Suggestions and Reminder

just wondering

And maybe a most likely to get called up for each team or Division, or League, whatever.

Once it comes time for more career profiles, I’d love for a look back to the dark ages and El Sid Fernandez. It seems like he’s a common comp whenever there’s a pitcher who puts up great numbers despite so-so “stuff.” Somebody will say, “He has a deceptive delivery, like El Sid.” So what was the thinking on him back in his own days?

The sentence about Franklin being the best bat in the M’s system has been overtaken by events (obviously). Sorry if this isn’t a helpful comment.

How did our new HoFer develop? Who do you see in the minors currently that project to have a similar type of skill set, and possibly career?

I believe this was talked about last year, but compare M’s pitchers to D’Backs pitchers, etc.

you still had Cates in the Padres top 20 list (in the others section.) there was also a comment comparing Liriano to Rizzo, but that may have been intentionally left in.

oh and a smackdown suggestion…maybe Olt v. Zack Cox?

You dig deeper into controversial prospects with more detailed analysis in a format that conveys potential and probability very clearly. I think the following format would generate lots of interesting discussions in a more constructive manner:

Out of 100 Jesus Monteros, you’d get the following # of players:

Pudge Rodriguez - 2
Mike Piazza - 3
Victor Martinez - 4
Jorge Posada - 10
Edgar Martinez - 2
Jason Varitek - 16
Yadier Molina - 2
Mike Sweeney - 8
Michael Barrett - 17
Miguel Olivo - 8
Jack Cust - 5
Ryan Doumit - 21

This format encourages people to think about prospects in more realistic terms. You eliminate the tedious chats about potential scenarios and extreme comments, forcing people to quantify their opinions. This format would eliminate debates that are driven more by different perspectives, rather than unique opinions about a player’s abilities.

To generate a list like this, you need to try to encompass everything that effects a prospect’s value, from skills, to talent, to probability, to risks. Given the effort it takes to generate these lists, you could apply it to only the most divisive prospects.

I’ll do one more just to illustrate:

Out of every 100 James Paxtons, you’d get the following # of players:

Randy Johnson - 1
Cliff Lee - 2
CC Sabathia - 3
Mark Mulder - 5
Cole Hamels - 5
Andy Pettite - 5
Ted Lilly - 12
Randy Wolf - 20
Dontrelle Willis - 10
Francisco Liriano - 7
Erik Bedard - 7
Billy Wagner - 7
Matt Thornton - 7
Sean Marshall - 7
Truck Driver - 2

Note: My evaluations of Montero and Paxton are just examples of the evaluation system. I put very little thought into their potential scenarios. They do not reflect my actual opinions of Paxton and Montero.

Would be cool to see how top prospects now (Trout, Harper, etc) rank against top prosepcts 10 years back, 20 years back, etc.

I enjoyed the debate around the Sox-Yankees “Which Would You Rather”, and would like to see more of these, especially around organizations that are similarly ranked but differently constitued in terms of minor league talent…

How about a bounceback treatment of some sort? Mostly applied to pitchers I’d guess, but I’d like to see something on what the prospects might be for pitchers who were hurt or just didn’t perform to expectations in ’11, but may still have some ceiling left. Guys like John Lamb, Brody Colvin, Kyle Lotzkar, and the like. Maybe just a thread on where (or if) people think (insert falling prospects here) might land on the top 50/50 at this time next year.