toonsterwu

The reports on Wang that I recall had him in the low 90's, 90-91 area. It's hard to imagine that he has substantially improved upon that, so I figure it's probably low 90's still. Thanks, guys. 90-92 sounds good to me. NOthing special, but not inadequate either. A large fraction of the good pitchers in the majors don't really throw much harder than that very often. If Wang has control and knows how to pitch, he can be a meaningful big-league prospect with 92-mph velocity. Of course, it may be that the radio 92 was the one flukish 4-seamer that read that high, and that the actual fastballs that he was using effectively were mostly 87-89 types, who knows. And granted also that most of the guys who are getting big-leaguers out with 92-or-less velocity could throw harder than that when they were minor leaguers. If Z was a 20-year-old prospect given his current velocity, he wouldn't be the prospect he was back then when he threw 98. Toonster, why do you say it's "hard to image that he has substantially improved" upon low 90's? I assume because he's short, listing at 6'0"? If he was 90-91 as a teenager, and now he's 20, apart from his limited height it seems fairly believable when guys add some speed when they turn 20, 21, and 22. I think it's possible that he's improved (and if he can consistently hit 92/93, that would be an improvement, because to the best of my recollection, I don't recall seeing or hearing anyone talk about him consistently peaking that high in the past), but my point was that he's probably still sitting in the low 90's. I remember talking to someone abroad about him awhile ago, and he said that he didn't think there was much they could do to the delivery to improve upon his velocity as a starter (I mean, if he went to the pen, he could probably kick it up a bit) and that he didn't think the kid could handle that much more on the frame without overdoing it. Certainly, all speculation, but I'm not expecting him to kick it up to say, sit 93/94.

I'm still mildly surprised that Cruz is a starter and Austin Reed is in that piggyback role. Of course, early in Boise's season, so they may just be sorting things out. Cruz definitely is intriguing, so it's more Austin in the piggyback role that is surprising to me.

Wrong day, but do we have any idea how hard Wang, who pitched so well yesterday, throws? The reports on Wang that I recall had him in the low 90's, 90-91 area. It's hard to imagine that he has substantially improved upon that, so I figure it's probably low 90's still.

They are fairly similar prospects in terms of lines. Soto had a late career development in the minors spurred by getting in shape. Overall, he has a better approach ... marginally, but still better. Castillo's a kid that's always been a tad under-hyped by general prospect-dom I think, but I gotta see more with the bat and a better approach, IMO, to buy him as a starting backstop, but that's me.

Wow. He could be another late round find himself. I'd classify him as a player that the developmental staff, well, developed. This power wasn't there last year or in college, at least, not to this extent, but I've seen clips this year and I think that power development is legitimate, and he's done it without sacrificing his approach. Of course, will be curious how he fares against AA pitching.

Very excited to see what Ben Wells first start looks like. Granted, I'm guessing he won't go more than 3 or 4 innings, but I am going to be curious how he throws.

I'm a lot more bullish on Struck than that. Fastball is supposedly topping out in the mid-90's (slight increase from last year numbers that I had), and have heard that his secondary stuff, change and slider, are both looking solid. Granted, that's off limited reports I have (3) so it is a SSS issue, but I think his ceiling could be a good mid-rotation arm.

fairly similar guys. I think Rosscup has slightly better fastball velo, but Kirk's secondary stuff is a touch better.

So if we take Hendry loosely at his word of about twice as much money on the amateur side, we're looking at roughly 8-10 million. At what point do you guys draw the lines on some of the bigger ticket items? Just playing around with things, but if we sign Maples, Vogelbach, Baez, that likely would eat close to 5, if not 6, mil, leaving us with enough money to sign a few more, but probably leaving some key names from later on out. I guess, with most assumptions that Vogelbach and Baez will sign, I'm sort of getting at what cost is Maples worth it? If we can get say, Dunston, Jensen, Jacquez (if not more) for Maples money, would you prefer something like that (based off the rough expectations, it seems possible that those three could cost around what Maples is asking loosely for).

Jones 50 K/8 BB makes me doubt his chances. Of the corner guys in Peoria, I'd rank it Cuneo, Rohan, Jones, in terms of intrigue/worth paying attention to. Jones had a 35/1 K/BB ratio last year in Peoria.

They could try something like that. They also might just bump Wilken all the way up to GM... which I'd be less happy about. Not impossible, but the jump to GM would probably be unlikely because there's so much he hasn't been actively involved with in a long time (I believe he held some other front office role in Tampa as well, not clear off the top). I do like the rumors of Cherington and Hale. I still sort of like Quade, but he's been disappointing, even when accounting for the talent deficiency. I half wonder if, since Hendry seems to have a good relationship with Ricketts as well, if Hendry may get the bump to some sort of President role.

I don't like this move either. He needs work. Personally, I think he should go back to the rotation in AA or AAA. Even if his future is in the pen, he needs the reps on his stuff, and going 2-3 innings at a time, to start a game, may be the best way for him to find some rhythm.

He's really been on a role lately. I just hope they keep him in AA as long as possible. In the past, it'd feel like a hot streak around summer could get him a bump. Feel like he really needs to consolidate at a level and see how he adjusts.

Watkins sure is red-hot, 3-3, 2 R, 1 BB, and a E today. Hard to really buy into that bat unless he shows a range of extended consistency.

I've got an awfully hard time seeing them deal Garza. You make that sort of deal for the long term as much as the short term. Ricketts had to approve the deal as well. More importantly, a new regime will likely still need a young pitcher to build the staff around, and Garza makes sense. Unless the package is ridiculous, I fully expect Garza to be here next year, and more, and perhaps be the "ace" of the staff. You don't give up that type of young talent for a short term fix unless you get an equal return in whatever trade you pursue.

The fact that Wilken is held, by most indications, in such high regard by Ricketts makes things interesting, at least for me. I wonder if Ricketts will do his best to keep Wilken around, but it isn't the best idea to force a scouting director on a new GM. That does make me wonder if Wilken may get a bump to some sort of A.GM type role, like Rizzo did back in the day. Just random thoughts, but I am curious how it plays out.

Really a total side note, but Szczur, on football related testing, was expected by scouts to destroy the 3-cone drill. NFL folks never viewed him as having elite speed - talk I heard was that the testing from the previous year had a wide range, with some folks having him as high as the 4.5's on the 40, which for a NFL WR is fairly average (that said, 40 testing is one of the more pointless testing events out there at times, only moderately useful for WR's, and pointless for many other positions). He was projected less as a vertical threat and more as a slot receiver to take advantage of his quickness. I suspect that his quickness, plus baserunning instincts, makes him a superior baseball speed guy than guys with faster straight line speed.

System has decent depth of what Sickels would likely call C+ call guys. I think Crawford would be a borderline C+ for me, though, more of a C (based on Sickels grading scale).

How fast is his fastball, what movement does it have, and what is he throwing breaking-ball-wise, and how good is it? Has his mix changed this year? You deserve credit for leading his bandwagon, toonster. I had my doubts about promoting him so soon, and was uncertain that he'd done enough at A+ to deserve any such promotion already. But he's certainly handled the transition smoothly, and has actually been better since the move up. I just don't have a good feel for what he throws and how it projects. Last year a friend saw him and reported on him twice, and pretty much said he was totally fastball-fastball-fastball, that he didn't mix in much offspeed stuff at all. I take it you think that's not a good picture, and that his breaking stuff is coming along favorably? What I have off of this year is based off two games from Daytona, so what he's throwing in Tennessee, as the summer heats up, I don't know. But I was hearing 94 on the fastball as a peak. I know one problem from last year to this year is that the fastball is a bit straight at times, because he'll try to, on occasion, rear back and zip it. I've heard before that when he's loose and easy with it, just sort of letting it flow, there's decent downward movement (don't want to say "sink" as that seams to suggest a good sinker or 2-seamer, and I'm not sure it has that level of quality). Heard both his breaking ball and changeup were looking decent-solid in those two outings that I heard about I've been asking people for follow up reports, and if I hear anything, I'll let you know. I'll be honest, I thought he was rushed. Not as bad as Beeler, but I feel like another month in A+ of adjusting to the hitter's adjustments would've been better for Struck.

I think Crawford's a useful system piece that, if things fell in place, could maybe find a role as a depth OF. That said, for his skillset, he really can't afford to strike out as much as he does. I think he might slip into say, a midseason top 30, but haven't thought that deep. Have high doubts that I could justify squeezing him into the top 20 for me.

At some point, if he keeps this up, Nick Struck really deserves some prospect love from general minor league followers. 21 year old with a good fastball, solid control, solid secondary offerings, and a performance track record that's positive.

taiwanese has always been iffy. mandarin i'm fine speaking. writing is a bit problematic, but speaking is fine. folks are both teachers in some respects.

came stateside when i was ... 2.

That's not that surprising, considering he thought he would go much higher. That said, there is a long time to go before it actually matters. He's not exactly high on my priority preference list, though.

Same here ... Easterling does have some NFL potential, though, and I thought I had heard that football was his first love. That said, he's more a depth/slot return man option, and draft wise, more of a mid-late round type value, unless he really blows up his senior year and gets better football workout numbers than people are expecting right now.