Top Prospects

I figure now is as good a time as any to look at who our top ten prospects are. These players could help us in the future, or be used to trade for a superstar.

#10: Howard Champion - Champion was drafted in the 5th round of the Season 6 draft. While he's a nice player, he probably won't have a starting spot with our ML team. That leaves us with two options for him: Keep him as a bench player, or trade him. If we need to add a piece, or decide to reload, we can package him with some other players. Despite all of that, we got good value on him, for a 5th round pick.

#9: C.C. Holloway - Holloway doesn't hit quite enough to be a really top-notch prospect, but he would do pretty well. Some of his defensive projections are just a touch lower than many people want at SS, but he would be able to field CF extremely well. He would get the job done for us at either position, but he's blocked at both. For that reason, he's another player that we'll look to trade.

#8: Kevin High - He was the least appealing of the three pitchers we drafted in Season 6, but he still looks like he could be a pretty decent major-leaguer. He's currently at Double-A, and the sim just moved him to closer, which might be where he'd fit in for the big club. Ideally, though, we could package him with Champion and Holloway for a top notch prospect, or to fill some other need.

#7: Sherman Pall - Pall was the second pitcher from that same draft. He's got better control than High, and thus has a better shot at sticking with us. We wouldn't hesitate to trade him in the right deal, although it would have to be for a pretty good player or package.

#6: Ahmad Spivey - Spivey came cheap, and he should be able to help us out. He's been closing out a lot of games in the minors, but he has enough stamina to get by as a starter. We're a little concerned with his effectiveness against right-handers, but his great control and pitches should make up for it. One more season at Triple-A and we should be ready to make a decision on him.

#5: Tony Leary - If he can stay healthy, Leary is going to be a great top-of-the-order hitter for us. He'll also field a great center. If he gets hurt, we've got Holloway to fill in, although he won't hit quite as well. We'd be unlikely to trade him unless it was part of an excellent deal.

#4: Randy Atkins - Atkins was a first choice in the Season 8 draft. There is some concern that he won't get his glove up to where the projections say, but he should still be able to play short. We look forward to having Leary and Atkins set the table for our power hitters for years to come.

#3: Kenny McKay - McKay was acquired in a bit of a gift trade, and we couldn't be happier. He'll probably spend two more years in the minors before we call him up, although if he we were able to trade Cap Glass, we might bring him up next year. He's already got big league power. We're just waiting for those splits to develop. This guy is pretty close to untradeable.

#2: Angel Kelly - Kelly was drafted so high, that he often isn't given credit for how good he really is. He is not the kind of talent you usually see in a #2 overall pick, but he is still going to be a very good pitcher. He's probably ready for the bigs now, but with all of the pitching brought over in free agency, we were able to keep him down for one more season while his control and vL develops. A little more on his 2nd pitch wouldn't hurt, either. He's tradeable, but only in a situation where we were getting a lot back.

#1: Mark Baines - Baines has just one knock - injury concern. If he stays healthy, though, he'll be a great player. While the sim projects him at SS, we'd be more comfortable with him at 3B, and with Atkins coming along, that's where he'll play. He's got projections north of 70 for every hitting attribute but contact, and that projects at 63. We'll keep him unless someone offers us a blockbuster deal. He'll probably go into free agency, but when he does, he'll almost certainly bring us Type A compensation.