This is from yesterday, and I don't see it on the blog.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/prospects/column/2008/266955.html

It's titled:

"How The West Will Be Won

Rangers, A's have made big strides this year"

But there's good news for fans who want more suspense in their division races. No teams have added more talent than the Rangers and Athletics in the last two years, and they now have the two best farm systems in baseball. The West should be a three-team battle soon.

BA posted their Cal League list today:

Borbon at #11:

Borbon opened his first full season in Bakersfield and earned a promotion to Double-A after just 66 games. He actually put up better numbers after the promotion, adding 98 points to his OPS. While Cal League scouts and managers thought he can become a big league regular, they weren't blown away by his performance.

Borbon's tools suggest an ideal leadoff profile, but there were questions about how much he'll get the bat on the ball as he moves up. He needs to tighten his strike zone, walk more and strike out less. He shows gap power but is better off keeping the ball on the ground to take advantage of his speed.

While Borbon is an above-average runner, he didn't always show that speed in the Cal League, and one manager called him a "sloppy player." His speed does give him the ability to be an above-average defender in center field, and he has enough arm for the position.

As expected, Frisco will have a much better showing when their list is posted online next week:

1 - Dexter Fowler
2 - Chris Davis
3 - Kyle Blanks
4 - Vin Mazzaro
5 - Elvis Andrus
6 - Daniel Cortes
7 - Jess Todd
8 - Julio Borbon
9 - Max Ramirez

 That Borbon profile sounds very accurate to me.

Previous positions:
First Base
Second Base
Shortstop
Third Base
Catcher
Outfield

I'm going to look at left handed pitching in the organization in a vacuum here first, then as incorporated in the pitching as a whole. This was a huge area of weakness as recently as spring 2007, but it is another that has been bulked up organizationally  since then. If I had to characterize which areas of the organization Jon Daniels has clearly placed an emphasis, catcher and left handed pitching would be the first two to come to mind. In the last 2+ years, a first round pick in '06 was used on a lefty (Kiker), the last big money DFE was signed (Holland), the deadline deals were littered with them (Harrison, B Jones, Gabbard), the top lefty in Latin America was brought in (M Perez), and three of the top six picks in the '08 draft were used on them (Ross, Murphy, Bleier). The team seems to have bought into the smaller, athletic lefty as a viable profile, as Kiker, Perez and Ross all measure 6-0 or less and required significant resources to acquire.

Depth Chart:
Texas (MLB) - Matt Harrison, Kason Gabbard, CJ Wilson, Bill White
Oklahoma - AJ Murray, Michael Ballard, John Rheinecker
Frisco (AA) - Derek Holland, Beau Jones
Bakersfield (A+) - Kasey Kiker, Zach Phillips, Glen Swanson, Ryan Falcon
Clinton (A) - Tim Murphy, Michael Kirkman, Michael Ortiz
Spokane (A-) - Martin Perez, Richard Bleier
AZL (RK) - Gueris Grullon, Miguel de los Santos

Top LHP prospects:
1. Derek Holland - huge year, stuff took a great jump, hope he can handle the innings
2. Martin Perez - just read the last week on LSB
3. Kasey Kiker - I think that his season was a little better than it looks, stuff wasn't downright electric though
4. Robby Ross - good stuff, good brain, will be fun to watch next season
5. Tim Murphy - ones of these athletic guys who hasn't been dedicated to pitching for all that long, solid lefty stuff and could move pretty fast

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Another solid showing for Texas:

1. Mike Moustakas, 3b/ss, Burlington (Royals)
2. Neftali Feliz, rhp, Clinton (Rangers)
3. Jarrod Parker, rhp, South Bend (Diamondbacks)
4. Ben Revere, of, Beloit (Twins)
5. Brett Wallace, 3b, Quad Cities (Cardinals)
6. Engel Beltre, of, Clinton (Rangers)
7. Andrew Lambo, of, Great Lakes (Dodgers)
8. Philippe Aumont, rhp, Wisconsin (Mariners)
9. Derek Holland, lhp, Clinton (Rangers)

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I got nothing this morning. I swear, I could not tell whether Ron Washington was trying to throw that game last night in the late innings.

Previous positions:
First Base
Second Base
Shortstop
Third Base
Catcher

This position took one of the biggest leaps forward at the major league level in 2008, largely because of the acquisition of Josh Hamilton. David Murphy, Marlon Byrd and Nelson Cruz all have performed well, and Brandon Boggs showed some promise after getting a quick call from AAA. In the minors, the story is all about two more center fielders, Julio Borbon and Engel Beltre. Of those seven, only Byrd, Cruz and Boggs were in the organization prior to the 2007 trade deadline just over a year ago. 

Depth Chart:
Texas (MLB) - Josh Hamilton, David Murphy, Marlon Byrd, Nelson Cruz, Brandon Boggs, Milton Bradley (DH)
Oklahoma - Ben Harrison, John Mayberry, Jason Ellison
Frisco (AA) - Steve Murphy, Julio Borbon, Dustin Majewski
Bakersfield (A+) - KC Herren, Grant Gerrard, Truan Mehl
Clinton (A) - Engel Beltre, Tim Smith, Cristian Santana
Spokane (A-) - Mike Bianucci, David Paisano, Eric Fry
AZL (RK) - Adam Cobb, Chris Dove, James McGraw
DSL (RK) - Ariel Ventura, Edward Ceballo, Juan Polanco

Top OF prospects:
1. Engel Beltre - tools galore, has about four years to get to Borbon's level and that intriguing power potential
2. Julio Borbon - nice first season, especially at the AA level...can hit but needs to drastically improve walk rate to be a quality player
3. John Mayberry - started so well at AAA but faded as the year went on...has become just another face in a crowded franchise
4. Mike Bianucci - gets the edge on Tim Smith because of extra power
5. Ben Harrison - inability to handle AAA at age 26 makes this dubious, but big league club has sucked up the OF depth in the system

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Rangers show as well as expected, as BA's title is "Rangers dominated the NWL list" :

1. Josh Vitters, 3b, Boise (Cubs)
2. Martin Perez, lhp, Spokane (Rangers)
3. Christian Friedrich, lhp, Tri-City (Rockies)
4. Neil Ramirez, rhp, Spokane (Rangers)
5. Conor Gillaspie, 3b, Salem-Keizer (Giants)
6. Wilfredo Boscan, rhp, Spokane (Rangers)
7. James Darnell, 3b, Eugene (Padres)
8. Tim Murphy, lhp, Spokane (Rangers)
.
.
.
16. Matt West, 3b, Spokane (Rangers)

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