This post has been in my head for the better part of two months, I was going to hold off on writing it for a while, but I’ve gotten quite a few emails in the last few weeks about the site in general, and specifically about my involvement in the discussions here, so I felt it was time to write this up. This will be wordy, and though I haven’t decided yet, I think I’m going to lock the comments on this post, because I have no intention of this being a back and forth shouting match, I’d just like to clear the air and then move on. But by the time I’m done, I might change my mind. So anyway, for aesthetics purposes, I’ll add the divider here and then get going…
Monthly Archives: December 2008
Weekly trade talk discussion
For those of you who can’t resist talking about potential trades and the big league club, use this post for the rest of the week and keep the chatter out of the Top 30 voting posts. Also a note on the Top 30 voting. I thought that I wouldn’t need to babysit, and that people would just vote once. But apparently that’s not the case, so from #8 forward, I’ll have to restrict voting based on IP addresses. Thus, once your IP address votes, that’s it. If you are using broadband and a static IP, that shouldn’t cause a problem. If you use a dialup service, it might, or it might not. Sorry for the trouble, but its not my doing.
Reader Top 30; #8
#7 went to JA Happ, who edged Travis D’Arnaud by 16 votes. As I mentioned 2 days ago, I’ve now changed the voting method, so that it registers votes based on IP address as well as cookies, meaning you can only vote once, and if your IP address is shared with someone else, and that someone else already voted, you won’t be able to vote. Its unlikely this will cause an issue. And just to get this out of the way, if there is any trade talk posted in this post, I’m just going to delete it. Also, one more note on voting. If you write in a vote please post it in the comments of the post so others can see. I’m the only one able to see the answers, so it might be helpful. Thanks.
Check below for more…
Reader Top 30; #7
Dominic Brown took slot number 6 in a walk (something he does well) racking up 73 votes, with JA Happ coming in a distant second with 21 tallies. I’ll give the full totals here, and then I have some more info to pass on before we get to number 7.
Brown – 73
Happ – 21
D’Arnaud – 10
Mayberry – 2
Cisco and Savery – 1
Check below for more…
[Update 9:10 PM] Looks like I have to limit voting by IP addresses now. That will take effect starting with #8.
If that affects you, sorry. Some people can’t just leave well enough alone and have to ruin it for everyone else.
WordPress has added polls
I was going to use the poll feature for Top 30 #6, but I figured it might be better to test it out first. So I’m going to add a poll to this post just using a generic question. Vote and we’ll test the process. Also, it allows write-in votes, which will be important if we use it for the Reader Top 30 voting. Could a few people please use the “Other” option and write in your answer, then post in the comments what you wrote in? Thanks.
[Update] It looks like 7 people have voted “Other”, and 4 choices have shown up. So if 3 people voted “Other” and forgot to write their answer in the box, that would explain it, or it could possibly be a delay in updating the data. Either way, it looks like the method should work.
Reader Top 30; #6
Michael Taylor was the big winner for the #5 spot, taking 49% of the vote, while Dominic Brown and JA Happ battled for second, and will likely battle for the #6 slot. The voting breakdown
Taylor — 53
Brown — 28
Happ — 18
Mayberry — 4
D’Arnaud — 4
Savery — 1
Jim Callis quick hits
From today’s chat at ESPN
dan ( philly): Big Mike Taylor or Dom Brown?
SportsNation Jim Callis: Brown.
///
Dave (Philly): Carrasco or Drabek in 5 years?
SportsNation Jim Callis: Drabek.
Update, 12/4: Keith Law did a chat today
Phil (PA): Who are your top 3 Phillies prospects, relative to age and level?
SportsNation Keith Law: (2:28 PM ET ) Did I answer this above? Donald, Brown, Carrasco, probably Taylor next. I’m a little down on Marson, whose swing is going to generate a ton of groundballs.
Jason Donald ranked #17 in AFL
Can’t say I agree with him ranking this low, but I’m not all that surprised. Scouting excerpt
He can do it all as Donald split his AFL days playing second, third and short. He doesn’t have a dynamic tool, but one scout raved, “When you look at this list five years from now, he’s going to be a good ball player.” He squares the ball up, makes hard contact and shows power.
Reader Top 30; #5
The voting thread for spot #4 confirmed to me my decision to stop participating in the discussions here. Its done wonders for my sanity. Kyle Drabek won a close vote for the #4 spot over Michael Taylor, with 10 different prospects getting votes. Complete breakdown:
Drabek — 52
Taylor — 45
Happ — 15
Brown — 6
Mayberry — 3
D’Arnaud — 2
Mathieson, Collier, Savery, Knapp — 1
Today we round out the top 5.
01. Carlos Carrasco, RHP
02. Lou Marson, C
03. Jason Donald, SS
04. Kyle Drabek, RHP
05.
Brown, Drabek and Taylor make the Hawaii Top 20
Baseball America has its Top 20 up for Hawaii Winter Baseball, with Brown coming in at #4, Drabek coming in at #5 and Taylor coming in at #9.
Lithe and athletic, Brown flashed all five tools, including a plus arm. Scouts are divided over how much power he’ll have in the long run, which will determine his ultimate ceiling. One called his high-elbow setup at the plate “funky”, and he’s a long-strider, which could lead to timing issues. But his buggy-whip swing produces the bat speed to produce power when married to his excellent pitch recognition.
His stuff remains plus-plus, with a fastball sitting at 93-95 mph and a hammer breaking ball, a hard-breaking power curve with late movement. Drabek also is making progress with a changeup and competed well in Hawaii. Maturity has been an issue, and Drabek took his lone defeat—he gave up a game-winning homer to Marquez Smith in the season’s final game—hard. But managers and scouts said he comported himself as a professional in Hawaii.
….scouts agree he was better than his numbers in Hawaii. He showed off his light-tower power with a homer off an actual light tower at Les Murakami Stadium, controlled the strike zone and made hard contact all fall.
You can read the full blurbs on all three guys here.
Phuture Phillies 