CaliforniaRaisin

I agree with Goldstein's general assessment of the prospects (except maybe Samardzija - but ranking him depends on whether you take into consideration the odds that he sticks to baseball). Agreed. Hopefully the extra Pacific scouting this past season wasn't just aimed at Japanese pro players. And hopefully the bigger named signings in Latin America this past summer is a sign of things to come.

He still wears the high socks!

Not that Hank White has done too much better. Hank can still coast for a while on being the MVP of the Caribbean World Series. Or something. But Ronny was Rookie of the Year last winter!

Kaplan said the other night, Hendry loves Murton, but that he almost guaranteed that Jones would not be with the team to start next year. Good news on the Jacque front, Wish it would be Eyre instead of Wuertz, but I doubt the Indians would be interested in that type of money for a reliever.

On the 40-man roster, not the 25-man. The third catcher would be in Iowa. Unless the CBA changed the rule on drafted Rule 5 players, the team that drafted him would have to keep Fox on their 25 man roster all year in order to retain him. How many teams can afford to carry a rookie catcher on their roster all season. How many can afford to carry a 3rd catcher? That's what I was getting at. It doesn't seem all that risky to me that they expose Fox to Rule V. If a team drafts him, work out a trade and call it good. Looking back, it would have been nice to work out a trade for Sisco, Dubois and ole what's his name...... The guy drafted by Florida who has spent a better part of his Cub career injured. Oh, I mistook your point. It'd be hard to stash Fox, but easier for a bad AL team to do it (DH, pinch hitter). He has been trying other positions (corner OF, corner IF) but he certainly isn't ready for those positions in the big leagues either. As I already said, I don't know if the Cubs should protect him given his defensive struggles. The pitcher who's name you've forgotten is Luke Hagerty.

On the 40-man roster, not the 25-man. The third catcher would be in Iowa.

The rest of the interiew can be found at Project Prospect, a site that soccer10k writes for.

I don't think so. The new CBA gave the clubs another year of control before players become eligible for the Rule V. Despite the new CBA, Fox is still eligible for the Rule 5 draft. The question is, will a team take a flyer on a pretty competent bat who can't handle catcher defensively. I'm beginning to think no...

Not great, but yeah, he was a former White Sox prospect. He was a total reach/signability pick.

With the re-signing of Blanco, one of Soto/Reyes will be probably be dropped from the 40-man.

Ok, now you're good for something. ETA: This should be a big selling item: http://rbk.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/p2312112dt.jpg

He's a FA at the end of the season and he's 30...by the end of his next contract, he'd be getting to that age where most catcher's start breaking down. If you can improve the team, I don't have a problem with it.

Not really. Your link doesn't work. :P

I hope your priest doesn't know Ken Williams!! :)

Yeah, they definitely do. This is the first year I've truly paid attention to the leagues and the box scores, and I'm stunned to see how many everyday big leaguers actually play there...and a lot of them don't use it just as a way to get in shape for a few weeks but play most of the winter season.

Don't forget 1989. :evil:

Wow, Pierre for Mitre-Nolasco-Pinto was not a good deal? For all this talk that Pinto is an inconsistent thrower (he definitely has control issues), he sure seemed to have good results at Albuquerque (a hitter's haven at 4500' in elevation in a hitter's league) and in the big leagues. I'm not sure how you can say Nolasco was the only valuable pitcher in the trade last season, let alone in future seasons. Just like Nolasco, Pinto's ceiling is a 3/4 pitcher and I can't see what makes you write him off like you do. And that doesn't get into the fact that Pierre is overvalued (and continues to be). EDIT: For some reason, I decided to call Albuquerque a pitcher's park. :?

While he's done fantastic in the AFL, he's only had 23 ABs so far.

But he's going from Safeco to Wrigley and the AL West (Seattle, Oakland and Anaheim are pitcher's parks) to the NL Central. He's a good guy to take a risk on. He has good stuff. But his price tag is going to be pretty expensive - I'd at least take a look at Schmidt first and fail at going after him before moving to the Meche tier of FA pitchers. I haven't looked at numbers, but isn't Safeco regarded as a pitcher's park? And I also don't really see a whole lot of difference in talent level between the AL west and the NL central outside of the DH being there. The Angels and A's have both struggled offensively the last 2 years. Aside from Meche possibly figuring it out under Rothschild, I don't see a lot of reason for optimism, especially since he averaged less than 6 IP/start last year with a nearly 1.5 whip. Yeah, that was my point...Safeco Field, McAfee Coliseum and Angel Stadium are pitcher's parks (Ballpark in Arlington obviously isn't). The NL Central doesn't have the luxury of the pitcher's parks and Wrigley certainly isn't as friendly as Safeco is to a pitcher.

Since very few posters gave him props for signing his own free agents (ARam, Wood, and Miller), I would think he should be ahead of the GMs that couldn't even sign their own free agents (Soriano, Drew, Schmidt, Zito, CLee, etc.). What? You want to rank him ahead of Beane because he managed to resign Ramirez but Beane didn't resign Zito? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Sure it does. I realize that the A's made the playoffs with Zito but Beane should have cashed that chip at the deadline. Zito's loss would have been overcome with the depth the A's had. Hendry's big negative is that he overpays for medocrity. Again I say whoopeedo. Medocrity is what exists in baseball. There are only so many "superstars" available. Last offseason most here were clamoring for Brian Giles. That would have equaled roughly the same as what Jones put together. The difference is that Jones has a more manageable contract and that leaves the right doors open for Hendry - Trades. There hasn't been one trade that Hendry has made that has been a poor move. If Hendry has a club of mangeable and tradeable contracts then we can be active on the trade front. I wouldn't exactly call the Maddux-for-Izturis deal a good one. Although, if he can deal Izturis as part of a package to get an impact player, I'll stop complaining about that one. Don't forget Pierre for Mitre, Nolasco, Pinto.

Well, they play at Virginia this weekend. Virginia is awful. Still, don't you think it's funnier to have Miami playing in the Blue Turf Bowl, or Florida State in the Emerald Bowl, then to have them at home for the bowls? I take great joy in seeing them play in December, yes, especially against the likes of Nevada and UCLA (sorry Raisin) No need to be sorry, though I'll be really livid if we're at the same level next year with the amount of talent we'll have.

Not that Hank White has done too much better.

Sweet! Lorenzo Mata was cleared to play today in the opener against BYU. :)

I agree. For someone who thought a bowl game was impossible a week ago, it's nice to see. :)

That'd be fun! Seven Pac-10 teams in bowl games, but I can't see UCLA being the Pac-10's 5th...probably 6th or 7th.