Current 20 and under players in AA...
Wil Myers
Mike Trout
Shelby Miller
Robbie Erlin
Martin Perez
Jonathan Villar
Anthony Gose
Manny Banuelos
Bryce Harper
Francisco Martinez
Kyung-Min Na
Jae-Hoon Ha
Ramon Garcia
Jean Acevedo
Gabriel Noriega
Heiker Meneses
For the cases of Meneses, Noriega, Acevedo, Ha, Na, they're there because they're defense first middle infielders, a relatively rare commodity who are only there because their teams have no other suitable replacement. Garcia is a reliever, players who tend to rise faster than others. Even if they were prospects, they'd find some other no name stop gap instead of rushing them. Now look at how they're doing in AA and tell me if they really have any business playing at that level.
That's the same with Gose (and Villar), except he's holding his own with the bat while playing extraordinary defense at a premium position. Martinez, who just happened to be here, is a classic medium upside, little flaw type of player, which is why he's here. He'll always be fast tracked, because he also has great defense and has a decent bat without much of a flawed approach. Not exactly the definition of exciting, but he's more of a floor guy. Bat first prospects tend to move slower because teams are more cautious with them since hitters are harder to develop and find than fielders. They also play more of a role because as long as you can hit, you'll always find a job somewhere.
Pitchability guys, like Erlin, are there for the same reason - they have little flaw. They aren't as highly thought of because they don't have that kind of upside and will probably be "only" medium level players in the majors because they don't have extraordinary talent, but their broad array of skills gives them a higher chance of succeeding, except without as much upside.
Now, Castellanos, being the bat first prospect that he is, will still likely spend all of 2012 in A+ to fix his approach at the plate (he's striking out a whole lot, and he's not walking, either). If the Tigers can't find a player capable of filling in at third in AA, there is no way they'd rush a top prospect. Minor league teams are of little importance to front office personnel. Unless of course, he hits like Harper, Trout, or Myers pre injury. Shelby Miller is also a top three pitching prospect in the minors. Now, show me a report - ANY report - that suggest Castellanos is even close to being on the level of these four.
If Castellanos ends up in AA next year, it's likely because 1) he's made extraordinary strides with the bat while showing capable defense (which is something you can't really expect of anyone) or 2) the Tigers rushed him.
By the way, Castellanos really isn't tearing the cover off the ball. He's hitting for medium power (and I don't mean that as a bad thing, as he's still a teenager, after all, but he's done nothing that hasn't been expected.), walks little, and striking out a lot. Exactly what you'd expect from a guy like him.
By the way, those deflected insults are incredibly weak and unoriginal attempts at humor and bashing. Try something else. "Nuh-uh I no dumb head you the dumb head!" insults never works and it never has.
I have said nothing about the Tigers rushing him up to the big leagues. He was drafted as our third baseman of the future. There is no guarantee that he does or does not pan out. That's something that i would like to cram down your throat right about now. You don't seem to understand that you can't predict the future. Yet you're flaming me because I'm boldly doubting your almighty powers of stating which prospects will pan out and which ones won't with 110% accuracy. He's tearing the cover off the ball in single A, I'm only assuming good things right NOW. If he's a bust, I'm not worrying. Mr. Illitch has the money to cover up that spot until we can develop someone else or we sign someone that will take that spot after Kringe finally retires...
You're misinterpreting what I said. I never said Castellanos was a bust; that's just really dumb. Nor was I trying to foresee the future. I said prospects flame out more often than they succeed. That's simply the nature of the business. Are you actually denying that?
And, hear me out, as I'm actually being completely serious right now - please do more research on prospecting. What you're saying is completely wrong. Unless in the case of the Harpers of the world, you don't draft players because of position need (especially teenagers who show talent but not skill, like Castellanos). Prospects typically take 3-5 years to develop (more for guys coming out of high school), and you have no way of knowing how your big league roster will shape out in that time frame. Case and point, the Nationals drafting third baseman Anthony Rendon this year despite already having a star player at that position in Ryan Zimmerman, who is already more than an established big leaguer.
The Tigers didn't draft Castellanos because he was a third baseman (some scouts think he may have to move to a corner outfield spot, anyway), they drafted him because they saw him as the best available player at the spot they drafted. And that's exactly how you should draft, cost and off field troubles not withstanding.
And no, again, except under extreme conditions like a Bryce Harper, teams don't draft specific players to expect them to hold down a big league position in the future. Prospects are far too volatile in order for that to be a viable strategy to build a big league roster. You take a large group of talent, throw them up against a wall, and see who sticks. You have no idea who will and who won't.
Just look at the Royals farm system, who, at the beginning of the year, was hailed by many as having the greatest collection of youth talent we've seen in a while. John Lamb went down with Tommy John surgery, Mike Montgomery and Chris Dwyer have struggled mightily with command and consistency, and Danny Duffy has struggled in his big league stint. It's still a solid farm system, but best in recent memory? Farthest thing from it.
An article i read earlier this week concerning scouts actually said position prospects are more likely to pan out than pitching prospects
Did you actually need an article to tell you that? That's fairly obvious, to be honest. And why does that even matter, or have anything to do with this discussion?
We know what Fister is doing this year. We DON'T KNOW WHAT ANY PROSPECT IS CAPABLE OF UNTIL HE'S MADE THE 25 MAN ROSTER, AND EVEN THEN HE COULD PROVE TO BE A BUST.
That's really not the point. Even if Ruffin/Smyly or Martinez never pan out, that isn't how you judge trades. Please understand that. They gave cost controlled upside players for something as common as a Doug Fister, a back end of the rotation innings eater. Sure, it may work out, but the end likely doesn't justify the means.
That's like if you traded your car in for a lottery ticket, and then saw the lottery ticket turn into millions.
Initially it sounded like that, because you said Seattle got a "good haul" and at that moment Francisco Martinez was the only player now according to you that was a good pickup known to us, so i had to assume Furbush and Wells were part of that haul.
You know, a trade good be good for one side and not be a bad one for the other.
In my initial post, I said nothing about it being a bad trade for Detroit, yet you were quick to defend that point, a point that I never made in the beginning. It was only until learning that the PTBNL was a top pick for the Tigers from the 2010 draft did I change my stance from Detroit's perspective.
lol
