Archive for March 8th, 2010

So while we’re all well versed in the Phillies offseason moves, I’ve decided to inform and educate about what our fellow NL East rivals have been up to since September of Oh-Nine.  I’m starting with the Mets, because they’re LOLtastic.  Omar Minaya is the ringleader of the largest circus that the MLB has seen in quite some time.

Honk Honk

Their offseason will be known more for their non-moves to fix their holes, than their actual transactions.  No Joel Pinero, no Jon Garland, no Ben Sheets, no John Lackey.  Yes, they signed Jason Bay, but unless he can pitch every fifth day, his impact is going to be fairly neutral.  The pitching staff that had a combined 7.3 WAR (only above the Padres, Nationals, and Brewers) will again rely on a post-surgery Johan Santana, John Maine, Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez, and a fill-in youngster.  So here we go, after the jump…

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He stole half of this list

It’s that time of year when everyone is publishing lists of all kinds and sizes and varieties.  We at Long Drive didn’t want to fall by the wayside so here is our own list: The 2010 Top 10 Phillies Prospects!  Some of you may recognize this as a slightly edited version of the list I posted on PSD.  I spruced things up a bit by using a 1-5 star ranking system which I will briefly explain in a moment.  We also did a solid 2 minutes of collaborating.  I  included a player’s upside and downside and 2010 age.  All these player evaluations come with the qualification if healthy. These projections are a median expectation.  The upside/downside is provided to indicate certainty.  And check out the links…there’s some video or stats pages for most of the guys.

One final note before I plunge into things.  James at Phuture Phillies recently published his Top 30 prospects list.  His work is far more ambitious than mine.  I highly recommend reading it AFTER mine.  We have differing opinions on a couple things, mostly he’s just more bullish on Gillies and Singleton than I am and less bullish on Brown and Valle.

The ranking system:

• 5 star – Future All-Star/Elite talent.
• 4 star – MLB average to above average talents.  Players who will consistently put up between 2-4 WAR most healthy seasons.
• 3 star – MLB role players.  These guys may or may not be starters but they will usually be between .5-2.5 WAR per season.
• 2 star – Replacement level/Organizational soldier.  These guys will probably have fringe MLB talent and will struggle to become more than the 25th man on a roster.  Sometimes these guys are briefly useful and sometimes they fool everyone.
• 1 star – Really? is this ever going to show up on a top 10 list?  A 1 star athlete has no semblance of talent or projectability.  When a player is listed with 1 star downside, that means there is considerable risk of him being a complete bust.

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