Questions for Chris Kline at Baseball America

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Chris contacted me and offered to do a Q/A for the site, so I’m going to put together a bunch of questions for him and send it his way in the next few days. I’ve got some ideas for questions already, but I’ll open it to the floor. If you have something you’d like answered, either submit your question via e-mail to me, or leave it in the comments. I won’t be able to get all of them in, but I’ll take a few. So, fire away.

26 thoughts on “Questions for Chris Kline at Baseball America”

  1. Wow, Kline contacted you and asked? Thats great James, congrats. It sounds like this site is gaining respect and credit by the minute. Im proud to have been following your hard work since the beginning.

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  2. Yes, great work as always and I look forward to Kline’s comments.

    My question for him is the same one I asked you, James: rank the Phils prospects in terms of highest ceiling, with comps to current big-leaguers to the extent possible. Thanks.

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  3. My main question regards budget and philosophy with regard to bonuses for draftees and international kids. This past summer the Mets took a really big plunge into the primo international market for 16-18 year old FA. They have commented that they are reconsidering their philosophy of sticking close to draft slot guidance after seeing how the last draft went. What is the Phillies approach? Will we see a significant increase in the bonus budget? Will we see a more aggressive move to exceed slot? How committed is the team to quickly refilling the farm?

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  4. Second question is how he sees the ranking of the Phillies farm compared to other organizations, considering the trade of Costanzo/Bourn.

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  5. How much does player development depend on the minor league team’s strength he is play for? For example, a real sure-fire prospect is probably going to dominate regardless of his team’s ability, but what about a high-ceiling prospect who needs to work on one or two specific areas of his game? Do evaluators tend to adjust a player’s development to the team he plays for, or do they opt to use variables that rule out team performance?

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  6. My question is: outside the usual suspects (Carrasco, Drabek, Cardenas, Savery, etc.), who does Chris see as some of the “sleepers” within the system?

    There’s a consensus on here about some guys like Brown, Correa and Myers, but I want to know what the scouting services think as well.

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  7. Question: Do you think that the 2007 Draft Phillies selections of Tyler Mach, Tyson Brummett, Chris Kissock, Chance Chapman and Joseph Rocchio (all College Seniors selected before the 10th round) were primarily driven by talent or by financial reasons? Can we expect more of the same budget-based decisions after our first couple of picks in the 2008 draft?

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  8. Question: Is the organization in the midst of stepping up their approach to their minor league system? What are their thoughts about expanding internationally to find talent?

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  9. My question is his thoughts how the Phillies minor league system for the catcher position grade outs versus the rest of the league.

    It appears the postion is on a down decline at the major league level, especially on the offensive end.

    We appear to have some potential major league talent in the system with Marson, Jaramillo, D’Arnaud, & J. Sanchez plus just graduated Carlos Ruiz to the bigs.

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  10. Knowing that the Phillies rarely sign the top tier of International free agents, is their international signing budget still in the top half of major league baseball?

    In terms of players, what is the scouting report on their two higher profile signings from last year (Carlos Valenzuela and Gabirel Arias)?

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  11. What is preventing the Phillies from getting a legitimate Big Three starter? Is it a lackluster farm system overall, or is it that they’d rather overpay for an inadequate starter than overpay for an ace?

    What does he think of the Aussies, especially Blakely and Harman?

    Thanks James!

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  12. What does he think of Mark Prior? Even if he isn’t ready until the second half, he has a bright future, no?

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  13. Question: Do the Phillies have a “numbers guy” that crunches stastics of potential draftees or is everything done with what the scout sees with his eyes? Or a combination of both?
    By “numbers guy,” I mean a person that can rattle off all the saber formulas and put them in some sort of preference that a drafting operation prefers.

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  15. How many other organizations have better “up the middle” and starting pitching prospects projected to be on their opening day rosters at 2A than the Phillies who likely will have Marson, catching, Donald at short, Harman at second and Golson in center with a starting top three rotation of Carrasco, Outman and Carpenter?

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  16. James, so you are saying the Phillies have a numbers guy who knows all the saber formulas? I wish i had a name, because I sort of doubt Arbuckle and Co. use this stuff.

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  18. Ask him if he thinks Golson will ever (get over his inability to tell the difference between fastball and off-speed stuff and) make it to the major leagues.

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  19. I would like to see his take on the top 30 that was put together by voting on this site. See if he thinks that there are any glaring omissions, or anybody that was rated as a prospect who he thinks is not.

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  20. Does he see this as a good year to have 6 picks in the first 3 rounds, and if so, any predictions for them?

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  21. the question i wish i could hear an answer to- but i don’t think anyone could know until draft time rolls around is along the lines of as many of the others- but specifically, did constant rejection for big time pitchers because they didn’t have enough top talent to deal from, in combination with what apparently be a lot of money left burning a hole in their pockets, motivate them to acknowledge that if soo much of the available free agent market ‘isn’t worth the money’, that maybe finally realizing fractionally expensive amatuere talent (at what are considered expensive for amatuers anyway) is the way to get the phillies to become a truely competitve team? I sse that they are better with trying to get more draft picks with gillick, but spending has to come with the picks to make it really worth it.

    That, and i want to know who the phils really found impressive in the FIL other than Baez

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  23. Gun to his head, what is the 1 prospect he feels will contribute significantly to the Phillies, or even another team, at the Major League Level.

    (Maybe this can be worded better to Mr. Kline)

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  24. I don’t think I’ve seen him discuss the quality of the Phillies minor league instruction. I remember when Dancy kept pushing Bourn to be aggressive and not take so many walks. All the Latino prospects who bombed out or were sent home with ‘discipline’ problems. How good are our minor league instructors, both in teaching and in helping guys from international and inner city backgrounds adjust to pro ball? Who are the strongest instructional talents in the system?

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