Which Players Are Going to Make the Leap in 08...

[GYBE]

Jeff Samardzija. I mentioned him before despite his poor peripherals in the low minors. He kept getting promoted and pitching better, and he really turned it on at the end of his AAA run. He's been lights out for the Cubs so far.

11.2 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs. 12 K's, 4 BB's.

In a couple weeks into his big league promotion, he's already established himself as the Cubs most trusted reliever not named Carlos Marmol.

[Basketball Jesus]

Damn it; the one guys I thought I mentioned but didn't (Lorenzo Cain) is kicking all kinds of ass units in Double A this season.

Ah well, at least I can pull a Barry Horowitz on the Reckling selection and, to a lesser extent, Halman.

[trwi7]

Damn it; the one guys I thought I mentioned but didn't (Lorenzo Cain) is kicking all kinds of ass units in Double A this season.

Damn straight! And he was holding his own in a very tough pitchers league in a very, very, very tough home park for right handed hitters down in Brevard County earlier this year. Then LaPorta got traded and he got promoted and has since owned the Southern League.

[Basketball Jesus]

How has his defense in center been? I know there was talk in the past that he might have to be moved to a corner spot but, as far as I can tell, he’s played exclusively in center all season long. Can he stick? If so, that bat makes him a pretty intriguing prospect going forward.

I asked Kevin Goldstein yesterday what he thought of him and this was his response:

TomG (Salem): What’s the deal with Lorenzo Cain? He seems to be hitting a lot better now that he’s out of Brevard County; is he a legit sleeper at this point or will his K rate doom him?

Kevin Goldstein: The guy is a pretty crazy athlete, so that allows for a little more optimism. I'm certainly keeping an eye on him and he's more than a ligit sleeper, he's a prospect.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/chat/ ... chatId=504

[trwi7]

From everything I've heard he can stick in CF which would be great. Of course, he also could be traded to Cleveland as the PTBNL in the Sabathia trade.

He actually has played much more RF than CF this year though. He played almost exclusively RF in Brevard County mainly because he was playing in the same outfield as Darren Ford who is a superb defender. Then LaPorta got traded and Cain got called up to take his spot and he has played 32 of 33 games in CF and has done fine.

It's going to suck if he's included in the trade. Of course it's also going to suck if Brantley, LuCroy or Green is included in the trade too.

[Basketball Jesus]

Ah, yeah. I see that now. For some reason when I looked at his defensive games played, it only counted his AA games.

Either way, good on him. I doubt he heads over to Cleveland, though.

[trwi7]

Either way, good on him. I doubt he heads over to Cleveland, though.

Yeah I doubt it as well. It kind of sucks though since two of the three remaining choices are left handed bats, which we are currently very thin on in the system and the third player is a catcher and depth at catcher is always a good thing.

But there are questions about Brantley being able to play an adequate CF and that's really the only place his bat projects at, so if he can't play CF adequately his value drops to a below average starting corner OF or a fourth OF. The catcher is in A+ ball and is no guarantee to continue to hit as he moves up the system, although I have a feeling that he will. And the third is a 2B turned 3B who is a left handed bat and if Gamel can't cut it at third then we need him (same if Weeks continues to perform the way he has.)

[nykgeneralmanager]

Jesus Montero...freakin' dominant.

[TyCobb]

Two words. Danny. Duffy.

[studcrackers]

i really questioned kevin goldstein when he was the 1st to come out and rank neftali feliz as the rangers #1 prospect, most had him in the bottom half of the 10. now he and derek holland are far and away our 2 best 'spects maybe along with elvis andrus

feliz threw a "no hitter tonight" the game was rained out 1 out into the 5th, and holland in 2 starts at AA has given up 1 ER

[bigboy1234]

Yeah, but he also ranked Hurley #2 so you should continue to question him.

Marcus Lemon is the most underrated Ranger prospect there is and he's better than Andrus. Bold.

[studcrackers]

hurley's hurt right now, but was doing decent in the majors, but u have to worry about the flyball/homerun tendencies. he probably wont pitch again this year and like any ranger pitcher with any talent will either fall off the face of the earth or goto another team and become a cy young contender (which is the only way i can explain armando galaragga) still think he can be a solid middle of the rotation pitcher, so thats like a #1

lemon is good i like him as a hitter but is supposedly a putrid hitter and needs to be moved off SS, luckily they say he's a great athlete. though i have no idea where he'd go, julio borbon will be with us i bet by august and hamilton and he will have 2 OF positions locked up assuming all goes well. andrus will move young to 3rd base. the only positions i can see the rangers having to fill the next several years is left field and DH, though we have david murphy for LF, provided he develops a little better OBP skills and for DH if max ramirez is gone and milton bradley isnt resigned. and that doesnt even account for justin smoak who will be fast tracked

what im really excited for w/andrus is his defense, i think young is terrible defensively, at least getting to balls, while andrus's range is outstanding.

[bigboy1234]

Hurley was awful in the majors this year, not the point though, because of a small sample. I've always thought he was overrated. Seeing Borbon in the majors this year (or even next year for that matter) would be hilarious, another overrated guy. But he does have that major league contract so I'm ready to laugh.

lemon is good i like him as a hitter but is supposedly a putrid hitter and needs to be moved off SS

Does not compute. But I wouldn't be so fast to write him off, going by SFR Lemon was actually a good fielder last year, so I'm not sold yet that he is a bad fielder. Of course I'll wait to see what the even more advanced defensive stats say once he has 2000 innings as a big leaguer, which will probably be at a different position. Although I'm still not sold on Elvis being able to hit.

[studcrackers]

take out his last start vs. the A's where he clearly wasnt ready to come back what has made him so bad?

and who's to say that borbon cant do what he's doing now in the majors? i wasnt that big a fan of the pick at the time but im almost positive he'll be with the club next year

[bigboy1234]

Borbon has 23 walks in over 500 PA this year. That is atrocious. He has also played in two hitters leagues this year and only combines for a 760 OPS. I just think it would be a very very bad idea to think he could contribute anything until at least late next year. It's so hard to be a productive major leaguer with his kind of walk rate in the first place. He has been a league average hitter this year, and yet you want to bump him up to the MLB level and knowing he isn't going to walk, it is going to be very hard for him to put up productive numbers. At least in my mind.

Take out his last start and you still have him at 12/7 K/BB with almost everything being a flyball in 23 innings, not good.

Edit-Granted you don't want to give up groundballs either if your Hurley knowing who is playing defense behind you. You pretty much have to strike everyone out if you want to a productive pitcher with the Rangers.

[Jose7]

From my Mets:

SP- Jonathan Niese
Came into camp in shape unlike last year where he was 30 pounds overweight. Looked great in ST and really turned heads with his mound presence. He has a 12-6 curve which is his out pitch against left handers and he is developing a changeup against the righties as an outpitch. Has a his FB sits in the low 90s. His main problem like most young pitchers, control and he really improved from 06 to 07. BB/9 went from 4.51 in 2006 to 2.5 in 2007. 2nd half last year was much improved. Had a3.52 ERA and in his final 8 starts, he was 4-1, 45 IP with 42 strikeouts.

IF- Ruben Tejada
What did he hit like 600 this spring? He's 18 years old, made the jump from VSL to GCL last year in one season. Great plate discipline (19/16 BB/K), 286/395/370 at gulf coast league. He's not a power hitter but definitely a leadoff guy with great plate presence and he also stole 16 bases in just 32 games.

Tejada bombed but Niesee will be making his major league debut Tuesday.