Guess this wasn't posted here yesterday:

1. Nick Adenhart, rhp
2. Jordan Walden, rhp
3. Peter Bourjos, of
4. Trevor Reckling, lhp
5. Sean O'Sullivan, rhp
6. Kevin Jepsen, rhp
7. Hank Conger, c
8. Mark Trumbo, 1b
9. Anthony Ortega, rhp
10. Mason Tobin, rhp

System has definitely gone downhill in the last couple years. Adenhart is overrated. He's young, but his ratios (BB/9, K/9, H/9) have consistently went south for the past few years. He kind of bottomed out in AAA this year... not a pretty season and never really seemed to get better as it progressed. Might put him back in AA to begin 2009.

I'd probably put at least Walden over him.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/organization-top-10-prospects/2009/267257.html

They're releasing 10 per day, here's #41-50 in order. These rankings are usually controversial, but are worth a read. Lou Marson being 43 will probably result in another controversy over him. Recall that there was enough arguing when he was given a C+ by John :)

Adam Miller 
Brett Wallace 
Lou Marson 
Jeremy Jeffress 
James McDonald 
Derek Holland 
Kyle Blanks 
Angel Villalona 
Matt Dominguez 
Jeff Samardzija

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/minorleagues/prospects/y2009/ 

List with comments:http://bleacherreport.com/articles/85843-toronto-blue-jays-top-five-prospects-for-2009/

1. Snider

2. Arencibia

3. Cecil

4. Cooper

5. Jackson

Apparently, the only difference between my top 5 and the one here is that I have 2 and 3 flip-flopped... though I can't blame anyone for having them switched as I was tempted to the same myself, but I like Arencibia a smidge more.

The system isn't as strong as I thought - the top 4 were easy, but it seemed to thin out a bit after that. I'm not big on Jackson, but thought he still was worth slotting 5 due to upside.

I said in my article that Snider will "likely' begin 2009 at AAA, but a couple people have told me I was nuts for saying that.

Also shocked that about 30% of people thought someone other than Snider was the #1 prospect (there's a poll).

Anyone have any feedback?

About two weeks ago, I began doing a series consisting of the top 5 prospects per team. The O's were the first one I did and I came up with -

1. Wieters

2. Tillman

3. Matusz

4. Arrieta

5. Erbe

List w/ comments here: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/83590-baltimore-orioles-top-five-prospects-for-2009

Any thoughts on those top 5?

I could see someone flip-flopping Tillman and Matusz... you could probably also argue for David Hernandez over Erbe. What about the timetables I gave - reasonable?

www.baseballamerica.com

1. Mike Moustakas, ss 
2. Eric Hosmer, 1b 
3. Daniel Cortes, rhp 
4. Mike Montgomery, lhp 
5. Tim Melville, rhp 
6. Danny Duffy, lhp 
7. Danny Gutierrez, rhp 
8. Carlos Rosa, rhp 
9. Kila Ka'aihue, 1b 
10. Blake Wood, rhp

- Kila should be higher. As far as how much higher, that's a tough one, but 9th is just too low.

- Rosa is intriguing, but he had a lot of problems staying healthy this year (elbow I believe) and he's had Tommy John surgery in the past as well. Did look good when on the mound though.

- Montgomery was BA's top ranked prospect in the AZL.  Big fan of his.

- Would likely put Duffy over Melville. Big Duffy fan, has very good # in the minors, and we haven't seen a thing out of Melville yet.

John's 2009 KC Top 10

1) Mike Moustakas, 3B, Grade A-: I put him ahead of Hosmer right now since he’s played pro ball and performed well.

2) Eric Hosmer, 1B, Grade A-: Nothing wrong with Hosmer, I think he’ll be excellent.

3) Kila Ka’aihue, 1B, Grade B: A tough grade, but I think his breakthrough this year was mostly for real. Could rank anywhere from 3 to 8 depending on how you value pitching vs. hitting.

4) Daniel Cortes, RHP, Grade B: A solid all-around pitching prospect.

5) Carlos Rosa, RHP, Grade B: A solid all-around pitching prospect.

6) Daniel Duffy, LHP, Grade B: Great stats. Worried about fly ball tendency and perhaps durability.

7) Michael Montgomery, LHP, Grade B: Strong debut.

8) Tim Melville, RHP, Grade B: Want to see some pro numbers before ranking higher.

9) Johnny Giavotella, 2B, Grade B-: Good numbers right out of college.

10) Dan Gutierrez, RHP, Grade B-: Sleeper.

So, I've decided to do a top 5 list (with comments/notes) for the Rays. Nothing fancy, but it's an interesting system, and my top 5 ended up being a bit different than the two I've seen.

See it in full here: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/84420-tampa-bay-rays-top-five-prospects-for-2009 (also have done similiar lists over there for BOS, NYY, BAL)

1. Price (1st on all)

2. Beckham (2nd BA, 4th on Sickels)

3. Hellickson (3rd on Sickels, 7th on BA)

4. Davis (3rd on BA, 2nd on Sickels)

5. Barnese (7th on BA, Sickels)

I seem to be lower on average with Davis and higher with Barnese. Between the three lists, I was the only one with Desmond Jennings not in the top 5 but he wasn't far off.

Thoughts/feedbacks, either on this one and/or the other three? Did I overrate/underrate one of the guys above?

TOP TEN PROSPECTS

1. Gordon Beckham, ss 

2. Aaron Poreda, lhp 

3. Clayton Richard, lhp 

4. Brandon Allen, 1b 

5. Jordan Danks, of 

6. Chris Getz, 2b 

7. John Shelby, of 

8. John Ely, rhp 

9. Cole Armstrong, c 

10. Eduardo Escobar, ss

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/organization-top-10-prospects/2009/267205.html

Without pasting the whole report, does anyone know if their report on Beckham gives any kind of time table? Pretty much the $64,000 question lately.

Besides Beckham, not a very exciting system. Allen has intriguing blend of size and power and I probably would have put him over Clayton Richard. Might have put Danks over him too.

Had he not been hurt for practically the whole year, I would have expected OF Jose Martinez to be probably no lower than 5 and probably 3-4. Still surprised he didn't sneak on at the end given his upside and a rather barren farm otherwise.

"Scouts in Arizona for the Arizona Fall League and the White Sox's minor league people are convinced that Gordon Beckham, the eighth pick in the MLB draft this past June, will be Chicago's everyday second baseman by June." - Peter Gammons blog, 11/15/08

This is only 11 days after a rather poor report on Beckham on this site:

"I caught some buzz from other observers that people are concerned about his swing: they don't like the way it looks, kind of "choppy" was how one person described it to me. Scouts were also downplaying his range, and at least one person I spoke with said Beckham really didn't look like a guy who was drafted in the first round." - John Sickels 11/4/08

Beckham has been red hot in the AFL since the Sickels report was posted, raising his line there to .394/.468/.652 in 66 at bats.

What do you think? Interesting when there's apparantly conflicting views, but I'm with the optismistic side... always liked Beckham, but even June seems a bit soon. Who knows though. We'll see what he does between now and then and what, if anything, CWS does in FA/trades.