team #1
East Texas Lumberjacks
jeffc7823
(13-149, 4th NL Central, rank 3 last year)
Prospects:
C Buster Posey, Giants #1, BP #9, BA #7, KL #4, FH #7
P Kyle Drabek, Phillies #2, BP #16, BA #25, KL #40, FH #15
P Wade Davis, Rays #3, BP #34, BA #34, KL #15, FH #17
P Casey Kelly, Red Sox #2, BP #30, BA #24, KL #18, FH #24
P Christian Friedrich, Rockies #2, BP #22, BA #33, KL #36, FH #12
1B Logan Morrison, Marlins #2, BP #50, BA #20, KL #21, FH #51
P Jake Arrieta, Orioles #4, BP #70, BA #99, KL #90, FH #48
OF Jared Mitchell, White Sox #1, BP #61, BA #55, KL #95, FH #91
OF Jaff Decker, Padres #4, BP #74, BA #82, KL #27
OF Mike Trout, Angels #3, BP #53, BA #85, KL #49, FH #52
1B Eric Hosmer, Royals #5, KL #34
SS Jason Donald, Indians #15
SS Nick Franklin, Mariners #9
P Ethan Martin, Dodgers #4, BP #98
OF Randal Grichuk, Angels #7
P Jeff Manship, Twins #19
SS Reese Havens, Mets #7
OF Justin Maxwell, Nationals #8
Other non-prospect youngsters:
OF Aaron Cunningham, Padres
OF John Bowker, Giants
P Jim Johnson, Orioles
P Jeff Manship, Twins
P Kris Medlen, Braves
P Darren O'Day, Rangers
P Collin Balester, Nationals
P Gavin Floyd, White Sox
This is a tough team to evaluate, and yet it's very simple. They're very bad. Very, very bad. Badness of epic proportions. As bad as Megan Fox is good (looking). Etc. And when you're this bad, you really don't have reason to go any other direction besides going prospect-heavy and just loading up as many lottery tickets as you can and hope you hit on a couple. My problem arises is that nobody should ever be this bad. It just requires some token amount of effort managing your team and exercising some amount of foresight when assembling the team. I mean, it's not like you can't see it coming. For example, Crede's the only third baseman, and he doesn't appear to have a job for this season. Shortstop could be some Jason Donald if he gets the call, but Khalil Greene appears to be toast in every regard. That leaves just Roberts and Pena to man the infield, and neither of them is a team-builder, at least not any more. Hosmer and Morrison are solid prospects, and there are a bunch of middling prospects at short, but none of them fit with what's presently available to make a winner. The outfield's marginally better. Victorino is a solid present and future piece, and Bowker's underrated, but Burrell's old, and El Caballo is looking moreso by the day. The prospects behind them are nice if you like Californians, as there are a couple Angels first rounders (Trout, Grichuk) and Decker headlining, but none of them look to be significant this year or next. Catching is a logjam with a bunch of bodies in Ausmus, Blanco, Coste, and Snyder fighting for time before Posey tells them all to take a seat. Pitching is where the lottery ticket philosophy shows the most. Floyd is the staff anchor for now, with Padilla and Penny picking up what innings they can. Friedrich, Davis, Drabek, Arrieta, Kelly, and Martin are pitching prospects that are or were of much repute. Hitting on 2 of the 6 would do a lot to make this team more competitive. In the pen, Aardsma, Bell, Medlen, and O'Day appear the most locked in to jobs, with the rest as a possible slush to pick up innings. But a few relief innings are easy to pick up in the draft, if you look. In the end, it's hard for me to blame this team for going this route, but I just can't condone a 13-win season. And with the lack of sure things in the system, I worry that this sort of season will become too common. Just looking for a token effort, here, that's all.
Prospects: 18 (1st)
Pts per prospect: 19.34 (2nd)
Total Points: 348.06 (1st)