Felipe Lopez – INF - Admittedly, Felipe Lopez used to be one of my favorite players. Guys who can play shortstop with good power and speed (albeit with less-than-ideal defensive ability) just don’t come around that often, yet that’s exactly what he represented in his early career with the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals. However, since those days, Lopez has seen his power and speed numbers diminish and his reputation around the league be tarnished by his tardiness to games and various other offenses. That said, Lopez is still a guy who’s been able to play up-the-middle in the infield, stick on a Major League roster and, combined with a .287/.366/.457 line in 5 AAA seasons, could be a nice player to have in an organization. However, given his very questionable makeup, it would be hard to justify signing Lopez to any kind of contract if he has any chance of negatively influencing young Major Leaguers or minor leaguers on the 25-man or the farm. http://www.replacementlevelbaseball.com/2011/10/secret-free-agent-men-triple-a-free-agent-hitters
This is where things get complicated, as while the Cubs may have a deal done with Theo Epstein, that's not the only deal to be made. With one year remaining on his contract, Epstein can't move to the Midwest without the two teams working out a compensation arrangement. Basically, the Red Sox need to trade Epstein to the Cubs in order for him to become the team's next general manager. So now, nearly a week since news of a deal became public, there's been no official press release, no press conference, no confirmation that it really was Theo at the Starbucks in Lincoln Park. Multiple reports have compensation talks between the two organizations at a standstill, but what is being missed is the reason why. This isn't over what the Red Sox get back in compensation for Theo going as much as it's over the organization getting compensated for their anger while getting the last word in. Make no mistake, the Red Sox have the leverage here simply by holding the most desirable asset in the negotiation. That's business 101. Adding to the difficulty for the Cubs is that Ricketts has now wasted more than a week with the promise of a new savior of a general manager, yet in reality, he doesn't have him in the fold. - http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=15316
Oscar Hernandez, C Tampa Bay Rays - 7/09/1993 (18) – Height: 6’0″ Weight: 196 – The Venezuelan Summer League triple crown winner, Hernandez had PS3 type numbers in 2011. He hit .402/.503/.732 for the VSL Rays. He also added HR-21/3B-1/2B-14/RBI-66/R-56/SB-3 in just 239 at bats. While it’s crazy that he had a .402 batting average, the fact that he had a .330 IsoP on top of that is totally sick. He’s in Port Charlotte, Florida now with OF Josh Sale, SS Hak-Ju Lee, RHP Taylor Guerrieri and other top Rays’ prospects for the Winter Instructional League. He should open 2012 in the Gulf Coast League with a possible chance of making it to the Appalachian League quickly - http://baseballinstinct.com/2011/10/16/touchem-all-venezuelan-summer-league-top-prospects-hitters
With small markets and bad weather, baseball's league championship series drew far fewer television viewers than last year. The NLCS on TBS, with the St. Louis Cardinals beating the Milwaukee Brewers in six games, averaged a 2.9 rating. That was down 43 percent from the 2010 ALCS on the cable channel, when the six-game Rangers-Yankees series averaged a 5.1. The ALCS on Fox between Texas and the Detroit Tigers averaged a 4.4 over six games, down 20 percent from the 5.5 for the six-game Giants-Phillies NLCS on the network last season. - http://espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2011/story/_/id/7116112/2011-mlb-playoffs-tv-ratings-league-championship-series
For that reason, the fact the Braves don’t really have any top-flight hitting prospects isn’t that important. If Atlanta has a need at the big-league level, the pitching prospects are there to fix holes while a handful of potential regulars (Tyler Pastornicky, Edward Salcedo, Christian Bethancourt and Andrelton Simmons) marinate in the minors. The next wave might not be as exciting as Freddie Freeman or Jason Heyward, but average regulars at minimum salaries still provide tremendous value. - http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/atlanta-braves-pitching-prospects-world-series-contender
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