idakepps

Good for LaHair. Obviously he's going to get a good shot at the 2012 team. Wouldn't be shocked to see him starting at 1B, or at least platooning there.

Three years younger what? Nelson Cruz broke the 1 WAR plateau when he was 27. LaHair will be 28 starting next season. Both reached the PCL in their age 23 season. Not saying LaHair is the next Nelson Cruz, but what's the alternative? Selling him to Japan for spare change? He at least deserves a shot in spring training competing vs. Colvin.

I bet more than a few Ranger fans said the same thing about Nelson Cruz.

We are? My opinion. Beane is already being ruled out, doubt Freidman will go anywhere and if he does he'll go to Houston, and I think Epstein is just allowing the Cubs speculation to exist as leverage. I think it's Hahn, with DiPoto having a small chance.

Kind of fun to consider...except that Ortiz is on twice. Garza is the only A I gave on the pitching side, and as much as I hate to, I have ARam as an A as well. I gave Bs to Marshall, Samardzija, Russell, Campana, Johnson, Pena, Barney, LaHair, Wood and Castro. Most controversial here might be Russell, but he was lights out at what he should be -- a LOOGY type. For me, you have to consider what the player's role is -- hence Campana and Johnson getting Bs as bench players. Castro a B because of his defense and relative lack of on base skills, Barney and Samardzija Bs partly because they exceeded my expectations. Cs--- Soto, Dempster, Baker, LeMahieu, Sori, Ortiz, Byrd, Fukudome, Montanez, Zambrano, Marmol, Carpenter, Lopez, Mateo, Cashner, and....Quade, who I don't think did such a terrible job but will have to take the fall. Ds-- Wells, Coleman, Grabow, DeWitt, Hill Fs-- Colvin Looking at my grades you'd have about a C- team. I think that's about right, even though the record was more like a D+.

I like Francona, but managers with a solid track record are harder for a GM to control. I'd say that's the problem here with Epstein and Francona -- a clash of egos. I thought Hendry was on the right track by hiring a non-celebrity manager, but whether you like his style or not, Francona is absolutely a celebrity manager at this point. Not sure that's what this team needs right now, especially since we're likely to end up with a first time GM.

4. CLAYTON BLACKBURN RHP, GIANTS The lone draft pick among the AZL's top 11 prospects, Blackburn was overshadowed in a deep crop of Oklahoma high school pitching talent that included two of the top seven picks in Dylan Bundy and Archie Bradley and three other arms selected in the first five rounds. Most big league teams expected Blackburn to honor his commitment to the University of Oklahoma, but the Giants signed him for $150,000 after he fell to the 16th round. Blackburn throws four pitches for strikes—he walked just three batters in 33 innings—and induces plenty of groundballs. From an arm slot slightly higher than three quarters, he throws his 91-93 mph fastball to both sides of the plate and spins a nice curveball. He also throws a slider and has good action and location on his changeup. Though he's only 18, there's not a lot of physical projection left for Blackburn. That limits his ceiling to No. 3 starter, but he also has a high floor. "He has as good of maturity as I've seen in a professional prospect at that age," AZL Giants pitching coach Mike Caldwell said.

I beg to differ. I don't see how he's better than Hendry. That's my read. At first glance it seems crazy that LaMar could even be considered...but the timing of him resigning, the connection to Gillick, who probably hired him with Philly and would certainly recommend him to Ricketts, the Wilken connection to both Gillick and LaMar, and last but not least....the Sandberg connection. This...really...could...play...out.

This probably bears watching folks. The conclusions drawn at the bottom all start to link together in a way that could make sense. It's a well thought out piece. Chuck LaMar Abruptly Resigns from Phillies; Might There Be a Connection?

Can't disagree with that.

I posted this in the new Wilken extension thread, but I want to put it here too since I was one of the virulent Oneri extension haters. This is from the ESPN piece about Wilken's possible deal...... Makes Oneri's deal much more tolerable in my mind. Sounds like the new GM will have the freedom to change things if he wishes. I don't mind if Ricketts thinks these guys are worth keeping around and thinks the GM should have the chance to make his own judgement.

This makes me think of Oneri's extension in a different light. Sounds like Ricketts is just trying to keep his options open, and will be willing to let the new GM do what he wants. It's a strong recommendation in a sense, but if both contracts are full of options and buyouts...well, that's actually pretty smart.

Here's a couple major leaguers Oneri developed....until he cut them: Erik Hamren Casey McGehee

Right, and so Oneri like Hendry is probably under contract for another year. So you give Oneri a year to see if you can work together and if you don't, you let his contract run out and bring in someone else. Now, you don't. Now you have a guy with (at best) a debatable track record, the #2 person in the former regime's organization locked in for 4 years before you even got your job. It doesn't matter if you want to hire a farm director or not....Ricketts has already done it. Oneri's natural next step is a GM job. VP of Player Personnel with the Cubs is just a code word for "Big #2, glorified farm director." So again, if Ricketts is so enamored with the job that Oneri has done, why doesn't he just make him the new GM?

Essentially what has happened is that Ricketts is giving Jim Hendry's right hand man an extension a few weeks after firing Hendry. We've already been told the new GM will report directly to Ricketts. So basically Ricketts taken the liberty of hiring the new GM's 2nd in command before the new GM himself has had the opportunity to do so. It's a fairly bizzare move. At the very least Ricketts is telling the new GM: "You're free to do what you want with this guy...but I really really like him and strongly think you ought to consider keeping him. Of course it's your choice, but I'm your boss, and I think you should keep him." Put yourself in the position of the new GM. Do you want to walk into this kind of situation? It also begs the question....if Ricketts likes Fleita so much, why isn't he just made the GM?