Now that top prospects Eric Hosmer and Jose Iglesias are in the majors, Jon Heyman of SI.com examines the minors’ top prospects. Mariners infield prospect Dustin Ackley, the second overall pick behind Stephen Strasburg two years ago, is "over-rated'' and without a clear defensive position in the opinion on one NL executive. Here’s Heyman’s latest from around the league:
- The Giants and Mets don’t appear to be talking about Jose Reyes at the moment, but the rumors won’t stop until the calendar flips to August or another team acquires the shortstop. Heyman hears from one person who believes the Mets would “have to” send Reyes to San Francisco if they could get pitching prospect Zack Wheeler in return.
- MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes suggested Wheeler as a possible target for the Mets last week.
- In off-field news, Heyman reports that the Mets are getting more interest than expected from buyers interested in a minority stake in the team.
- The Rangers hope Cuban outfield prospect Leonys Martin, who signed last week, can help them in 2011.
- The Reds were among the teams that bid on Martin, according to Heyman.
Hilarious, Giants aren’t going to send their best pitching prospect for a Reyes rental. Good luck with that one Mets.
although they did trade their second best pitching prospect at one time (alderson) for freddy sanchez, but i dont see this deal happening
Alderson was showing signs that he wasn’t a major league talent. His stock had taken a hit before he was traded and since being shipped to The Bucs he has been a complete flop.
Yeah Alderson has been moved to the bullpen in Altoona.
yeah he has stunk , but when you traded him he was your second best pitching prospect , according to the knbr
this was true. but at the time he had like 4 or 5 starts in a row that were bad and his velocity was down so sending him there for Sanchez really wasnt a stretch.
totally agreed their , matter of fact it seems like a great deal on sabeans and the gigantes part, but reyes if he could be had at a decent price for a few years might be worth a good pitching prospect , but i doubt for your number one , although you are pitching rich right now
Sanchez’s 3 doubles against the Rangers and One World Championship under their belt I think the Giants are okay with the move..
best trade sabean made in a while , hands down
If they feel such a move puts them over the top and if they feel they can sign Reyes long-term, it’s not that far-fetched…..assuming Reyes is healthy and hitting. It’s not like the Giants aren’t set in the rotation, pitching is pretty much their only surplus.
But yes, it’s unlikely.
It’s just as unlikely that the Mets would trade him to SF for Crawford or Neal or any of the other guys that Giants fans have been throwing out there. I guess it’s hard to value a rental, but when you’re talking about a guy, who thus far this year has been the best overall player at his position, and his position is shortstop, it’s going to cost something of value. This isn’t Billy Wagner to the Red Sox at the end of August.
Reyes’ value is hard to gauge. He will hit the open market next year and will command a huge deal. Unless a team can get a window to negotiate a deal they aren’t going to get back anything close to what Reyes is worth.
Yeah, but even Reyes for two months and possibly the playoffs has a good amount of value. The key is that the team needs to actually be in contention for a spot in the playoffs. If the Giants and the Rockies are neck and neck in the division and the Reds, Marlins, and Braves are right there for the WC around July 1, maybe Wheeler doesn’t look as untouchable. It’s not like there are going to be very many difference making offensive players available at the deadline. At this point, it’s Reyes and maybe Fielder. When supply is low, prices go up. And by the way, if they were trading Reyes with control, he would be worth a lot more than Wheeler.
He would be worth at least two players of Wheeler’s caliber plus a few secondary players if there was a year or two of control but this isn’t the case. Sabean has said time and again that he isn’t willing to mortgage the future for rental players. Even if that rental player is Reyes who fits multiple team needs. He is an All-Star at a premium position, brings speed to the lineup, we would finally have a legitimate No. 1 hitter and Reyes would probably have 20 Triples a year at AT&T. If the Giant’s can make a deal that doesn’t include Wheeler I’m sure they would pull the trigger. Reyes is a game changer and with him at the top of our lineup the playoffs would be all but guaranteed.
Fair enough, but I just don’t see anyone else that SF has that could possibly make a deal for Reyes workable.
They have a few guys like Culberson, Crawford and Neal that are interesting but probably wouldn’t be moved because the Mets wouldn’t trade Reyes for those guys and Culberson and Crawford look to be in Sabeans plan for the future (we’ll see how long that lasts. Runzler could draw interest but that’s only if the Mets see him as a starter. Either way I agree a Reyes trade is very unlikely unless other clubs have less to offer come July.
Ackley is overrated. Ok Heyman. You certainly have a key insight into the future of prospects. I am sure you knew Tom Brady was under rated when he was drafted too!
Heyman didn’t say that according to this article.
It’s my opinion these scouts, execs, and GM’s who comment on players/teams should be required to either back up what they said or admit that it was their comment. It’s like asking a two year-old if the expos will win the world series in twenty years, and the child putting their thumb up. That’s how much weight these mystery commenters hold.
Ackley being overrated is a laugher. I believe he just hit his 3rd home run this week last night. Second base is a position where you can store someone who is not a shortstop. If Jose Lopez can play there, I’m sure Ackley will be just fine.
sure he’ll be fine at 2B, and might be slightly above average offensively there,
BUT HE WAS NEVER WORTH THE 2ND OVERALL PICK OR THE ATTENTION HE IS GETTING RIGHT NOW.
i think that is the point heyman is trying to make.
Dustin Ackley is over-rated. But not to the point that anything needs to be said.
It’s kind of like comparing Tim Lincecum to Felix Hernandez. We know that Felix is better, but its close enough where you can let it slide if someone says it.
How is Felix better than Lincecum? Lincecum leads in ERA, ERA+, H/9, BB/9, WHIP and WAR per year….
What aren’t you understanding?!?! They are close enought that you don’t need to argue either of them!!!
”
We know that Felix is better”
Who is we?
A ton of people. You guys are biased, you are Giants fan.
Yeah Felix is a World Series winner that has a 4-1 record in the playoffs with 2.43 ERA! Oh wait…
World Series Championships have absouloutly nothing to do with being a good pitcher. The win/loss argument is sooo poor it’s not even funny.
You’re right the biggest stage in the world for baseball players let alone pitchers means nothing. Wrong! Being in the postseason dictates what type of player you really are. A pitcher controls the fate of his team with every throw or else you can go fishing. But yeah having a 14 strikeout shutout performance in your 1st postseason game means you’re not a very good pitcher. In this case the postseason win/loss argument does means more because of the circumstances.
If there is one thing that I hate, it is when people put words in my mouth. When did I say that Lincecum is “not a very good pitcher?”
When you started the argument with, ”
World Series Championships have absouloutly nothing to do with being a good pitcher.”
Ok. You’re right. According to your argument, if you pitch in the world series, you’re the better than anyone else. I guess Felix will never be as good as Jonathon Sanchez or Colby Lewis.
*This is sarcasm
Once again you said,
“World Series Championships have absouloutly nothing to do with being a good pitcher.”
I never said that being in the World Series doesn’t make you not a good pitcher. You said it has absolutely nothing to do with being a good pitcher. Admit you’re wrong and let’s move on.
“It’s kind of like comparing Tim Lincecum to Felix Hernandez. We know that Felix is better, but its close enough where you can let it slide if someone says it.”
I said that they are practically identical in terms of talent. If you would have read the whole debate insead of just randomly joining while having no idea what had been said, you would know this.
“Admit you’re wrong and let’s move on.”
Right back at you, homeboy.
I did read it and no Felix Hernandez is not better than Tim Lincecum. He’s a distant second though…
Distant? That is one of the most foolish things I’ve read on here. And I’ve read some pretty foolish things.
I’ll take Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay. Sorry I meant to say distant third my bad…
We both know that you’re just trying to get a reaction, but I have had to good of a day to let you bring me down. The name ‘rainy..’ really fits you well. I’m out. Peace. Good luck starting crazy arguments with other people.
k
ur seriously missing the point. jacktigers is trying to argue that there both great enough to the point where you would be better off than about 30 other teams having either one. personaly i would take lincecome, because he is proven in the playoffs, but more importantly he is a rockstar that has completly captured the bay area.
dustin ackley is laughably overrated. totally agree with heyman on this one.
Ackley is hitting .230/.362/.389 at AAA and he was in the top 15 on a bunch of prospect lists. I don’t know if he’ll be considered overrated in the long run, but he certainly isn’t justifying his rating now and saying that he could be better than Jose Lopez doesn’t really justify being the #2 overall pick, does it? As for Reyes and the Giants, it’s fair to say that they shouldn’t trade Wheeler for a rental, but without him, they don’t have anything close to the type of player that Reyes would warrant, even as a rental. It’s imperfect, but Holliday to the Cardinals is probably the best comparison available. At that point, Wallace was a top 50 type prospect. That’s pretty much where Wheeler is now.
I would love to see Reyes in Orange and Black but he will cost too much. Sabean won’t trade Wheeler for a rental player and Reyes is worth more than the secondary options that Sabean would part with.
If the Giants weren’t strapped with the bad contracts (Rowand and Zito), Cain’s free agency and some big arbitration hearings (Lincecum, Sanchez, Posey, Sandoval, Wilson). You might have seen the Giants ship Wheeler to the Mets for Reyes because they would have the financial flexibility that would allow them to make a good offer at season’s end.
u got this one right. from the giants stand point you have to figure that zito might be done, never able to throw over 85 mph again. voglesong is a nice story so far and i hope hes able to stay at teh big league level, but the giants could need another pitcher who is cheap by next year. there by no means overflowing with pitching prospects, i think tanner is their next best, and hes very much unpolished. the giants cant pay reyes after this year if they want to keep this team together for more than this year. theyve got a good team and alot of depth but almost every single player on teh team is seeing their salary increase significantly over the next couple of years.
should be a fun year and a fun july. plus lets be honest 5-1 with fontenot at short hiting third, everyone knows hes the answer.