craig

Caridad with another excellent outing. That guy has really come on over the year, and has been consistently pitching deep, solid games without many walks. I'm guessing he has a very good fastball. A lot of guys need to nibble, or else they'll get hit pretty hard, they need to paint corners. To pitch as effectively as he does without walking guys, either his command is quite good (iffy), or else his stuff is so good that he doesn't need to locate it that great. That's my guess, regarding his fastball. If he had a real good breaking ball, he'd have more K's. So my guess is that he's got a high-level fastball, and an unrefined but developing breaking ball. Given that he's 24, nobody's going to think what he's doing is worth much relative to his age. But given how little pitching experience he has, perhaps he has more improvement left than a 24-year-old with 400+ college/pro innings behind him. Dark horse for cracking the top-10.

I agree with that, I expect that if Hendry could well be interested in moving Marquis and replace him with Marshall. Why might they try to trade Marquis? I can think of several possible scenarios. 1. They need money to stay under budget while at the same time buying outside talent. Comment: If this is the reason, then they'd only be able to trade him if somebody else takes on much or all of his contract. If you have to eat much of his contract, or accept a comparable contract in return that you maybe don't really have any use for, the motive will be unfulfilled. 2. They need money to afford to retain Edmonds, Johnson, and/or Blanco. Same logic as above, will only happen if a trade really does help them dollar-wise. 3. They simply want to have Marshall in, either because he's a 2nd lefty, or they just think he's better, or whatever. No financial motivation. Comment: IN this case, a dump trade, in which we pay much/most of his salary, could make sense. Obviously it will be much easier to move Marquis if the receiving team is paying $2-5 instead of $10 on him. Or if the bad salary that we get back in exchange is a reliever/reserve type guy, rather than a guy who's accustomed to starting and will have attitude problems being used little. 4. See idea three, only with Samardz as the guy they want to replace him with. 5. The motive isn't about money, or about upgrading the staff. But the motive is that they can get somebody they think will be helpful. A lefty reliever? A RH reliever to take the role Howry was intended to fill? If Edmonds is going to cost too much to retain on the short contract we'd like, perhaps a LH CFer assuming that Pie really isn't a big-league player. It's an old idea, but Marquis for Crisp, for example. 6. The motive isn't about money, but about attitude. Not sure there'd be any such motive, but it's possible that Marquis isn't the most coachable and enjoyable guy to have around. Not likely, but you never know. Summary: Some of those motives might apply, but will anybody trade for him such that our motive is satisfied? Can you get somebody back who would help us more than Marquis? (Motive 5) Can you get somebody to make a trade such that they are taking on significant boost in salary and we are getting significant payroll relief? (Motives 1 and 2)? Very questionable. In the absence of finding an eager trade partner, I expect they'll keep him. Pitchers get injured, even if Cubs have been spared this year and last. If you dump Marquis, then Marshall, Rich Hill, and Samardzija stand as pitchers 5, 6, and 7 in whichever order. Assuming that Hill is wildman, and that they want Samardz in relief, they may not want to go so thin on rotation pitching. I'd think it would be much easier, if nobody will make a good trade for Marquis, to just keep him. Keep Marshall as an emergency/utility pitcher. Hope that Hill comes back, but if he does it's a surprise treat, not something that you need. Be free to let Samardz polish his rotation pitching in Iowa, or to reinforce a hard-throwing bullpen (Wood, Marquis, Sam, Guzman could give you some pretty good velocity, and with Gaudin might be a real force.) Unless he's really a clubhouse cancer (which I don't think is true and have no reason to suspect), and unless there is more market for the man than I expect, I think he's back.

Wow, my negative Veal comments must have done the trick!

That's possible, I suppose. But man, I hope we've got ten guys more promising than Veal. If he's one of our top ten, that would speak more to the weakness of the farm than to the quality of Veal. Hard to be very interested in a prospect with bad numbers across the board. His WHIP is awful (1.51), his HR's allowed are awful (15 HR in the anti-HR Southern League), his K's are mediocre and continue to decline, his ERA is high, and his FIP-ERA is worse. He'll turn 24 in a couple of weeks, so age is not in his favor. And there is nothing to indicate that he's really getting any better. He's had the same problems that he's always had (high walks, high HR), with no sign of anything getting better. (He does get more groundouts than he used to, but his one signature, the ability to K guys, has vanished.) I think he's still got a shot to eventually blossom into a Felix-Heredia type lefty reliever, though.

Interesting to read. One of the details of interest was that the Cubs not only paid him big but were considering drafting him as high as the 3rd. One might ask that if he's been so baseball-obsessed, that perhaps despite his age he won't improve all that much physically. For all his heart, will he be up to it physically? He's shown little power at bat. But guys who can hit the ball on the nose, who have a great eye, and who have great instincts and do everything to improve, those are fun prospects to cheer for. Would be wonderful if he turned into a Fontenot or Giles as a hitter, and proved to be a smart, jazzy catcher.

Obviously badnews is trying to balance potentially excess enthusiasm. But I think his point does have considerable merit: there are lots of guys who put up impressive numbers in the Northwest League, who don't produce in full-season. The leagues get a lot harder, and if you don't improve you can drop your numbers pretty severely. Vitters looks really good now. The combination of his age, and his contact rate, and his projectible power, and the enthusiastic scouting reports, those all look very very favorable. But he'll need to get better. I assume that young guys will improve, and probably do so more than older guys. Vitters seems to have the scouting and the contact skill and the power potential that he could improve a bunch. But he'll need to, it doesn't always happen. Corey never really improved from age 19 on. harvey, he was young enough that improvement seemed reasonable to expect, but it never happened. Donnie Veal, he seemed young enough to improve further after his big A season, but he didn't. When Pie was excelling in AA, and was so young, I assumed he'd improve. But he hasn't, really. If Vitters just stays the same, his numbers in full-season will probably depress big-time, and etc. with each successive promotion. He'll need to keep improving. That seems very possible, but time will tell.

On Colvin, agree, more questions than answers. But it certainly is encouraging that he's kicked it in so dramatically this month. I see 4 major differences post-break/August vs pre-break, most of which have been mentioned. 1. Walks are down. His performance as a walk-taker was rather temporary. 2. K's are down. 21% pre-break, 14% post-break, <13% in August. (Last year he was >20%.) If the real guy could sustain a K-rate below 15%, that would pretty good. 3. More hits in August. When you K less and HR more, that tends to happen even apart from changes in LD or BABIP. 4. Slugging is way up. Pre-break .380; post break .562; August .709. Last year, .488. Slugging at .562 or better, that's huge slugging output. (Soriano, for example, has never exceeded .560). If he can K little, and slug much, he's going to be a major leaguer even without good IsoD. It's natural for us, who have been so concerned with his abysmal IsoD, to focus on changes he's made there. But sometimes there are other factors. A poster on my other board talked to Fleita a couple weeks ago, shortly before Colvin had a 2-HR game, and was told that Colvin has changed/adjusted his batting stance. I got the impression that this was about the time that he started to take off. This guy's info was direct from Oneri, so I think that's pretty trustworthy info. Another poster is friends with a Baltimore scout, who said that Colvin had been instructed to work on the discipline aspect. But that at some point this summer, supposedly the Cubs released him from that priority. According to this source, they wanted to let him relax and just hit away for now, but will supposedly push it again next spring. Not sure how informed a Baltimore scout would be, but interesting and plausible. The first guy I mentioned has been to dozens of Smokies games this year, and last year. He said that Colvin looked tentative for much of this season while he wasn't doing anything, but that now he looks more relaxed and decisive in the box, more like he looked last year. Obviously this is a hot spell, it won't last. But I'd project that Colvin's turn may combine the change in stance, some renewed confidence that came with getting some hits and XBH, being less inhibited and more relaxed in letting his swing fly (without the take-walks focus). But it may also be that while the period of trying to be more selective has not resulted in continuous walks, it may be that he has improved at recognizing and laying off of bad balls. Plus, even if he isn't walking much, it may be that he is showing much improved pitch recognition and plate discipline. Perhaps he is much improved at swinging at strikes; but if he's hitting the strikes now, as opposed to missing them or fouling them in June, maybe he's less likely to get to deep counts? When Colvin was drafted, he was never really presented as a power hitter. But I'm hopeful that when it plays out, he'll make it more as a power guy than as an IsoD guy. 14 HR at 22 in a pitchers league during a struggle season, 38% of hits for extras, and a frame that may never be more than slender but could conceivable still add some muscle, I think it's possible that he'll be a .200+ Iso-P guy down the road. If he hits 12 HR's a year, it will be tough to be good. But if he could be more of a 20-HR guy (or better), and can keep his K's down, he could be pretty useful. Walks are a valuable end in themselves, of that I have no doubt. But at present Colvin is getting so many hits and power hits with so few K's, it's hard to think his plate discipline isn't pretty acceptable for now. If he was flailing at all kinds of bouncing sliders, I'd assume the K's would be worse and the slugging less.

I agree with Philly, I think they will stay with essentially the same team, minor tinkering. For three reasons. First, if they cruise into the playoffs, but lose a well-played series to a good team who happens to outplay them, I'm not sure that would necessitate much shakeup. Especially if it's a cornerstone guys who lose it for you. If Zambrano loses two games in a short series, ior if Ramirez and Soto don't get any RBI's in a losing series, it's not like we'll be looking to shake things up and replace them. 2nd, money. It was estimated elsewhere that even without Johnson, Edmonds, and Blanco, that if we want to retain Dempster and Wood, we'll be up around $140 for next year. And if we spend anything to retain or replaced Johnson, Edmonds, Blanco, Howry, and Eyre, we could be pushing $150. We've got a lot of players who are worth retaining, and a lot of guys who are stable via established and inflating contracts. Barring a Steinbrenner-like owner, it's hard to imagine spending even more to add outside salaried guys. 3rd, we don't really need much. Soto, DeRosa, Theriot, Aram, Soriano, those guys have been very productive over the season. No matter what happens in a short series, they won't be replaced. Lee has been pretty good, and has a substantial contract, nothing happening there. Fukudome has a big guaranteed contract, not likely they'll be replacing him either. This isn't like the team last year, where obviously CF and RF were black holes. Or like the 03 Cubs where obviously you wanted to replace Estes. For rotation, Z, Harden, Lilly, and Dempster have all been very good. No matter what might happen in a short series, they won't be looking to shake them up. So basically Marquis and CF are the only starting spots that seem very open. All the other spots have guys who either look to be long-term fixtures (Soto, Theriot, Soriano, etc..), or else are safe via guaranteed and perhaps multiyear contracts (Lee, Fukudome). Marquis, I could see trying to move him and his salary. But even if they do, they'd likely look inside for replacement (Marshall or Samardzija), rather than spending big after Sabbathia or sheets. For CF, I'd think the ideal would be to bring Johnson back for sure (even if Pie did emerge, he absolutely needs a platoon), but hopefully Edmonds at a short-term deal that doesn't cost too much. I'd think that if Edmonds was on a one-year, or a deal with 2nd-year option, they'd like that. If Pie blossoms and Edmonds flops, Pie would get his chance. If Pie stinks, and Edmonds hits great again, you'd be glad. But that might depend on whether we can afford what Edmonds/Johnson would want. A 4th factor, there don't really appear to be any attitude or effort or style guys that need to be replaced or shaken up. By all accounts it's a very good clubhouse. Maybe we wish Soriano wouldn't hack and hope and pose so much, but he's going nowhere. Last year we weren't that good, but Fukudome was the only noteworthy offseason move, and dumping Jones while committing (again) to Pie. So even the failure to win everything in the playoffs doesn't necessitate large-scale change. So I suspect that if we cruise into the playoffs, and lose a short playoff series to a good team, I don't think that would necessitate much shakeup. Basically I think it will be status quo, with farmboys (Pie, Samardz, Guzman, and also Marshall) in line to try to potentially replace some of the expiring contracts.

Yes, but not really. There's loopholes abound to get Hoffpauir on the playoff roster if we want him there. No. Anybody on the roster at end of August is straightforward eligible. That includes not only guys on the active 25-man roster, but also guys on one of the DL's. (Chad Fox, Jon Lieber, and Angel Guzman are three who come to mind. Is there anybody else who is on DL?) So basically the 25-man guys and the DL guys provide a pool who can be directly activated. That's 28 guys. But the DL'd guys provided an indirect way for basically anybody else they want to be selected. If one of the above 28 guys is on the DL when a playoff series starts, anybody can replace him, not just one of those 28. So if Chad Fox is on the DL, it doesn't have to be one of those 28. It could be Hoffpauir or anybody else you like. If they wanted to replace Fox with Vitters or Cashner or Matt Cerda or anybody less ridiculous that you can imagine, they could. So Fox's spot provides one totally free spot. I assume that if they actually have two guys they wanted to activate, they'd have little trouble DL'ing Lieber and his perpetually sore foot and replacing him too.

I agree he's got some interest, for reasons that you and others have mentioned. But nobody has mentioned his biggest statistical problem: he's a HR guy. 22 HR's in 152 IP this year, 19HR/141 innings last year. That's pretty high. But he's got a chance to see some major-league time, certainly. And he's young enough that he might get somewhat better still. Not sure he's got enough prospect zing to be much of a trade chip at present, though.

Atkins and Caridad aren't real important prospects, to my knowledge, but they lead the farm in innings, with 152 and 134. Last year Hart and Holliman were the only minor leaguers to reach 150. Not sure it means anything. Most likely just a function of guys who throw strikes and are reasonably consistent. Getting knocked out in the 2nd or 3rd innings hurts your innings, as does using a lot of pitches to get guys out, as often happens with Veal and happened a lot with Gallagher last year. For some reason i thought that was interesting that these guys are on top, and Atkins by so many innings.

Leverton good outing. He's already 22, another position-pitcher switcher. Has been an extreme groundball guy, too many walks, too few K's. Might be a project with a good groundball fastball who will take a few years to try to come up with a breaking ball.

Not real common to have an OBP .123 higher than your sllugging.

I'm really excited by Shafer having a good outing. He was good through is first three in the previous start, before giving up stuff in his 4th inning, the longest he'd gone since college. Might be wishful thinking, but I hope that he's only now getting his arm strength and command rebuilt, and what we got first-three previous start and during yesterday's start is the real thing, and it's good. Obviously it's early, but he'd been in my mind as a could-bust-fast guy. He'd looked lousy in the CWS, ping was unimpressed, most of the scouting reports had his existent velocity as very fringy, and he'd started very blah. So yesterday's clean outing is really encouraging that he may be a legit prospect worthy of 2nd round selection, with the control that makes winners, and hopefully enough stuff besides. Hope he can keep it up and emerge as a good-value draft pick and a legit big-league prospect. So cal, remind me of what we know about his velocity. You watched/listened to an early Boise outing by him, and he had fastball that was in low 90's? Do you know if that was regular (like his working fastball), or a deal where a guy is throwing mostly 86-89, but topped out at 91 a time or two? And you either saw or heard the announcers say that his curveball looked very professional? And if I've got it right, the draft reports had his spring fastball as upper 80's, occasional touch into the 90-92 range, but it had averaged a bit faster and touched 95 as a freshman?

Guzman himself said the slowness was real. Disappointing. We'll see how that goes as his appearances move beyond four. "Guzman was a bit disappointed in his fastball, which topped out around 90 miles per hour. 'Before my surgery I was getting mid-90's, but today it wasn't as fast," Guzman said. "I felt good, but sometimes that happens and you have to adjust and just play with what you have that day.'"

Thanks for the update. A poster at my other board attended the Guzman game the other day and commented on it, so I thought I'd pass that along too: "I saw Guzman pitch last night... From what I saw his velocity was 96-97-98 all night. He didnt throw any offspeed pitches worth a crap at all. I only saw 2 curveballs out of however many pitches he threw and oldfan could have hit them. I didnt see any signs of a changeup or slider." Obviously that's a mixed report. The absence of any breaking stuff, and the couple being apparently pretty ugly, is discouraging. But the velocity report I think is very encouraging as to Angel's health. An article posted earlier had mentioned him hitting 95, and had also mentioned that his first 13 pitches were all fastballs. But when an article mentions 95, I'd thought that might be his fastest tops-at-95 pitch, and that perhaps he was resting more in the 90-93 zone. Which might be less than he used to throw, and not fast enough to workin the majors without movement or offspeed stuff. But if he was at 95 by one report and routinely hitting at least that fast on tennessee's stadium gun, then it's apparent that he hasn't lost much if any of his former velocity. Which would suggest that, at least for the moment, he's healthy. If he's healthy and throwing mid 90's or better, he's a prospect again. And IIRC Az Phil says that he still has options for next year, so he can work on getting his offspeed stuff back during the remaining outings this summer, during winter leaguer perhaps, and then in the minors next spring.

I think I phrased that badly. By discipline, I meant plate discipline. Lake's K/BB ratio has been quite a bit worse than Castro's both this year and last. Last year especially, this year Castro's has deteriorated so that it's somewhat comparably bad to Lake's. On attitude, Phil has made several comments that I thought hinted at Lake being a hotdog and somewhat lazy. I recall a comment suggesting that Lake hadn't run hard on a batted ball; and that he acts like he holds the ball in the field so that he can show off his arm on defense. My recall may be off on this. But I got the distinct inference that Phil wasn't real impressed with Lake's attitude. I may be wrong or have overread. Even if it's true, that doesn't necessarily mean he might not be good; sometimes being talented enough to be cocky, or just being cocky in itself, can be a good thing for a player. I certainly am not aware of Lake pulling anything that evoked disciplinary action by the Cubs.

Wrong thread, but didn't want to start a new one and wasn't sure where to pop this in. I have been pretty critical of the Cubs effectiveness in Latin America. Other than Mateo, who's turned out a bust, Wellington Castillo is about the first Latin prospect that we've signed ourselves (as opposed to acquiring in trade, Ceda) that has been a meaningful prospect beyond A-ball in years. Cedeno, Marmol, Guzman, Pinto, those dudes were signed before the turn of the century, and Pie many years ago. So since Pie in 2000 or 2001, it's been my complaint that we've failed to sign/develop hardly any meaningful Latin prospects that have been meaningful even into full-season ball. And it's been my view that the involvement in Asia may be a reflection of the ineffectiveness of our Latin program. I know there have been Latin guys that Raisin and I have been hopeful about: Robert Hernandez, and Cabrera. But neither of them is looking too good now. All that negativity said, I'm somewhat encouraged that there are some new candidates who may turn the corner on this. Obviously they are at very low levels, and may be injured or flop a quickly as Hernandez and Cabrera have. But, maybe they'll be good. Mesa has six (at least) prospects of variable interest, and some of them I think have a chance to become pretty significant. *1 Suarez. He was a dollar signee, has already had arm issues, and has had attitude questions as well (Az Phil). But, he's pitched pretty well this year in very limited innings (1.11 WHIP). And he's still big, and young, and apparently reasonably fast. *2 Yohan Gonzalez. Three more clean innings yesterday. Big, fast, scouts liked him, he'll still be 18 when camp opens next spring, he's got a 1.11 WHIP in limited innings, and has been pretty consistent since his lousy first appearance (and some poor outings in XST). He was a dollar signee, too, so seems to have some things going for him. *3 Jeff Antigua. Barely 18, 2.90 ERA, he's been inconsistent, but when he's been good he's been quite effective. Decent arm and some interesting offspeed stuff, he's got a chance to be a pitcher. If his velocity grows, he could possibly become a very good prospect. *4 Starlin Castro. Hitting over .300 as an 18-year-old SS, that's interesting. At 6'1", he's perhaps not restricted to a tiny contact hitter, and I'm hoping that he has the size to develop into a good hitter. His power is up this year, although still limited: 29% of his hits this year for XB, last year it was only 15% in DSL. Was a DSL all-star last year (that's a deep league, so I thought the fact that he was selected was interesting last year.) Has played mostly SS, and doesn't have lots of errors. Plate discipline isn't good, but K/BB aren't real bad either, might end up being fine. *5 "Neifi" Perez. Already 20, and he's been slumping lately. But still, he's hitting .300, has shown serious power, and observers always report major power and a major outfield arm. So he's got at least some big-league tools. His K-rate is scary, but it's improved a lot. His BB-rate is scary, but that has improved also. I recall that he had only one walk until he was at or almost at 100 AB. Now his BB's are up to 8, so he's taken 7 walks in his last 60 AB or so. Maybe he's working on it. (Maybe at the expense of his slugging, I don't know.) Probably won't go anywhere, but he's got some tools, and if he does improve, he could emerge as a prospect. *6 Junior lake. Big arm, attitude problems, discipline problems, zillions of errors. But he's 18, 6'3" infielder, and has a big arm. Not likely, but it's possible that if he improves, he could turn into a prospect. Perez at Boise is not a total non-prospect. Some of the DSL guys may have some interest, probably Morelli and some of the pitchers. Wellington Castillo is obviously a significant guy. Carillo, not sure if he's really got big-league stuff, but he's probably the furthest-along Latin signee since Pie in that he's being used sometimes as a starter in AA. Caridad isn't really a normal Latin signee in that he was signed at 23 or 24 rather than 17. But he's got a good arm, and he's been very competitive since moving from A to AA. He's improved, and has been something of an innings eater. He's had more games with some K's recently, so I'm hopeful that his breaking ball is starting to be there a little more often than back in April and May. I wouldn't be surprised if he got buzzed up rather favorably when BA does their team top-30. Hopefully Caridad, Castillo, and perhaps even Carillo will turn into real prospects. Hopefully some of the Mesa guys will turn into serious prospects, top-10 type guys. And hopefully some of the DSL guys will have big-league talent and will emerge as genuine prospects down the line.

This is an excellent post. So we're basically at $140 just to hold status quo, and that's while letting our starting CFers (Edmonds and Johnson) go, and Blanco. Obviously we'll need to have a CFer, and I'd think if they can fund it, they'd like Johnson and possibly Edmonds back (both at greater cost), and Blanco too. May also want to pick up another relief arm from outside. As I see it, the only expiring contracts you'd definitely want to let walk are Howry, Lieber, and Ward. So if we were to keep Blanco, and resign Johnson and Edmonds, in addition of course to resigning Wood and Dempster, we're looking at $150 next season. That's pretty up there. This year the Yankees are the only team above $138.

Yeah, he's gotten very hot. Great to see. If he could sustain this for a while, the half-full view will be a guy who finished strong and whose overall numbers weren't really all that poor for a 22-year-old in AA. But it may not be a coincidence that his rebound coincides with dumping the walks. He may find the take-home lesson to be that he should hack, and the only time he can hit is when he hacks, that taking any walks doesn't work for him and he's proved it.

Thanks, Nate. That sounds encouraging. Obviously his future depends on both the offense and the defense. He's shown he's a strong contact guy, with barely a 10% K rate. If Wilken is correct in projecting him adding some meaningful muscle over the next few years, maybe he'll add at least a little more power to his otherwise nice numbers. If his defense ends up fine, that would make it a lot more realistic for him to become a useful major leaguer.

Nice to see Colvin and Pie salvaging their seasons. colvin has finally shot past that .243 line, and has pushed past the .700-OPS line, presumably for good. If he can stay hot for the stretch, he could perhaps push .260, and push towards 15 HR. For a 22-year-old in a tough pitchers league, that could end up being a disappointing but not a write-him-off season. Nice to see Rosa, who's got the tons of doubles and a solid average, starting to turn some into HR's. At age 20, maybe he will turn into a decent HR hitter down the road. Guyer's numbers are also working out pretty good. Entering today, he was hitting .300 and OPS'ing at .951 versus RHP, but was sub-.200 at .630-OPS versus LHP. Those splits wouldn't be that exceptional for a LH bat, but very unusual for a RH hitter.

Nate, if you get a chance to read this and respond, any thoughts on Samson's defense? I know he's made a ton of errors. Is he really that bad? Does he look professional, and does he have quickness/range, or a good arm? Just curious whether he has any chance to be a good shortstop at a higher level, or will need to switch to 2B soon enough. What do you think?

As Cal said, it's hard to tell. As Cal mentioned, a few years back if a guy was perceived as a very good prospect, he'd go straight to the states, and if he started in DSL you'd know he wasn't viewed that highly. Now with the policy of keeping guys in DSL for a year, it's harder to evaluate how the team views a guy. But as cal said, that makes harder to compare; we don't have any examples of guys with his balance of average/discipline/power; is that because he's better than any Latin we've signed? Or does it only mean that he's better than any Latin who wasn't perceived to be good enough to go straight to US? Most likely he's nothing special. 1. Normally somebody special starts when he's 17 or 16; Morelli is debuting at 18. If he was an obvious stud, he'd likely have been playing already last summer. 2. Second, usually if a guy is toolsy, he wouldn't be playing LF/DH. Many of the guys that eventually end up being corner guys eventually will still be used in center, right, or middle infield when they're 18. (For example, I remember Alou and Sammy as old, somewhat heavy and defensively limited LFers. But when they were 18-22, they were viewed as having tremendous speed and being CFers.) That Morelli is already a LFer suggests that tools-wise, he probably doesn't have much of an arm or much outfield speed. Seems to me the odds are that he'll live or die with his bat. At 6'3", and obviously with some filling out left, it's possible. Given his current patience, hackaway doesn't project to be a problem, and IsoD could be a big plus. His average has been good, and consistent. He's hit with some power. His K's are a little high to be a pure hitter (an Aram type K's very little.) To make it, he'll need to pan out as a good contact hitter with walks and with power and not too many K's. Possible yes. Likely, not very. But until he stops producing, I'll keep hoping that he's the guy who can.

Flaherty's hitting has been very refreshing lately. He looks like he has a chance to be a good professional hitter. How much power he'll show, time will tell. But for now, at least, it seems at least plausible to hope that he'll have end up with decent game power. His defense has been a big and disappointing surprise to me. 10 errors in 30 games? And that's for a guy who I understood to be short on range in the first place? My take had been that while he wasn't going to be a big-range guy, that they thought he could be a very skilled, reliable guy with what he could reach. But if his range is mediocre and he's an error-factory besides, that doesn't look positive at all. Hopefully that will turn around soon, or else they'll get him to 2B ASAP and he'll be better there. I admit when we drafted him, I immediately assumed he was foremost a 2B prospect. That would seem to be one of the two positions where we don't know who will be playing it beyond next year (2B and CF), and both of which they will want a lefty hitters. I'm not suggesting that Flaherty, in short-season SS today, has any likelihood to be in the majors at 2B in April 010. But that may be a position that will not have a long-term fixture. But he'll have to be able to field it.