Did you read what I wrote? I said it seems more guys are hitting the draft a year older than the normal age. I didn't say all of them were. Swaggerty won't turn 21 until August. Singer turns 22 in August. Kelenic turns 19 in less than a month. Several of the HS pitchers who won't sign either already turned 19 or will shortly, which might make them eligible in two years instead of three. Clemens being 22 is something that gives me pause about his ceiling moving forward, as it does with all the guys old for their class.
Would be a good system to raid. Sonny Gray is stinking it up tonight too. They gotta be gettin antsy ...
I've said it before, but I just don't see the Yankees making a Fulmer trade. I don't see how we trade him at this stage without getting a massive haul, and that's not how the Yankees do business under Cashman. Only way I see that deal is if the Yankees did something like a 5 or 6 for 1 trade where we got Frazier and then a bunch of depth pieces outside of their top 10, and that doesn't seem like something Avila would want to do. The Padres seem like a best case scenario for the Tigers with Fulmer. They have such a deep system and seem to be kind of antsy. We wouldn't get Tatis or Gore, but maybe Urias + a couple second tier arms could work for both sides. The Dodgers are also kind of interesting, and I'm not ruling out the Nationals wanting to make a huge splash to get the team going, although I wouldn't bet on that one.
I think Frazier as the center piece would be a great haul from Yankees. And yes, Urias would probably be starting point with Padres.
I'm not terribly high on Frazier. I think he's a borderline top 50 guy at this point, even though he doesn't count as a prospect anymore. He's good, but I think significant pieces would need to be coming along with him to make it work on our end. If NYY was willing to put Sheffield along with him (another guy I'm not quite as high on as others, but still a legit top 50ish arm), then something could happen. I just don't see NYY doing that. They won't overpay for Fulmer like other orgs might because the cost controlled aspect means less to them. A team like San Diego can't just go into FA and buy a pitcher. NYY can do whatever it wants whenever it wants.
I would like for us to trade for a couple pitching prospects from the Yankees just to see what the hell they do with their pitchers to make all of them throw 98+ mph and then implement that into our system. They draft all these college relievers and low level starters and turn them into monsters in the minors. I am jealous.
International signings going on today. Tigers landed the two they were projected to get in Jose de la Cruz ($1.8m) and Adinso Reyes ($1.5m). They are #s 15 and 19 on the mlbpipeline list below. This is apparently the first time we've ever spent 7 figures on multiple players internationally. http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2018?list=int
Where do these numbers fall in line with the overall prospect list? Or even the Tigers top prospects?
I’ve never understood - why do teams not throw these marginal sums at the top intl players? Low hit rate?
There's a bonus pool limit for each team. The Tigers' limit this year is $5M. Some teams have a pool as high as $6M. The way MLB works that stuff out is moronic, but that's to be expected with all the other stupid stuff it does. You're dealing with 16 year olds there. There's so much development to go with some of these guys, although in recent years the hit rate has been kind of remarkable. There are also some teams that prefer to go after more players in the middle tier as opposed to spending so much up front on one or two guys. Players like Acuna and Victor Robles are examples of big time guys from LA who signed for $100k or less, I think.
As far as our system, they're so far away that it's hard to even put them in the top 30 until the come over the states (likely won't be until 2020 when they'll play rookie ball). Both those guys are probably top 10-15 talents in the system right away, though.
What’s Victor Victor going to sign for? I’d rather throw $4MM at him, than those bums we signed today.
That’s all you want? He’s what we thought Mahtook might be. He’s a solid replacement level outfielder, but nothing more. I’d rather have a few lottery tickets that might pan out in five years.
He'd be the centerpiece. Of course we'd get a few more. And he's s lot better than Mahtook, and is like 6-7 years younger
Verdugo's star potential has been diminished a bit if I'm not mistaken. Definitely would like to add some LHB position prospects, but do think Fulmer should command an All-Star potential type. Verdugo may be a bit more of the "solid regular" category ...
There are not many star potential prospects outside of the top 10. And if there were you’re not getting them in any trade for Fulmer. Give me 2-3 guys that have a chance of being a solid regular.
Soto was Law's #42 prospect to start the year. Former #1 picks Hunter Greene and Royce Lewis both are outside the top 20. Leody Taveras is near the top 40 overall in A ball. Would prefer something like that vs Verdugo who seems to be tapped out. Need more upside than solid regular for Fulmer as the main piece ...
I think I like SD's package the best. Hiura & Michael Baez both top 50 guys, and maybe we can snag one of their MLB level OFs ...
That's Vin's way of letting you know you made a mistake and probably meant Urias. Hiura is a 2nd basemen for the Brewers.
I'm a big Verdugo fan. He's a weird player compared to most prospects in 2018, but I think he's an above average or better RF in the long term. That's definitely a good piece. Unfortunately, none of this probably matters with Fulmer's ERA over 4.
If Castellanos could play even a little defense anywhere on the field I would give him all the money for as long as he wanted it. Even with his lack of defense, I'm not sure he isn't JD Martinez circa-2014-15
Some other minor league stuff: - Isaac Paredes hit a HR tonight. He's up to around a 120 wRC+ with a 16.6% K% and 8.7% BB%. He's 19. I don't think he gets enough run as a prospect. He's a legit top 100 guy going into next season if people think his defense is good enough to stick at 2B or 3B. No one seemed to think he could stick at SS coming into the season. - Jacob Robson hit his 3rd HR since being called up to Toledo. He's raking since he got there, and hit really well in AA before getting called up there. He might be a 4th OF long term, but I think there's a real chance he breaks camp next year as the starting LF (or at least gets a shot as a platoon guy). He's probably passed Gerber already, and he's probably competing with Stewart next year for LF. - Kody Clemens went deep twice today in WM. - Brock Deathridge went 5-5 today in WM. He's been insane since the draft. There's no way he's anywhere near this good, but that's one hell of a start for a senior sign in the 10th round. - Also, Daz Cameron has been on fire since going to Erie. He's striking out a lot so I'm guessing it's still going to take him about a year before he gets to the big leagues, but it's good to see some pop from him. Jake Rogers also has his BA above .200 for the season and has been really good offensively for about 5 weeks now.