Keith Law of ESPN.com provides an updated ranking of his top fifty prospects (subscription required and recommended). He places a pair of New York shortstops — Amed Rosario of the Mets and Gleyber Torres of the Yankees — as the top prospects leaguewide. Young Phillies shortstop J.P. Crawford also cracks the top five, sandwiched between Dodgers first baseman Cody Bellinger and White Sox righty Michael Kopech, who takes honors as the top pre-MLB pitcher on the list.
More on some other potential stars:
- With Jake Arrieta and John Lackey scheduled to become free agents after the season, the Cubs could dangle second base/outfield prospect Ian Happ for pitching help, says FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (video link). On the other hand, Rosenthal notes that Happ’s versatility likely means he isn’t as expendable to the Cubs as now-Royal Jorge Soler was. Happ, Law’s 46th-best prospect, has begun the year with a red-hot .293/.356/.683 line and five home runs in 45 plate appearances at Triple-A.
- Reds third base prospect Nick Senzel, the second pick in last year’s draft, could be primed to reach the majors quickly, writes Ben Badler of Baseball America. By spending limited time in the minors, Senzel would follow in the footsteps of recently drafted hitters such as Dansby Swanson, Alex Bregman, Andrew Benintendi, Kyle Schwarber and Michael Conforto, all of whom reached the majors the year after they became professionals. Senzel, a top 10-caliber prospect, is only in High-A ball right now, though Badler scouted his season-opening series and came away impressed. The 21-year-old “showed a lot of positive hitting traits” and “looked comfortable at third base,” per Badler.
- Twins left-hander Stephen Gonsalves will meet with team doctors in Minnesota for a shoulder exam during the upcoming week, tweets Phil Miller of the Star Tribune. Gonsalves, Baseball America’s 99th-ranked prospect, has been on Double-A Chattanooga’s disabled list since the first week of April. The 22-year-old laid waste to hitters at both the High-A and Double-A levels last season, but he also dealt with a shoulder strain in the fall. With Chattanooga, he logged a 1.82 ERA in 74 1/3 innings, helping to offset control problems (4.48 BB/9) with a high strikeout rate (10.78 per nine). BA’s Michael Lananna placed Gonsalves second among Twins prospect in November. (Update: Gonsalves already met with team doctors, and he checked out fine, general manager Thad Levine announced; Twitter link via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com).
Cubs could trade Happ and possibly Jimenez for pitching if they lose both Arrieta and Lackey. They still have eddie butler in triple A
Butler won’t help replace Jake or Lackey at all. He’s a borderline number 5, probably more a 6 if anything. But if they don’t trade for a guy this season, there are plenty of FA to go after in the off season. No need to trade Happ or Jiminez during the off season.
that is true, I think he would be taking in place of Zobrist though unless they give second to baez. I think Cueto would be a good fit for them or Darvish if they lose Arrieta. They could also bring Lackey back, he’s still good.
How about Happ and more for James Paxton?
Paxton is nice but injury history , I was thinking Happ and others for Archer or Quintana.
To get either Archer or Quintana it would take Happ and Jimenez .
It prolly would take both but I think it would be worth it for the cubs since they already have a lot of young talent on the current team, no room for Happ and Jimenez
Yep it would, especially for Archer, who’s in his prime and signed on the cheap through 2021, which also happens to be the last year of team control for most of the Cubs nucleus. Happ and Jimenez are blocked for the foreseeable future, four years would allow time to replenish the farm, and Archer could replace Arrieta at a fraction of the cost. It’d be a tough pill to swallow, but it’d make sense.
Paxton when healthy and is at his best is probably better than either of those guys, Archer maybe edges him out. But since he has the health issues you could get him for a lot less.
The Cubs are not trading one of their top prospects for a starting pitcher who hasn’t pitched more than 20 games in a season and has only surpassed 100 IP once.
NO TRADE NEEDED GOT PLENTY DOWN IN MINORS AND DURING OFF SEASON PLENTY OF FREE AGENTS (fish in pond) bye bye Jake
Is wish all the stuff Keith law writes wasn’t locked by a subscription.
If you time it right, it costs $20 for a 12 month subscription of ESPN the Mag and Insider. $20. 12 months.
When you don’t time it right…it costs $30.
My prediction, Cubs let Lackey walk or Retire, they resign Jake Arrieta after a solid 2017, and is one of Butler or Zastryzny as a 5 starter. Montgomery probably stays in Bullpen where he can be a very good reliever or swingman
Do you think the cubs give arrieta 6-7 years over 200 million? I think the max i would offer is 5-6 years 185 million.
You would give him that? Where did you get that kind of money?
Lackey may go. But Jake will go. And needs to. He’s not worth the contract he is rumored to demand. I’d rather pay the same or even less to a FA this winter who’s younger
I think if Lackey has another solid year, they give him a 1 year deal, If they do in fact lose Arrieta, I think they could get Darvish or maybe Cueto
Teams may hesitant to give that extra year to a starter given Grienke and Price. Could always be that one team which is all it takes but I for one would be scared to go seven years on ANY starter. The Red Sox in my view for example would be better served to try to extend Sales for two years at $35m per after this season when they get under the luxury tax threshold if it makes a difference as to when. Sad that even fans need an MIT degree today to understand how a team manages their budget.
Sale is under team control through the 2019 season.
Let’s just get Theo signing those contracts and see if he has learned from his mistakes.
He hasn’t made the mistakes of Trader Dave who lusted Price and then paid the price to him. That deal might be the worst in MLB history; though if either Miggy and or Verlander runs out of steam they could go down as well.
Here’s what it equates to:
How many years are you paying them for?
How many years can they compete at the level to actually earn their salary?
Why in the world did KC take Soler in that trade..he is one of the most overvalued prospects ever!
^
Because this off season, three relievers received record contracts and Wade Davis stands to do the same. KC wanted to receive something in return rather than let Davis walk this coming off season. A young controllable outfielder with 30 HR 100RBI potential is a pretty good haul for a one year rental closer, especially considering Davis hasn’t exactly been the poster child for staying healthy himself.
Rosario could be called up as early as June at this rate. Reyes looks lost at the plate and the inconsistency of the Mets lineup could use a spark already.
Side note, Conforto should be starting everyday and Granderson should sit.
If they call up Rosario, do they move Droobs to 3B to make room for him at SS? Or do they put Rosario at 3B? And what if David Wright somehow becomes able to play again?
Conforto won’t play every day unless either Bruce or Céspedes gets hurt or traded (i.e. if a corner OF spot opens up). His CF defense isn’t much better than Granderson (if at all).
Thing is unloading Granderson and Bruce would be virtually impossible.
Why is “unloading” Bruce impossible? It’s very unlikely to unload Granderson, but there would be a team who’d like a left handed power hitter.
Rosario is too good defensively not to put at SS. It’s his number one strength.
There is zero chance Rosario doesn’t play SS. He is an elite, Gold Glove level defender who is in a different league than Cabrera.
Asdrubal will move to 2B, or 3B, depending on what they want to do with Walker. (he was a 3B in the minors)
Rosario will have a huge impact on the Mets, he is an athletic freak.
I could see the cubs waiting to see what happens with the otani situation before making any moves to acquire pitching.
I wouldnt waste my money on him if I were the cubs, I would maybe trade for Archer or sign cueto or darvish
He’s going to cost significantly less than darvish or cueto unless there is some deal that circumvents the rules in place under the CBA.
We will see, Unless they trade for an ace and sign a second tier guy like hellickson
We will see what? His contract is limited by the CBA because he is under 26 years old. Unless teams find a way to work around that, or despite what he has said, he doesn’t actually come over before turning 26 then he will cost less.
It absolutely makes sense for a team to do their due diligence on that situation before trading away their farm for chris archer or spending 150ish mil on darvish/cueto.
Even if he does end up getting around the cba, why is it that it’d be “wasting their money” on him. He’s younger than any free agent and has some of the best stuff that has been seen recently.
If the cubs do get him, that rotation will be nasty no matter who they get.
There is zero reason to push Senzel to the show until he’s absolutely ready. Suarez is more than competent at 3B and the plate and he’s making league minimum.
Life long Philadelphian here. Crawford does absolutely nothing for me. He’s a pre bust bust
Crawford can’t hit to save his life