The Unranked Sleepers

[Mario-Rijo]

Disagree there, simply because they are so much closer to their ceiling than the Durans and Ravins of the world are to theirs. You make a good point that a guy like Sappelt still has a ways to go to hit his ceiling, but I believe you may be ignoring some of the assets in his game when you compare him to Henry and Cumberland.

Not really, he's fast and does ok making contact so far frankly IMO that's about it. From watching him play It seemed like he patterned his game after Wily Taveras both at the plate and in the field. Except Taveras arm is better and of course Taveras is a much more seasoned and polished player. And there is no gaurantee Sappelt will polish his game up enough to make it to the majors as a reserve. As you can see with Wily, if you don't start you better have some power or versatility or play MI or C to play a bench role and I don't see it with him.

[roborobj]

I will go ahead and tell why these guys weren't in my Top 40.



He had 1 month with an OPS over .735 and 1 month with an OBP over .307. He has a powerful swing, and I do think the power is legit enough to keep moving forward with that part of his game, but at the same time I wonder if that swing is holding him back.


Dealt with some injuries this year, but where did the power go? 2 HR in over 350 plate appearances leaves me with a lot of questions. He has age on his side and he did deal with some injuries, but there are a lot of questions still with him.

Defense is questionable. I like his bat and if he continues to hit like he did in 2009 as he moves up the ladder then he will get on the list, but at his age what he did was merely good rather than quite impressive. Again, just want to see the bat play well at higher levels and he will move up. Still is a guy who seems like a solid 4th outfielder more than a starter somewhere.


Solid stuff, but nothing that is really outstanding that makes him stand out from the crowd. He put up outstanding numbers and I do think he will pitch in the big leagues one day or at least have a very good shot at that, but at the same time I don't see him being more than a middle reliever. There is value in that, but as a single middle reliever ideally you can easily be replaced so the value isn't much.


Nothing special with the defense like Hanigan is. Not a big fan of his bat either. There is a reason he doesn't play every day.


Jukich has a fastball that tops out at 87 in some games. Perhaps a loogy one day, but I don't see much more than that at the major league level.


Good range, weak arm. Heard that his arm had been hurt, which could explain the weak arm.... but until its no longer hurt, its a weak arm that is going to take his defense down a notch or two. Want to see the bat at the AA level. Upside is likely that of a 4th outfielder.


Watson doesn't exactly throw hard. He is in the low 90's these days, usually around 91. Absolutely no control most of the time though and his offspeed stuff hasn't played nearly as well against more advanced hitters.


The other guy that I think we should keep a guy on is:
Henry Rodriguez - No clue on his defense, but I like what his peripherals say about him at the plate if he can stick at either SS or 2B. Hit .322/.354/.421 as a 19 year old in the GCL with 7 walks and 18 strikeouts in 161 plate appearances. Currently hitting .362/.393/.524 with 7 doubles and 5 triples in 118 plate appearances in the Venezuelan Parallel League (minor leagues for the Venezuelan Winter League) with 9 walks and 11 strikeouts.

Have youy actually seen all of these players play more than once? Or are you going by what you're hearing and reading from other sources?

[tripleaaaron]

The answer to this debate lies somewhere in the middle. Would you take 5 Dorns for 5 Sotos? Organization filler is good but players with higher ceilings have more trade value on the open market and thus they have more value to us. However, there is value to be had from having solid depth and good filler that can supply replacement level production on the cheap. As a cheap organization (not poor, cheap) we must be able to produce quality bench players who are paid league minimum to allow us to conserve our dollars to maximize the budget. Having to spend money on the jerry Hairstons forced the signings of Tavaras and Patterson instead of Abreu etc.
So while Doug and others (maybe myselfY overvalue young talent, the flipside seems to overvalue the replacement level type players such as Denorfia, Maloney, Dorn etc.

[dougdirt]

Have youy actually seen all of these players play more than once? Or are you going by what you're hearing and reading from other sources?

I haven't seen Buchholz or Rodriguez play. The rest of the guys I have seen more than a handful and some as many as 100 times.