A little background on my team:  I am absolutely loaded.  It's a 15 team 5x5 mixed roto keeper dynasty league with 23 actives (14 hitters, 9 pitchers) and 17 reserves (can be anyone - majors, minors, high schoolers, japanese, etc.). 

My team is in a dogfight for first place right now.  As of this morning, I am actually tied for first with one other team.  My team has an absolute monster offense (having 73 out of a possible 75 total points), with pretty solid pitching (63 out of 75 possible points).  My competitor is the exact opposite - dominant pitching and only great offense.

The category I can make up ground extremely quick on is WHIP.  There are 5 teams all bunched together with a team whip of 1.28 - 1.30, and I am on the bottom end of that bunch.  George Sherrill, while helping me out a ton up to this point in saves, has also been killing my team WHIP.  Now that he hit the DL, I need a replacement.  A team out of the picture for this year just put the following offer out on the table:

Bobby Jenks, Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller and Brandon Inge

for

Russ Martin, David Price, George Sherrill and Brett Wallace

I'm not the biggest Andrew Miller fan, but he refuses to give me anyone else of better value (like a Jed Lowrie or Alexei Ramirez).  Martin and Jenks are pretty equal in my eyes, and I'll need Inge as a replacement for Martin in my lineup.  The real question here is how much of a drop there is from David Price to Cam Maybin.  Despite struggling with pitching this year to some extent, my overall team pitching for the near future is studly.  My rotation for next year is likely to be something like Johan Santana, Scott Kazmir, Tim Lincecum, Clayton Kershaw, John Danks, Johnny Cueto and Ervin Santana.  So basically I can afford to give up Price, but at the same time I don't want to give up the next stud starter.

Any thoughts?  I usually don't post fantasy questions, but this one is really eating at me.

John's post on Logan Morrison piqued my interest in him as a prospect, so I decided to start looking into his numbers against what I feel like are two very comparable prospects.  The breakdown for 2008 results is as follows:

All 3 prospects are 20 years of age, with a grand total of 3 1/2 months separating the 3.  All 3 have logged pretty much all of their time through mid-July in high-A ball (with Lars just recently getting the promotion to AA).  Lars and Weglarz have logged their time in the very hitter-friendly Carolina League, whereby Morrison has been in the pitcher-friendly FSL.  Lars has by far the most hitter-friendly home ballpark, the bandbox that is Lancaster.

From a pedigree perspective, Lars was a 22nd round pick, but thought of as a much better talent than 22nd round who dropped due to signability concerns.  Morrison was a similar talent, though maybe not thought of quite as highly as Lars.  Weglarz was a 3rd round pick of Cleveland.  None of the 3 have much speed, with Weglarz leading the pack with 6 SB's and 4 triples.

Statistically, they are all 3 pretty darn similar from their 2008 production.  Weglarz has posted a .279/.405/.457 line to date, good for a .178 IsoP.  He has K'd 66 times in 315 AB's, while drawing 62 BBs.  Lars posted a .317/.408/.513 line in Lancaster, good for a .196 IsoP.  Lars compiled 306 ABs, 64 Ks and 46 BBs.  Morrison has posted a .347/.410/.520 line, good for a .173 IsoP.  He has compiled 323 ABs, with 53 Ks and 36 BBs.

Clearly, based on this year's production, there is not much difference at all.  Honestly, at first glance although Lars has the higher IsoP, he grades out the weakest of the 3 given his massive home park advantage.  But I think that is somewhat nullified by the fact that Boston did promote him to AA, thinking he is ready for the challenge.  Morrison has not drawn the same amount of walks that Weglarz and Lars have, but still a 53:36 K:BB ratio is pretty good for a 20 yr old in high A ball.  Morrison does seem to have been a little "lucky" in his BABIP, while Weglarz seems a little "unlucky". 

So, my conclusion?  I would give Weglarz the very slight nod right now.    I love Weglarz's patience at the plate, as his K:BB is almost 1:1.  I also read recently that one scout thought that Weglarz looks like he is starting to break out, as he might have been battling through some minor injuries early on in the year. 

I would love to get the community's opinion though.  Anyone else see this comparison differently?

I posted this question in another thread, but since there was a little interest, I'll create a separate diary - hopefully to spark further discussion.

It seems like most people here and at other sites (e.g. Project Prospect) seem to LOVE Travis Snider.  And what is there that's not to love?  He is a very solid prospect in his own right.

But what really separates Snider from Chris Marrero?  Our running prospect ranking list voted Snider #9, but Marrero is not even getting a sniff at #12.  This seems very much like a perception issue rather than a reality issue.  Here are some selected stats from the 2007 season:

AB/K Ratio:
Marrero in low-A ball:  5.69:1
Marrero in high-A ball:  4.05:1
Marrero overall:  4.68:1

Snider overall (all in low-A ball):  3.54:1

K:BB Ratio:

Snider - 129:49
Marrero - 102:46

In addition, Marrero actually displayed more power in 2007, and advanced to a level beyond low-A (where Snider was stuck all year).  Snider posted a .313/.377/.525 line for a .902 OPS and .148 IsoP in low-A ball.  Marrero, in low-A ball, posted a .293/.337/.545 line, for a .882 OPS and a .208 IsoP.

The stats clearly do not show the difference between the two.  Scouting?  Well, both were first rounders out of HS in the same year (2006).  Both played the OF exclusively in 2007.  From everything I read, Marrero would have been able to play above-average D out in the OF, but the Nats management team moved him to 1B to "speed up his development".  Scouts are also worrying about Snider's ability to play D in the OF.

Am I missing something here?  From everything I see, they had similar talent levels coming out of HS, performed similarly in their first full year of pro ball, and Marrero actually moved up a level - ahead of Snider - and looks to be slightly ahead of Snider in the development track.  Snider hit for better Avg, but Marrero displayed much more power.

Could someone please tell me why they rank Snider ahead of Marrero?  Is it solely based on his performance in the AFL?  I just do not see anything that really separates the two.

Which one would you rather have on your team?  Choose between these 3 young second-tier OF prospects.  This mainly has a fantasy tilt to it, but those that don't like fantasy baseball can feel free to post as well.

I think Jackson likely lands in a corner OF slot,whereas Gorkys and Desmond can likely stick in CF.  Jackson probabaly has a little more power and a little less speed than the other 2.  But all 3 seem to have high ceilings.

Which would you rather have?

Who turns out to be the better major leaguer?

All sorts of things to analyze here.  Marrero has more pop in his bat than Lars, but his home park (assuming he sticks with Wash) is very much a pitcher's park.  I also wonder whether he will hit for a good average as he rises up the ranks.

Lars seems to have a bit of a cult following here.  He has definitely produced great results so far in Low A ball.  He's hitting for great average, and his contact rate supports the results.  The power isn't quite there yet, but I think it will come eventually.  I do not think he'll ever be a 40+ HR guy, but a slightly lesser version of Justin Morneau is not out of the realm of possibility.

Any chance he makes it to the majors before August 1?

Granted, he hasn't exactly been tearing the cover off the ball so far this year, but he has posted a line of .291/.354/.520 in AA Mississippi so far this year.  He's always been labelled as a "toolsy" guy, and he started actually putting together the tools with production last year.

Though not anywhere near as hyped, his situation seems eerily similar to Frenchy's in 2005.  He's in a Braves organization that is not afraid to push prospects to fill needs in the bigs, and LF is a gaping hole in the Braves OF right now.  He's been producing at a decent clip, and the opportunity is there.  The only difference I can see is that Atlanta has a good trading chip available this time in Salty who could return a really good LF (Griffey would be a good fit, assuming Cincy picks up a large chunk of his salary).  

What does everyone think Jones' chances of "pulling a Frenchy" are?

I have a chance in my keeper fantasy league with fairly deep rosters to trade from a position of depth for me for one of these two studly hitters.  Who would you rather have?  Remember, defense does not count - this is fantasy.