While we await the unveiling MLB Pipeline’s Top 20’s for the N.L. East today, and perhaps break up the monotony of the Top 100 lists – hmmm, I wonder if Robles, Kieboom, and Garcia will be on this one? – we have news of two more MLFA signings: • RHP Logan Ondrusek • UT Myles …
Spring Training has FINALLY arrived, with pitchers and catchers reporting to West Palm Beach tomorrow. Our intern and copy editor, however, are not all that excited. Why? Because, like the last several springs, there’s almost no chance that one of “our guys” makes the club unexpectedly in 2019. Victor Robles? All signs point to the …
Ask and ye shall receive, I suppose…
Yesterday, the latest BA transaction post arrived with two (2!!) more signs by the Nationals:
Nuno, of course, is old news, having also been invited to spring training as a non-roster invitee (sorry the official list for 2019 is not yet available). If he’s not cut before the regular season, the Nats would be his sixth organization in six seasons.
After breaking camp and playing 92 games with the Phillies in 2016, Goeddel was DFA’d at the end of spring training in 2017. For the past two seasons, the 26-y.o. has bounced between AA and AAA for the Reds and the Dodgers. Goeddel was originally drafted by the Rays in the supplemental round of the 2011 draft.
While I hope this will pick up soon, let’s take a look at the players that have come and gone (officially at least) since January 18:
SIGNED
• SS Luis Sardinas
RE-SIGNED
• RHP Brady Dragmire
RETIRED
• LHP Josh Edgin
Sardinas joins Scott Copeland as the only two players who weren’t with the organization in 2018, according to Baseball America’s Matt Eddy’s six (6) reports on transactions since the 2018-19 minor-league free agency began on Nov. 2nd. Previous re-signs include Adderling Ruiz, Aaron Barrett, Bengie Gonzalez, Khayyan Norfork, Jake Lowery, and Hunter Jones.
Phil says there’s gonna be an early spring, which may be right but for the wrong reasons.
As the headline notes, I’ve finished up filling in the “Report Not Yet Written” entries and made a few changes. I discovered that I’d had inadvertently listed a notable two years in a row, so I moved him (Tres Barrera) into his positional category and replaced him with one of the OFs that I felt had the weakest case (Eric Senior).
This is the earliest I’ve finished the reports in seven years, which I’m not sure is a good thing because I think that means there’s been nothing keeping me from working on these. This offseason and last have been brutally slow. And we’re still three weeks away from the start of spring training.
We can only hope that maybe once the Best Commercials of 2019 show is done, we’ll have something to talk about. Maybe.
No sense wasting any time… 16. Tres Barrera 21. Jackson Tetreault (16) 26. Tomas Alastre 17. Jose Sanchez (23) 22. Kyle Johnston (22) 27. Gabe Klobosits (31) 18. James Bourque 23. Brigham Hill (17) 28. Malvin Peña 19. Nick Raquet (21) 24. Tanner Rainey 29. Ronald Peña 20. Ben Braymer 25. Joan Adon 30. Drew …
Yesterday, the BA Prospect Book arrived, earlier than when I expected when I placed the order, but thanks to modern e-commerce, on time according to the notifications. Alas, I did not order early enough to find out the #31 guy. No doubt in large part because Victor Robles’s departure was delayed, combined with the ascents …
The first of the two books are in—BaseballHQ’s 2019 Minor League Baseball Analyst—and it did not disappoint… I was expecting very little and that’s exactly what I got. First, let me pay off for your click or visit today: Victor Robles, OF Carter Kieboom, SS Luis Garcia, 3B/SS Mason Denaburg, RHP Jake Irvin Wil Crowe, …
I’ve made the first pass of writing capsules and essays for the 2019 Watchlist and Player reports.
I’m giving the Minor League Baseball Analyst another shot but it may be more indicative of how slow this offseason is than anything else. That it allows me to punt on some players is a nice side effect, I’ll have to admit, but I don’t feel like I did that as much as I did when it was strictly BA and Sickels.
When the books arrive, I’ll finish ’em up, edit those that need it, and then lock ’em down. After that, the 2019 Watchlist becomes reference material for the rest of the season.
As always, feel free to discuss in the comments…
Sorry, nothing new to report. We haven’t gone dark — there’s just very little to report… unless you get worked up over the Nats signing a 31-y.o. RHP (Scott CopelAAAAnd) to fill out the Fresno rotation or re-signing a longtime backup C (Jake Lowery), both of which were reported by BA over the weekend in a post covering three weeks of “action.”
I’ve finished a couple of more pages on the Watchlist but I’m finding myself not confident to wait for the 2019 books and MLB Pipeline, which is making it a slower go than usual. If the past is indeed prologue, something will break soon now that I’m written a post primarily designed to assure folks the site’s still operating.