You’ve weighed in and given your reasons, now I’ll give it a shot.

Pitchers, excluding Carrasco

01. Josh Outman, LHP – There are a number of reasons why I think Outman is our best pitching prospect outside of Carrasco. #1, he’s lefthanded and has a low 90’s fastball. It’s rare to see LHP consistently pitch in the 91-94 range. He has 1 real good secondary pitch, his slider, and it’s a pure swing and miss pitch. He lacks a plus changeup at this point, but he’s putting up solid numbers at A+, and the only thing lacking is his overall control, but his BB/9 numbers have dropped every month since April, a positive sign. We also have to remember that he drastically changed his pitching motion before being drafted, and 2007 is only his 3rd pro season. I think he still has potential to be a #2 starter if he can hone his command and control and develop at least a major league average changeup.

02. Kyle Drabek, RHP – I think despite his arm soreness now, Drabek is #2 on the list. His April was excellent, with 9.23 K/9 against only 2.88 BB/9 and solid groundball tendencies. He struggled a bit in May, then came down with the injury, so it’s tough to really put a gauge on him right now. I think he’ll be back in August, and it should be a good indicator of where he stands. 3 months in Lakewood in age 19 isn’t a lost season by any means. He showed the good fastball curveball combination, and from everything I’ve read, the mental aspect of his game took a big leap forward this year. A healthy Drabek pushes Outman for the top spot.

03. James Happ, LHP – His debut didn’t go as planned, and he’s walked way too many guys this year, but he has shown that the strikeouts from last season across multiple levels weren’t a fluke. He needs to throw better quality strikes and not fall behind, but he has an average fastball with late life and two above average secondary pitches. You really can never judge a guy on 1 start, good or bad, but I think he’ll be back later this year, and I think he still has the potential to be a #4 starter in the majors.

And now, the hitters, sans Cardenas

Continue reading My top 3 hitters and pitchers →

This will be a more brief than usual monthly review as we are almost at the all-star break. I will do a lengthy half way through the season or at least to the all-star break, two or three part review late next week. I’m also going to have a few more interviews and maybe a couple of features. We’ll see how it goes. Anyway, on with June-a month which was most unkind to the Lynx and their fans.

In a month which had to be considered critical for the team by any standard, (well at least by my standards), the Ottawa Lynx fell flat on their collective faces. The Lynx went 9-19 in the month of June, falling into last place on June 11^th, 5.5 games behind Buffalo, and remaining in last place the rest of the month. At the start of July, Ottawa were 9.5 games behind the Bisons and continued to fall further and further behind. The continued lack of decent starting pitching was the main reason for the continuing slide and even the defence, which had been solid all season, was beginning to show some cracks. Everyone concerned was beginning to feel a sense of futility and urgency about the 2007 season. The Lynx were 5-11 at home for June, 4-8 on the road and finished the month with an overall record of 17-14 in one run games, 5-3 in extra innings and 1-8 in shutouts. Ottawa as a team in the month of June, (28 games), collected 258 hits. Among this total were 44 doubles, five triples, 18 home runs, 93 RBI , 96 runs scored and 77 walks. Team speed again this month was weak with only eleven stolen bases in twenty attempts. They had an OBP of .332, SLG .383 and a somewhat decent OPS of .715. The Lynx hit .270 in June.

Continue reading The Ottawa Lynx in the Month of June. →

Similar to the pitching prospect post from a few days ago. This time, exclude Adrian Cardenas from your list. Give your top 3 and why you think they are in the position they are. I’ll give my top 3 pitchers and hitters tomorrow at some point.

Also a note. I really enjoy the discourse back and forth in the comments section. I think we’ve had something like 1600 comments since the blog started, which is awesome, in my opinion. However, try to remember that you can’t edit your comment after you’ve submitted it, so think before you write, and try to remain civil, that’s all I ask.

Reading, continues their inconistent season mired in 4th place in the Southern division 10.5 games out of first with a record of 42-43. Greg Jacobs is putting MVP numbers up with 44 runs(10th in league), 86 hits (4th), 21 doubles (8th), 13 homers (4th), 52 RBI’s (3rd), and a .316 batting average(9th).  Jesus Merchan continues to lead the league with a .357 batting average. Mike Costanzo is 6th in the league in runs(53), first in homers(15), and 2nd in strikouts(103).  Jason Hill is 2nd in the league with 24 doubles, and Javon Moran 4th in stolen bases with 18. Matt Maloney continues his solid season leading the league in innings (100.1), 6th in wins (7), and 4th in strikeouts (88). Continue reading Reading Report →

Happy Holidays folks. Just two quick notes. Matt Spencer has finally signed, and it appears Joe Savery is very close to signing. Good news all around. Now, we need to get Julian Sampson and Brandon Workman signed and we can call it a draft.

Thanks to a loyal reader of this here blog, I’ve been fortunate enough to have been put in contact with D’Arby and just spoke to him for a few minutes. My cell phone reception is awful in my new apartment, but I’ll be getting in touch with him again soon to do a Q/A for the blog. He mentioned that he’s enjoying hitting leadoff, getting to see lots of pitches and work counts in his favor, and that the whole pro experience has been great so far. So, if you have a question you’d like me to include in the Q/A for D’Arby, send me an e-mail and put “QUESTION FOR D’ARBY” in the title of the e-mail, and I’ll try to touch on as many points as I can. He really seems to have his head on straight when it comes to playing the game, and he’s loving every minute of it. Couple that attitude with his baseball tools, and I think he’s going to turn into a pretty special player.

As of this writing, he’s hitting .362/.413/.431 with 14 runs scored.

After Carlos Carrasco, who do you feel are our top 3 pitching prospects? Exclude Kendrick from your list, because barring an injury, he’ll lose his rookie eligibility this year. You can include Happ, because I’m less certain he’ll lose his status. Give your answer in the comments, you can leave it as anonymous if you want, and feel free to give your thoughts on why you chose who you did. I’ll give my answer on Thursday.

The latest minor leaguer to get the tap and head into the firestorm is Anderson Garcia, who will replace JA Happ on the 25 man roster. Garcia, acquired on waivers from Baltimore, via the Mets, will be making his Phillies debut sometime soon, and likely will be thrown into the fire that is the Phillies 2007 season. Garcia has had a nice run this year at Reading and Ottawa, and is striking out lots of guys. If he can limit the walks, he might be useful.

Geoff Geary has also been optioned to Ottawa. Let this be a reminder as to how important strikeouts are, especially to relievers. Geary does not have a putaway pitch. When balls are hit at someone, or he gets good defense behind him, he’s capable of being a useful reliever, as was evident last year. However, when those line drives fall in, and you’re still not striking anyone out, you get the 2007 version of Geoff Geary. As “unimportant” as strikeouts are for batters, they are vitally important for pitchers, especially relievers.

The Phillies are running out of minor leaguers to baptize by fire. Matt Maloney has to be next, and I’m sure they are toying with the idea of rushing Carrasco up. I pray to all things holy that it doesn’t happen, and Gillick doesn’t do something stupid, like trade the farm for a Jeff Weaver type. Ok, I removed my finger from the panic button…back to your regularly scheduled programming.

It’s a pretty gloomy Friday morning here, but morale is high after the Phillies top drawer win last night. I’ve kind of been slacking a bit here, but others have helped pick up the slack, and once things slow down at work, I’ll have more time to write. I’m planning a few player profiles and some other things as well, so that should be interesting. If you have any suggestions, please let me know and I’ll see what I can do. In fact, I’ll do a little mailbag type deal if you’d want to. Send me questions to the e-mail addy provided on the right, and put “Mailbag” in the title. I’ll answer as many as I can over the weekend and post them Monday. Now, on to the business…

Continue reading Friday morning thoughts →

We are twelve weeks into the 2007 season and the Ottawa Lynx, despite some promising signs last week, continued their slide deeper into last place in the Northern Division with another losing road trip. Ottawa are dangerously close to the point of no return. This team, who won the IL Northern Division title last season, can’t get a foot forward and put together a long winning streak which might, and I say might, get them back in contention for a playoff spot. This is the month to make up ground and by slipping further behind, the month of July might become critical for the Lynx. Instead of fighting for a playoff spot, Ottawa are struggling to merely hang on.

Continue reading Ottawa Lynx Report Week Twelve →