BaseballAmerica: Dbacks have 4 prospects in the top 20 among Pioneer League rookies

Bobby Borchering is ranked the #3 prospect in the PL, and is joined in the top 10 by #7 Chris Owings. Mike Belfiore and David Nick also made the top 20, and Paul Goldschmidt just missed it. (But was mentioned in the article)

Sounds like one helluva rookie infield around 2012/2013ish.

over 2 years ago DbacksSkins 9 comments 0 recs |

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Cautiously optimistic.

You know how you get to Carnegie Hall, doncha? Practice.

by soco on Sep 28, 2009 7:19 PM EDT reply actions

Sounds alot like

what we all were saying about 3+ years ago…

I, too, will stay cautiously optimistic.

by G.O.B. on Sep 28, 2009 11:38 PM EDT reply actions

Lower levels,

but yeah, it sounds like this draft really reloaded our farm for the future.

Or for another trade for an ace starter.

Posting 65 comments/day since June '07.

by DbacksSkins on Sep 28, 2009 11:45 PM EDT up reply actions

No thanks

I love Haren as much as the next guy, but that trade was a total disaster.

1. Carlos Gonzalez plays a mean center field, oh and he OPS-ed .872 this year. I love Chris Young but he’s NEVER hit more than .763.

2. Brett Anderson is 21. He’s 21. He also has the 8th best FIP in the AL. In the freakin’ AL!! Ahead of him (humor me) are only Greinke, Verlander, Halladay, Felix H., Lester, CCS and Beckett. He might be better than Haren right now. And he costs $400K with 6 years of club control. Insane.

3. Dana Eveland struggled this year but last year he was a perfectly serviceable back of the rotation starter (4.34 ERA, 4.09 FIP, 2.7 WAR). At worst, he’s better than Petit and Mulvey.

4. Greg Smith (see no. 3 – numbers for last year are 4.16 ERA, 4.82 FIP, 1.6 WAR)

5. Aaron Cunningham was ranked 55 on the preseason BA list. He OPSed .855 in AAA this season. He’s something like Parra, “he lacks the range for center and the power for the corner, making him an ideal fourth outfielder” – Fangraphs. Parra was ranked 88th, btw.

6. Chris Carter was ranked 76th on the BA list. He OPSed 1.011 in AA this year, hitting 28 homers, after hitting 44 last year (including the playoffs). “Carter is basically a designated hitter who should hit a bunch of homers and take his fair share of walks while hitting .260-.280 and piling up the Ks in the Majors” – Fangraphs.

Basically, if our rotation next year was Webb, Anderson, Scherzer, Eveland, Buckner and our lineup was Gonzalez, Drew, Upton, Reynolds, Montero, Carter, Roberts, Cunningham, I’d wager we’ll be just as good without Haren. And guess what? All 6 guys are practically free, while we owe Haren $33 milion for the next 3 years with a $15M option for 2013. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a bargain for a guy like Haren, but we could have had so much more.

by paqs on Sep 29, 2009 8:02 AM EDT up reply actions

The "Or for another trade for an ace starter" comment

was sarcasm.

Also, Carlos Gonzalez plays at Coors, so if he played anywhere else, his OPS would be .472 rather than .872.

Posting 65 comments/day since June '07.

by DbacksSkins on Sep 29, 2009 2:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Less a Coors product than many

CoughTroyboyCough. CarGon’s road OPS is a respectable .825.

I don’t hate the Haren trade as much as you. Of the players listed, we already have plenty of back of the rotation starters and fourth outfielders, and we can’t use a DH, so Chris ’ Hands of Stone’ Carter is pretty useless to us – especially if Brandon Allen turns out to be the 1B of our future. For the moment, those are the kind of players that are relatively easy to replace. That basically leaves it as Cargon and Anderson – at the time, both completely unproven players in the majors – for a sure-fire top of the line starter Haren, and I don’t have too much an issue with that, especially as we were the defending division champions and genuinely thought we would be there or thereabouts for the next few seasons.

"Win, or die" -- Marquise de Merteuil

by Jim McLennan on Sep 29, 2009 4:51 PM EDT up reply actions

The Coors comment

was also sarcasm.

Lotta people falling into the sarchasm these days.

Posting 65 comments/day since June '07.

by DbacksSkins on Sep 29, 2009 5:18 PM EDT up reply actions

I know

It’s easy to say CarGon and Anderson were unproven etc etc, but they were among the best prospects in all of baseball so it wasn’t as if we traded a couple of unkowns. Anytime you trade prospects for major league players you can say they are unproven but it doesn’t mean they’re not valuable.

Chris Carter, I don’t know, poor defense at from a guy that hits 30 homers a year, I can take, and it’s not as if Brandon Allen is Keith Hernandez out there. And it doesn’t matter if Brandon Allen is our 1B of the future, we still thought of Carter highly enough to trade Quentin for him.

And we don’t really have back of the rotation starters that can keep us in games and have ERAs of 4.5-ish. We have back of the rotation starters that give us a gem or two during the year, and pitch batting practice the rest of the way.

If you look at what the Phillies gave up for Lee or what the Mets gave up for Santana, it’s nowhere near as much.

by paqs on Sep 30, 2009 2:35 AM EDT up reply actions

is there any concern about

Rule 5 this year? Do we have guys that need protection and are there some guys out there that we can pinch because of our outstanding performance this year?

I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused....

by piratedan7 on Sep 29, 2009 1:34 AM EDT reply actions