Analytics are an easy scapegoat. Remember Frank McCourt blaming them when he fired Depodesta and hired Colletti? It's a combination of Trumpian pandering and the misconception that "analytics" are not actually produced by people the way scouting reports are.

Less speed/defense than Ellsbury, more power. Bear in mind that Louisville outscored their opponentss 53-7 in those four games. I don't think playing Pencil State and Little Sisters of the Poor counts the way some of their in-conference opponents will.

That's silly, he's been on the radar for at least four years and has no history of staying healthy. Great arm, of course, and if he ended up throwing 40 good innings for Texas' bullpen this year I wouldn't be surprised.

Loved Name of the Rose for all the reasons you mentioned. Foucault's Pendulum was a huge disappointment, primarily because he could not finish the plot.

Yes. He's also got more power than stat-line scouting might lead you to believe.

Is there a spot in their rotation for him? I don't see one.

Deception comes from the delivery. If the hitter can't see the ball till fairly late in the delivery, the pitcher gets a substantial advantage. Gray has as little deception as any pitching prospect I saw all last year, and a hard, straight fastball without deception is ... well, that's been one of Mark Appel's problems, too.

I think he's a reliever. FB-CH but not even a fringe-average breaking ball. Smaller guy too.

I don't know, but I hope they do something like that, playing Profar, rather than acquiring a veteran to play LF. They have enough internal options to cover them until Hamilton is healthy (j/k) or one of those kids is ready to come up and perform.

He described something very much like this to me maybe four or five years ago, and I think he has the concept right. He's absolutely correct that in any draft class there are only a few players whose market value would blow away these slot bonuses, and for most other kids, the draft shaves a little off their potential earnings but not a ton. His idea is focused on getting the Strasburg/Harper talents paid, and I support that without reservation, even though I think implementing his idea would be tricky because it creates opportunities for teams to manipulate the pool.

He's like 80 miles from my house, so, yes.

I do not believe he's undervalued at all, nor is there a "lack of exposure." He was a first-round talent in HS, and just played a full year in two full-season leagues. We got him. But he could shoot up into my top 10-15 this year because he'll go to AA and now has a full season of at bats under his belt, as opposed to last year when he came in somewhat cold, with only about 150 pro AB before 2015.

Well, no, or I wouldn't have ranked him there. Also, that's not that high a K% and he was exceptionally young for low-A.

After the injury he might need to go to the bullpen for the interim anyway. I'd rather see him in the 8th or 9th and Blair in his rotation spot.

Yep, still a fan, haven't really changed my view of him.

No, and just for the record (I know you're not saying this), I never said the Angels should trade Trout. I said they will have to look at this if they don't improve the system dramatically in the next 2-3 years or win a title in the meantime. But as long as he's here, in his prime, and affordable, the mandate should be to build as good a team around him as possible.

It's a chain of about 20 places now, mostly in the southwest, although there's no longer any formal connection with the locations in Brooklyn. I have tried both and actually prefer the pizza at the AZ places.

On the bright side, people are talking about Evelyn Waugh, and his work definitely deserves to be read. Scoop is just timeless.

I tried to say something like this but in less dramatic terms on TSN 1050 yesterday. If they get to July 15th and are not in the hunt, they should trade Bautista and begin a retooling, although they still have enough of a core that they might be able to turn it over into a contending team in 2017 if they trade shrewdly.

I don't understand the responses from fans about Baez. He hadn't earned a thing. If this sends him back to AAA, so be it. A good September against largely non-contending teams shouldn't change our opinion of the player.

I would hope not. I don't write these for players. I write them for you.

Doesn't even have 100 AB above AA, right? I don't think his bat is ready.

Fixed, thanks. Too many links. (too many liiiiinks)

I'll add that it's a nice pickup for Oakland. Brooks is an up-and-down guy for me, and deployed properly Coghlan can be worth a win or two.

I'd rather play the kids if they're ready. I would never advocate rushing a kid to a non-contending team just for the sake of not paying a veteran, but I might argue that, say, the Twins should give Buxton the CF job now because his glove and speed will help them even if his bat isn't quite ready.

All ties between free agency and the draft should be severed.

Do we have to assume that? What if he's striking out 30% of the time in AAA? I'm a big fan of Judge's, but there's a significant hurdle for him to clear before he's ready. Even AA pitchers were exploiting him on the outside edge when I saw him last summer.

Really thought the Brewers would promote him, but that whole search process seemed rigged from the start. Attanasio decided who he wanted before it began.

Not scary, just typical for down there. Lots of people have "invested" in him and want to get paid. MLB should step up its presence in the DR even further, though, because that's the only way we'll get more transparency in the process.

He's good at 2b but not at short. Also can't hit. Other than that, great player.

Perez might have the best tools in the class, but his makeup is getting a lot of criticism from scouts, directors, even two GMs I asked. He doesn't always play hard, and there have been some attitude questions even off the field. So he could go top five - he could go top 2 or 3 - or he could slide because teams worry he won't have the commitment to be a big leaguer. Benson is in the top group of HS position players with Rutherford, Moniak, Nolan Jones.

Betts just had a 5-WAR season in the majors, right? You can't put that guy on a top 100 prospects list. It's like asking where Mike Trout would rank.

Kilome. Maybe Randolph, just because he can really hit, but the bar is pretty high for his bat now that he's in LF.

Some bad drafts. Some drafts without high picks. Lots of trades. Some non-development of guys like Cowart, who was a legit first-round pick.

I don't think I fell off anyone. And this is making me uncomfortable.

I don't understand it either. He's not that good of a player.

No. I recognize the nature of what I'm doing is as much entertainment as anything else. I try to do my job to the best of my abilities, but failure is built in and I've come to terms with that.

My gut feeling is that he's hurt and barely pitches if at all.

Altuve. Now, that's projecting to an unreasonable extent on Kingery's hit tool, but bear in mind I had him as a first-round talent in June, so I'm fairly optimistic on him. It's a similar profile, but Altuve was in the big leagues at Kingery's age.

I would not trade Bogaerts for Harvey, but I don't think Xander is a "once in a lifetime player."

Makes no sense for the Cubs. The hell would they need with another outfielder?

If this causes umps to get the neighborhood play right more frequently, great. If this means 200 more replay delays this year to overturn stubborn umps who refuse to call the neighborhood play as it should be, not great.

Think there's a little more power in there.

I would bet you right now it's none of the above. I see virtually zero chance it's Groome, not much more it's Perez, and if you're offering me Puk or the field, I'm taking the field. Ray, Jefferies, Jones, one of those prep bats I mentioned - plenty of other options.

Hansen needs to pitch well, stat. He came into the year with a red flag on his elbow, and then was awful week one. Puk will go pretty high as a "safe" college lefty with size and stuff.

Every time MLB has tried to tweak its tax code to implement social policies, it has backfired. I'm shocked, shocked to find this.

He seems like a solid first rounder.

For me, yes. DH only who hasn't hit for much power.

Those guys are not 1-2. Again, I see virtually no chance the Phillies take Groome, or any HS pitcher, at 1. My first mock draft will be about three weeks before draft day, so early to mid-May. Anything too far before that is a fabrication.

That's a really good question. Of the games I know, many of which are aimed at older kids or adults, Splendor is pretty quick between turns and has thick plastic tokens as well as cards and cardboard badges. Jaipur, which is just a two-player game, has similar components. They're also both simple for an 8-year-old to learn. I've also played Splendor with a kid about that age who has sensory processing disorder, and she liked it.