Minor League Ball daily notes, March 31, 2016

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Thursday, March 31t edition of Minor League Ball daily notes. Here are links to news items for your edification and amusement. Baseball season is almost here!

****The big SB Nation MLB 2016 preview is the headline attraction today, with detailed looks at all 30 teams.

****Everyone is excited about the impending debut of Rockies shortstop Trevor Story, but Matt Gross at Purple Row throws some cold water and sees Story's Opening Day assignment as an actual negative.

1. They don't believe he'll ultimately be a player good enough to hold down for an extra year of control.

2. They're prioritizing three weeks in April of what's likely to be a lost 2016 season over a full year of control in 2022.

I'm not sure which is worse, but either way it puts a damper on the player I was most excited about this spring. Either the Rockies don't believe in the kid as much as I do and expect him to struggle or flame out at some point, or the front office just isn't disciplined enough to pick the low-hanging fruit in front of them, which is exactly the type of thing they need to take advantage of if they're eventually going to compete with clubs who have access to greater resources and aren't operating at a built-in competitive disadvantage.

****Over at Fangraphs, August Fagerstrom examines Astros rookie Tyler White and runs down some player comps. Some of those comps are inspiring (Matt Carpenter, Lucas Duda, Nick Johnson) but most of them aren't (Justin Smoak, Daric Barton, etc.)

****Also at Fangraphs, Matthew Kory looks at Texas Rangers pitcher Matt Bush, former shortstop prospect bust who now has a 100 MPH fastball.

****Tim Webber at Royals Review outlines how the Royals can get back to the World Series.