DHonks

also, I think the Brewers passed on their last 5 or 6 picks as recently as 3 years ago

Josh Murray over the Mendoza line (first time this year?); I believe you meant "first time since 2002"

just curious, if the Yankees are the Evil Empire, what are the Red Sox? The whiny battalion?

the good news is that the second half should be starting soon, along w/the other two farm clubs.

last year the Crew tried to sign rounds 1-20 or so, then the rest were DFE or high school players who dropped (Bowman, for one) but who they wanted to sign or DFE although these guys are all 22 or 23, so I don't think they're DFE candidates

oops, thought the TJ guys were both HS. my mistake

except Joe, his competition in college was only a small step above good HS baseball conferences. That's why I felt he was a risk

at 5'9 and 160 pounds dripping wet yeah, that's one person Leskanic could post up in a game of one on one. Just saying this cause sports always have skewed heights and weights. When I got to hang out w/Lesky, I swore he was 1-2" shorter than me (I'm 5'10", 5'11" on a good day), yet he was listed at like 6'1". In the Fall League, the Marlins pitchers were all like 6'4", but the Angels, A's, Royals, and Phillies' guys were not significantly bigger than me.

pretty good news. Wonder if the two TJ guys will be DFE'd, or if they'll sign them to 2006 deals and get them acclimated in Fall Instrucs. I would think the latter would greatly limit their work loads at least initially in 2006.

it could be that because he was struggling, they want him to face as many batters as he can to make the necessary adjustments

Is Lehr really considered as a starter, or is he just doing this until one of the AA kids gets promoted?

looking at the Red Sox: gained: 23 (Cabrera, Angels) 26 (Lowe, Dodgers) 42 (Pedro, compensation) 45 (Cabrera, compensation) 47 (Lowe, compensation) 57 (Pedro, from Mets) lost: 28 (to Cards for Renteria) 76 (to Padres for Wells) 108 (to Cubs for Clement) So basically the Red Sox signed Clement, Wells, and Renteria in place of Cabrera, Pedro, and Lowe, and they added three picks, higher than the ones they lost. In a system that analyzed signings, it's likely that they would say that on the whole, slightly downgraded, and might deserve a compensatory pick after the first round. At most, one compensatory pick after the first, and one after the second. But not a net gain of 3 picks. In the current system, they got two picks higher than their own 1st, 4 more higher than their previous second. If things work their way, they could have several high profile draft picks this year

Baseball needs to take a step back and re-evaluate things. Right now, the "reward" of losing a player to free agency isn't as good as getting some marginal AA/AAA prospects to the small market clubs. To the big payroll clubs, why not buy at the deadline, then let them walk, and then get more talent in return? There needs to be something different . Perhaps the first year of free agency, clubs have the right to match contract offers. Or there's something like the NFL with franchise designations. Then again, trades and free agency aren't as fun in the NFL. Perhaps baseball should allow a team to dump a player at the deadline, but still be elligible for draft picks for the guy, rather than merely the team who traded the top guy. So instead of the acquiring team getting a pick after the first round, both trading partners get a compensation pick after the 2nd round. The trading of draft picks would help, along with set salary slots for the draft. For instance, the Brewers deal Spivey at the deadline to the Yankees. Instead of a marginal AA prospect, maybe the Brewers request the Yankees 2nd pick in the 2006 draft, and if this pick isn't in the top two rounds, the Brewers get their 2nd and 3rd selections. Teams shouldn't forfeit draft picks when they sign someone. Right now baseball has a system that punishes teams for signing, while rewarding teams for letting guys walk. The problem is that often times the teams needing draft-talent are neither adding or losing players in free agency. Instead they lose players at the trade deadline. So perhaps there should be a compensation system based on who a team adds and loses from big league opening day rosters until the beginning of the next opening day. This could still utilize the player rankings currently used. For example, the Sexson and Schilling deals for the Crew and Dbacks. The Schilling deal represented a loss of star power, so they'd be elligible for some compensation, even though they worked out a fair trade. The Brewers lost a star, so they should be compensated.

and Toby, I think Anderson goes tomorrow. It could be important, as they may try to push him to two innings. I'd think July 1st might be a more likely time to be moved up.

what about character? We know the Crew likes character. I learned first hand that the A's love high-character individuals. Huston Street and Jeremy Brown may know how to party, but they're also workaholics and great teammates. What do we know about the main candidates and their character issues?

Rogers' name became associated with the Crew in a draft-tracker update about 10 days before the draft. I just really think the Dbacks and Royals are major wildcards. And if everyone knows the Nats are locked in on Zimmerman, I wouldn't be surprised if he starts talking about wanting more money. And Clement into the top 4? Wow! This could be crazy.

Braun it is? Chaos in the 1-2-3 spots? (Click here)

wow colby, I'm stumped on who else we've talked about. My first guess is that it's someone who you've compared to Sheets. I don't think it's anyone from Santa Clara (can't fathom they'd have a first rounder). The names just aren't jumping at me. I did bring up the Canadians once, so perhaps that's what you were referring to. And with this darn EZboard outage, I can't find all the threads (that's my excuse).

and I see bjkrautk, if you click on draft index or just the homepage, you see two different messages

No idea why, but there's a hatred of Jeter in America that seems to be even stronger than a hatred of the Yankees or Red Sox. I don't get it. The guy is a 1st ticket hall of famer, likely to finish with over 3000 hits, and has won more rings than many organizations.

just curious, was the last time the Dbacks picked ahead of us the year they passed on Big Ben because they thought he was unsignable, and wound up taking Corey Meyers? That's right, the same Meyers who has the build of my boy Jeremy Brown, yet somehow he was drafted as a SS. If so, then I like knowing that AZ is infront of us, along with the ownerless club and the budget-conscious Royals. In the end, I see the Royals going with someone they have a pre-draft deal worked out with. I figure they won't go above slot money, and they won't take someone who can't be fast-tracked. So of the college SS/3b, I see the Royals taking the one available willing to sign right away (whoever that might be)

still says it for me, and I've been foolishly refreshing about every 4 minutes

DHonks, I know you will, and probably already do, like the guy. Is that a big enough hint? well, there's one draft elligible for next year that I've asked about, so I'm assuming it's a certain pitcher that transfered schools before this year. Someone whom you were high on before the '03 draft. I believe you even had a conversation with him or his father at the Brewers' workouts. So that's my assumption.

they need to do something about the AA catching situation. If Vandenberg is just minor league fodder, then they might as well promote him to AAA, where he'll likely play more. I doubt they'll promote Rottino, as they seem to view him as a legit prospect

On top of that, both Katuluu and xisxisxis have sworn me to keep my mouth shut about my favorite prospect, knowing I'll jink the pick anyway (which looking at my track record probably is a good thing) I think this is what I was remembering. Maybe it was people always asking you about the 2nd rounder, and you vowing not to reveal your favorites so as not to jinx it. Going back, I have to say that Weeks really disappointed me at the time. I saw him as a compete fluke, since it wasn't a top college school. Last year I was torn. I basically gave the nod to Rogers, Bailey, or Sowers, having liked their videos far more than the others. And based on all the rumblings, I can assume one of the three is Maybin. That means that 2 of Gordon, Zimmerman, Tulo, Braun, and Romero get the nod. I would assume you went with Zimmerman and Braun. But I know you love Romero (I liked the video too, although I thought he seemed wild in it). So I guess my final answer is Maybin, Braun, and Romero.