UK1679666180

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/scorecard/_/class/2014 I would've never thought the day would come when UK could recruit at football. I should note that those are not the actual rankings as Western Michigan does not have a top 10 class. http://insider.espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/classrankings?class=2014 It is good to see UK be ranked at 12 overall instead of 12th in the SEC.

Sell, even with the RD being as solid as it is compared to W-L as well as the WC expansion you still have three teams to climb ahead in the division. I'm still all for selling with Feldman, Garza, and Dejesus being the 3 primary pieces.

we'll see what we can do about that for you Haha, I swear I made that post before I realize he was picked. Awesome. He was very well regarded coming out of HS and thought of as a possible first rounder but never put it all together. Could be a reliever if he still struggles with his secondary stuff, but I bet Derek Johnson could do wonders for him. He's the type that loses velo as the game wears on, not blessed with a quick arm, throws w/more effort than you'd like, but has two ML avg. pitches (FB and slider). I see him as a reliever. Would like to see him out in front more and not rush his lower body.

I'm fine with taking a potential injury risk with Masek and signing him above slot at this point. hopefully what they said about fixing his mechanics are true and he is able to stay healthy. Like Skulina, it'll come down to his change-up whether or not he'll project better in the pen or as a starter as a poor man's Oswalt.

I'm fine with Skulina, I don't know what he'll get as far as a SB as he'll be 22 and won't likely match what he'll get going into his senior year. His stuff reminds me of former prospect Jason Wylie with better mechanics, depends on his change-up as far as his ceiling.

They know the parameters of each player they'll take and budget it accordingly, any wild card will come from an agent demanding more than previously thought which could later be allocated when they select a likely unsignable pick in the teens as a fall-back option (there really isn't a fallback option for Bryant). Based on what I've seen from the reports, they've selected two avg (50-54) prospects with these last two picks and they'll be scattered throughout these 1st 10 rounds. There likely won't be much of an OFP difference between rds. 2-10, with the exception of a marginal senior sign (10-25K) and hopefully an above avg. above slot guy or two.

JACOB HANNEMANN, of, Brigham Young University On the strength of his impressive athleticism and rapidly-improving four-tool ability, a team may be tempted to take an early run at the 6-foot, 190-pound Hannemann, perhaps as early as the third round. But most clubs are expected to preach caution when it comes to drafting Hannemann as he has little or no track record over an extended stretch at the college level after he chose to go on a two-year Mormon mission in 2010, right after high school. He resumed his career this spring, without even the benefit of fall practice as he utilized that time to resume a promising football career at BYU as a defensive back, though ended up being red-shirted. Hannemann’s raw speed, his best tool, was obvious from the start as he has an easy, powerful stride and is capable of running the 60 in the 6.4-6.5-second range. With instincts that improved almost by the day as the 2013 season progressed, he began to utilize his speed more efficiently, both on the bases and in the outfield, and soon became so impressive defensively with his jumps and routes that he took over in center field for the Cougars after starting out in right field. Along the way, he made numerous highlight-reel catches. With impressive juice in his bat, Hannemann also made significant strides at the plate through the course of the season in his role as a lead-off hitter. Through the first week of May, he was hitting .339-5-25 with a club-high 42 runs scored. Hannemann projects to hit 15-20 home runs a year, if his power continues to evolve. From a tools standpoint, the only area where Hannemann may fall a little short is arm strength, though his advancing age (22 on April 29) may also work against him.

I'd go with Appel right now, more sound mechanically than Gray (even with that recoil), stuff doesn't have as high of a ceiling as Gray but I think is more likely to become a top of the rotation guy. I worry about Bryant defensively and I wonder how he'll adjust once they shorten his stride.

It was a surprise to me. I figured FSU or UK, though I thought UKs chances faded a bit after the all star games and after one of the Harrison twins talked smack about him in a video. Congrats on the best player in the country.

Pretty soon we'll be seeing Wiggins putting on a FSU hat, I think KU has an outside chance but the best chance between KU, UK, and UNC.

Its more difficult before they are drafted unless you know someone close to them or their coach is honest. Its a completely different animal playing minor league ball to hs and even college as far as how they occupy their free-time. Scouts talk and minor league coaches talk, they have no reason to cover up poor behavior while amatuer coaches tend to protect to an extent.

I'm trying to understand your logic on this one and I can't. From a competitive standpoint, baseball lifestyle, # of scout observations, and age progression it all gears towards more knowledge going towards players within minor league systems over potential early draft picks.

That I agree with, I know I argued that I would rather have Sweeney up than Sappelt, but I don't see why they need him and Borbon, although I'd rather have Sweeney than Borbon.

His approach hasn't progressed and has actually regressed since '10, so I think there is valid reasoning to be concerned. His ratio of swinging pitches outside of the zone has gone from 43.5% to 50.7, his contact ratio went from 86% in '11 to 81% in '12. He's still young but he has over 2000PAs, we should start seeing improvement by now and he hasn't improved since his rookie year.

Ceiling-wise, I'm thinking McGriff.

Am I underestimating the DeJesus trade market? I see pick 34 as a back of the Cubs top 10 type prospect with the additional benefit of the Cubs getting to pick anyone available at 34, not just picking from a limited set of players in one specific organization. Seems like good value for DeJesus if they're going to trade him. Wait. Wouldn't the prospects in one quality organization be a better collection to choose from than just guys available after pick 33? Not all organizations, but the ones you want to deal with should be. And you would have the advantage of having a guy with more data points to judge. Depends on the list of names KC would present to the Cubs in exchange for DeJesus or whether or not that 34rd pick is better than those names.

I don't think it's been permanently scarred. If LeBron can recover from the Decision backlash, Rose can certainly recover from the backlash he's received this year. More than likely, we'll forget about this whole quagmire in two seasons, if not by next January. But seriously, if the Bulls and Rose announced that they're going to approach the season as if Rose wasn't coming back, expectations would have been severely tempered and him returning would have been considered gravy. However, they went ahead with the stupid "#TheReturn" horsecrap, which put Rose in a really bad spot in the event that he didn't return. The part that I find really confusing is that they went ahead with the return shenanigan and it appears that all along, Rose had no intention of coming back this year. I can't even comprehend how dumb that is on his part- you're shooting commercials that illustrate that you're coming back, and coming back soon, even though you have no intention of playing this season. Pretty disappointing, if true. What I mean by scarred is not that it'll be never forgiven but never forgotten, probably similar to Pippen's 1.8 seconds. The Bulls screwed up as you said but Rose hasn't helped matters by not addressing the media and having the Bulls answer all questions related to him with shrugged shoulders.

I'm confused with this thread. Begins with an incorrect assumption about Rizzo and too much movement before he loads, which doesn't matter as long as once his stride foot comes down that he's in a good loaded position to where he doesn't have to raise or drop his hands, which he doesn't do. If it's his timing mechanism like Sheffield or Nomar or where there has to be be movement for him to be comfortable, so be it. His bat angle as previously mentioned is the likely cause, similar bat path to Adam Dunn will have likely led to his swing and misses more in '13. He is too aggressive, he was too aggressive last year and his too aggressive this year, it is something that can be improved upon but he was only better than 15% at laying off pitches out of the zone last year. Combine that with the bat path creating a lesser chance for contact and his k rate will jump.

I don't think it's been tolerated, especially if they lose tonight or especially if they somehow win and play Miami and the national circus that follows. Rose's image has been permanently scarred, IMO as it should be.

I've been horrible at doing this and this year will be no different but... If I was the Bears when their pick came up.... 1) Sharrif Floyd-DT-Florida 2) Jamar Taylor- CB- Boise State 4) Johnathon Franklin RB-UCLA 5) Jeff Baca- OG UCLA 6) David Quessenberry OT- San Jose St. 7) Sean Renfree QB Duke.

We don't know how the future of the Cubs is going to work out either, yet we're still here complimenting and complain regardless of what the future outcome will be. I know my draft choices would've been awful and most likely worse than the Bears ov4er the last few years, doesn't stop me from "internet" trying though.

Floyd is there and they pass on him? I know about the baggage, lack of production as far as sack totals, and Melton also playing the 3 technique, but he's by far the best player avail. and with Melton's contract pending again, I really wanted him here.

I guess as a 5th OF'er he fits the mold.. For Fun: Campana in '12 and Borbon in '10. Campana chased 53.3% of the pitches outside the strike zone and Borbon chased 53.2% Campana was at 62% at swinging at strikes and Borbon was at 56% at swinging at strikes, both well above av. Campana made contact on 80% of the swings. Borbon was at 84%. Borbon did not strike out nearly as much. Campana was ahead in the count for 23.1% of the pitches he sees, while Borbon was 23.5%, both well below avg. Campana has 3.4 pitches per PA while Borbon had 3.4. Both had similar LD% of 10, while Borbon had a much higher fly ball ratio.

I get thoughts like that a lot. Like when the bullpen is self-destructing (most days), I think of all the guys sweating it out in the minors that never make it. I mean, these are the ones that made it? His stuff isn't the same as it once was and his poor reputation will likely sway teams into looking at other pitchers with similar stuff who come with less baggage. It's unfortunate but teams will look teams will go for less baggage at league minimum or someone up from the minors compared to a player like Zambrano. I guess it depends on how much reward they could expect from Zambrano. I wouldn't mind it, it's just hard to watch a power pitcher like him lose his best pitch (power sinker). I guess it depends on what type of shape he's in and what type of shape his arm is in. Florida got it right last year as far as having him throw more splitters.

They supposedly are interested in him, not as much as Balt. right now. I don't think I'd give up any arms for him and would probably have Sweeney up there instead of him.