MLB Network Top 100 show
You can make light of how MLB Network comes up with their top 100, but it is still a fun show to watch. With the Red/Angel game blacked out for us in Los Angeles they showed the 2017 Top 100 countdown.
Kershaw came in 2nd, and Mike Trout won for the fourth year in a row. It would be easy to argue about all the other spots but it seems quite clear at this moment that the two best players in baseball play within 30 miles of each other.
I was surprised to see Cory Seager clock in at 11 given that Correa and Lindor were 20/19 respectively. With only one year under his belt that is a very high ranking. Justin Turner made an appearance, something like 56, which is a pretty good ranking when you consider the number of great 3rd baseman in baseball today. Four of them are in the top 12 overall with Donaldson, Bryant, Machado, and Arenado.
It was fun to have the editor of the show defend the choices that didn’t make the top 100 pointing to how the MLB analysts made their choices.
In the end, baseball is loaded with talent, from young to old.
This year Freddie Freeman made a huge jump up the ranking after being left off last year. Cory Seager climbed 88 spots after cracking the top 100 simply based on his 2015 September.
This year, which player will make the biggest climb? My bet is on Puig who was left off the ranking.
MLB Dodger Prospect Update
MLB updated their prospect lists this week which gives us a chance to see the progression from 2016 Preseason to 2016MidSeason(after draft) to 2016 PostSeason to 2017 Preseason.
We can identify those who graduate, and those who moved up and dropped down.
Dropping off the list because they exhausted their rookie status were Julio Urias and Corey Seager.
Dropping off the list because they were traded are Jose De Leon, Grant Holmes, Jharel Cotton, and Frankie Montas.
Last year Cody Bellinger was ranked 6th in the Dodger organization, he’s now number one and ranked 12th overall.
You can understand the fact that Brock Stewart and Andrew Toles were both unranked a year ago. Toles had missed a whole year of baseball, and Brock Stewart was just a big arm with little experience. What a difference a year makes.
It is good to see that MLB finally got on the Toles wagon. At the end of 2016 they still had him ranked 27th, but with a few months to think about it, Callis and company have moved Toles upto 9th place.
Alvarez at this time last year was simply hype, but a year later the hype proved well founded and Alvarez is now the LAD 2nd best prospect.
Alex Verdugo petty much stayed in the same spot. He was 7th last year and is now 3rd basically moving up those spots because of the departures of Urias/Seager/Holmes.
Willie Calhoun made a huge jump from 18th to 4th even with the defensive issues.
Mitchell White was drafted in the 2nd round last year but didn’t get much respect in Sept when he was ranked 28th. Without throwing a pitch, White is now ranked 12th.
Keibert Ruiz has been flying up prospect lists and this list is no different. Ruiz is now ranked 15th after being 24th last Sept.
The recently acquired Drew Jackson was ranked 20th. Chase De Jong had been ranked 17th.
Ariel Sandoval continues to be ignored by everyone but David Hood. Thus he would be my pick to make the biggest move this summer. I also think that everyone jumped off the Yasiel Sierra bandwagon a little to fast. He might come fast now that he’s being used in relief.
Players not ranked after the draft last year and who made the top 30 this year are Brock Stewart, Andrew Toles, Mitchell White, Trevor Oaks, DJ Peters, ONeil Cruz, Dustin May, Carlos Rincon, Dennis Santana, and Andrew Sopko.
Players dropping out of the top 30 that are still in the system are Kyle Farmer, Jacob Rhame, Jacob Scavuzzo, and Chris Anderson. Chris Anderson has to be the biggest disappointment in the system being a former number one pick in 2013. Aren’t to many number one picks completely out of a teams top 30 prospect list in three years.
With the trades of Jose De Leon, Grant Holmes, Jharel Cotton, Chase De Jong, and Frankie Montas the system has taken a hit but it is still loaded with high end arms. Says something that you can trade five arms like that and have little problem replenishing them.
The table below is sorted by the MLB 2017 PreSeason ranking, and then by David Hood’s ranking.
Legend:
- NR – means they were Not Ranked at the time the ranking came out
- NYD – means they were Not Yet Drafted at the time the ranking came out
- NOT – means they were Not On Team at the time the rankings came out
| Prospect | AGE | MLB/2016 Preseason | MLB/2016 MidSeason | MLB/2016 Postseason | MLB/2017 Preseason |
| Cody Bellinger | 21 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Yadier Alvarez | 20 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 2 |
| Alex Verdugo* | 20 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Willie Calhoun* | 22 | 18 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| Walker Buehler | 22 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 5 |
| Yusniel Diaz | 20 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| Gavin Lux | 19 | NYD | 12 | 9 | 7 |
| Brock Stewart | 25 | NR | NR | 14 | 8 |
| Andrew Toles* | 24 | NR | NR | 27 | 9 |
| Jordan Sheffield | 21 | NYD | 11 | 8 | 10 |
| Austin Barnes | 27 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 11 |
| Mitchell White | 22 | NYD | NR | 28 | 12 |
| Omar Estevez | 19 | 19 | 16 | 12 | 13 |
| Starling Heredia | 18 | 13 | 17 | 13 | 14 |
| Keibert Ruiz | 18 | NR | 29 | 24 | 15 |
| Will Smith | 21 | NYD | 15 | 11 | 16 |
| Imani Abdullah | 19 | 26 | 20 | 16 | 17 |
| Josh Sborz | 23 | 21 | 19 | 15 | 18 |
| Trevor Oaks | 23 | NR | NR | 29 | 19 |
| Drew Jackson | 23 | NOT | NOT | NOT | 20 |
| D.J. Peters | 21 | NR | NR | NR | 21 |
| Ronny Brito | 17 | 28 | 26 | 21 | 22 |
| Oneil Cruz | 18 | NR | NR | NR | 23 |
| Edwin Rios* | 22 | NR | 30 | 25 | 24 |
| Dustin May | 19 | NYD | NR | 30 | 25 |
| Carlos Rincon | 19 | NR | NR | NR | 26 |
| Dennis Santana | 20 | NR | NR | NR | 27 |
| Johan Mieses | 21 | 29 | 27 | 22 | 28 |
| Brendon Davis | 19 | 23 | 22 | 18 | 29 |
| Andrew Sopko | 22 | NR | NR | NR | 30 |
| Ariel Sandoval | 21 | ||||
| Mitch Hansen* | 20 | 27 | |||
| Kyle Farmer | 26 | 30 | 28 | 23 | |
| Ibandel Isabel | 21 | ||||
| Caleb Ferguson* | 20 | ||||
| Jacob Rhame | 23 | 22 | 23 | 19 | |
| Jacob Scavuzzo | 23 | 25 | 24 | 20 | |
| Yaisel Sierra | 25 | ||||
| Angel German | 20 | ||||
| Kyle Garlick | 25 | ||||
| Devin Smeltzer | 21 | ||||
| AJ Alexy | 18 | ||||
| Cristian Santana | 20 | ||||
| Madison Younginer | 26 | ||||
| Rob Segedin | 28 | ||||
| Chris Anderson | 24 | 17 | |||
| Cody Thomas* | 22 | ||||
| Jordan Paroubeck | 22 | ||||
| Jared Walker | 21 | ||||
| Tim Locastro | 24 | ||||
| Michael Boyle | 22 | ||||
| Logan Crouse | 20 | ||||
| Kam Uter | 21 | ||||
| Ralston Cash | 25 | ||||
| Erick Mejia | 22 | ||||
| Julian Leon | 21 | ||||
| Gus Schlosser | 28 | ||||
| Scott Barlow | 23 | ||||
| Scott Griggs | 25 | ||||
| Mike Ahmed | 25 | ||||
| Chris Mathewson | 20 | ||||
| Errol Robinson | 22 | ||||
| Nolan Long | 23 | ||||
| O’Koyea Dickson | 27 | ||||
| Daniel Corcino | 26 | ||||
| Romer Cuadrado | 20 | ||||
WBC will give some players a chance to shine this spring
Players are getting ready to depart to their respective teams for the World Baseball Championship.
Dodgers headed out will be:
Ike Davis playing for Isreal – an interesting decision by Ike. With Adrian headed to Mexico he might have gotten some extended time in games in front of the coaches but instead, he will play in South Korea.
Rob Segedin playing for Italy – might as well as he auditions for his future Korean career in his bid to wipe Eric Thames out of the Korean league record books.
Kiké Hernández playing for Puerto Rico – Chris Taylor will try to impress while Hernandez is gone. This looks like a nip and tuck battle between Taylor and Enrique, maybe not the best time for Enrique to get patriotic.
Adrian Gonzalez, Sergio Romo, and Alex Verdugo will play for Mexico – With Adrian, Ike, and Segedin out of camp, Cody Bellinger should get plenty of at-bats in their absence. Removing Romo might give some extra innings to relief pitchers on the bubble such as Hatcher/Ravin/Rhame/Morrow. Adrian and Romo are going to be main pieces of the Dodgers 2017 team. Alex Verdugo, on the other hand, is definitely headed for AAA and this experience playing with many major leaguers should help him.
Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers are 11 – 1 in Cactus League play
Or course there is only one Los Angeles baseball team but the other team that uses the moniker of Los Angeles has now won seventeen straight cactus league games. They are 6 – 0 in 2017 after winning their last eleven games last year.
It doesn’t mean anything but that doesn’t make it any less amazing.
How many people are wondering who Henry Ramos is these days?
How many months will Drew Jackson be in the Dodger organization before they trade him after acquiring him a few days ago?
It didn’t take Sergio Romo long to warm the hearts of Dodger fans who have hated him for years.
With starting infielders Logan Forsythe and Justin Turner both getting lubricant injections into their knees are they going to be known as the Lube Brothers?
Dustin Nosler goes in-depth on the recent Chase De Jong / Drew Jackson trade
Did Dodgers pull a minor league heist?
The Dodgers just announced they have traded Chase De Jong to the Mariners for Drew Jackson and an aneurysm to be thrown in later.
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today acquired minor league shortstop Drew Jackson and minor league right-handed pitcher Aneurys Zabala from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for right-handed pitcher Chase De Jong.
On the surface, this looks like a heist for the Dodgers.
Jackson, 23, has a career .288 batting average with 63 stolen bases, eight home runs and 73 RBI along with a .363 on-base percentage in 183 games over two professional seasons with the Mariners organization. The Berkeley, CA, native was named by Baseball America as a Short-Season Single-A All-Star in 2015, along with being named Northwest League Player of the Year and selected by the league as mid- and post-season All-Star, after leading the league in batting average (.358), on-base percentage (.432), runs (64) and stolen bases (47) in 59 games. Jackson was originally drafted by the Mariners in the fifth round of the 2015 First-Year Player Draft out of Stanford University.
Jackson might give the Dodgers the best infield speed since the minor league days of Dee Gordon. As a shortstop, the Dodgers now have AAA depth in Culberson/Taylor, AA depth in Drew Jackson, and Single-A depth in 2016 number one pick Lux.
MLB had Drew Jackson ranked as the Mariners third top prospect in 2016.
More on this later but now I’m headed for the Clipper / Rockets showdown at Staples. Can Blake Griffin keep playing the best basketball of his career now that Chris Paul is back?
Yikes, that Clipper game was horrible
Updates on March 2nd, 2017:
Looking for some insight on the trade you may not need to go any further than what TBLA commentator Nolij had to say today:
One thing we do know is that Drew Jackson is now the fastest player in the Dodger organization and probably has the best arm. He was ranked 3rd in the Mariner organization after the 2015 season because of his nice debut. His value dropped quite a bit in 2016 when he failed to build on that rookie season in the hit friendly California League.
Keep him in mind when the team might need his speed as an October pinch runner ala Kansas City’s Terrance Gore.
The aneurysm (Aneurys Zabala) might turn into something useful. He has the arm strength so who knows what could happen if he gets the right pitching coach to coax some command out of his gun.
Chase was pretty far down the Dodger depth chart, but this trade will give him an opportunity to make the majors sooner than later. Zach Lee was given the same chance last year but wasn’t able to capitalize on it and was eventually released.
Get ready for a year without Vinny
Good thing Joe Davis showed up last year or this wouldn’t be as easy to write about. Joe has an easy way about him and surprisingly was not only pleasant to listen too, he was insightful and playful with his team.
I’ve tried to give Charley Steiner and Rick Monday a pass but I simply have been unable to enjoy their broadcasts. Luckily I rarely need the radio broadcast though that is my favorite way to listen to a game when the broadcaster can describe the action in a way that makes me feel like I’m watching it.
As far as Vinny goes everything has been said. Going into 2017 I will not miss the same stories I’ve heard from Vinny year after year, but I will miss the stories I’ll never hear.
Per the Dodgers daily PR spring training notes this will be the Dodger Broadcast team in 2017
DODGER 2017 BROADCAST TEAM: Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser will be calling tonight’s game with the Giants on Sportsnet LA. Davis and Hershiser will form the Dodgers’ two-man booth for the 2017 season and Alanna Rizzo will add in-game commentary and post-game interviews. SNLA’s Kelli Tennant will fill-in for Rizzo during the season. Charley Steiner will move over from the radio booth to television to fill in for Davis during the season and Nomar Garciaparra will work a number of games during the season subbing for Hershiser. Steiner and Rick Monday will call the action on AM 570 LA Sports and Kevin Kennedy will join Monday when Steiner moves over to television. Dodgertalk on AM 570 LA Sports will be hosted by David Vassegh during the season. Vassegh will have a rotating group of analysts including Jerry Hairston Jr., Ned Colletti and Garciaparra. The Dodgers Spanish radio team of Hall of FamerJaime Jarrin and Jorge Jarrin, return to the booth on KTNQ (1020 AM). The SNLA Spanish television team of Pepe Yñiguez, Fernando Valenzuela and Manny Mota will call all the action.
Blanton won’t be coming back
In 2016 the Dodgers effectively traded Juan Nicasio for Joe Blanton with mixed results. Sure they weren’t traded for each other, but in two separate transactions, it was basically a swapping of relief assets.
Dodgers allowed Juan Nicasio to leave as a free agent who was signed by the Pirates to a two-year deal for $6.6M.
Pirates allowed Joe Blanton to leave as a free agent, and he was signed by the Dodgers to a one-year deal for $4M.
Joe Blanton did good work for the Dodgers but not great work. His 2015 season with the Pirates was elite, his 2016 work for the Dodgers was average. Joe Blanton was either not pursued by the Dodgers this offseason or was asking for too much money or years. Either way, Joe Blanton just signed with the Nationals for one year for $4m.
In retrospect, I think the Dodgers would have been better off keeping Nicasio who had his best season skill wise in 2016. Nicasio started off as a beast last spring and parlayed that into a spot in the Pirate rotation. That didn’t last long but when Nicasio was moved to the bullpen he excelled. From the point Nicasio was moved to the bullpen on June 26th he did the following:
54 IP, 50 hits, 75 K’s, 18 walks, 2.96 ERA, 3.03 xFIP, 31% K rate
Maybe Nicasio doesn’t hang a slider to Montero?
He’s no Romo but he’s also still only 30 and might have been a better fit for this team than Romo and his declining velocity.
Anyway, Blanton be gone and won’t be coming back.
MLB Over/Under – Dodgers 93.5
Bovada released their MLB Over/Under lines today. The Dodgers clocked in at 93.5 with the World Champion Cubs on top at 95.5.
At first glance, I think I’d take the over on the Rockies at 80.5 betting that they can slug their way to a .500 season with that young rotation.
The Padres are in a tough bind, they are in the second year of a rebuild and while some of the position talent is showing up (Renfroe/Margot) none of the pitching is ready. Combine that with the fact they are in a very tough division that could find four of the five teams playing .500 baseball and wins could be hard for them to come by. 66.5 isn’t a very high bar but I could see this Padre team losing 100 games. I may have to take the under on that.
The over seems low on the Cardinals / Rangers / Orioles
MLB Win Totals (From Highest to Lowest)
Chicago Cubs 95½
Los Angeles Dodgers 93½
Boston Red Sox 92½
Cleveland Indians 92½
Washington Nationals 90½
Houston Astros 89½
New York Mets 88½
San Francisco Giants 87½
Seattle Mariners 85½
St. Louis Cardinals 84½
Texas Rangers 84½
Toronto Blue Jays 84½
Detroit Tigers 82½
New York Yankees 82½
Pittsburgh Pirates 82½
Baltimore Orioles 80½
Colorado Rockies 80½
Los Angeles Angels 79½
Arizona Diamondbacks 77½
Tampa Bay Rays 77½
Kansas City Royals 76½
Miami Marlins 76½
Minnesota Twins 74½
Atlanta Braves 73½
Oakland Athletics 73½
Philadelphia Phillies 73½
Cincinnati Reds 70½
Chicago White Sox 69½
Milwaukee Brewers 69½
San Diego Padres 66½
Ryu ready before Kazmir
As of Monday morning, I got this information from rotowire:
Ryu is scheduled to pitch in Wednesday’s Cactus League matchup with the Giants, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports.
but that was based on this tweet from Bill Plunkett.
Hyun-Jin Ryu and Scott Kazmir will both pitch on Wednesday, one for #Dodgers in Cactus League vs #Giants and one in sim game on back fields
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) February 27, 2017
At the time I didn’t read the tweet and just assumed the rotowire writer had figured it out correctly. He/She had not. The tweet simply says both will pitch on Wednesday, not that Ryu would pitch the Cactus league game.
So I posted this earlier today:
Ryu has been scheduled to pitch this Wednesday in a cactus league game against the Giants, meanwhile, Scott Kazmir will pitch a simulated game on the same day.
Which was wrong. And now we learn that Kazmir will pitch the Cactus league game not Ryu.
Next time I’ll read the tweet myself. Live and learn.
Brandon McCarthy is still just throwing bullpens and is currently not scheduled for either a simulated game or cactus league game. That could change quickly.
Julio Urias will go on Tuesday on the road against the Rockies but I still find it hard to imagine he will start the season in the rotation given the veteran options they currently have.
Brock Stewart will follow Kenta Maeda today against the Rockies.
Not only will the Dodgers be closely monitoring their rotation options, you have to imagine many scouts will be also be monitoring the situation. If everyone was to come up healthy the surplus couldn’t simply be stashed away in AAA.
Let’s just say for argument sake they all make it through spring training without any health or Steve Blass issues. You would have seven pitchers for five spots and that is not even including Urias or the kids Stewart/Stripling.
In that scenario, I don’t see how Alex Wood has a shot at this rotation. He would be headed for the bullpen, or AAA, or traded. This front office has shown a penchant for trading players they traded for in the first place.
Peraza – Gone
Montas – Gone
Micah Johnson – Gone
Tyler Olson – Gone
Howie Kendrick – Gone
Zach Elfin – Gone
Joe Wieland – Gone
Carlos Ruiz – Gone
Those are just players traded from the Dodgers after being traded for within a 24 month period. If I were to include all the players released after being traded for that would be a book not a chapter.
So while it may not make sense on the surface to trade a 26-year-old left-handed pitcher like Alex Wood, nothing would surprise me when it comes to him. The only surprise for me is if Alex Wood can beat out all his competition and win a spot in the rotation to start the season.
That leaves six for five.
You could move McCarthy to the bullpen while you sort out Kazmir and wait for Ryu to prove himself in the rotation. Ryu has already beaten some odds by simply being ready to pitch in a cactus league game. Can he further beat the odds and survive all spring?
For me is still comes down to trading Kazmir and you can’t get maximum value unless he’s pitching every day in the rotation to start the season.
Anyway, just babbling.
One final question. I asked on my twitter feed who would pitch more major league innings this year. Matt Cain or Ryu? What do you think?
Ike & Justin sharing bench talk once again
In 2012 Ike Davis was a 25-year-old 1st baseman who had just slugged 32 home runs and looked to be on the path to a long career as the Met first baseman. Justin Turner was a 27-year-old utility player who hit two home runs in 185 plate appearances and looked like the kind of player who would have to win a job every spring.
Five years later Ike and Justin shared bench space for the first time since 2013 when they both last played for the Mets. I can’t read lips like Vin Scully but I’m pretty sure that Ike turned to Turner and said “WTF, I’m the NRI and you just signed a $65M contract?”
Lefty on Lefty – Dodger prospects Cody Bellinger and Alex Verdugo blasted home runs in the 8th inning off of lefty pitcher Barbosa.
I did not expect Stetson Allie to look like Greg Luzinski.
First look at Cuban Jose Fernandez who walked on four pitches. Good to see him already getting reps in the spring games.
Remember when Rob Segedin tore up spring last year? He’s at it again, crushing a home run to center field.
My Grandmothers first name was Cordell, so it struck me as funny to see Ryan Cordell playing for the Brewers.
Is Damien Magnifico the greatest name? Shouldn’t he be an illusionist?
Did someone forget to clear their 2016 stats? The crawl line during the Dodger game kept showing home runs in other games as though 2016 was still going on. Machado hit his 37th home run. Amusing anyway.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 
Posted by Nolij on Mar 2, 2017 | 9:46 AM reply rec (1) flag