Yesterday Baseball Prospectus presented their Top 50 prospects and today Baseball America did the same thing (both lists exclude recent draftees). Nothing surprising when it comes to Phillies prospects.
J.P. Crawford #5
Much like Francisco Lindor, Crawford’s defense and hitting ability make him a low-risk prospect
Aaron Nola #12
Nola is like investing in Treasury bills. He’s a very safe starting pitching prospect who is big league ready
The “Treasury bills” comp does Nola a disservice. Low risk does not always mean low return. Nola is low risk because he has elite control of 4 or 5 pitches. But that is exactly what makes him special. I think his ceiling is much higher than the scouts give him credit for.
Matt…..concerning the recent trade with the D-Backs for more ‘international’ money….Joe Jordan in an interview with Jay Floyd a few days ago stated in part of the interview, “……for us, we felt it was the right thing for us to do this year and this next year as well. We lost two assets, but we picked up some flexibility.”.
What does he mean ‘next year’….will some of that money be deferred or be used for the next signing period?
It allows them to sign without penalty next year
agree with matt. my thought with JJ’s comment is that the trade will make the phils a “player” in LA market this year (since they acquired additional $$ without penalty) and next year (which is probably better since most of the big spenders in LA are eligible to sign FA’s >$300k). i like taylor and i think he’s a steal, but looking at the farm right now especially in lower levels, the farm has done deeper that makes both taylor and oliver expendable.
Thanks Matt.
KuKo:
Next signing period the Phillies ought to start out with something >$5M based on their record this year, as the number one slot.
I am hoping that they are players in the Cuban OFer Jorge Ona market, since there will be about 7/8 big spenders out of the bidding due to penalties.
I meant to say “big spenders in LA are NOT eligible to sign FA’s >$300k”