I hope this works for all of your family...

I'm going to bed....

Dear John,

I've been a big fan of yours for several years now. I always enjoy reading through your comments on players which combines an enjoyable blend of statistics, analysis and gut instincts. I want to take some time and show some appreciation for helping educate me about baseball prospects. It must be hard to make this site work and write up the next eddition of baseball prospectus at the same time. Thanks for providing us with many enjoyable entries and insight. Looking forward to purchasing the next eddition.

Thanks & wishing you early seasonal tidings,

Brandon

Let a small vocal minority get you down John. The vast majority of everyone here is thankful for the good work you do.

are just terrorists on a smaller scale.  I am pretty upset that things are so bad that John has had to a) waste valuable analysis/writing time on cleaning up the crap, and b) has to write a post like this.  

On my "gratitude" list, I think I'll add the fact that I have no comprehension of the warped mindset that leads one to spend the time/energy to be a troll on a wonderful free site such as this one.  Small consolation, though. sigh

Have a Happy Holiday season, John.  Know that some of us really appreciate the gift you give us by keeping this site great.

...soul in your solstice, John!  For all you do, best holiday wishes to you and yours.

Perhaps if you didn't give out ridiculous grades to prospects in organizations you favored more the issue wouldn't come up in the first place?

"Jon Lester -  A+++++++! Wow! Did you see that World Series game?"

"Phil Hughes - Eh, D-. Maybe will be a decent piece for the Pirates as a swing man"

Maybe you should start doing the Yankees Prospect list last so you can post it and then go away for a few days and not have to deal with it.  That got completely ridiculous, Yankee fans being ignorant, no that can't be!!  Not all of them of course but by far the most complaining on grades came from the yankee fans.  

There was alot of talk on Lowrie being a grade high in the Boston discussion, all the talk was mainly about only his grade and was a pretty positive discussion.  'trying' to read through the Yankee thread and seeing everyone whine how everyone is underrated and thinking that their system has like 10 A prospects in it is ridiculous.  You guys need to get a clue!  

John does good work, this is a great site, I love reading through all the intelligent positions that usually appear in the discussions.  But unfortunately on the rare occasion things like this happen, and ruin what is supposed to be a place for intelligent discussion.  Its fine if you don't agree, but to attack John and complain about him being biased against your team is pathetic.  If you can't intelligently discuss your position do everybody a favor and go express your idiocy on one of your fanboy sites.

I really cannot believe someone has the time to come on this site and complain about a grade John gave some Yankee prospect. If you Yankee fans think your so excellent at grading prospects, Why dont you do it? Go open up a site with your worlds of experience and see if any idiot would listen to you on a website.
For the record I truly hate the Yankees. In fact I hate all the idiots I have to see with Yankee symbols ON THERE CAR!!! Dude you dont work for them, get a life.
But as a HUGE baseball fan, I love some of there prospects. I personally think Joba, Hughes and Horne will be excellent players. I also think that Kennedy and Jackson are over rated. Especially Kennedy. In NYC here they call up the FAN and act like Kennedy is as good as Hughes. Which anyone who even knows baseball will know isnt true. Kennedy does not have near the ceiling Hughes has. Kennedy has that "feel for pitching" thing going. But he realistically is no more than a 4th SP type.
I would love to see the hate from Yankee trolls this generates. But please if you do respond and want to rip this post. I would like you to put it on the record if you think Kennedy is as good as Hughes. We need it in writing so we can laugh at you in 4 years.
In closing. John does an excellent job here. I like his site. I would pay a $10 fee for the year. I also go to other sites. And they usually agree with John on alot of guys. So he must know what he is doing. In fact I have taken Johns advice on some guys and it paid off tremendously. (Lincecum for one, Thanks John)
And also, if John has any bias, he clearly is a Nippon Ham Fighters fan!!!

to anyone who chooses to learn something... heck John has admitted his team biases

he's a fan of the Twins (hence why he uses them for his shadow draft every year), and KC is close by as well... John does a decent job adjusting but every now and then a Twin gets a bit overrated

For anyone to think he has a Yankee or Red Sox bias is pretty funny....

I know your pissed and behind, but couldnt you have waited until after you posted the Dodgers list? I really wanted to see it.

Just pokin at ya, but get back soon.

First of all, I think that grading prospects is extremely difficult to do, and John gives his own unique spin on things, which is great. But, he does open himself up to criticism when he grades on a team-by-team basis and then posts them immediately. I'm not sure how he calculates his grades, but it's probably not some magic scientific formula because there is so much subjectivity when it comes to evaluating prospects. Therefore, he may assign different grades to players he thinks are equal because he's in a different mood on a different day.

Really, the best way to do the grading is to grade everyone up front and then post the lists one-by-one. I very much enjoy the fact that he posts grades and allows our community to debate them and actually change his stance on some of them, but if he is feeling too much criticism, it's really inherent in the process that he has implemented on this site.

John, if I have offended you, I do apologize. I try to be as fair as I possibly can when it comes to all organizations, although obviously there are inherent biases with every fan base. I look forward to reading the book, as I always do.

(Or Jeri, since John won't be reading this)

Just wanted to say thanks, and sorry the trolls are driving you to distraction (I mod a debates board on another forum, so I know how that can be).  As one of the (no doubt numerous) people on here who doesn't buy the book (I'm not enough of a prospect hound to think I'd actually read it), I found the grade explanations helpful, since I've been wondering what exactly they meant.  But I haven't asked for the past few years, since: a) the basic meaning was obvious and b) you had enough on your plate.

Anyway, thanks for all the work on the site, its been an enourmous fantasy baseball help (and general baseball too).

A bulletin board is the ultimate free market of ideas.

You get the good with the bad.

The occasional troll gets bashed by the crowd.

Nothing to get too upset about one way or another.  The posts by John have to be held up to his standards but not the forum postings by others.  Even the NYT has bizarre posts.

The user experience is not really impacted by silly posts.

Disagreeing with your ratings is part of the fun.  Let's all lighten up here a bit.

John, et. all

Perhaps if you created a Legend that explained your rating scale and ran it in the left column under the advertising, readers could refer to it at any time.

Just a thought.  Thank you for all you do.

Dear Mr./Ms Maxima,

   You make some good points in your original post (Yankee fans), but I'll bet your old English grammar teacher is spinning in his/her grave.  Please, please, I'm begging you, check out the correct usage of the words "there," and "their" before submitting any more posts.  Also you might want to look into the use of the apostrophe (') in contractions like "don't," and possessives such as "John's."  

   And I'm sorry if the foregoing would be considered a troll post, but incorrect grammar, word usage, and spelling are some of my pet peeves.  It bugs me that obviously intelligent people either have forgotten all the rules of grammar, spelling, and usage, or are just to lazy to use them.

I kinda acted like one at first because I was hyping up Gomez too much but i've backed off and I don't even post much anymore because of my laboratory job which I have to be at work by 6 AM.  It's too bad a few bad apples have to ruin such a good place to talk about prospects.  

Hack 'em to pieces and toss the Trolls on the Yule Log

Have a safe (non icy) Holiday Season.

Just like Alcohol know when to say when

and happy holidays!

That is all.

is becoming a big part of the charm of the site.  Both the overly-juvenile attacks and overly-earnest responses. It's becoming rhythmical, like the changing of the seasons (at least back in the day). Or, it's like a time machine back to junior high and the battles between the dumbest bullies in the class and the most socially awkward do-gooders.

The lack of nuance on both ends is becoming my oasis from my overly jaded, quasi-sophisticated surroundings.  

Come for the prospect analysis, stay for the overreactions!

I am the proud owner of every Minor League Scouting Notebook and Baseball Prospect Book since John began writing them in 1996. In addition to the occasional visit to old ones and the frequent reference to the most current one, it is an ongoing pleasure for me to visit Minorleagueball.com and check out what you have to say about the current prospects, and the thoughtful responses and reflections of the many hundred respectful members of the visitorship.

To the others...  (silence)

John and Jeri and the rest of the Sickels family, may you have a wonderful Christmas season and the best year yet in 2008.

Why did the troll armageddon have to happen right before the Dodgers were to be highlighted?

I'm sure the idea has been brought up, but why haven't a few moderators been put into place to help curb the ridiculousness?  That way John would only have to worry about the really ugly stuff instead of all the menial crap.

Will Kershaw be an A or an A-?  The suspense is killing me!

Why is it so hard to ignore the trolls?  What is a troll anyway - someone who disagrees with another?  Give me a break.  I disagree with John a lot because I don't think he offers anything more than any other blogger.  He's a terrific writer, yes.  But I don't consider him an astute minor league guru unlike the guys at BA or Deric McKamey.  He admittedly doesn't go to many games.  His rankings are essentially BA's rankings with his own personal "intuition" thrown in to mix it up a bit.  Given that most scouting reports come from BA, John doesn't offer much in the way of analysis.  

And why is it that John can post cheesecake posts and political posts, yet discourages that stuff from others.  I know, I know - it's his site and he can do what he wants.  But I find it a tad hypocritical.

Go back to your history lessons, Professor Sickels.  Your little diatribte smells of bitterness and is quite childish.

Almost anyone who knows baseball or looks at prospects for a living, a guy at BA or BP or John, There all going to pretty much agree when a guy is a stud.
John says he is a tough grader. So if BA gives someone an A... John may agree, but knock him down a peg to A- because lets say, he thinks his strikeouts are way to high and worries he wont lower it to a managable number at higher levels. But that doesnt mean John doesnt think the kid can be a flat out stud.
As he has written many times here, before he starts his top 20 lists. He doesnt give to many A- grades or higher to people. I believe last years book had 23 A- or better rated players. I may be off by 1, I only took a quick glance. But thats less than 1 per team. He is a tough grader. You cant give every guy an A grade.
And also, there is no need to insult John on any level. The fact he even posts a list at all for free is generous enough. And here is a great idea. If you think he is so bad at this. How about leaving and never coming back. You clicked on his website. He did not invade your home. I am not writing this to anyone in particular. Just anyone who has insulted John on this website.
Just my 2 cents.

I don't always agree with John (for instance, every time he doesn't list a Mets prospect as an A+, I call up and threaten to cancel my subscription!) but I appreciate what he's doing and what he does for the baseball community.  

We're a bunch of geeky, needy nerds, aren't we?

John, we all know how hard you work and the great majority appreciate the site. I think that fee for posting makes a lot of sense and would weed out the troublesome posters. I may have an even simpler solution, nominate some of your more prolific and rational posters to serve as administators and allow them to moderate the threads and delete posts as necessary.

Asa frequent lurker, thought it would be a good idea to register just to thank you for this very useful site and your interesting insight. I think that the troll problem would be better solved by not interacting with them and by quickly banning impolite and uncivil posters.

Thanks