Here is what I have in mind for the rest of the week:
Wednesday – Undervalued positional performances in 2008
Thursday – Undervalued pitching performances in 2008
Friday – GCL review/introduction of my new prospect evaluation system
I’ve been spending a lot of time working on my new system, and I’ll start to explain it/unveil it on Friday. My goal is to do a review of each affiliate, and my Top 30 this year will be heavily influenced by how the player fares in my new system. Eventually I’ll do a Top 30 prospects for every team, but obviously won’t go into the same detail as I will for the Phillies list. My plan is to start the Reader Top 30 for 2009 sometime after the AFL ends, in between the holidays when we have some down time.
Phuture Phillies 
I saw that this years upcoming draft is weak in middle infielders. Looking at our system don’t you think we would be looking for some infielders for the future, We still need a third basemen and a first baseman or second to replace either howard if he leaves,or utley if he moves to first. Like people think will happen.If howard leaves.
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PP did I read it right that the red soxs spent one hundred and twenty eight percent over slot in this draft.
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Slightly off topic, but does anyone here think getting a partial season ticket plan to Reading next year is worthwhile? Does anyone know if they officially cleaned house on the coaching staff there?
I think their rotation has potential, but not a lot of bats coming through next year.
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Rocky —
I think we are ok on middle IF. A lot of SS in low minors and Donald should be able to play 2B. Rollins and Utley there for a while. I’d be more interested in corner IF.
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Allentown I meant all infield positon. I didn’t word it right sorry.Where are the shortstops Gavis project to to be good field no hit, and the other kid at williamsport is older and wasn’t rated that high. Mattair is in a make or brake year as a prospect, Hewitt is a strikout machine. just wondering where are the others.
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Did I miss the part 5 draft wrap-up and comparison to last 2 drafts? I don’t see it. Parts 1-4 were fantastic.
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Mattair just finished his first full season, as a19 or 20 yr old, and is far from being in a make or brake year. He has lots of potential and will get time to see if he can improve. As for next year’s draft, just about the only sure thing is that they won’t draft another catcher and they’ll draft lots of pitchers.
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murry I am of the opinion if this kid hits 250 again at lakewood .then he is not the prospect we all hoped for. His bat is what got him drafted. Yet he hasn’t really shown. any power or basestealing ability. he has committed a ton of errors. You feel he is loaded with potential . well I hope you are right.
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Seems to me the Selig recommending a dollar amount per slot is close to price fix or something ….
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PP – I will apologize right now if i am overstepping my bounds but I’m thinking about saving you some time and energy (if you want it!). I, as a loyal reader of, well, you, wouldn’t be terribly interested in the Top 30 of the other teams. Baseball America does their lists and to be honest, I only really scan them. I love the in depth discussions and information I find on your site. It’s the detail about these kids (yes, I am old) that I thoroughly enjoy. I may be a minority here on that thought, not sure.
Again, PLEASE (Nowheels caps in there for effect) don’t take this the wrong way – just trying to provide you some thoughts, and maybe save you some time. I really appreciate all the effort you put in on the site! Of course your site, your show, and your time – so have at it if you like!!
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I wouldn’t mind a overall Top 30 but I wouldn’t be killed if it didn’t happen either. Either way, you offer great analysis and insight so if you do end up doing one, it would be fun to compare and contrast your opinion with that of BA and BP.
We might want to give Mattair a bit more time before we write him off. Not every prospect hits the Majors at 22 or 23.
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I don’t think that 2009 is a make-or-break year for Mattair, but I think that this year will be a really crucial one in determining if we have a future MLB player or not – which is why I think he should repeat at Lakewood. Instead of challenging him, let him be in a more-age appropriate league and maybe he can put up some really decent numbers – similar to what D’Arnaud did this year at WPT. Had he been challenged at Lakewood, he might have had similar struggles. Instead, he put up terrific numbers and is now arguably a top 5 prospect in the system.
– Jeff
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Since Steve opened up the discussion on the other teams top 30, what I’d really like to see (and this may be the reason you are doing the other teams list, I don’t know) is a comparison of the Phillies top 30 against the other top 30s. It’s great to know who are top 30 are and to get excited about them, but if they are worse than everybody else’s top 30, then the Phillies big league team will suffer in the future.
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