Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager has been named the game’s best prospect in preseason top-100 and top-101 prospect rankings from MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus. Seager still qualifies for the lists since he retained his rookie eligibility by only making 113 plate appearances for L.A. last season, though he made a big first impression by hitting .337/.425/.561 in his initial taste of the big leagues. Twins center fielder Byron Buxton and Nationals righty Lucas Giolito are ranked second and third on both lists, and overall, the National League dominates the upper echelon of both rankings. Ten of MLB.com’s top 13 prospects are all from NL teams, while 10 of BP’s top 14 youngsters all hail from the senior circuit. Here are some more items from around the National League…
- The details of Yoenis Cespedes’ return to the Mets were detailed by COO Jeff Wilpon, GM Sandy Alderson and agent Brodie Van Wagenen in a conference call with reporters (including Mike Puma of the New York Post) earlier this week. Negotiations quickly picked up steam within about a week’s time, though such important contractual details as Cespedes’ opt-out clause after the first year were agreed upon early in the process.
- Van Wagenen also discussed his Cespedes’ free agency in a Friday interview with Jim Duquette and Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (all links to Twitter). He was in active talks with not just the Mets, but four other teams on the day that Cespedes agreed to re-sign with New York. In regards to the deal’s structure and the opt-out clause, “it was less about looking toward next year and more about being able to control where he was going to be,” Van Wagenen said.
- As the calendar turns to February, the Rockies have yet to make any additions to their shaky rotation, the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders writes. GM Jeff Bridich stressed that the club expects internal upgrades in the form of better health from Jorge De La Rosa, Tyler Chatwood and Jordan Lyles. As to the club’s rumored pursuit of Yovani Gallardo, Bridich described those reports as “fairly overblown.”
- Multiple Nationals players tell James Wagner of the Washington Post that they don’t anticipate any clubhouse issues with Jonathan Papelbon in the wake of his infamous dugout skirmish with Bryce Harper last season. A larger issue, Wagner notes, might be whether the D.C. fans are as forgiving — it’s not hard to see Papelbon receive his share of boos in the early stages of the season, especially if his performance struggles.
The Rockies are the worst run organization in sports. It’s a ton of fun to be their fan.
I see your Rockies and add you an Arizona Coyotes franchise
The Rockies should conpletely blow it up,
Trade Cargo, Blackmon, McGee, Arenado, DJ, Hundley, Paulson, DeLaRosa and anyone else of value for pitching
They arent going to have trouble attracting hitters
Trading arenado would be a stupid idea. He is who they should rebuild the team around, if they can trade CarGo, Reyes, De La Rosa, Paulson, chatwood and lyles which may be tough to do then they have a rebuild but unloading all of that will be hard because of the home road splits and injury history for all of those players
Other than CarGo and Blackmon – they don’t really have many others with MLB-experience with a whole lot of value, unless I’m missing something. CIN received substantially less after being involved in a now-cleared domestic disturbance case. Reyes has not been cleared, MLB has not ruled, and at least through preliminary details, he might be in some legal trouble, so why would a team want to give up something to get involved with, unless COL wants to pay to make him go away?
Build around Arenado. He’s cheap and an offensive and defensive superfreak. COL has a good headstart with some pitching, though they could use more. Would like to see them trade CarGo though after a decent 1st half.
The blowup needs to start with the Monforts.
Papelbon is going to get a nasty welcome when he first appears at Nats Park. The fan base has had a whole winter to stew over the debacle of last season, and the most enduring image of that was Papelbon choking Harper. I think most fans will just be shocked that he’s back at all.
I think almost all fans of the game expected him to be gone. But two significant dilemmas are presented; 1 – someone taking him on with the baggage; and 2 – replacing him. He may be one of the more outspoken players in the game, but he is good at what he does. Selling him at a dime on the dollar then paying a premium to replace his production isn’t good business.
Harper moved on I would hope fans who have nothing to do with the clubhouse can manage the same
Pap infamously “crotched” the Philly faithful front-row. There’s a few little Phillies that still can’t get that outta their heads. I don’t think Papelbon moved on – just changed addresses.
Harper is a Pre-Madonna. Every notice how he has issues with multiple players from other teams? It’s because nobody can stand how the kid acts and I don’t blame them! He need to grow up, stop acting like the world is his and he is so much better then everyone. You act the way he acts sooner or later someone is going to choke you out or punch you in the mouth and that’s what happened. Don’t get me wrong, I think Papelbon is an idiot with a hot head and he really shouldn’t have been the guy doing anything but I’m not surprised that it finally happened to Harper. There is a lot of chatter in the league and a lot of guys are talking about how they can’t stand that kids attitude. I know a few MLB players and a few players who are no longer in the league and I’ve even heard it straight from their mouths. I’ve spoke my my mind about this before and people on here didn’t agree and that’s fine but the fact of the matter is that if you act like you are better than your peers you’re going to end up with some issues
funny part though is that he is better than his peers. If being cocky means he deserves to be treated like crap then damn I was the worst teammate ever!
“Pre-Madonna” Hahaha
I’m not getting into this argument again. But name one player (besides Papelbon) who had an issue with Harper last season?
Us Braves fans are always looking for something to pick on Harper about, and he seemed to mind his proverbial P’s and Q’s.
It’s called a “prima donna”. The word has nothing to do with Madonna.
Lol every one thinks they are so clever and always love to correct people. Sorry I made a mistake. And yes multiple players had problems with Harper. Did anyone see the incident with Joey Votto? I personally know a few guys that have problems with him and I’m not making that up. He thinks he is better than everyone and has a horrible attitude and needs to be chin checked. I don’t think him being choked was necessary but someone needs to put one smack dab on his chin and teach the kid some manners. As for all these internet tough guys that love to correct everyone and make fun of them for misspellings you guys deserve something as well and I won’t get into that because I would rather not get kicked off of my favorite sport apps comment board.
Anything Joey Votto thinks should be taken with a grain of salt. He had a problem with Marlon Byrd simply because he played for the Cubs.
Internet tough guys huh? That’s like the pot calling the kettle black. Or should I say that’s like a Pre-Madonna. You “personally know a few guys that have problems with him?” So do you play for a MLB team or have a job in MLB? How else do you “personally know” these players that have problems with Harper?
“Internet tough guys” says the guy advocating assault
Glad someone picked that up haha
Misspelling my ass. A misspelling is forgetting a letter or getting a couple letters mixed up. Your issue was a complete mistaken conceptualization of the term. You probably actually thought it meant “the years preceding Madonna’s rise to stardom”.
Pre-Madonna? So, like before Lucky Star or Borderline was a hit? Seriously though, Harper is better than everyone else. Pretty sure that’s the definition of an MVP.
So because he is the mvp he can walk around and act like he is better than everyone else? That makes no sense. There is no room for that in this game. That’s just ignorant. I can’t stand stuck up people and like I said. I don’t think he should’ve been choked but I’m glad someone stepped up to the guy
I have a friend who played in the minors with Bo Jackson during the 80’s. He can’t stand Bo Jackson to this day because he apparently “acted like he was better than everyone else”. I told him Bo Jackson was better than everybody else, but he didn’t appreciate that answer. Bryce Harper is better than everybody else – just the way it is. Who is it that is better than Bryce that will teach him some manners? We saw how well it worked out for Papelbon.
So what you’re saying is, if a great athlete isn’t a very good person, that it takes a better athlete to tell him that he could be a better human being? Makes no sense.
If Harper moved on, then this whole story should be behind us. Papelbon makes this team better on it than off it, so it makes no sense trading him when his value is so low. This stuff happens all the time in hockey and football and rarely anybody is traded as a result of it. The only reason this was worse was because it was on tv
Teammates choke each other on the sidelines during games “all the time” in hockey and football? What games are you watching? I want in.
if he pitches well and avoids controversy and if Harper and others spin i well, all will be forgotten quickly.
Two things could happen to the Nats this year about Papelbum, neither of them good.
1. He gets booed almost continuously.
2. The fans boycott the Nats until he is gone.
I am taking the year off if he is still there in ST.
Ted’s right, there will be boos galore, because fans were denied their immediate reactions by the suspension, Papelbum’s no-trade clause probably screwed the team’s chances to trade him worse than his reputation or salary.
Why is it all on papelbon ? He called out Harper for slacking then Harper challenged paplebon I know he was the aggressor but Harper’s no angel
The choking incident really didn’t have anything to do with Harper slacking. If you actually watched it, he wasn’t.
It was all because a few before that, Papelbon drilled someone intentionally, Harper was asked about it and wasn’t thrilled because he knew he would be the one paying for Papelbon’s stupidity. Harper was standing up against this dumb idea that pitchers should throw at hitters. I think that sounds pretty mature to me.
Nah, it’s all on the 1 inning reliever who called out the MVP.
Honestly, I’m quite shocked Spencer Adams didn’t appear on either of those prospect rankings. Kid was amazing last season and I was expecting somewhere in the 90’s at minimum. If he repeats his performance he should easily be in the top 50 range by mid-season
The problem with Papelbon is not who he is–he’s always been a mouthy ego-maniac–and it’s not his on the field performance–he’s still very good–but that the Nationals traded for him in the first place–which messed up Storen’s head unnecessarily. Now, they have an expensive contract that they can’t get decent value on, they have traded Storen, and they will have to see this out. Don’t expect Papelbon to change. As for Harper–I would say the same thing. Maybe he is arrogant and disliked. The difference, in this incredibly big-bucks world of baseball, is that Harper is a low-cost 23 year old superstar who is coming off a 9.9 bWAR season. All those people who want someone to take a swipe at the supposed smirk on Harper’s face? Would you take Brett Gardner is a trade for him? I’m sure the Yankees would through in a few bucks to equalize the salaries. Brett Gardner is a very nice guy.