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Todays pitch count is 2.

1. Three extremely interesting items I found in ESPN Sportsnation’s 2:00 PM chat with Jim Callis on Wednesday. Speaking of Cincinnati Reds AAA stud Jay Bruce, “Bruce is the best prospect in the minors”. Callis also said that he would take Dodgers minor league pitcher Clayton Kershaw over any other pitcher in the minors. And finally, when asked who the 2008 opening day Atlanta Braves center fielder would be he replied, “Josh Anderson”.
2. Who knows who’s the front runner for nabbing Johan Santana in a trade. Until the deal is done, we’re all just speculating. Right? Well, a TwinCities.com sports columnist thinks that the Boston Red Sox may be the front runners right now. And more importantly, they may have found a way to get Santana without parting with Clay Buchholz or Jacoby Ellsbury.

Today’s pitch count is 6.

1. Brian Anderson, the Chicago White Sox 2003 first round draft pick, isn’t worried about whether or not he’s going to play winter ball. He’s solely focused on playing big league baseball in 2008. Maybe he should be less hung-up on whether or not the Sox are going to sign a free agent outfielder and get his butt down to Mexico and get the extra at-bats he missed in 2007.
2. Billy Wagner thinks that the loss of Tom Glavine and Paul Lo Duca combined with the off-season moves of the Braves and Phillies have made the New York Mets a 3rd place squad in the NL East.
3. MLBTrade Rumors reported a “zero verification” trade rumor that involved the Twins sending Justin Morneau to the Angels for Ervin Santana and Casey Kotchman. I was so appalled when I read this that I had to visit the original source of the rumor. I smiled when I saw that the original poster had already taken this rumor off of his blog. I guess Tim was 100% correct about the “zero verification” tag he placed on this rumor. Relax Twins faithful! The only way the Twins pull the trigger on this trade is if they can sneak Ervin Santana over to the Yanks instead of Johan Santana.
4. Chop-n-Change is continuing with their Atlanta Braves top 30 prospects series with prospects ranked from #10 to #6.
5. South Side Sox released their community prospect list announcing the top 9 White Sox prospects.
6. Citing “reliable sources”, DRaysBay announces that Boof Bonser is headed to Tampa.

Today’s pitch count is 10.

1. What a shock! Atlanta Braves starting pitcher (and I use that term loosely) Mike Hampton is hurt. Again! It only took one inning of pitching in the Mexican Winter League to do him in this time.
2. Dodgers GM, Ned Colletti, is leaning towards focusing on his current young group of players instead of paying too much for free agents in a weak pool of players.
3. Casey Crosby, a Detroit Tigers top pitching prospect, is having elbow surgery. He is likely to miss all of the 2008 season.
4. The Baltimore Orioles may be in the running to sign free agent outfielder Jose Guillen.
5. Lone Star Ball concluded a community prospect project with 126 voters chiming in on who the Texas Rangers top 30 prospects are.
6. John Sickels lists the New York Mets top 20 prospects.
7. Over The Monster let their readers vote on the Red Sox top prospect. Over 100 voters decided that Jacoby Ellsbury, not Clay Buchholz was the Red Sox top prospect. Now OTM is asking who’s #3.
8. Get comfortable before you start reading the post over at DRaysBay that evaluates every Rays position player.
9. Well, today marks the day that the Bill Conlin fiasco graduates from the sports blogosphere and enters the ranks of top, main stream blogs worldwide as Instapundit picked up on this mess. Now, Conlin may be a douche bag, well he most likely is. But he doesn’t deserve this onslaught. Conlin wrote this remarks in a private e-mail that the other blogger should not have made public. IMHO
10. Take a look at the Baseball Prospectus list of the 11 top Minnesota Twins prospects. See also the LA Angels top 11 prospects. And the KC Royals top 11 prospects. And the Detroit Tigers top 11 prospects.

Today’s pitch count is 3.

1. Make sure that you set your fantasy drafts next year well into Spring Training. I always think that seeing most of Spring Training is a good idea before drafting your fantasy team. It allows you to watch for injuries, nab promising rookies and stay on top of pitching rotations. However, the most pressing reason to wait until late is to avoid drafting players who will be hit with a first time offense, 50-game suspension because thay are on the Mitchell Report, MLB’s internal investigation into baseball’s steroid use.
2. There are many fantasy implications to the 5 player trade between the Houston Astros and the Philadelphia Phillies that included Brad Lidge and Michael Bourne as the key pieces. It’s going to allow Brett Myers to re-enter the starting rotation while Lidge closes games. It’s also could allow speedster Bourne the ability to play on a more regular basis, thus truly showing everyone what a monster base stealer he can be.
3. I’ve done a lot of talking about the Arizona Fall League this off-season. I just found a post that looked at the All-Time AFL All-Star lineup.

Today’s pitch count is 7.

1. Lots has been pondered about what the Atlanta Braves plan to do with the vacancy in center field now that Andruw Jones will not be resigned. One rumor, of Jeff Franceour moving to center to make room for minor league prospect Brandon Jones has been debunked.
2. Staying on the Atlanta Braves problem in center field for 2008, David O’Brien of the AJC introduces us to a prospect in the Braves organization that is just tearing up the Arizona Fall League. but he thinks that Jordan Shafer is too young, at 21, to take the reigns in center field.
3. The GM meetings are currently underway in Orlando and many, many rumors always begin flying around this time of year. MetsBlog says that the New York Mets are going to make a serious play for Alex Rodriguez this off-season. And the first sit down will be this week in Orlando.
4. ARod isn’t the only ex-Yankee that the NewYork Mets are interested in. Jorge Posada may be willing to switch New York loyalties if the Mets make him a “monster offer”.
5. Curt Schilling is “feeling very confident” about his return to the Boston Red Sox in 2008.
6. The Kansas City Royals are said to be interested in free agents Jose Guillen, Geoff Jenkins, Torri Hunter, and maybe even Slammin’ Sammy Sosa.
7. Baseball America has started releasing the top 10 prospects from each organization. Here are the Atlanta Braves top 10 prospects.

Today’s pitch count is 4.

1. Tim Dierkes didn’t feel it necessary to stop at one fantastic baseball blog (Roto Authority), he’s got two. And it’s MLB Trade Rumors where I found his list of the 3 top Japanese free agents who may be U.S.A. bound in 2008.
2. In a live chat session, a St. Louis Cardinals beat writer answers Mike Parisi to the question, “Do any current minor leaguers have a realistic shot at making the team next year out of spring training?”.(thanks to Viva El Birdos for finding that link for me)
3. Grant, over at the McCovey Chronicles, thinks that he has found the formula for a San Francisco Giants trip to the World Series in 2008.
4. You can tell by the hype, praise and this fan site that Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher, Homer Bailey, is incredibly well liked. (my personal favorite is “Homer Bailey can strike you out with a basketball”). However, you can also tell that fans are worried about the young phenom’s arm, now that Dusty Baker is at the helm.

Today’s pitch count is 7.

1. I wouldn’t want to plan my rotation around an aging, free agent starting pitcher, but there is something to be said about bringing in an experienced veteran to help with a younger staff . Here’s a list of 6 free agent, over 40 year old, pitchers who will looking for a new team for 2008.
2. There’s a new post over at Bless You Boys about Detroit Tigers minor leaguer, Michael Holliman and whether or not he can fill the Tiger’s need at shortstop in 2008.
3. Brew Crew Ball has a new post with a good number of links about Milwaukee Brewers’ prospects for 2008.
4. Evan Longoria has finished up at the Arizona Fall League with some pretty nice numbers and will now join Team USA.
5. 2008 Presidential hopeful, Rudy Giuliani has come out in support of the Boston Red Sox in the ‘07 World Series that starts today. Bold move from one of the biggest New York Yankees fans around.
6. Over the Monster , in a move that’s most likely correct, has proclaimed that Jacoby Ellsbury will be the Red Sox center fielder in 2008 and they want to know what kind of trade offers they can get in return for Coco Crisp.
7. It’s that time of year. Baseball fans either talk World Series, free agency or prospects. Here is a list of the Cincinnati Reds top 40 prospects, serialized in groups of 5.