All-Future Team

A couple weeks ago Peter King wrote an article with his All-Future football team ... ignoring the fact that he's an idiot and a couple of the picks are absolutely crazy I am going to do the same thing only with baseball.

I'll put a few more caveats on myself than King did, the players I choose from will have not played a single out in the majors yet. I'm picking a future team that's really all about the future.

Catcher: Matt Wieters (Orioles) : Krever finally has something to look forward to not named Bedard or Ripken. He's a big switch hitting catcher with power and a rocket arm...what's not to like?

First Base: Yonder Alonso (The U) : You don't know him...but you will. The '08 baseball draft will see several collegiate first basemen taken high but Yonder gains points for his great eye at the plate, ability to hit for high average, good power, solid athleticism, and having the coolest name ever.

Second Base: Jemile Weeks (The U) : Ricky's little brother is just as good a player...maybe better. And yes, that is the right side of the infield from one college.

Shortstop: Chin-lung Hu (Dodgers) : That's our first Asian! The shortstop crop is pretty bereft of talent right now, so I opted for a fabulous defensive player who's bat has really come alive this year. Hu is hitting over .360 in AAA with lots of doubles. I thought about going with Reid Brignac, but he's really struggling...Jed Lowrie is a better hitter than Hu but prolly isn't good enough defensively to stay at short...I almost put Elivs Andrus here but I can't lie to myself like that (he could end up being the best though says the optimistic Ranger fan in me.)

Third Base: Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbelt) : The early favorite to go #1 overall next year, making it back to back Commodores. Pedro has a chance to be a very, very, VERY special player with a lightning quick stroke and good eye at the dish. He's just beginning his junior year at Vandy now, but don't be surprised if he's at the top of everyone's top prospect lists by 09.

Left Field: Matt LaPorta (Brewers) : As all loyal readers of this blog know, I love me some Matt LaPorta. He may only hope to be adequate in left but his bat may be the best in this group.

Center Field: Jay Bruce (Reds) : The recent promotions of Justin Upton and Cameron Maybin have thinned out the ranks of top center fielders in the minors and thus made me reach a bit for this pick. Bruce may be best suited in right but will find his way into the Reds everyday lineup very soon where he'll be one of the best all around hitters in baseball.

Right Field: Kosuke Fukudome (Chunichi Dragons) : The next great Japanese import. He'll be the biggest Japanese cross over to America since Ninja Warrior...or Dice-K, whatever. He should be a cross between Hideki Matsui at the plate and Ichiro in the field. (that's a good thing.) Fukudome, who's achieved demi-God like status in Japan, will be a pure free agent this offseason so no one will have to pay $75 million just to talk to him, but he should get $15+ per year for a team looking for a good hitter with a great eye, solid power, good speed, and one of the top 5 outfield arms in baseball.

Starting Pitcher: Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers) : That makes the Dodgers the second team with two players on this list...with the University of Miami being the other. Kershaw is bar-none the best pitching prospect in baseball...anyone who says otherwise is not worth listening to. The fact that this Highland Park product will get to throw half of his innings in the friendly confines of Chavez Ravine will make his numbers look even better...He could have a shelf full of Cy Youngs by the time his Career is over.

Closer: Casey Weathers (Rockies) : A lot of the great closers (Rivera, Hoffman, Gagne) started their minor league careers as starters, I wanted to discount the throngs of young starters who's future may ultimately lay in the pen and instead focus on players that have been in the role of closer for a while. Casey Weathers is by far the best of the group, and the best relief pitcher prospect around. The former Georgia Tech two way star focused solely on pitching last season, to much success. Weathers will be throwing 100mph humidor soaked balls past hitters maybe as soon as next season.

There you have it, the best of the best of the really young and unproven.

Been Busy

Hey there loyal reader...(s)?

We've been pretty busy this past weekend (like Lincoln hitting a light tower and ripping a whole in a guys glove playing softball) and will remain as such for a little while, but that's no reason not to provide you some infotainment (which shockingly is a real word.)

Jon Heyman offered up a few pearls of wisdom in his SI mailbag.

"It looks like you went through all the playoff-contending teams, and chose a "good" player from each. Let me ask you: If [Miguel] Cabrera were on a playoff-contender this season, would there be any doubt who the MVP was?-- Carolyn, Boca Raton, Fla.

Actually, you're right. That's exactly what I did, and how I came up with Prince Fielder as my NL MVP leader. His "good'' year is actually more than good, and the Brewers are right in the thick of the playoff race. While I understand your sentiments, I am more interested in "wins created'' than runs created. And the day I consider VORP is the day I get out of the business. The idea of the MVP is to honor the player who has had the biggest positive impact on the pennant races. I have been a big champion for [Hanley] Ramirez, but I would not consider him a true candidate to win the MVP award."

Couple notes Mr Heyman, the MVP is was not designed "to honor the player who has had the biggest positive impact on the pennant races." There are "wins created" metrics that you can look at and they are a great way to judge which player has been the most valuable.

Just FYI Hanley Ramirez is currently hitting .332/.389/.561 with 41 steals, VORP 70.8 with 6.6 WARP 1

Miggy Cabrera .321/.400/.590 with 30 HRs, VORP 62.2 and 8.1 WARP 1

Prince Fielder .281/.376/.604 39 HRs, VORP 49.8 with 5.1 WARP 1

**Hanley Ramirez has the highest VORP because he plays shortstop and gets bonus points for it (there aren't very many SS who can hit like he can) but he gets points taken off of WARP because it calculates defense as well (and he doesn't play SS very well...but he is very young and athletic so there's reason to believe he can get better)

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When this story first showed up on ESPN.com the title read, "American Gay wins 100 meters" to which I wondered aloud if Carl Lewis had made a comeback.

Side note, In searching for the previous story I found that when you search for the word "gay" at ESPN.com the first thing to pop up is a link for the Nashville Predators...I guess the reason that national sports mediums don't pay attention to hockey is because they're homophobic?

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Off Topic: Man I know You Me and Dupree was bad but come on dude!

and last but not least who says you can't have brains AND beauty?

Just thought you needed to know

Click here! Oh yeah, that's for real.

Fun With Box Scores

Rangers vs Orioles Wednesday August 22 Game 1 Box Score So many crazy crazy thing happened in this game...very fun to watch. Great crowd reactions from the Baltimore faithful, cheering after any out. My two favorite things about this game: Wes Littleton gets a save! Proof that the "save" should be completely abolished from the record books. Josh Lewin described Rob Bell's forearms as "covered in the clammy sweat of abject failure." --- my new favorite phrase of all time. Great first game for manager Dave Trembley

Friday Night Lights

Fall in Texas. Chilly 95 degree days. School in session. The aroma of Fletcher's Corn Dogs. And of course, high school football.

Here in the great state of Texas, football is God. In the words of an imortal Texas legend, "Football's so important in Texas. On the West Coast, it's a social. On the East Coast, it's a culture. In Texas, it's a religion." Brownie points for whoever can name who said that.

7-time state champ Southlake Carroll enters the season on a 48 game winning streak and as the nations "mythical" number one team. They exemplify everyhting that is football in Texas. Hard work, dedication, a loyal fan base, and the wonder as to how all those great athletes live in district.

Lincoln: Don't forget the ability to puke and rally.

JJ: Just like Varsity Blues.

Southlake will have to overcome the loss of head football coach and Mean Green savior, Todd Dodge, as well as the fact that their logo looks like it was drawn by a 3rd grader.

I must say it also is a time that makes the chicks like crazy horny. And no it is not trashy to do it under the bleachers, thank you very much Officer Wilson.

Lincoln: Texas high school football is nature's most powerful aphrodisiac

Other highlights over the years include the 1994 game between John Tyler and Plano East. It rivals "The Play" between Stanford and Cal. As well as this add... all good liquor adds should have high school students in them and vague date rape references.

Anyway we're off to the liquor store then to watch 16 year olds knock the ever living out of each other.

...I bet I could throw a football over them mountains.

Vick Pleas

I was in the middle of writing another piece when I heard the ESPN Breaking News sound in the backgroung. Michael Vick has plead guilty. At least now KC can't say, "hey, just wait until the trail is over. He hasn't been found guilty of anything" There goes that benefit of the doubt. I hope he never, NEVER plays in the NFL again... and I doubt he will.

TINSTAAPP

Just got done reading Newberg's write up about the Borbon signing one thing stuck out at me. Jamey obviously took a shot at those who think the Rangers should have ponied up and drafted Ric Porcello in last June's amateur draft: "If no 2007 option is used on Borbon, which is the likely outcome, he will therefore have options in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011, and will need to be in the big leagues for good in 2012. Shouldn't be prohibitive. Borbon will turn 26 during spring training 2012. Stated another way: giving a big league contract to a 21-year-old college position player is dramatically different from giving a big league contract to an 18-year-old high school pitcher. If Borbon still needs farm time when he's 26, he won't be worth protecting any longer anyway." Completely disregarding the fact that Borbon isn't worth protecting now, I wanted to take a look at the idea that a high school pitcher won't be ready in 5 years. This is really simple to answer: Yes! A high school pitcher CAN be ready to contribute meaningful innings to a contenting club when he's 23. Fancisco Liriano at 22 was the best pitcher in the AL last year, Philip Hughes is 21 now and almost no-hit the Rangers, Justin Verlander was 23 last season and won 17 games for the pennant winning Tigers, Matt Cain is 22 and not the best young pitcher on his team, Tim Lincecum is 23, Joel Zumaya was one of the most dominate pitchers in baseball last year at 21...if he'd just stay away from Guitar Hero. Cole Hamels and Scott Kazmir are just now 23 and have been good big league pitchers for a couple years. King Felix dominated the league when he was 19. Eric Hurley is just 21...anyone not think he will be able to get big league hitters out in 2 years? Danks is 22 and is the WhiteSox 5 starter. Of course there are thousands of other youngsters who can't whip the horsehide at that level, those guys are the exception...not the rule. But to say that a 22/23 year old pitcher can't help you or that putting him in the big leagues will hinder his development, is erroneous! Erroneous on both counts! I'm a big fan of Earl Weaver's dictum, the best place for a young pitcher is in long relief. Even if Porcello or Beavan or any other pitcher might not be ready to take the ball every fifth day and throw 200+ innings when they're 22/23 they can still help you in some capacity...if they're good enough. That's what it comes down to, talent! Porcello has it in droves, Borbon...eh, not so much. For Borbon to be a legit center fielder/leadoff hitter he's going to have to LEARN plate discipline. Not many people can do that. Jose Reyes appears to have, but name me 10 others. It's very, very rare for a player to completely change his philosophy in the box. Much rarer than a guy as talented as Porcello making it. Joe Sheehan once said, "I pretty much believe that you can throw all pitchers into a bin until they're 21 years old or in Triple-A. (If a pitcher is at Triple-A at 20, that's a warning sign as well.) It's not a performance analysis thing, because even great numbers from teenagers aren't going to sway me. It's just a concession to what we know about physics and physiology, and how the two intersect at the corner of Jobe and Andrews." I call BS! Mr Sheehan, whom I greatly respect...although less after reading that, is one of the head honchos at BaseballProspectus a site that works for analytical understanding of the game and tries to dispel old-timey notions that have no empirical evidentiary support. Sheehan is taking the easy way out. Rather than looking to WHY some guys fail and some succeed, WHY some guys get injured and some stay healthy. He just looks at the attrition rate, and sullen by his own previous failures decides to quit. Most people, fans, players, managers, scouts, scouting directors, general managers look at the wrong things when trying to forecast the future of a young player. This axiom is even more true in hurlers than in position players. They look for: Velocity - how hard a guy throws his fastball. I had an associate scout for the Rangers tell me that he was only supposed to call his bosses about a high school pitcher if the kid threw 90 mph or harder. Nothing else....just velocity. Size - I had a scout for the Astros tell me that a pitchers frame was more important to him than anything...really odd from a team who's best pitcher is extremely generously listed at 6' 185....and who buy the way dominated the NL at age 23. Stuff - which is very connected with #1, but includes movement of breaking balls. What they should look for: Mechanics - whole books have been written on this subject, so trying to fit in everything in a quick two sentence blurb is futile, but the idea of pitching mechanics is to as efficiently as possible is impart as much forward kinetic energy to the ball from the body of the pitcher. Command - very intertwined with mechanics, if you throw the ball the same way it will land in the same spot. Almost universally guys with good command have good mechanics and guys with good mechanics have good command. Command speaks to the repeatability of the throwing motion. Depth of Repertoire - If you throw 93 not many 16/17 year olds are going to be able to make contact...but pros can. It doesn't matter how hard you throw, really good hitters will hit it hard if that's all you can throw. Being able to throw the ball on both sides of plate, consistently (command) and having multiple pitches that you can throw for strikes at any time in the count and offer the hitter different spin and speed to focus on (depth of repertoire) are the keys to success against the best hitters in the world. Here's Rick's scouting report (scroll down to #27.) He throws 4 pitches and has great mechanics...notice the consistency of his delivery and how he is in perfect fielding position after he lets go of the ball...he's not falling off to one side or off balance because all the energy he created in his delivery is now in the ball and not still trapped inside his body pushing him towards first base or having to be absorbed by the muscles/tendons in his arm. Add to the fact that he throws hard and is big and has great stuff...he's big time. Baseball is flush with more cash than ever before. Free agents are signing 9 figure deals left and right, as such the value of high ceiling/elite level pre-arbitration talent, especially pitching has never been higher...It will cost more to sign a replacement in the free agent market. Would you rather have 4 Rick Porcellos and money left over or 1 Vincente Padilla? Young pitchers are inherently risky, but when you have one that stands a relatively good chance of being something really special you can't let that opportunity slip through your fingers...the Rangers did TWICE!