I think it would be cool to see some prospect history for the players.  A year-to-year grade history of the prospects.  I know that it would really only apply to a smaller subset of players that have been graded for several years running, but it would be interesting to see how some prospects rise and fall from year to year.  I also know that this might be a bit too time consuming, but I thought that I would through it out there.

It looks like Brett Gardner was called up to the Yankees today.  Hopefully he'll get a chance to replace Melky in CF.  With Damon and Matsui hurting (and Melky sucking), he should get a start or two.  Good luck to him - he's really improved a lot this season.  His power has definitely gotten a nice bump.

http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2008/06/29/sports/doc486838a519540498394678.txt

Gardner was batting .287 with three home runs, 29 RBIs, 34 stolen bases and had a .412 on-base percentage.

Is anyone else getting tired of the young stars of baseball complaining about the money that they're making?  Fielder, Howard, Hamels and the rest of the complainers?  I was just curious to hear what other people thought.  Yes, the system is stacked against the players in their first couple years, but it's not like this isn't a known situation.  And it's not like these guys aren't going to make $100M over their lifetimes as ballplayers.  And it's not like a $500k/yr (or $10M) isn't a lot of money.

Thoughts?

I'm proud to say that I was one of the people who helped introduce the +1 reply to messages here at this site.  I initially thought I was the first because I had never seen it before, but it looks like wily mo beat me to it by several months.  

That being said, I got the idea for +1/0/-1/ from listserv voting.  Someone proposes, let's say, to add a new feature to some open source software.  They post it to the mailing list, and people reply with +1/0/-1 in the email.  It's a very crude voting system, but it's been around for a long time and is very effective.

I've been seeing some posters replying with +2 or +100 or +100000000.  Let's try to not over do it.  Each one of us is one person, we would get one vote.  If you're REALLY REALLY REALLY in agreement with someone, posting +10000000 just makes people ignore you - try replying with a clear explanation WHY you agree.  Back up your stance with substance instead of just showing everyone how totally excited you are that someone has the same viewpoint as yourself.  Vote someone +1/0/-1 if you want to use those semantics, otherwise you're defeating the purpose of the whole thing.

I LOVE hummus!  I can eat it any day.  But should I pick hummus AND pita AND cucumber over Joba AND ARod AND Posada?  I really need a catcher, but the pita is homemade AND freshly baked!1!!!!1!  Plus, I didn't really have dinner.  While I think Joba is going to better than Cy Young, Steve Carlton and Mark Fidrych, I think I might be leaning towards the hummus.  What do you think?

...well, we don't know.  What seems like a certainty at this point is that he will be traded.  What does everything think is fair market value for him?  The teams that seem interested are the Diamondbacks, the Angels and the Padres (at least).  I've heard that a deal centering on Linebrink or one centering on Byrnes is a possibility.  If it's Byrnes, then Melky will be traded to the Pirates for Gonzo.

What do you guys think is fair trade for Randy, assuming that there is at least a small bidding war for him?

I was curious about Minor League Ball, so I checked back to see when it started and it looks like John posted his first test post on 02/09/2005 and has had a total of 1679 posts since then (not including diaries).  Way to go John!  

Further curiosity made me check to see when I first joined.  My first comment was posted on 02/18/2005, so it looks like I actually joined within the first week of the site! Way to go, me! ;)  

I was wondering how many other 'old' timers there are who joined up within the first few weeks.  Anyone?

Hector Noesi hit with 50 day drug ban.

http://tinyurl.com/y87yzl

I don't see him on any prospect list, and it looks like he was playing in GLC.  11 Ks in 7 IP.  

"The Dominican right-hander, who turns 20 on Jan. 26, pitched in five games last season for the Gulf Coast League Yankees from July 31 to Aug. 18. He was 0-0 with a 1.29 ERA and one save, striking out 11 in seven innings."                        

I'm in this spy league and I need to know what to do!  There is this one spy, he dresses in all white, but there is this OTHER spy and he dresses all in black!!!  

HELP!  Which spy should I choose?!?!  It's a 24 spy keeper holdover round-robin head-to-head minor spy league with spies!                

And his last name isn't Peña!

From espn.com:  "The New York Yankees paid a $2 million signing bonus to Venezuelan catcher Jesus Montero on Sunday, a busy day for the best Latin American prospects."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2508432

Additional signings from the article:  "Boston paid $600,000 to outfielder Angel Beltre and $550,000 to slugger Moises Tejeda."