Wednesday, October 17, 2007

First Half Review and Award

Around the half way point in the season now. The bad news is 6 of 8 division races seem to be decided. The good news is that AL North race and AL South race are very tight. The NL wildcard race could be a bloodbath. Seven teams (Toronto, Cincy, KC, Wichita, Boston, Houston, and Arizona) are within 3 games of each other for the two wild card berths. Trade deadline deals could have a big impact on this race. In the NL DC and LA are in control of the wildcard race now, and at this point the only threats to their playoff hops are Sacramento, Salem, and the loser of the Memphis/Santa Fe division race.

First Half AL MVP

Derrick Flynn (SFE) gets the slight edge of Tony Tarasco (NY) and Harry Roque (SCO) because of his great play in the field.

First Half NL MVP

Carlos Johnson (HAR) is the pretty clear winner so far for MVP over Doug Connelly (ARI) and Tim Smith (HOU)

First Half AL Cy Young

This was a tight race, but Ramon Ramirez (MEM) gets the nod over Jerome Turner (SCO). I would also expect to see Vin Burks (NY) and Earl Wilkerson (SCO) there at the end.

First Half NL Cy Young

Banjo Melhouse (ATL) has been dominating and looks to be the clear winner, but Vitas Sobkowiak (CIN) leads the entire league in IP, SO, and WHIP, and is 4th in ERA, I call this a tie so far. Al Gutierrez (StL) Joel Coleman (StL) and Richard Kim (TOR) also expect to be in consideration for the award at the end of the season.

RP Awards and Rookie Awards

I don’t do these, RPs are too unpredictable and there is no easy way to find Rookies.

Out of Nowhere Award – Player

Dan Turner (LAA) - 3rd in RBI, top 10 in HRs. At 29 years old and in his second season in the majors he is adding some punch to the LAA Lineup. Honorable mention is SP Richard Kim (TOR)

Out of Nowhere Award – Team

Los Angeles Penetrators – A first year coach taking over a team that had finished last 4 years in a row and leading the wild card race. Nobody expected this.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Draft review

Most of the teams I was able to write about, but some teams players haven't signed yet and I didn't see the same players they scouted.


Anaheim – Drafted 2 pitchers and 3 DH/1B/C types in the first 5 rounds. Apollo Xavier, whose name sounds like his job should include wearing a mask and yellow tights, has a super hero like bat. Thurman looks like a steal in the second round and should project to be solid #3 SP. DH/C Kiko and Conway both have great ML bats, but questionable defense.

Arizona – A few of his guys might be signing risks, but a speedy OF Sam Sisk and a power hitting Rollie Nixon 3B highlight this draft class.

Atlanta – Another fine job with position they picked in the draft. Gonzalez looks like a good LRA type pitcher, they got a speedy 2B. Corey Christenson looks like a sure thing big leaguer, a very nice player with pick #82.

Austin – Picked up 3 pitchers, a SS and 2B. 1st and 2nd round picks Schneider and Cruz both look like major league material, but both could also be signing risks so we’ll see if they both make it on the roster.

Boston – Focused on pitching for the draft. 4 of the first 5 rounds were spent on pitchers. Wish I knew more, but only scouted his 5th round pick.

Chicago – Another team I didn’t see many of the players he scouted/drafted. Position players were drafted with the first three picks, it does look like he has some signing risks in the group, particularly pick #42 Allie Whiten a decent player but demanding $8M.

Cincinnati – Grabbed a long armed SP that has 3 great pitches. C/DH Whitehead has a good bat, and RP Prince looks to make the bigs as a SuA.

Cleveland – Got one of the best SPs in the draft in Pichardo. Boehringer and Mitchell could be back of the rotation type SPs, which is pretty good for 2nd and 4th round picks. Hollins looks like a catcher that is both a quality backstop and has a good bat.

Dover – Picked up a premiere impact player with pick ten Cf Valdvia. Doyle Nathan looks like a solid prospect and JT Webster could be a back of rotation SP.

Florida – Focused on pitching in the with their first 4 picks of the draft. Looks to be building a solid core group with SPs Hale, Haney, and Sele.

Hartford – Some good value picks in round 2 and 3 with some solid position players.

Honolulu – Calvo looks like a sure thing future All-Star 2B, Great splits, and BE to go with good power and nice glove. Position players were the staple of Honolulu’s draft and a number should make the big leagues.

Houston – Brian Jung looks like a very nice RP, and they certainly had a strategy with the draft. All pitching all the time. 24 of 26 draft picks were pitchers.

Indianapolis – Looks like it Potvin signs he could be an All-Star. Speed, power, and a superior batting eye make him a wonderful pickup, particularly at #15. Their next 6 picks were also position players and it looks to be a good crop.

KC – Theo Buckley with pick 27 might be the steal of the draft. He’s a great defensive SS with some pop in his bat.

Las Vegas – David Larson in my opinion was the premiere SP in the draft. The next 5 picks were also pitchers and it should be a decent group of prospects. Even the 5th round OF has good ratings and should make the majors.

LA – Carlos Ibarra should be an anchor to this rotation for years to come. They grabbed some nice defensive CF/2B, but a couple of their guys look to have signage issues.

Memphis – 5 of first 6 picks were pitchers. Incomplete.

Milwaukee – Holliday is a sure thing ML talent. Great range and glove to go with an impressive bat, comparisons could be made to Atlanta’s Andrew Jones. Olivares looks to be a solid setup man, Guzman a good DH, and OF Forrest has tremendous power. Hopefully the praises of Holliday will lead the Gurus to want to trade him to the Mad Jesters ala OF Johnson of season 5.

Minnesota – Pitching Pitching Pitching, their first seven picks all were pitchers. Harang and Bo Moore seem the most promising.

Monterrey – Kojima was one of the premiere SS that was available. Followed up with 2B Ronald Jones this is going to be a potent MIF duo in the near future. 3rd round pick Bob McElroy seems to be on of those invaluable setup men with a rubber arm and good L/R splits. CF Monte Jenkins looks interesting, only projected rated 11 vL, but projects to 90s in both vR and BE means he could be a great platoon guy.

NY – Griffin and Winchester are solid ML talents, which is what you can expect when picking in the 29 range. As good as Winchester is, he is no Mark Ross. SP Kenny Williams actually could be a decent SP, he has a very nice #1 pitch.

Oklahoma City – The eighth pick was one of the most fascinating players in the draft. Usually IMHO a position player with 500+ ABs or a SP with 200IPs is worth a pick this high, but even an exceptional closer usually only gets 40-50 IP. I’m not sure if a player like Clayton has a real life comparison. His 49 STA and upper 70s DUR mean he could be a super RP that gets 70 games and 130 IPs, his L/R splits are great and he has two fabulous pitches. I’ll be interested in how his career turns out.

Sacramento – Russell Cook in my opinion was the best pure hitter in the draft. His major flaw is his defense, he’s a DH/1B but he can mash. He compares to Scottsdale’s DH Eric Thomas. His next couple of picks look good, but might have some signing issues.

Salem – After years of really focusing on pitching in the draft Salem went the position route, and did well. CF Fernandez looks like a great glove with speed and nice bat and will certainly make the majors. Their next three picks Canon, Ford, and Knowles don’t look to be all-stars, but certainly should have solid major league careers.

Santa Fe – Grabbed an OF in the first round, and then focused on pitching. I wasn’t able to scout most of his players. Rumor is 1/3 of their prospect budget is going to their 25th round pick a 48 OVR rated 1B.

Scottsdale – Picked up a couple decent OF. The first 7 picks all have a chance to make the big leagues, but mostly only as role or bench players no impact players.

St. Louis – When you have four first round picks you hope you can give a major boost to your team, and they did very well. Carson Sellers was a great pickup at pick 19, then a great slugging 1B Al Stewart, a setup/closer in Sammy Borbon, and another power hitter in 3B Tony Lee. Flood, Lemon, and Tarasco picked in rounds 2-3 also look to be great hitters. There is some obvious overlap in positions, but they probably got 7-8 major league players in this draft.

Texas – 3B Moreno is a true impact player for this team, then picked a couple of decent SPs later in round one and four. Blauser looks to be a decent prospect, but SS Doug Moore might not sign.

Toronto – SS Wathan is a power hitting SS, but could be a signing issue. After that they got a couple of decent IF prospects.

Washington – First pick was in the 3rd round because of FA signings, and picked up a solid all round 3B in Alston. Then a decent RP in Cosby. Not bad for so few picks, but honestly they probably got better players in the FA they picked up than the prospects they lost.

Wichita – SP Griffin is a signability risk, but taking a gamble at pick 14 on a potential #2 SP is worth it. The second round C might not have a end up staying at catcher, but he certainly has an impressive bat. SS Howie Randolf is light on the bat, but has a good glove and its always crucial to have those type guys.

Top Drafts 10


St. Louis - Best Draft by far, but also had the most picks

Cleveland

Las Vegas

Dover

Anaheim

Indianapolis

OKC

Salem

KC

Sacramento

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Top 100 Players

Here's a list of the top100 players in the league. By team ATL has 7, Chicago 6, NY 7, SCO 8. Just listed Name, Team, Age, and the number.

Tim Smith HOU 32 101.19
Doug Connelly ARI 31 101.10
Jerome Turner SCO 31 101.05
Vitas Sobkowiak CIN 29 100.55
Rich Rothschild MIN 35 100.13
Jerome Patrick NY1 25 99.87
J.C. Russell SAL 32 99.44
Rusty Jones SCO 31 99.09
Steve Taylor HOU 23 98.96
Banjo Melhuse ATL 25 98.52
Ramon Ramirez MEM 29 98.40
Derrick Flynn SFE 27 98.39
Glenn Kubenka MEM 26 97.52
Rafael Cedeno SAC 25 96.81
Rafael Alicea IND 23 96.62
Carlos Johnson HAR 25 96.17
Jose Lee SAL 34 96.14
Mike Andrews SAC 30 96.08
Bob Appier CH2 35 95.80
Robin Sullivan WIC 33 95.36
Mark Ross WAS 29 94.63
Robert Black HAR 31 94.22
Al Gutierrez STL 29 94.11
Bonk Linton BOS 26 93.54
Pablo Johnson MNT 29 93.43
Eric Monroe MEM 32 93.43
Vladimir Goya CLE 26 93.07
Joel Coleman STL 35 92.85
Tony Chang ARI 29 92.66
Darrel Perez SCO 28 92.45
Homer Monroe MEM 27 92.28
Sam Rivera WIC 30 92.12
Rich Sanford MEM 31 92.02
Dick Yeats ARI 34 91.87
Lorenzo Fernandez TEX 30 91.66
Mark Lee HON 31 91.65
Alan O'Malley MIN 25 91.40
Raul Gonzalez LA 25 91.20
Vin Burks NY1 24 91.18
Clay Lincoln NY1 28 91.02
George Spence CH2 31 91.00
Pascual Melendez WAS 24 90.91
Brian Perez HAR 24 90.87
George Bell WIC 33 90.84
Benito Vazquez MNT 28 90.64
B.C. Sierra STL 36 89.78
Alex Green SCO 26 89.60
Al Pena KC 32 89.46
Wes Davies SAC 25 89.41
Ken Jefferies NY1 26 89.41
Walt Keeler MIN 28 89.31
Vic Saenz ATL 34 89.31
Dan West TOR 33 89.29
Mendy Aoki LAA 36 89.24
Lawrence Trammell BOS 24 89.22
Willie Liriano HOU 31 88.97
Enrique Ruiz KC 27 88.82
Kiki Lopez NY1 26 88.81
Tony Rivera ATL 27 88.72
Paul Ogawa MNT 22 88.68
Earl Wilkerson SCO 32 88.54
Hugh Moore MNT 33 88.54
Hector Romero CH2 33 88.34
Chili Olsen HOU 23 88.32
Emil Renteria SAC 31 88.20
Del Castro SAC 25 87.97
Donald Nakajima STL 33 87.58
Benji Marichal ATL 23 87.54
Ted Rivera CH2 33 87.46
Bey Buckley ATL 25 87.15
Brian Scott LAA 31 86.92
Stan Jackson CH2 28 86.91
Mendy Messmer STL 31 86.86
Virgil Quinn SCO 25 86.82
Glen Michaels WAS 29 86.76
Ricardo Santana ARI 26 86.71
Tim Durbin SCO 24 86.16
Julius Brush NY1 31 86.03
Felipe Rodriguez SCO 22 85.86
Eric Franklin LAA 37 85.75
Shawn Wilhelm AUS 32 85.42
Andres Terrero HAR 32 85.03
Gerald Thomas LA 36 85.00
Ted Stoops CLE 30 84.86
Stevie Morgan ATL 26 84.72
John Blank BOS 26 84.72
Alex Cordero NY1 24 84.52
Carlos Javier TOR 32 84.25
Arlie Dillon CLE 27 84.11
Miller Andrews FLA 28 83.89
Javier Sosa ATL 30 83.77
Carl Cochrane MIN 25 83.50
Toby Perkins SAC 27 83.44
Rocky Duvall CH2 22 83.27
Jon Zentmeyer LAA 28 83.18
Tim Lincoln AUS 29 83.13
Ben Musial TEX 31 83.08
Gill Kwon CIN 29 83.02
Albert Guzman LAA 32 83.01