North Carolina 1-6) San Francisco Giants - Tyler Matzek, LHP - Capistrano Valley HS (Mission Viejo, CA) 1-7) Atlanta Braves - Zack Wheeler, RHP - East Paulding HS (Dallas, GA) 1-8) Cincinatti Reds - Jacob Turner, RHP - Westminster Academy (St. Charles, MO) 1-9) Detroit Tigers - Matt Purke, LHP - Klein HS (Spring, TX) 1-10) Washington Nationals - Mike Minor, LHP - Vanderbilt 1-11) Colorado Rockies - Rex Brothers, LHP - Lipscomb 1-12) Royals - Jared Mitchell, OF, Louisiana State 1-13) Athletics - 1-14) Rangers - 1-15) Indians - 1-16) Diamondbacks - 1-17) Diamondbacks - 1-18) Marlins - 1-19) Cardinals - 1-20) Blue Jays - 1-21) Astros - 1-22) Twins - 1-23) White Sox - 1-24) Angels - 1-25) Angels - 1-26) Brewers - 1-27) Mariners - 1-28) Red Sox - 1-29) Yankees - 1-30) Rays - 1-31) Cubs - 1-32) Rockies - The Royals have a crowded farm system at the infield corners right now, and while the crop of pitchers at this point is uninspiring, I don't see them ponying up for a Donovan Tate with the questions about his work ethic. Mitchell is a nice, high-upside pick with some advanced ball already under his belt, something the Royals brass seems to appreciate. Edit: Forgive me for expanding on the format this far, but I was getting tired of trying to remember the draft order.

Behind Vitters, Cashner, and Samardzija definitely. After that he fits into the debate anywhere.

1-1) Washington Nationals - Stephen Strasburg, RHP - San Diego State 1-2) Seattle Mariners - Dustin Ackley, OF - North Carolina 1-3) San Diego Padres - Grant Green, SS - USC 1-4) Pittsburgh Pirates - Aaron Crow, RHP - Ft. Worth Cats 1-5) Baltimore Orioles - Alex White, RHP - North Carolina 1-6) San Francisco Giants - Tyler Matzek, LHP, Capistrano Valley HS The last few years have signaled a change with Sabean's policy on drafting. He's willing to spend, but he likes young guys... and he loves pitching.

John Sickels is running another mock today. Guess who the Cubs picked? Yup, AJ Pollack again.

If I pointed out the benefits of moving from being an impoverished and malnourished young man to being a multimillionaire with access to wonderful nutrition and exercise equipment, would it suggest there are methods of vastly improving his production and physical size that don't necessarily involve steroids? How about pointing out how his production skyrocketed at the same time Jeff Pentland finally taught him to lay off the breaking ball low and away? There's just as much anecdotal evidence to suggest he's innocent as guilty. I can absolutely understand harboring some doubts about him, but the only logical thing to do is error on his side... after all, later evidence could certainly arrive to prove he actually used steroids. It's an impossibility for anybody to prove they didn't use. To assume his guilt at this point, with no actual evidence... it's beyond irresponsible. Simply ponder this for a moment. Suppose he didn't use. What do you tell him? "Tough luck, buddy. You shouldn't have worked out so hard in the gym and with the batting coach."?

Believe it or not, the thing that finally got him onto my ignore list was his sig. I can deal with potential idiocy in every post... even cubswin2009 doesn't manage it every single time. A stupid sig guarantees it though.

Just saw it on CSN.

I'm willing to let somebody prove that to me. Nobody has managed it yet, though. All I ever see is anecdotal evidence... I could use anecdotal evidence to "prove" any player ever used steroids. Nobody can prove they didn't use steroids... so operating without the basic assumption of innocence is absurd. The only logical thing you can do is wait for some sort of hard evidence.

He's guilty until proven innocent because of an irresponsible media and irresponsible fans. It's a shame that so many idiots speak so loudly as to alter public perception with no proof to back their claims up.

He has had few at bats and was given quick runs against premiere SP. He had a .474 OPS since May 20th but that's over a very sporatic 28 ABs. I am not worried, he seem to be a solid .775/.825 hitter which people should be ecstatic that we could pull a player like that off the scrap heap of the Cubs farm system. Then again, an AB from Hoff is a AB taken away from Fox for the most part. Oh, I realize there's a sample size issue. But I was responding to the statement that he was a hot hitter at the moment. A two week cutoff seemed suitable, but he hasn't done much since the calendar turned over from April... cut it up however one wants. But I agree. He seems to be about an .800 or so OPS guy. I have zero problems with him being a big bat off the bench, and kudos to the Cubs brass for not paying 3 mil for veteran production of that caliber.

He's been pretty good with 2 outs and RISP, but his numbers from the 7th on are not very good at all... and they get progressively worse the closer the game gets. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?n1=hoffpmi01&year=2009&t=b#clutc edit: I don't mean to imply that he wont hit in "clutch" situations, or to even rag on Hoff at all. I'm just debunking silly statements.

Should this post be taken seriously? Not the best, but hes 3rd behind Lee and Fuku at this time. And what are you basing that on? The fact that we have a lot of bad hitters on this team? Behind Lee and Fuku, theres a lot of guys clustered for 3rd, being Hoff, Font, and Reed, and none of them are spectacular. Im just talking about now. Overall, there are a lot of bette hitters than Hoff on the team, but they dont happen to be producing. Since mid May, Hoff has an OPS under .700. He's been very cold the last few weeks.

You are truly obnoxious. The kid has a memory as short as the last pitch. It's not his fault he completely overreacts to everything.

Should this post be taken seriously? Not the best, but hes 3rd behind Lee and Fuku at this time. And what are you basing that on?

He's not.

nice poke job

Hoff has put the ball on the ground 24.7% of the time he puts the ball in play this year. Struck out in 20% of his PA.

DLee is starting to make me feel vindicated for not giving in to my dumbass fan instincts and booing him earlier this season.

In Game 2 for Peoria, the game log shows Kyler Burke scoring from first on a fly ball single.

Guzman's first pitch to Anderson there was very impressive.

I went ahead and calculated an adjusted line for these guys based on what you would expect if their BABIP actually lined up with their LD%. Soto - .266/.378/.330 Bradley - .257/.371/.438 These guys are obviously both slumping, but they've been unlucky as well. Soto's LD% is right around where he's been for his career. Basically, he's just missing the HRs. Bradley's career LD% fluctuates all over the place, but he's on the low side of that number right now... you can probably expect him to improve. The scary part is DLee. Given his LD%, he's actually been a bit lucky to this point in the season. Though that's offset by an absurd low in his LD%... take a look. 2004 - 18.7% 2005 - 22.0% 2006 - 20.3% 2007 - 20.6% 2008 - 21.5% 2009 - 13.9% Something is mechanically buggered with his swing right now. There's no other explanation I can fathom.

I am resigned to the fact that I'll most likely be underwhelmed by Wilken's choice in the first. I always am. What I'm interested in is seeing whether we continue last year's trend by picking up first round talents with injury issues... like Carpenter and Schafer.

Last I heard, he was on the verge of signing with the Orioles before we traded them Pie... at which point they lost interest in Edmonds. No news since then.

Didn't ESPN.com run an article the other day about MLB teams using the DL creatively to keep from having to released high priced players that haven't been living up to their contract? We could do that for Patton if they're so worried about losing him. There's a minimum # of days he has to be on the active roster in order to be able to send him down next year. If memory serves, it's all of them. Basically, any time he spends on the DL this year, he would have to make up on the active roster next year before we would be able to send him down.

I'd just want to give it back in person.