Archive for the ‘Prospecting’ Category

Friday Prospecting

Posted by Andrew Stoeten under Bob Elliott, Keith Law, Prospecting on Jun 15, 2012

Drew mentioned earlier that Bob Elliott often employs a classic trick where he turns some quotes from a scout into a column– and funnily enough, that’s almost exactly what he employed earlier this week at the Toronto Sun (here via Canoe, because the Sun’s website has been squirrely lately).

To be fair, Elliott actually tacked the quotes below a whole column’s worth of content that wasn’t based around what his scout-buddy was telling him, but… who gives a shit about that, amiright? Here’s how his RBI-loving source viewed some of the Jays’ top prospects, followed by more prospecty tidbits from Kevin Goldstein and Keith Law…

Now, I scoff at this evaluator’s anachronistic-seeming view of the game, and this would be the part of the post where I back off of that slightly, except that I’m pretty sure I have damn good reason for doing so.

“He’s an all-star shortstop with the glove, which everyone knew at the start of the season,” he tells Elliott of number two (no, really) prospect Adeiny Hechavarria. “Now, he’s starting to hit some, look at his runs scored and RBI.”

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Greetings From Dunedin – June 13

Posted by Bradley Ankrom under Prospecting on Jun 13, 2012

Travis d’Arnaud is tearing it up in Triple-A, and his production isn’t wholly a byproduct of the Pacific Coast League. His Las Vegas teammates Moises Sierra, Adeiny Hechavarria, and Anthony Gose are equally on fire, and they’re four games back of Fresno in the Southern Division. Elsewhere, Michael Crouse and Jake Marisnick returned from injury for the Dunedin Blue Jays, and Sean Ochinko exceeds expectations as A.J. Jimenez’s replacement in New Hampshire.

Follow the progress of the Blue Jays’ Top 20 Prospects, as ranked by Kevin Goldstein, at the Baseball Prospectus Prospect Tracker. Read the rest of this entry »

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Draft Live: Correa Goes First, And the Jays Take…

Posted by Andrew Stoeten under Prospecting, Rule 4 Draft on Jun 04, 2012

It’s the 2012 MLB Draft, and though the Toronto Blue Jays don’t pick until number seventeen, there will still be a lot to talk about– most likely a critique of the MLB Network’s coverage, which really kicked off with a shitacular Theory of a NickelCreedback honk of an opening montage– so I’ll be here making pithy remarks all night.

There’s a live chat at Getting Blanked, where Parkes and company will be chatting along with the broadcast, and incorporating tweets from draft gurus like Jim Callis, Keith Law and Kevin Goldstein. After trying it out a bit, I’ve decided to leave it with the link, rather than providing the window for it over here. I’ll be making my comments below the jump, including updating the picks as they happen… because… I’m sure it will be impossible for you to find that information anywhere.

Let me know if you find the formatting irritating and I’ll be happy to change stuff around to make it a better experience for everyone.

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It’s Draft Day!

Posted by Andrew Stoeten under Keith Law, Kevin Goldstein, Prospecting on Jun 04, 2012

This evening, beginning at 7 PM, MLB will conduct the first round, and the first supplemental round of its Rule 4 Draft from gorgeous Secaucus, NJ. The Houston Astros are currently, technically, on the clock, as holders of the first pick, and after that, the real clusterfuck begins, as club will start making their selections, picking up the pieces of their draft boards, and trying to figure out how best to manage their money.

I’ll have a Draft Threat post up in time for Houston’s selection at 7 PM, and will keep updating it as the evening progresses, with an eye obviously on the Jays, and whatever information I can get my hands on regarding the players they pick. And it shouldn’t even be too insufferable, as the Jays should provide one of the evening’s more interesting story-lines– for all of baseball, not just for us– as they’ll be making five picks (17, 22, 50, 58 and 60), and have been viewed as quite aggressive in their selections– not to mention in their acquisition of extra picks– since Alex Anthopoulos assumed the GM’s chair.

It’s not an unrealistic expectation that they’ll be one of the clubs attempting to game the system and extracting as much value out of their multiple picks as possible. How they might do this remains somewhat up in the air. Anthopoulos has said, as I posted earlier, that it’s possible they’ll take guys who can be signed under-slot later in the draft, if they feel a player is available to them earlier who is worth going after, but the impression he left was that this was dependent on who is available to them.

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AA Speaks!: Draft Vagueness, EE and Vlad!

Posted by Andrew Stoeten under Anthopoulos Speaks!, Edwin Encarnacion, Prospecting, Vladimir Guerrero on Jun 04, 2012

Prior to tonight’s opening of MLB’s Rule 4 Draft– and the Jays’ charity golf tournament, which is happening today– Alex Anthopoulos jumped on the Fan 590′s airwaves and spoke to Jeff Sammut about draft strategy, and where Vladimir Guerrero is at, among other subjects. Obviously there’s not a whole lot that the GM could reveal about how tonight is going to go down, but that’s largely because he doesn’t know for sure himself.

“We kind of run these quasi-mock drafts,” he explains. “Then we’re looking at signability, because now at this point every one of the advisors and the families and the players have pretty much given an indication of what it will take to sign them. So, you start looking at it and you start to say, OK, well, is there a scenario where if we get a few of these selections, and we have to pay them, do we maybe take not as good a talent in the fourth round or in the eighth round and try to save some money there, so we can sign the picks up high? So, that’s all part of it. It’s the opportunity cost of the pick– is there one player who’s good enough to forgo taking not as good a talent a round a few rounds behind. So, that’s going to be part of the strategy that we’re going to talk about, but we’re going to have to obviously let the board play out as well.”

The impression given was that this was something that wasn’t focused on too heavily until late in the process, because it’s so dependent on who’s available at which pick. If we believe him, then, the club doesn’t appear to necessarily plan on maximizing the amount of dollars they can spend on early picks by punting ones later, rather, it’s going to come down to who’s available and how they think they can make the money fit.

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Layin’ Down the Gold(stein): Giolito, Gose, and d’Arnaud

Posted by Andrew Stoeten under Kevin Goldstein, Prospecting on Jun 03, 2012

Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus, in a piece at ESPN.com, calls Las Vegas catcher Travis d’Arnaud the top fantasy prospect for 2012 not currently in the Majors, says he’s the rare “catcher who can hit in the middle of a big league lineup,” and perhaps surprisingly, that “he has been seen taking some ground balls at first base this week.”

Anthony Gose shows up in this week’s 12-for-’12 piece as well, as Goldstein likes the results of recent a tweak to the centre fielder’s swing, explaining that he “has the potential to be a fantasy stud, with double-digit home runs and 50-plus steals a season.” He adds that, in his view, “the Jays likely will find a way to make him an everyday player by 2013.”

Nails much?

These sorts of comments were echoed when Goldstein showed up on TSN Radio Sunday evening, to talk about this week’s draft, in addition to these close-to-MLB prospects, with Jim Tatti.

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Greetings From Dunedin – May 24

Posted by Bradley Ankrom under Prospecting on May 24, 2012

It turns out that the fabulous pitching foursome at Lansing is mortal after all, as Noah Syndergaard suffered through his worst outing of the season in yesterday’s come-from-behind victory against Dayton. Syndergaard boasted a 1.89 ERA heading into the night, but it jumped nearly 90 percent after he allowed six earned runs in a little less than four innings of work.

Elsewhere last week, it was business as usual for Syndergaard’s Lansing teammates Justin Nicolino and Aaron Sanchez, while Asher Wojciechowski rebounded from two poor starts to notch his second victory of the year for Dunedin. Read the rest of this entry »

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