Na don't change it. Luhnow is so cool he does he deals sitting courtside at the Rockets game....I buy it.
There are “no game-changers” in the ten-player trade completed this morning, a rival evaluator told ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (Twitter link). Nothing special. Meh
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>This is the face that J.A. Happ made when he learned of his trade <a href="http://t.co/JFcjmcDo" title="http://i.imgur.com/2QncR.gif">i.imgur.com/2QncR.gif</a></p>— Lord Melkington (@baycityball) <a href="https://twitter.com/baycityball/status/226362006071025664" data-datetime="2012-07-20T17:04:42+00:00">July 20, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Premier defensive/game calling backstop who has a good walk/strikeout ratio at the plate and is a doubles machine.
Of course, the Astros aren't even in the game right now to change it. If anything, this should be taken as a compliment to the Astros because it means the Blue Jays (who actually are in the game) didn't receive any valuable pieces that change their outlook much. Meaning that once again, Luhnow got good prospects for marginal players. Something that we have no use for right now....
Look... The Lee deal and this deal are not getting us elite talent, but no one is going to give stars for garbage like JAH and Lee. To me this deal is better than the Lee deal, and are good for the franchise, but this isn't special.
I do begin to wonder at what point do we realize that the prospects being offered are not as good as the ones we already have? One can make the statement that you can never have too many prospects. But in a sense, you CAN given there are only so many slots available on your collective rosters on the farm(s). I am not say we are there yet, but the way we are adding, and the way we are already starting to waive and release the dead weight, that point may not be that far away.
we've added, what, 15 via trade maybe in the last 2 years? There are at least 4 non-rookie clubs. I think there's plenty of room to upgrade still
Collect as much talent as you can, develop it as best you can, and constantly adjust where you are. Many of them will not succeed, even if you think they're a sure thing, others will surprise you. Drafting and developing young baseball talent is the single most difficult thing to project in sports.
A very good point. We've certainly built up what can almost be described as incredible depth between Greeneville, Tri-City, and Lexington. What makes it seem like there's too many prospects at the lower levels now is lack of promotion in the lower-levels. I'm referring to the HiA affiliate at Lancaster, aka the black hole of prospect movement in the Astros system. We promote aggressively and routinely up to Lexington (LoA). Once talk of Lancaster comes into play, whether it be promoting up to or out of, all prospect movement becomes a huge game of "are his stats real or not?!?". The California league and Lancaster in particular has a reputation as an extreme hitter friendly environment. Hitters are slow to be promoted out of Lancaster because history shows that inflated stats there are not indicative of future performance (see Jon Gaston, Jimmy Van Ostrand, etc...). Pitchers are slow to promoted to Lancaster because their numbers usually balloon and many prospects have been derailed in the Cali league. It's gotten to the point where many top Astros prospects get consideration for skipping from Lexington (LoA to Corpus Christi (AA). That is of course ridiculous because very few prospects successfully make a two-level jump. The solution is securing a more neutral HiA affiliate: the Carolina league (neutral) or the Florida State League (pitcher-friendly). If George Springer and Domingo Santana put up their stats in either of those leagues, they'd already be in AA. If we had a more pitcher friendly HiA affiliate, Mike Foltynewicz would already have been promoted. We have so many prospects performing at the low levels that should be pushing their way up, thereby making room for the new guys. It just isn't happening though.
I totally agree. But right now is the first time in recent years that ive even considered that there is a growing list of guys on the farm that are not going anywhere. That is, they are keepers In addition to the approx 15 guys we added via trade, I am also thinking of the 40+ that we added via draft. Dont get me wrong. I am not saying we are near full. I am saying we are not completely empty anymore.
One Dominican Summer league team Two rookie level teams: GCL and Greenville (Appalachian league) One Class A short season team: Tri-City (NYPL) Four full season teams: Class A: Lexington (South Atlantic) Class A - Advanced: Lancaster (Cali league) Class AA team: Corpus Christi (Texas league) Class AAA team: Oklahoma City (Pacific Coast league) In the past it wasn't necessary, but I think the argument could be made now to add another class A short season team or low A team.
Of course, the "Lancaster Effect" also means that pitchers who succeed there are pretty good bets that their numbers are completely real. Given where most of our depth resides right now (position players), having a fine toothed grinder for pitching may be a good thing in the long run. I am guessing that it is easier to see (translate his numbers accordingly) a position player benefiting from a "hitter friendly" environment than it is to see a pitcher benefiting from a "Pitcher friendly" one.
You know what, since we've had Lancaster as the HiA affiliate I can't remember any pitchers that's really did well there. According to one of the Blue Jays fans posting on Crawfishboxes today, the comedown for pitchers in the Florida State League (HiA, pitcher-friendly) to the Eastern league (AA, neutral) is similar for hitters going from the Cali league to the Texas league (neutral). In any event, I think it just makes sense to have neutral affiliates across the board so league/park factors aren't an issue. There's one single HiA team in the Carolina league whose player development contract is up for renewal this year; I hope we pounce on them.
Just noticed that mlb.com has updated the top 20 prospects for the Astros, you can see it here: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2012/index.jsp?tcid=mm_mlb_players As for the PTNBL, Toronto had quite a few players sign at or near the deadline. Here is the link to last year's draft results: http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/team/draft.jsp?c_id=tor&year=2011 With Luhnow looking for arms, I'd suspect the PTNBL would be a pitcher. Toronto's GM said in an interview that the PTBNL would be decided near the end of August.
These guys were ranked in the top 20 in the Blue Jays system, which was the second best system in the league coming into this year. They are most certainly in the running for being top 20 in our system now as well. We are talking about a couple of supplemental first round pitchers here and a catcher that was ranked in the top 10 in the Blue Jays system by some. The pitching prospects are basically in the ballpark of a Ross Seaton. These guys that we got are definitely not redundant. They immediately become some of the better prospects we have.
