2019 Minor Leagues/Prospect Discussion Thread

vaff87 · Post #4621 » by **vaff87** » Wed Sep 5, 2018 4:19 pm

"Objective evidence"? Everybody but you seems to rank it a top 10 system, bro. Seems you're the one without the "objective evidence".

Al_Oliver · Post #4622 » by **Al_Oliver** » Wed Sep 5, 2018 5:09 pm

bluerap23 wrote:Tellez had a very strong second half this year. Hopefully he has finally turned the corner. I'd prefer to see him next year over Morales.

I get the sentiment but there may be too much competition for a 40 man roster spot let alone to give him a shot next year.
Morales looks like he may be one of their better players (for better or for worse) and we know that Smoak and Morales are at least MLB players.

Post #4623 » by **Schad** » Wed Sep 5, 2018 5:58 pm

His assessment of our second-tier talent isn't necessarily wrong, depending on how one views the likes of Smith/Biggio/Alford etc. We'd still be a top 10 farm system if you see most of those as 45s, though.

Fairview4Life · Post #4624 » by **Fairview4Life** » Thu Sep 6, 2018 12:13 pm

One guy aggregating every single minor league player to rank teams seems like it shouldn’t be given much weight.

dagger · Post #4625 » by **dagger** » Thu Sep 6, 2018 12:30 pm

Al_Oliver wrote:
bluerap23 wrote:Tellez had a very strong second half this year. Hopefully he has finally turned the corner. I'd prefer to see him next year over Morales.

I get the sentiment but there may be too much competition for a 40 man roster spot let alone to give him a shot next year.
Morales looks like he may be one of their better players (for better or for worse) and we know that Smoak and Morales are at least MLB players.

Morales is 34, and frankly, if it were my money, I'd pay most of his 2019 salary to make him disappear in a trade. This winter, some teams may well re-evaluate their DH position and decide a year of Morales, for almost free, is better than what they have. Seriously. it's time we move on from these oldsters, good though some of them may be, and get ready to contend again seriously in 2022. Ir's certainly not a good idea to lose a potential replacement off the prospect list to keep Morales for the purpose of putting a decomposing fig leaf over the shortfalls of this roster. Let's get real about rebuilding for a change.

Al_Oliver · Post #4626 » by **Al_Oliver** » Thu Sep 6, 2018 1:40 pm

dagger wrote:
Al_Oliver wrote:
bluerap23 wrote:Tellez had a very strong second half this year. Hopefully he has finally turned the corner. I'd prefer to see him next year over Morales.

I get the sentiment but there may be too much competition for a 40 man roster spot let alone to give him a shot next year.
Morales looks like he may be one of their better players (for better or for worse) and we know that Smoak and Morales are at least MLB players.

Morales is 34, and frankly, if it were my money, I'd pay most of his 2019 salary to make him disappear in a trade. This winter, some teams may well re-evaluate their DH position and decide a year of Morales, for almost free, is better than what they have. Seriously. it's time we move on from these oldsters, good though some of them may be, and get ready to contend again seriously in 2022. Ir's certainly not a good idea to lose a potential replacement off the prospect list to keep Morales for the purpose of putting a decomposing fig leaf over the shortfalls of this roster. Let's get real about rebuilding for a change.

Agreed, it would be great to get the players that aren't part of the future out of town. No more half-stepping... Morales, Pillar, Tulo, Martin can all be fired into the Sun!

polo007 · Post #4627 » by **polo007** » Thu Sep 6, 2018 6:12 pm

While MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and ESPN's Keith Law have varying opinions on where Toronto's prospects are ranked in the majors, TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips provides his own expert assessment on where they stand.

https://www.tsn.ca/mlb/video/phillips-the-lowdown-on-the-jays-farm-system~1479589

Read on Twitter

polo007 · Post #4628 » by **polo007** » Sat Sep 8, 2018 12:52 am

vaff87 wrote:"Objective evidence"? Everybody but you seems to rank it a top 10 system, bro. Seems you're the one without the "objective evidence".

Read on Twitter

Skin Blues · Post #4629 » by **Skin Blues** » Sat Sep 8, 2018 3:16 am

More trolling from Keith. Don't feed the trolls!!

Post #4630 » by **Schad** » Sat Sep 8, 2018 3:28 am

Seriously. Top heavy is not a bad thing in a sport where the expected WAR curve for top prospects is basically the opening drop of a roller coaster.

dagger · Post #4631 » by **dagger** » Sat Sep 8, 2018 12:01 pm

If you take MLB Pipeline's top 30, all the players the Jays have promoted to the majors this month - except one, Jansen - rank in the bottom half. Reid-Foley is 16, Tellez 28. Also, McGuire, Davis, Paulino, Pannone, etc. So that top heavy talent hasn't even begun to factor into the rebuild, while some of the lower level prospects show signs of contributing more than the stiffs and marginal vets they should displace next season. They might surprise, providing depth for the next contending Jays team, or entice other teams to trading for them.

Meanwhile, that New Hampshire team has streamrolled Trenton to move on to the EL final.

https://www.milb.com/new-hampshire/news/title-bound-nh-sweeps-trenton-in-edcs/c-293797370

Bo Bichette is projecting very much like a better two-way middle infielder than anyone the Jays have had in a decade. Vlad's sitn is well known. Even Harold Ramirez and Max Pentecost, dismissed as a prospect by most, aren't totally out of it. Ramirez just won the EL batting title. Worst case, one of these guys is picked as a Rule 5, so we don't lose a younger player. As Shapiro said yesterday, the potential losses in Rule 5 are a growing concern.

At the major league level, the catching situation is coming into focus and it won't involve a below Mendoza Richard Martin - certainly not after 2019. In fact, a player like Luke Maile with lots of control left could easily become trade bait if this offensive improvement of his appears sustainable. Not only do the Jays have a decent tandem in Jansen/McGuire, they have more catching depth in the minors. If one looks at the improving financial picture by the end of 2019, you could see good free agents start to consider Toronto by 2020 or 2021, making serious contention a possibility by 2021 or more likely 2022. This isn't going to be a Houston or Chicago type rebuild - razing the whole house to build a new one.

bluerap23 · Post #4632 » by **bluerap23** » Sat Sep 8, 2018 4:09 pm

dagger wrote:If you take MLB Pipeline's top 30, all the players the Jays have promoted to the majors this month - except one, Jansen - rank in the bottom half. Reid-Foley is 16, Tellez 28. Also, McGuire, Davis, Paulino, Pannone, etc. So that top heavy talent hasn't even begun to factor into the rebuild, while some of the lower level prospects show signs of contributing more than the stiffs and marginal vets they should displace next season. They might surprise, providing depth for the next contending Jays team, or entice other teams to trading for them.

Meanwhile, that New Hampshire team has streamrolled Trenton to move on to the EL final.

https://www.milb.com/new-hampshire/news/title-bound-nh-sweeps-trenton-in-edcs/c-293797370

Bo Bichette is projecting very much like a better two-way middle infielder than anyone the Jays have had in a decade. Vlad's sitn is well known. Even Harold Ramirez and Max Pentecost, dismissed as a prospect by most, aren't totally out of it. Ramirez just won the EL batting title. Worst case, one of these guys is picked as a Rule 5, so we don't lose a younger player. As Shapiro said yesterday, the potential losses in Rule 5 are a growing concern.

At the major league level, the catching situation is coming into focus and it won't involve a below Mendoza Richard Martin - certainly not after 2019. In fact, a player like Luke Maile with lots of control left could easily become trade bait if this offensive improvement of his appears sustainable. Not only do the Jays have a decent tandem in Jansen/McGuire, they have more catching depth in the minors. If one looks at the improving financial picture by the end of 2019, you could see good free agents start to consider Toronto by 2020 or 2021, making serious contention a possibility by 2021 or more likely 2022. This isn't going to be a Houston or Chicago type rebuild - razing the whole house to build a new one.

Rule 5 implications could be very interesting. Will we see Management cut Tulo, Morales, Martin if they can't be dealt? I hope so, but wonder if that would be too much of a pr nightmare for them to stomach?

Does anyone have a resource for tracking which players need to be added to 40 man for next year?

dagger · Post #4633 » by **dagger** » Wed Sep 12, 2018 1:43 am

New Hampshire beats Akron 3-1 in 10 innings, in Akron, to take a 1-0 lead in the Eastern League final. Forest Wall with a pair of RBIs and Joshua Palacios had the other. TJ Zeuch did alright, going six, giving up four hits and four walks and the one Akron run. Had 4K. Travis Bergen set Akron down 1-2-3 with 2K for the 10th inning save.

Post #4634 » by **Schad** » Wed Sep 12, 2018 2:04 am

bluerap23 wrote:
Rule 5 implications could be very interesting. Will we see Management cut Tulo, Morales, Martin if they can't be dealt? I hope so, but wonder if that would be too much of a pr nightmare for them to stomach?

Does anyone have a resource for tracking which players need to be added to 40 man for next year?

https://www.bluebirdbanter.com/pages/rule-5-eligible-players-2

Aren't a tonne of first-time-eligible players that we'll need to add, but there are some who were unprotected in years past that we might well consider.

Don't think it's a huge concern, though. There will be some subtraction from the roster above and beyond the few free agents, as we have altogether too many players that are fringe major leaguers; right now, we have eight outfielders, with Pompey having (as far as I am aware) burned his final option, and DSJ . Doesn't include the distinct possibility of a Pillar/Grichuk trade. We have more infielders that we could possibly use, as well, and Maile's likely gone if Martin isn't. Plus, so many scrubby pitchers we can DFA if the mood strikes.

I'd expect that we won't merely be able to shoehorn everyone in, we'll actually open a spot or two of the Rule 5 draft.

Raps_Swingman · Post #4635 » by **Raps_Swingman** » Wed Sep 12, 2018 7:01 pm

Schad wrote:Seriously. Top heavy is not a bad thing in a sport where the expected WAR curve for top prospects is basically the opening drop of a roller coaster.

Totally agree on this. Law rates the entire list. Give me 3-4 studs at the top any day of the week.

vaff87 · Post #4636 » by **vaff87** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 1:28 am

New Hampshire playing the Akron RubberDucks in the Eastern League championship series. Currently in the 9th inning tonight, and Akron are on their 9th pitcher :lol:

dagger · Post #4637 » by **dagger** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 1:41 am

vaff87 wrote:New Hampshire playing the Akron RubberDucks in the Eastern League championship series. Currently in the 9th inning tonight, and Akron are on their 9th pitcher

Game over - 6-1 New Hampshire. Nice outing by Jon Harris. Now off to NH on Friday to wrap it up.

polo007 · Post #4638 » by **polo007** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 5:41 am

Read on Twitter

Post #4639 » by **Schad** » Sat Sep 15, 2018 2:54 am

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats won the AA title. The last time the Jays' full-season minor league teams won a title was in 2011, also the Fisher Cats (the Dunedin Blue Jays were co-champions in 2017, as Hurricane Irma canceled the actual championship. Probably not coincidental that it was many of the same players).

vaff87 · Post #4640 » by **vaff87** » Sat Sep 15, 2018 3:44 am

Schad wrote:The New Hampshire Fisher Cats won the AA title. The last time the Jays' full-season minor league teams won a title was in 2011, also the Fisher Cats (the Dunedin Blue Jays were co-champions in 2017, as Hurricane Irma canceled the actual championship. Probably not coincidental that it was many of the same players).

They swept both series, too.