Pretty good article on everyone's favorite prospect (at least...these days). 

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2008/8/27/602324/where-did-this-guy-come-fr

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This is based on the current MLB team Page Depth Charts. Discuss it all in the Comments please.

Here's the link to the same thread before the season started.  Some of the comments left there seem pretty comical now (i.e. Kendrick over Kinsler, Guerrero over Bradley, Bedard as the best in the AL West, Putz over K-Rod, etc.).

 http://www.halosheaven.com/2008/3/24/318300/story title

I did include Figgins as the 3B despite not being on the depth chart due to bereavement.  I also replaced Harden with Gallagher in the A's rotation.  I added Rowland-Smith as Seattle's 5th starter.  I also pushed Hamilton to RF where he has been playing, moving Murphy to LF, and Byrd to CF.  Lastly, I included Padilla and Hurley in the Rangers' rotation as they are set to start in the 1st series after the ASB.

My picks:

C A's

1B Angels

2B Rangers

SS Rangers

3B Rangers

LF Rangers

CF Angels

RF Rangers

DH Rangers

SP1 Angels

SP2 Angels

SP3 A's

SP4 Angels

SP5 Angels

Setup Angels

Closer Angels

Let's see who can guess the final order of the field.  Let's let tiebreakers for players that will not have a "swing-off" (i.e. #'s 5-8) be the player's longest HR in the contest when deciding on the order of players for our purposes.

Remember, only 4 of the 8 contestants advance to Round 2, and then 2 finalists will face off.

Total HR listed

1. Josh Hamilton - 23

2. Lance Berkman - 21

3. Ryan Braun - 12

4. Grady Sizemore - 10

5. Dan Uggla - 4

6. Chase Utley - 4

7. Justin Morneau - 3

8. Evan Longoria - 3

http://www.rotowire.com/roto_to_gnews.htm?ID=241714&sport=mlb

It looks like Daniels made a good move not to offer him arbitration.

http://www.blessyouboys.com/story/2008/1/10/114427/182

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http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/news/top50/y2008/profile.jsp?t=p_top&pid=462101

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/news/top50/y2008/profile.jsp?t=p_top&pid=457922

No other Ranger prospects listed so far in the countdown (only #21-50 posted so far).

I thought this was pretty neat until I saw the reference to "Tulsa" in Andrus' writeup.

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My question:

I'm not that familiar with the Braves prospects (seems like a LOT of B+'s and B's), but where would Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison, Beau Jones, and Neftali Perez rate on this list if they were still in their system?

1. Jason Heyward, OF, Grade B+
   
2. Jordan Schafer, OF, Grade B+
   
3. Brandon Jones, OF, Grade B+
   
4. Tommy Hanson, RHP, Grade B+
   
5. Joey Devine, RHP, Grade B
   
6. Brent Lillibridge, SS, Grade B
   
7. Gorkys Hernandez, OF, Grade B
   
8. Jair Jurrjens, RHP, Grade B  (worried about his health)
   
9. Cole Rohrbough, LHP, Grade B
   
10. Brandon Hicks, SS, Grade B
    
11. Jeff Locke, LHP, Grade B-
    
12. Steve Evarts, LHP, Grade C+
    
13. Jamie Richmond, RHP, Grade C+
    
14. Jose Ortegano, LHP, Grade C+
    
15. Kris Medlen, RHP, Grade C+
    
16. Julio Teheran, RHP, Grade C+ (all hype and scouting reports at this point)
    
17. Tyler Flowers, C-1B, Grade C+
    
18. Chad Rodgers, LHP, Grade C+
    
19. Jose Ascanio, RHP, Grade C+
    
20. Cody Johnson, 1B, Grade C+

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/wires/10/31/2010.ap.bbn.padres.cameron.suspended. 0305/

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Here's a funny anecdote I got an email about from a good friend who works at ESPN:

"met Tim Kurkijan for the first time in person tonight and he is one of the most legit dudes out there we were just shooting some sheeze and I said I'm from TX and he told me something I'd never known, that he was Beat Writer for the Rangers from 83-85 and then he lived in Dallas during the early 90s while writing for SI so anyway I said something along the lines of "oh yeah, the Igor Era....fightin' for them RBIs..." and he just goes OFF into this long tale about his days interviewing Bobby V and how Bobby always had to deal with the jealousy between Ruben and Juan....so much so he actually had to stick Kevin Reimer after Ruben in the order cause if Ruben knew Juan was right behind him and there was a runner on third and less than two outs, he'd swing at (quoting Tim quoting Bobby V) "Any crap they throw up there" desperate for a Sac Fly instead of taking pitches and walking like he should....all because he just didn't want Juan to get the RBI!! Quoting Timmy K again (in an incredulous voice) "Sierra didn't care if Reimer got the Sac Fly behind him, he just didn't want it going to Gonzalez!!"'

Perhaps an additional reason why Sierra got shipped out?

I'm really intrigued by the quality of catching depth that the team has at this time.  Where do you think these players will be in 2008?  I put my guesses in parentheses.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia (starting catcher)
Gerald Laird (non-tendered...just a hunch)
Chris Stewart (backup catcher)
Guillermo Quiroz (OKC)
Taylor Teagarden (OKC)
Salomon Manriquez (Frisco)
Max Ramirez (Frisco)
Chad Tracy (Clinton - again? or Bakersfield)
Cristian Santana (Spokane?)

Am I being too optimistic?  It just seems that a lot of them are performing extremely well at their current levels and could merit the jump next season.

When the Orioles pursued a trade for Texas Rangers slugging first baseman Mark Teixeira, the Severna Park native who is reportedly headed to the Atlanta Braves, they were told it would take ace pitcher Erik Bedard and nothing less, according to two team sources. The Rangers' asking price had dropped from last year, when they asked for Miguel Tejada and Bedard for Teixeira. However, the Orioles, who have Bedard under contractual control for two more years after this season, still felt the 28-year-old pitcher was too steep a price for Teixeira, who appears primed to test free agency after next season. There also remains a hesitance to trade enigmatic starter Daniel Cabrera, especially when his struggles have lowered his trade value. -- Baltimore Sun

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1st time I had heard this...sorry if it was posted before.  Bedard would have been awesome if the Rangers could have persuaded the Orioles to part with him.