Comments on: Oakland Athletics 2011 Minor League Review

By: Grey

Grey — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:16:01 +0000

@ltf: Hey, what's your real email? Wanna know if you want to write about prospects for us...

By: ltf

ltf — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:33:59 +0000

“I have heard this much,” sounds like something you read off the internet. I’ve seen him since USC, and I never like the high-risk, high-reward college players who enter the draft. You could always land a Troy Tulowitzki, but that’s a different conversation. He’s been playing OF since July.

Michael Choice is not an honorable mention, and nothing about AJ Griffin… Michael Ynoa is a few years away from fantasy relevance unless you can carry 20+ players in your minor league system.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:00:14 +0000

@wily mo: I have heard this much. It would be very disappointing to see him stay in the outfield, both for fantasy baseball and from a team perspective. It sounds like the move is the A’s way of pushing him to the majors faster. Much of his value was tied playing SS.

By: wily mo

wily mo — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 21:03:35 +0000

green: well, better tell the A’s that. his arm’s apparently fringy, i haven’t seen any talk anywhere about him playing third. SS to 3B is a fairly obvious fallback move and usually if a team’s even considering it they’d try him there first before moving him to the OF. but he already played the entire second half of this year in CF. as far as i’ve seen anywhere there’s no plans for him to play the infield at all going forward.

they have quite a bit of corner OF depth in the minors but not a lot for CF. re-signing crisp, or jermaine mitchell, or green. green was a high draft pick, they’ll probably play him. but it kind of kills his buzz as any kind of impact fantasy player.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:38:06 +0000

@wily mo: re:Taylor: A good chunk of the Athletics roster are free agents. I would expect them to resign some players. The Athletics minor league system has an abundance of average outfielders. I worry his situation will turn out much like Domonic Brown’s 2011 season (not assuming injury). His upside is a 20/20 season. His down side is being demoted. Definitely a “worth a shot if you’re getting him cheap” player.

re: Grant Green: Defensively he’s below average at Short-Stop, with too many throwing errors. He could play 3B too. I think the A’s would be foolish to place him at just CF. They have too much depth for another outfielder.

@OaktownSteve: see above. I think he’ll be pushed to the outfield and have middling success. He should be tried out at another position too.

By: OaktownSteve

OaktownSteve — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:57:53 +0000

I wonder why the A’s haven’t looked at trying Green at 3rd. I’ve heard he’s a bit of a clank in the infield. Maybe the arm isn’t there, but it seems like a guy drafted at SS could make the transition given the A’s have acceptable young options in the middle infield at the MLB level but no short middle or long term plan at 3rd.

By: wily mo

wily mo — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:46:23 +0000

re: the taylor writeup, i’m not sure how the A’s outfield is “loaded”. their entire starting OF from last year are free agents. given that (A) the A’s are who they are, budget-wise and (B) none of the veterans are really world-beaters (willingham, dejesus, matsui, crisp), it’s pretty likely that taylor gets a shot at full playing time next year, at least initially.

what he’s likely to do with the opportunity if he gets it it is really difficult to figure out right now. his numbers last year look fine but for an oldish guy in the PCL are really nothing special. but he could still be on an upswing from the weird 2010 injury/lost year? he put up better numbers in a less friendly environment at a younger age in 09, so he’s physically capable of better. we’ll find out. right now he’s probably in the “worth a shot if you’re getting him cheap” category.

also i don’t think grant green is going to be a zobrist type utility guy. i think he’s just going to CF and that’s it.

By: YourMomsBoyfriend

YourMomsBoyfriend — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:39:37 +0000

@chata: his arm has fallen off. to be serious, he hasn't pitched this year due to TJ surgery. He's still young and has electric stuff, but he won't reach the Majors until, at the earliest, 2015. He'll only be 24 at that time, so it's not out of the realm of possibilty for him to match his ridiculous ceiling, but it's doubtful.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:18:56 +0000

@Chris: re: Taylor: his hype is gone, but the talent is still there. Kind of like Domonic Brown for 2012. The A’s farm system in 2009 was due to Cargo and Anderson as you stated. They move their prospects so much that eventually the lucky would run out. The Matt Holliday trade hurt. As have injuries and flame-outs. Essentially, exactly what you stated.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:15:59 +0000

Was really excited for Taylor a few years back and I’m now disappointed that he hasn’t panned out. Given the A’s OF situation and home park, I’m close calling his upside gone.

It’s amazing how bad the A’s farm has been over these last 6 years or so. They had that top 3 ranking in 2009 (I would presume due to Cargo/Anderson and the other Haren to D’Backs prospects), but otherwise they’ve been flat out terrible.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:54:20 +0000

@OaktownSteve: The A’s have one of the bottom three farm systems in the majors. Their talent has been diluted through trades that haven’t panned out for them. Quiet similar as the Twins farm system.

By: OaktownSteve

OaktownSteve — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:54:41 +0000

A’s not in very good shape. Pretty bad in fact. No other way to say it. Probably in the bottom 1/3 of MLB in terms of minor league talent right now. It’s disappointing when you consider that getting talent in the draft is probably the number one equalizer for a small market team. The A’s success in player develpment have not really matched up to their reputation for some time.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:18:58 +0000

@Jeff: Thanks for the updates.

@Ned Shakeshaft: I have heard this. I don’t know if he’ll stay. Could being more of a Ben Zobrist type utility player if that is the case.

re:Soony Gray: To be honest, I don’t know much about him presently.

@chata: re:Michel Inoa: My understanding is he’s still recovery from elbow surgery.

By: chata

chata — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:18:51 +0000

any word on michel inoa ?

By: Ned Shakeshaft

Ned Shakeshaft — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:10:47 +0000

Oakland is committing Green to CF, which takes him from intriguing to borderline in most fantasy formats.

Curious to know more about Sonny Gray.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:03:45 +0000

Good work, not to nitpick, but Oakland’s Low A affiliate is not Kane County anymore, but I believe Burlington, IA is. Kane County is now the Royals low A affiliate.

And Ethan Hollingsworth was recently traded to the Royals for Kila Kaaihue.