I don't know if he's a top 100 guy - I won't really sit down to work on that until December - although I do like him for what he is, an average FB/good CB guy who can really pitch and has a good delivery.

If he doesn't walk or hit for power, he'll have to hit .290-.300 on a regular basis to be a quality everyday player. AJ Pollock did something along these lines, but he could also really run, and I think he's always had better plate discipline than Almora.

I don't know if anything changed, but I'm going to see him tonight at Bowie in their playoff game, which will be fairly loaded with prospects (him, Nick Williams, JP Crawford, Andrew Knapp, Chance Sisco, Trey Mancini). If any of you decide to come to the game, please swing by and say hi.

No, not really. He could always hit and his approach has been very advanced since he was in high school. I had some doubts about him his senior year, but in hindsight I think I was channeling industry fatigue from seeing him so much. He may actually have been *over*scouted.

Still not a player. (I never liked that pick. Second or third round, sure, but first, way too risky a profile.)

I haven't heard any specific names in Philly at all. Jayson Stark said last Thursday that MacPhail hadn't made any calls yet on that spot.

More the former. Supposedly it bothers Pujols to have Trout running in front of him.

He's not on the 40-man now, so unless he has to go on this winter to protect him from the rule 5 (I don't know offhand), I would say no.

I'm not sure you should get that excited about those guys either.

I didn't watch the debate, because a room full of science deniers like that isn't reallly the place for me. I'm not a "single-issue" voter, but I will say that if you deny the basic science on vaccines, evolution, or climate change, I can't vote for you. Accepting facts is sort of a necessary condition. I don't think they'll re-sign him - I think he'll get wildly overpaid by the market relative to his projected output, probably well north of $20MM/year.

Turner to SS, AJ Cole and Tanner Roark to the rotation, Giolito to AAA, Reynaldo Lopez to the major-league bullpen. The tough one is CF: Michael Taylor's glove is exceptional, but can you live with a year or two of offensive struggles? I can, but ownership might disagree.

There's no vision there at all.

Brinson's glove is ready but I agree with you at least to the extent that Brinson should start in AAA with a goal of maybe 200 or so AB. Mazara seems more ready, but where does he play? Can they dump Choo's contract on someone? He's an awfully expensive platoon player, and since they're both LHB you can't even work them both in.

Kershaw, Greinke, Arrieta, although if you want to flip the first two I'm fine with that. I don't see why the second-half ERA should count more than the first (in fact, it should count less as the second half is usually shorter).

You absolutely have that right, at least until proven otherwise.

Not that good.

I think so. He was my #7 or #8 prospect one year with the Mets, before the injuries started. I'm not sure he will ever be healthy enough to catch 130 games in a season, but I hope I'm wrong.

I have no idea. Klawchats are here now, and only here.

He also was horrible in a brief AAA stint. Why push him? He should come up when he's ready to contribute in some role, not when the fans (or the owners, who I imagine see dollar signs with him) demand it.

Haven't been. Might try one next week.

I think and have long thought he'd have to go to the bullpen. Big fastball without enough life, no above average secondary pitch.

False analogy time! A pitcher has more impact on the outcome of a game he starts (facing 30 or so batters) than a position player does (about 4 plate appearances and a couple of plays in the field).

Great athlete but probably an extra/bench guy in the long run. Still young enough to surprise, though.

The real question there is how many bench players and relievers - you need 8 (NL) or 9 (AL) hitters and one starting pitcher as a given. Is a 5-man bench and 6-man bullpen sufficient, giving a little more flexibility to managers in September as they cope with tired/sore players?

Yes. Whatever works for them - some guys want to be on their glove side (1b for a RHP) so they're more online to the plate; some guys (e.g., Arrieta) want to be on their arm side to get that cross-body deception.

No, I was here, but if that ends Kang's season that sucks.

Yes, I do. Now that everyone has had a chance to see him a few times, don't you see the same delivery concerns I did - the lack of use of the lower half, the big arm speed generated entirely from his torso and shoulder?

Saw him in HS against Dominic Smith - Greene was a skinny little guy, 89-90 with some control but all projection. He's been hitting 97 this year, so good job by the Jays with that pick.

Shortstop. Hands, range, instincts all there. Has the arm strength but had trouble with throws in the first half - very erratic, not Steve Sax bad but not good. That tapered off in the second half - I think he had 21 errors in their first half (about 70% of their season), 7 in the second.

Yeah, I'm not a fan, although with Soler playing about half effort level when I saw the game here on Monday it didn't matter.

You guys know my position on this: hitters shouldn't get 'time' except in extraordinary circumstances.

Nova.

Absolutely not.

Yes. Sidearm guy, though, and had some trouble with LHB in the minors. Great stuff, but if lefties continue to get to him he won't be able to close.

You're welcome - thank you all for sticking with me and coming over here to keep them going. The chats would be very boring without readers asking questions.

Good. Not perfect, but what treaty ever is?

Saw several games and he was never in the lineup.

He's legit and one of the top catching prospects in the minors right now. Really, if you can catch and throw and hit just a little, you're a top 100 consideration guy at this point. The scarcity of catchers pushes up the value of the few who can really do it.

Did Coghlan go for the player not the base? (I don't want to pause the chat to go watch - I'll look after) To me that should be an automatic ejection and suspension. Sliding at the fielder while just sticking a hand out at the base doesn't clear you. Intent to "take out" is intent to injure. Let's not be naive here.

I have raised the question or even the criticism of Buck and his coaching staff's culpability and was told I was nuts or biased or whatever. He's a good manager overall, but if what he's doing there isn't working and in fact is actively hurting the team, then that's a problem. From pitchers there regressing or failing to develop to Arrieta leaving and making simple mechanical adjustments that turned him into an ace, at some point Buck should have to answer for what's gone on.

Newspapers have been dying for a long time anyway. I'm more upset about NOLA in effect losing its one newspaper than NYC potentially losing one of three. Plus, all this handwringing over the 'big names' at the NYDN ... first of all, don't weep for the big names, weep for the little names who never made that much money to begin with. And, second, has everyone forgotten that Bill Madden was an unrepentant strikebreaker back in 1990-91?

He's not a regular or close to it, power over hit without much of an approach, 1b only ... and I don't know where you got that silly scouting lingo but it makes no sense to me.

We've done the Harry Potter series and all of the Paddington books as well. She also liked Around the World in 80 Days after its somewhat slow start. Treasure Island didn't grab her so we ditched that.

And other books, including Jonah Lehrer's now out of print Imagine (pulled because he fabricated a bunch of stuff in another chapter), and studies have shown that conflict in the office produces more creative results. Amazon is a good example of that - that NY Times article arguing it's a horrible place to work (and in some cases it might be) didn't consider the effect that this crazy internal competition is what has made the company both innovative and successful.

That's going to be some grade 70 regret for them and grade 80 for the Rays.

Works for me. Everyone take a moment. ... okay, moment's over. Thanks.

Yes, and a much better hitter and defender.

I liked him quite a bit but at this point anything I say on him seems like empty speculation.

I think I said he should break in as a reliever, for a couple of reasons, not least of which is the wobbly command he showed in that one start this spring where Matt Williams decided to burn him at the stake by having him issue an IBB while he was already having trouble throwing strikes.

Are his "sabermetric chops" the ones that matter? If he surrounds himself with smart people, isn't that the key?