Yes, I would. Think there will be too much swing and miss there. He's faced some awful pitching so far.

Yep, I've used the recipe in Ruhlman's 20 several times. Very easy to do yourself, and it destroys anything you're going to buy in any grocery store.

We did, in November. I don't know offhand when the next update will be.

Next week.

Yes but they can't stay the whole time.

Moncada is at 2b now. If he can't stay there, he's going to the outfield.

No, he's failed to develop physically or offensively. He's a 2b without any punch. I'd say 5th round or later.

He was on my top 100 and I'll refer you there for more. He's not doing anything different this spring.

I don't see why that would specifically be the case for him, but he has gradually improved over the last two years to the point where I could see him becoming a low-OBP, 20-HR regular with plus-plus defense in center. If you're the Dodgers, that's probably better than what you can expect from Joc, right?

I think he ends up trade bait, given how good Altuve's contract is for the team.

Everything? It was all good but I particularly liked the pork bites with collard greens, the fried chicken with cornbread, and the warm donut with salted caramel.

To ESPN in Bristol.

Can't imagine they push him like that - I think it's unreasonable to expect an 18-year-old to get to AA, especially when he's on some kind of innings limit. It is reasonable to think he will be the top pitching prospect a year from now; assuming Giolito, Glasnow, and Urias all graduate, I think Espinoza might be the favorite.

Your wife thinks I went to Harvard at 17 to become a baseball writer at 33? She seems a little confused.

No, I think he's probably a reliever in the long run, although I would leave him as a starter for now to see if he exceeds expectations. I had three separate scouts who saw him in Jackson last year tell me they put him in as a future reliever.

I assume you're asking now rather than "ever," since clearly the latter is true. Travis is a pretty advanced hitter, and wasn't that far behind his teammate at IU, Kyle Schwarber, at the time of the draft. I don't think it's crazy to think Travis could hit in the majors right now.

Not even an average player. 80 raw power, below-average everything else, with no position.

Selective memories, I guess. I hope Reds fans voice their displeasure.

If he wants to start, he needs to change his delivery, and until that happens, they should leave him in relief where he has had and should continue to have success.

He'll come into power in time. He was only 22; I think the added attention everyone pays to prospects now, plus the huge debuts of guys like Trout and Harper, have skewed expectations of what prospects will do right out of the gate.

I do not.

I think he's an average to above-average regular. Top player in the draft class now, although to some extent that's by default.

I really don't care one iota about this story. It feels like it's none of our business.

I think that's a terrible idea, because Arroyo's bat isn't going to profile as well in LF/RF, because big leaguers get hurt all the time, and because Panik is not a franchise player who'd force you to move your best prospect to another position.

Been on the radar for at least four years now - can definitely hit, not good at 3b.

Heh, I'm not even wearing green, and tonight I'm making an Asian steak salad for dinner.

I don't look at spring training stats at all. All noise, no signal. Good for crappy articles and blog posts and terrible front office decisions.

Plexiglass Principle says no. Keuchel probably won't repeat, McCullers is hurt, McHugh looks like a good bet to regress, lineup may not/likely won't be as healthy, etc.

Especially with the long arm action.

My guess is both guys spend about 2/3 of the season in the majors. Manaea looked ready to me in my brief ST look, but given his injury history starting him slow in the minors isn't a bad idea.

Where did I say I was OK with them being a janitor? If you're going to show up to argue, then skip the straw men.

People ask this all the time. It's not like I'm eating 3000 calories a day.

I'm very curious on this one. Even the M's own people seemed to think he'd end up at second base, which presented a problem, of course, with Cano there. But if he's really an average defender at short, which he appeared to be in his brief MLB time last year, he's probably a four-win player at his peak.

Yes, I'd heard he was hurt before the season. I don't remember why.

I'd say so.

First of all, those aren't stats. Second, stabilization doesn't quite mean what fans take it to mean. It's not saying that's the player's true talent level, for one important thing.

I'd be concerned if a kid came into a MLB game, even an exhibition, and lost the strike zone ... which I've seen a few times. Anecdotally speaking, it doesn't generally end well. Also, Marzipan told me that Lucas's baking has really improved lately.

Wonder if they felt he was hobbled by the aftereffects of the attempted murder by Chase Utley.

Going to depend on his medicals, I think, which we'll likely hear nothing about. Even if he continues to have a lousy spring, at some point, maybe in the sandwich round, a team will take a shot at him if they think he's at all fixable or if it's an elbow issue they believe can be treated.

Reliever. Good stuff, reliever delivery and command.

No, never, for the very simple reason that any player can be traded at any time.

He's a fairly advanced hitter. I don't think it's aggressive and it sets him up to see the majors midyear.

I wouldn't say mediocre, just not plus. I'd leave them both at short and let one or the other play himself off it. Swanson is probably the eventual winner but I think it's something like 60/40.

Defensively? I truly have no idea. Plus, right out of the chute, would be surprising but not unprecedented. I'm more concerned about his bat, and about what his presence means for Profar, Gallo, Mazara, and Brinson.

Not at all. It's encouraging to have him healthy and on a mound, period.

Perhaps the player doesn't want to change.

Nothing. He's been so overhyped anyway that I'm much more interested in other names.

I wouldn't consider his history so much as his present performance. If they send him back to high-A, and he rakes, they should be prepared to move him up to AA quickly. Let his bat tell you where he needs to play. Don't hold him back somewhere just because he's inexperienced.

As baseball becomes increasingly specialized and players become better, the baseline skill level to do any one thing at a major-league level keeps getting higher. That's why we won't see two-way players. It's why pitchers shouldn't hit (and people who say pitchers who don't hit are only playing half the game are complete idiots). It's also why we're unlikely to see another .400 hitter, or see other records smashed aside from the one-time effect of expansion years.

This is not a "fact." You're dealing with fewer than 30 games of performance, much of it against competition that is well below what the same players would face in April through September. You're wasting your time looking for signal when 20% of the player's at bats might have come against double-A arms.