nudes and goats

Remember how well Jordan Schafer started the season for the Braves? I'll remind you. Schafer homered twice in his first 3 Major League games, and posted a line of .421/.500/.842 through his first 5 games. Schafer must have had whatever Emilio Bonifacio was having because since that point, Schafer has hit .172/.327/.230, and has already struck out 389 times.

Speaking of prospects and great expectations, Cameron Maybin was sent down yesterday. And here I was hoping for a Dustin Pedroia-type May turnaround. Yeah, not so much. Maybin had been swinging and missing 99.7% of the time.

Last year's #1 overall pick, Tim Beckham, is starting to percolate in low-A. Beckham is hitting .350 in his last 10 contests, and has driven in a run in each of his last 9.

Top pitching prospects Madison Bumgarner, Tim Alderson, and Jarrod Parker have all impressed after recent promotions to double-A. Of these three, Bumgarner has the highest ceiling, and might be rushed to the Majors if the Giants find themselves in the mix. 

I like when baseball analysts take credit for things that have already happened. Does anybody remember when Max Scherzer had that debut out of the pen when he struck out something like 8 guys in 4 innings? Buster Olney went on television and said, "This year's Joba Chamberlain is Max Scherzer." 

Or as my wife would say, "Max Schehzeh!" Thanks for the insight, Buster. I can read the box score too. And by the way, Crazy Eyed Scherzer is now winless in his first 13 big league starts.

The Scott Kazmir Trade and its Repercussions Part 6: Attack of the Clones

In July of 2004, Scott Kazmir was at the midway-point between being rated baseball's #12 prospect ('04), and baseball's #7 prospect ('05). Not counting deals involving players that have struck homeplate umpires with their bat, the only player with that kind of pedigree to be traded since Kazmir is Cameron Maybin, and he was traded for a 24 year old Miguel Cabrera.

Teams trying to deal a slugger or an ace pitcher still try to bring in a blue chip prospect or two, but more and more the very top prospects in the game are deemed untouchable. It's almost impossible to conceive of Matt Wieters or David Price getting traded, but the reality is that after Kazmir, Tommy Hanson's not getting traded either. Even for Jake Peavy. A very raw Michael Stanton wasn't getting traded last year for Manny Ramirez, with the playoffs on the line, and the Red Sox willing to pay Manny's salary. Madison Bumgarner, Jason Heyward, Travis Snider, Buster Posey - these guys are not getting traded.

The Rays played so well last year, and are so well set up for the future, that other teams are definitely going to try to follow their model. Teams have become so protective of their draft picks that this past off-season Major League Baseball was ready to make an arrangement with the player's union so that certain free agents wouldn't cost their new team draft picks. I don't think that was just a byproduct of the economy, I think as time goes by teams are going to horde their youthful commodities even more.

I guarantee you this: Brian Cashman was paying attention when the Kazmir deal happened. Johan Santana is a Yankee if not for Scott Kazmir. Maybe I should thank Rick Peterson. And Jim Duquette. And Fred and Jeff Wilpon. And Al Leiter.