New Blog: Crops on the Farm

Diamond above Perez on your top 10?

Please tell Ron Spellman to learn how to use spell check and how to use the shift key before he posts again. That was a beating to read.

Good luck with the site.

How is Andrus ahead of Feliz or Holland? I’m not sure he qualifies as a minor league prospect since he’s not in the minors. And Diamond is a reach for the top 25, imho. And Arias…really? I could think of 30 guys down on the farm who are better prospects than that noodle-armed has-been. I don’t know how you’re evaluating, but it certainly doesn’t jive with the dozens of other prospect lists that I’ve read. Good luck all the same.

So I’ll go ahead and say it…your site isn’t any good.

When what you have to offer in the way of analysis is “he’s in the majors, enough said” you should probably not bother.

when it comes to blogs like these. We may need to see some blog consolidation if you really want to get a foothold in the eyeball marketplace. As a few have stated above, we actually have quite a few Rangers related blogs with a variety of specialties (advanced scouting reports with video, thorough everyday coverage and analysis, precocious kids with advanced interviewing skills, etc). I would suggest looking around at all the blogs to see what is already out there and then finding a unique schtick or angle to present to the anonymous masses.

Good luck!

the blog can some day be as good as rangersorrobbers.

to this

…and for that I apologize.

But I don’t understand the infatuation with writing by people that can not write. Look it is a talent, and a practiced skill to be able to write something that other people find entertaining. There are plenty of very, very knowledgeable people in this community that do not write blogs because no one would read them. I find my own writing ability to be absolutely putrid, and will be amazed if three people even finish reading this comment. Thus I would never try to start a blog.

Also incredibly underrated is the ability to come up with topics and comparisons and rants that people will actually want to read. Anyone can compile a list of links which is often the backbone of daily blogs, but it’s the well articulated opinions and talking point that separate a blog like this from an RSS reader compiling links from newspapers and other sources.

So…I dunno. If your initial foray into Ranger blogging is a half-baked top ten prospect list with 75 words of analysis, I’m just not sure what the future holds in a blog market already saturated with excellent writers.

One caveat to all this: If you’re young, like in high school or younger, then ignore all of the criticisms above and practice your writing, by all means. Even then I’d still suggest perhaps trying to put up a few fan posts on a blog like this and see what kind of reaction they get. You’ll at least get far, far more eyes on it.

I’m powerless to make another first association to the word “Finnerty.”

This blog is better than iorange’s fake derek jeter story.

but if you are going to do a blog on the Rangers farm system you are going to have to give better analysis and detail than you have so far.

Again not to be rude, but when I read some of your posts above and you say things like “I don’t know too much about Perez, Lemon, et al.”, that doesn’t help. They are part of the Rangers system, so if you’re going to do a blog about that then you should probably know more about them. There are a lot of resources out there for the Rangers. We as Rangers fans are very fortunate to have so many options. I think you have a lot of homework to do though my friend.

I better tuck my tail between my legs and go into hiding. You guys are like a pack of wolves.

I’m leaving LSB and never coming back….

…after reading today’s entry, I take back my post above. This blog is going to provide a lot of laughs. Keep it up.

6. Neftali Feliz — His numbers were beastly in 08 but I’m worried he could be a 4-AAAA since he’s walking a batter per inning in OKC. Maybe it’s time to make him a reliever? He could be downright awesome as a closer.

and LSJ comment:

No offense man but… kneejerk much? Neftali Feliz has made a grand total of four starts in OKC. He’ll be 21 next month. What say we hold off on the four-A/reliever label for a little while, huh? As for Martin Perez, he’s a 17 y/o kid whose body is still developing – which is why he only threw 61 innings last year and the Rangers are going to bring his innings along slowly this year.

At last you’re correct in your assumption about Manny Pina’s defense – in fact, up until his hot offensive start in Frisco this year the book on him had been a plus defensive catcher with a questionable bat. It’s really nice to see him finally hitting, but we’ll have to see how much the production falls off once his ridiculous .548 BABIP normalizes.

By Jon Page

I think I might bookmark it just to get a laugh every day.

You know a pitching prospect isn’t any good if John Daniels doesn’t trade him away but keeps him insteaad. Remember Chris Young and John Danks and Andres Gallaraga and Edinson Volquez?

Armando Galarraga and Andres Gallaraga must be brothers, but they spell their names differently. lol

reminds me of “Zoolander” and his Center For Kids Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.

Just like LSB, Only better.

If Feliz doesn’t start pitching good I bet they demote him to Clinton or maybe even lower than that.

You have to try to get that many things wrong in one sentence

is that this blog had probably recieved more traffic in the last day than mine has in the last month. It’s like that musical “The Producers”—i need to create a terrible blog, rather than just a sorta lame one.

Hopefully that’s not true, but at this rate….

Ron: You know, I’m starting to get the feeling that Feliz isn’t the ace we were told he was. Sucks. I think Beavan is the real ace in the system. I saw him pitch when he was in high school and his fastball was awesome. He blew people away. He’s an ace.

-Jimmy

People can talk all the time about how good a player is going to be someday, but the player has to be a good player once in awhile and Feliz isn’t one this year at all. He has only one win so far this year and Bo (don’t call me Ricky from Major League) Vaughn has two….buit he’s only a reliever!

i think i know who writes these things: stealhome

I wonder if Kevin Ricahrdson or Max Ramirez or Emerson (don’t call me Lake and Palmer) Frostad has asked him to throw a fastball at their chests in an alley behind a bar somwhere? I bet he’s miss them and throw it through a window or something.

I got a NewbergReport newsflash that said Hamilton might go on the DL because he’s in so much pain he can’t do anything. Forget for a minute how much that would suck. Who would replace him in the outfield? (This is the stuff we want to be known for at Crops on the Farm!)

Candidates:
1. Greg Golson
2. Julio Bourbon
Brandon Boggs
Ben Harrison

who will replace him in the OF — going out on a limb i am going with marlon byrd.

One thing: I remember he was on the Phillies 40 man roster but I’m not sure if we added him to our 40 man when we traded for him, so that could be a problem.

the problem with tihis is that if your going to take the time to write out a blog post, at least, for the love of god, do your damn research

next thing:

Ben Harrison — 296-424-519. Sweet stats. If he gets the call, remember where you heard it first

this shit is not anywhere near “analysis”

your not bad. bay isnt bad. but “sully” while he may be your buddy, his “analysis” simply put is not good.

3. Wilfred Boscan — Man, it sucks that he’s hurt. Is he the next Jovanny Cedeno?

the guy is put on the DL as a precaution and now hes jovanny cedeno? whaaaat

http://crops.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/04/rons-top-10-texas-rangers-prospects.html

comments/thoughts:

1) joe weiland:-you downgrade guys like feliz who are pitching at AAA at age 20, but your #1 player has yet to make a start professionally this year and has a very small change of making it to AAA at age 20/1. you trust nolan, because he has had success before at player development — right?
-WWNRD!

2) manny pina :
i love how you throw out his 800 PAs at a .248 BA in exchange for 47 AB and a .468 AB…track records arent worth jack anymore!
-and yes he is good defensively, but pina’s hitting stats are .248 BA/.306 OBP/.322 SLG vs teagarden’s .267 BA/.390 obp/.509 slg…and teagarden is recognized as a GG caliber catcher.

3) justin smoak:
-you compare justin smoak to todd linden.
-oh yea, and he didnt play much last year because his bonus demands.
-oh yea, and comparing a pitcher who has had TJ surgery/injuries and is just now making it to AAA to a player picked #11.
-again: todd linden? …really? i guess any player from one conference is equal to another player from the same conference who played years ago and started at the same level!

4) nefatali feliz:
-im glad you think hes overrated. i am glad that you are going against every (professional) prospect writer out there.
- i think neftali feliz is like jason neighborgall. both walk a lot of players.
-you clearly dont understand that pitching hard=pitching good. otherwise jason neighborgall would have netted the diamondbacks somone like barry bonds back in 2005.

5) kasey kiker:
-i would imagine this is what was going through ron’s head when he wrote this:
“dude! he has a 2.86 era in 22 innings pitched! clearly we should trade him for felix hernandez tomorrow, because that is fair value! hes left handed, that must mean he is going to be as good as sandy koufax! thats it! hes the second coming of sandy koufax! hes left handed! the clinton rangers farm system is awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. yea boiiiiiiiii”
-also, i have never seen somoene compare a player in one place to derek holland, kenny rogers and matt harrison. yes, they share very few things in common: left handed (check). played for the texas rangers (check). pitchers (check). a few differences: only one has thrown a camera down. only one has thrown a perfect game. two of them have played for multiple MLB teams.
-also i think this is how the harrison part went in his head: “harrison had nine wins last year! woohoo kiker is left handed. he would also have 9 wins in the SHOW last year! kenny rogers could probably have 20 wins if he hadnt retired! also, get off me matt cain. you and your 32-43 record suck. you should quit baseball and never EVER pitch again in the SHOW because you cant get any wins.”

6) wilmer font:
-in ron’s head: “he throws 100 miles per hour! like feliz! he must be good! he was signed at 15! they must have thought he had some talent to sign him at 15! low era! low era! low era!”

-wilmer font:
born: 5/24/1990
signed: july/august 2006
= not signed at 15

thats just basic math. at least get that shit right

-man those 10 IP are clearly going to dictate the rest of his career…rewind back to early 2006, in a little known bit of information the cardinals almost traded albert pujols for a young up and coming slugger known as chris shelton but couldnt bring themselves to rip the tigers off so much…the rest is history: shelton was elected to the hall of fame at the tender age of 26 and has won the MVP every year since. for both leagues. and he has only played in the AL.

7) doug mathis
-wait, what? doug mathis? you mean the guy who had a 64 era+ and a WHIP of 2.28 last year in the major leagues? at age 25? or do you mena the guy who was dropped from the rangers 40-man roster? that guy?
-clearly the fact that he has a lower era than neftali feliz is the only thing that matters. not that feliz has aprox. 3.14x the talent of mathis.
-you forgot to include how awesome he was last year with the AZL Rangers! he had a k/9 of 13.5! 13.5!!! and a bb/9 of 0! now that is a budding star!
-and hes 6’3" which means that he will have as good of a career as nolan ryan, because they are both right handed and play baseball.

8) greg golson
i will let this speak for itself: "

He’s real fast and can steal a lot of bases if you need him to plus he plays center field sometimes which is Josh’s position for the Rangers."

9) blake bevan:
-BREAKOUT ALERT!!!
-beavan could be good if he brings his k/9 up. its questionable that hes a top 10 guy from my viewpoint but i can see how he would fit in yours.

10) jared hyatt:
- so lets see: he went to georgia tech (check). hes a pitcher (check). hes tall (check) he plays for the rangers (check). — clearly this means he will be the modern day equilivant of babe ruth. he will be as good of a pitcher as kevin brown was and he will be as good of a hitter as mark teixeira. SOLD!
-and hes dont a better job than feliz! and his bb/k ratio is 8 to 5! clearly we should ignore this small sample size because of the amount of talent he obviously has. the ONLY reason he wasnt ranked #1 in baseball is because no one wanted to make the rest of the prospects in baseball look bad when jared hyatt was ranked #1-100. hes just. that. good.

Thank God for Crops on the Farm.

4. Julio Borbon – I’m with Sully. Yeah, he doesn’t walk much, blah blah blah. Don’t bore me. He can hit .300, run and play center. What do you want? He could be the next Juan Pierre (a great player who’d be fine if the Dodgers hadn’t wrecked his confidence. The Dodgers are my other fave, so I know what I’m talking about).

Indeed, you know what you’re talking about.

I can definitely imagine Bill Platschke saying “don’t bore me” to some glasses-faced loser criticizing Juan Pierre.

to make your blog ‘more good’. I’m certainly enjoying the efforts.