Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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Mark Kotsay passed his physical, and...wow. The A's got not only one, but two of the Braves' top 20 prospects in exchange for Mark Kotsay. As discussed before, the A's get hard-throwing reliever Joey Devine, who John Sickels lists as the Braves' #5 prospect, plus--bonus!--Jamie Richmond, the Braves' #13 prospect.
Neither prospect is without their flaws. Devine was rushed to the majors too young, where he promptly gave up some devastating home runs. He was the first pitcher in MLB history to give up grand slams in his first two games, and he also gave up an 18th-inning home run to Chris Burke in the 2005 NLDS, which ended the Braves' season. He has also had trouble throwing strikes, but seemed to have overcome this while spending most the 2007 season in the minor leagues. A change of scenery may do him a world of good.
I'm not sure why Sickels has Richmond rated so high; his numbers in A-ball last year were decent, but not overly impressive: 3.02 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 6.36 K/9. Richmond being #13 is probably an indication of how shallow the Braves' system had grown after the big Mark Teixeira trade last summer. Still, while Richmond doesn't seem to overpower anyone, he does have one excellent asset: his control. In 2006 in Rookie-level ball, he pitched 67 innings, and only walked an Eckersleyesque four batters all year. That jumped up to 25 walks in 138 2/3 innings as he advanced to A-ball last year, which isn't too bad, either.
Still, even with their flaws, both players have some upside, which is two more players with upside than I had expected to get in exchange for Kotsay.
And now, this analysis has grown tiresome. This is the time on Catfish Stew when we dance.
Richmond was #13 for Atlanta, and would fall between #15 and #24.
1. Carlos Gonzalez, OF, Grade B+
2. Gio Gonzalez, LHP, Grade B+
3. Fautino De Los Santos, RHP, Grade B+
4. Daric Barton, 1B, Grade B+
5. Brett Anderson, LHP, Grade B+
6. Chris Carter, 1B, Grade B+
7. James Simmons, RHP, Grade B
8. Henry Alberto Rodriguez, RHP, Grade B
9. Joey Devine, RHP, Grade B
10. Trevor Cahill, RHP, Grade B-
11. Aaron Cunningham, OF, Grade B-
12. Corey Brown, OF, Grade B-
13. Andrew Bailey, RHP, Grade B-
14. Sean Doolittle, 1B, Grade B-
15. Ryan Sweeney, OF, Grade C+
16. Javier Herrera, OF, Grade C+
17. Dan Meyer, LHP, Grade C+
18. Greg Smith, LHP, Grade C+
19. Sam Demel, RHP, Grade C+
20. Andrew Carignan, RHP, Grade C+
21. Grant Desme, OF, Grade C+
22. Travis Banwart, RHP, Grade C+
23. Josh Horton, SS, Grade C+
24. Jamie Richmond, RHP, Grade C+
25. Jermaine Mitchell, OF, Grade C
I worry that the A's are going to be Giants-East (or the Giants are A's-West), with great young pitchers and very few position prospects, but they have a deeper farm system than SF with all these trades. I'm sure Beane'll figure something out for offense - by 2010... if not before!
The farm system's getting a lot better.
Since you have Denorfia why would you need a centerfielder coming back? He was a steal last spring.
All things considered, that's a pretty damn good list. 6 guys at B+ and 3 at B, and the 10th guy is Cahill, who I think Goldstein at BP loves. The A's might not be THAT far away from being good again.
It seems pretty clear the A's now have a Top 5, or at worst a Top 10 system.
And Tampa is going to win a World Series by 2015.
Danke, Herr Timmermann. Ich habe den Fehler korrigiert.
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