Where are they now?

It seems like it has been years (YEARS) since the amateur draft. But, in reality, it has only been a couple weeks.

Let's look at where our top 10 draft picks have gone...

1. Trent Milligan, P, Monterrey AAA -- After much ado and a lengthy holdout, Milligan signed his measly $7m bonus and reported to AAA where he proceeded to get blown up. Milligan faced 25 batters and threw 99 pitches in 4 2/3 innings, where he gave up nine hits and six runs. Needless to say, he took the loss and sports a 13.50 ERA. Milligan has missed a lot due to the holdout -- at least three starts, the entire strike zone in his debut and, given the tremendous amount of itching he has been doing lately, he also missed the team lecture on avoiding minor-league groupies.

2. Kareem Duckworth, P, Austin AA -- Austin management has given a fairly strict edict to its managers regarding pitch counts and their first-round pick. Duckworth averages 62 pitches per outing. Unfortunately, he has gone no more than four innings in either start. He looked good in the debut, striking out seven and giving up five hits in a no-decision against Buffalo. The second outing was rougher -- 3 2/3 innings, five runs on five hits and a loss at Colorado Springs. Austin management has also set rules about Duckworth's travel. Given his fairly low durability, Duckworth travels from game to game packed in styrofoam peanuts in a steel case.

3. Garland Nathan, SS, Santa Fe RL -- Nathan opened his career on a nine-game hitting streak, including five straight multi-hit games. His batting (.396 with a .994 OPS) is unfortunately offset by his Chuck Knoblauch-esque five errors in 11 games. 

4. Harpo Dunn, SS, Minnesota HiA -- Vanceburg, Kentucky's own Harpo Dunn has not seen a pitch he didn't like so far. Of course, with 11 ks in 67 at bats, that's not a great thing. His OPS (1.012) offsets his OBP (.370). Dunn waited until his second game to make his impact felt, batting 3-5 with two doubles, a homer and six RBI. Dunn also felt the yips on the field with four errors in 15 games.

5. Danny Weston, UT, Portland RL -- Stud in more ways than one. Weston is batting .410/.515/.641 with two homers and 11 RBI. Even more impressive is his patience at the plate, drawing 11 walks. And, with a clean fielding record to boot. Weston is a stud off the field, impregnating three girls in his first week with the club. When asked how that happened, Weston said, "Dude. It's Portland. What else am I going to do?"

6. Kip Davis, OF, Atlanta AA -- Kip Davis is a long way from Fort William, Ontario. After spending four days at Hartsfield Airport waiting to get off the plane, Davis finally took the field. He's performing admirably at Atlanta -- .288-2-20 -- and could likely make it to AAA in the second half.

7. Allen Fisher, P, Colorado RL -- The mighty whitey southpaw from West Virginia has struggled some in his rookie season. Three losses, two no-decisions and a 1.73 WHIP. But, he has a 3.5 K/BB ratio and a 4.15 ERA, which shows some potential. Fisher, unfortunately, averages more than a home run per game. Must be the Colorado air.

8. Jason Hurst, OF, Milwaukee -- Hurst is banging his way through coeds at UVA. Three cases of chlymidia and a prego scare hasn't stopped this wunderkind from working through the freshman class of Cavaliers.

9. Pat Biggio, P, Buffalo LoA -- You can tell that Biggio is going be one of those hammer of God closers. Four saves in five opps, a 1.50 ERA, 14 Ks, 1 BB and a .195 OAV.

10. Lawrence Walsh, 2B, Richmond RL -- This post is boring the shit out of me. I'm teaching my college-level graphic design class right now and I think I'm going to go home now. Nothing against Walsh. He's batting .280-2-18 in rookie ball. I'm just sick of being here.

rbedwell Saves the Wailing Onion from Timoxplosion

rbedwell, charming chap that he is, gets executive of the year and it's only the all-star break. In one fail swoop, he saved Timo Phillips from the trading block and exposed some of us for the HBD newbies that we are.

Had we actually read Timo's profile page, we would have known that Timo Phillips is in his arbitration eligible year, not his walk year. In the process, he saved San Juan from the undignified pain of trading their top hitter and shifting the competitive balance in a way that only ewad could do.

A tip of the Starbucks iced latte to you rbedwell.

Futures Rosters

Changes have been made to the Futures teams, what with callups and the like (for instance three of my AAA futures kids are now on the ML roster and have been replaced):

U.S. Futures:

	Player	Franchise	Owner	Level
P	Lonnie Hall	Chechakos	madmuldoon	HiA
P	Cory Downs	Pitch Factory	jjirish70	AAA
P	Preston Mays	Slingers	mark3313	HiA
P	Stan Russ	Cha-Chings	andypavlovic	HiA
P	Stephen Rooney	Senators	andysox9	HiA
P	Kurt Hill	Chechakos	madmuldoon	HiA
P	Sven Obermueller	Cubbies, of course	bkevin	AA
P	Cy Holmes	Renegades	Marauders299	LoA
P	Tom Gold	Monarchs	braddavis	HiA
P	Adam Spence	Come from Behinders	spenny33	AA
P	Rob Thomson	Minutemen	AllSox	AA
P	Christy Harris	Booze Hounds	paulbiss612	LoA
P	Lloyd King	Cha-Chings	andypavlovic	AAA
P	Preston Turner	Monarchs	braddavis	LoA
C	Justin Munson	Chechakos	madmuldoon	AA
C	Sammy Gonzales	Chechakos	madmuldoon	AAA
1B	Rob Mays	River Otters	billabercrom	AA
1B	Kelly Vernon	Chechakos	madmuldoon	AA
2B	Luke Hammond	Chechakos	madmuldoon	AAA
2B	Denny Grissom	Cricket Club	cheez791	AA
3B	Marcus Richardson	Chechakos	madmuldoon	HiA
3B	Yannick Offerman	Cha-Chings	andypavlovic	LoA
SS	Mitch Brow	Steelheads	leblanc2	AAA
SS	Floyd Prior	Mayhem	dwrightjr7	HiA
LF	Sean Snow	Booze Hounds	paulbiss612	LoA
LF	Joe Whitfield	Slingers	mark3313	AA
CF	Benny Mangual	Chechakos	madmuldoon	AAA
CF	Les Stevenson	Black Bears	dflinn0728	AAA
RF	Charles Torrealba	Webs	raybie2305	LoA
RF	John Parrott	Slingers	mark3313	AA

World Futures

Player	Franchise	Owner	Level
P	Octavio Martin	Beavers	rbedwell	AAA
P	Joseph Sano	Cricket Club	cheez791	AA
P	Fernando Sanchez	City Limit	coltjj	AAA
P	Julio Fernandez	Mayhem	dwrightjr7	HiA
P	Ismael Sanchez	Beavers	rbedwell	HiA
P	Magglio Mondesi	Mayhem	dwrightjr7	LoA
P	James Wang	Slingers	mark3313	HiA
P	Chin-Hui Ong	Webs	raybie2305	AA
P	Juan Cordero	Saints	tecwrg	HiA
P	Jin-Che Sakamoto	In The Meantime	jaredpaventi	HiA
P	Yuniesky Cruz	Minutemen	AllSox	HiA
P	Ricardo Sojo	Diamond Kings	bentschnride	HiA
P	Edwards Ross	Beavers	rbedwell	LoA
P	William Lui	Webs	raybie2305	AAA
C	Hector Vega	Renegades	Marauders299	AAA
C	Alberto Gabriel	Pitch Factory	jjirish70	AA
1B	Trenidad Ramirez	Minutemen	AllSox	AA
1B	Carlos Johnson	Malt Liquors	tsteve28	AAA
2B	Juan Paz	River Otters	billabercrom	AAA
2B	Pep Wanatabe	Monarchs	braddavis	LoA
3B	Tony Dong	Steelheads	leblanc2	AA
3B	Willie Posada	Diamond Kings	bentschnride	HiA
SS	Don Taylor	Renegades	Marauders299	LoA
SS	Max Pena	Mayhem	dwrightjr7	AA
LF	Rex Roosevelt	Monarchs	braddavis	HiA
LF	Ozzie Jung	Pitch Factory	jjirish70	HiA
CF	Lonny Park	Cubbies, of course	bkevin	AA
CF	Pepe Aquino	Saints	tecwrg	AAA
RF	Jamie Yamamoto	Minutemen	AllSox	AA
RF	Alex Espinoza	Senators	andysox9	AA

Timo Takes HR Derby Title

Timo Phillips hit 30 home runs, exhausting his arms and taking the Home Run Derby title. Results follow.

Home Run Derby Summary

Player	Fran	Career	Season	Longest	R1	R2	R3	Tot
Timo Phillips	SJU	45	45	526 ft	6	14	10	30
Ramon Martin	PHI	35	35	526 ft	13	8	1	22
Nerio Turner	CLE	46	46	531 ft	12	7	0	19
Johnny Costello	WAS	26	26	490 ft	7	8	0	15
Len Heiserman	MIL	44	44	451 ft	4	0	0	4
Donovan Milligan	CLE	34	34	430 ft	4	0	0	4
Antonio Gao	BUF	35	35	516 ft	4	0	0	4
Al Mendoza	KC	28	28	511 ft	3	0	0	3

Trading Deadline Looms (NL)

With the trading deadline looming, let's look at the teams who could make a deal to angle for position in the playoff race. We'll do this in two separate posts as it may get long.

PHILADELPHIA (59-30 leads the East): The Flash have some intimidating HR hitters with the Martin (34), McMasters (32), Takada (30), Wyatt (27) combo. They also have wind machine Al Ward (100 Ks). They could go for a bench bat. The Flash pay their bills on the hill. The starting five is nasty and the closer is hot. The setup crew leaves me squeamish, with Jimmie Brand (7.59) and Nick Terrell (6.75) proving to be liabilities in the pennant run. NEEDS: Another bullpen arm. Maybe a bat. Maybe.

ATLANTA (55-34 leads the South): Atlanta's success this season is thanks, in part, to a core group of good but not great hitters. Of their starters, only Clint Maxwell (.249) is batting under .250. No one hits .300+. The pitching does its part, with a team ERA of 3.95. The front two starters are great. After that, it's a crap shoot. Roscoe Street is 6-2 with a 4.36 ERA, but has gone seven innings just twice this season. Ray Waters has 11 starts but only 57.1 innings pitched. The other starting options just don't impress. NEEDS: At least one, if not two starters.

COLORADO SPRINGS (54-35 leads the West): To to bottom, the Cricket Club has the most consistent pitching staff. James Logan (7-7, 5.78) is the only starter to give pause and Esteban Pena's 6.63 ERA is the only true blemish on the bullpen. Two nicks in the armor for me -- Albert Zurburan and William Comer. Yes, Comer has 17 home runs, but the .317 OBP and 55Ks makes him a liability in an NL lineup. Zurburan is a sub-.700 OPSer with more strikeouts (59) than hits (55). NEEDS: A more reliable bench bat than Zurburan.

CINCINNATI (42-48 leads the North): At six games under .500, you expect problems. To be a division leader at six games under .500 means that the competition is tight. Eight games separate worst to first in the North. The pitching staff has some high points -- No Hit Lon Costello and his 2.06 ERA, Brad Bird and his 101 Ks, team with Doug Linton and Felipe Balboa for a formidable front four. The fifth starter seems undecided with a pair of forgettable 6.00 ERAers. The starting lineup has too many players with a sub .325 OBP and sub .500 slugging percentage. There is a HUGE gap between Pablo Johnon (.305-26), Armando Martin (.360)-18, Steve Austin (.321-21) and Vlad Cust (.285-18) and the rest of the pack. NEEDS: A couple of stronger bats. A bullpen arm.

BUFFALO (57-32 second in the East 2.0 GB, first in the wild card): Why do I think Buffalo is going to the World Series? Is it the chicken wings I had for dinner? Is it the impending trip to Buffalo next week? Or is it the pitching staff without an ERA higher than 5.20? The only thing Buffalo might need to get it done is another lights out bat. There isn't a .300 hitter on the team and only one player has more than 15 home runs. NEEDS: A big fucking bat.

SANTA FE (54-36 second in the South 2.0 GB, second in the wild card): The pitchers are not exciting once you get past Vern Dunwoody. I mean, with a name like Vern, how can it get any more exciting? I digress. The staff is nice and well managed, but nothing about them says lights out. You know what does? Their core of Felix Matsuzaka (.259-30-77), Aurelio Valentin (.353-27-78), Mark Yamamoto (.325-17-66), and so on... This team is good. Thank God I play in the AL. NEEDS: A reliever. A more reliable No. 5 starter.

Trading Deadline Looms (AL)

With the trading deadline looming, let's look at the teams who could make a deal to angle for position in the playoff race. We'll do this in two separate posts as it may get long.

CLEVELAND (63-26 leads the North): Not to say that there is a perfect team, but the Wahoos are about as good as it will get this year. The lineup is tight from top to bottom, with all of their regular hitters batting over .290. Bench depth might be a problem, as a light-hitting Dario White (.143-0-1) leads the bench. Six different pitchers have started for the Wahoos, led by Vasco Lee (10-2, 3.57). NEEDS: Who knows? alsimmons could go for another bench bat, but might be more likely to pursue a reliever. Deacon Barkley and Dennis Andrews aren't the most intimidating combination out of the bullpen.

KANSAS CITY (62-27 leads the West): The Monarchs have hit their stride pitchingwise, finding a starting five with three 13-game winners (Miller, Neruda and Hernandez), a solid innings eater (Navarre) and a forkball specialist (Pujols). Closer Kevin Ong has converted 14-of-17 save opps, but carries a 6.82 ERA and 1.76 WHIP. Tomas Ayala has blown three saves, but is otherwise reliable out of the 'pen. NEEDS: Another reliever. Wouldn't be surprised if braddavis went after a cheap, reliable glove to spell Hunter Pierre (10 errors, .947 fld pct.) in the late innings.

NASHVILLE (55-34 leads the South): The Saints eight-game lead is due to a solid core of a hitters. The team is batting .287, six players are hitting .280 or better and three have 20+ homers. The weak links of the lineup are centerfielder Clay Sefcik (.230-7-45 and 66Ks), utilityman Justin Goldberg (.213-2-15 and a .552 OPS) and shortstop Arnold Lefebvre (.237-9-29 and a .294 OBP). On the mound, Weldon Stanley doesn't instill a great deal of faith in the Nashville fans with a 7-6 record and 6+ ERA. NEEDS: A fifth starter, an infield bat, preferably at shortstop, and a bullpen arm.

BOSTON (45-34 leads the East): As a Yankees fan, I'm conditioned to hate all things Boston. Thus, I should say that all is well with the Minuteman. But, the aren't. Hector Pettitte (.324-11-59), Augie Cepicky (33 homers) and Bob Hernandez (.292-25-69) can't do it all. The lineup has a couple of holes -- most glaringly an off year by centerfielder Darryl Coles (.239-2-32, a .574 OPS and .967 fld pct.) But, if I were AllSox, I'd start with my staff. Two regular starters have ERAs over 7, the closer by committee has blown 14 saves and my staff ERA is 5.71. NEEDS: Pitching. A centerfield upgrade.

DETROIT (51-38, 12GB in the North, 1st place wild card): The offense is sufficient. All regulars are batting .250+. The bench seems to have stabilized. I'd look for zar to go shopping for arms. Ruben Otanez is Cy Young quality (15-1, 2.22, 96K), but what separates him and Mel Petersen (8-3, 3.38) from the rest is a wide gap. Troy Shumaker (4-6, 5.50) and Kris Redmond (4-8, 4.73) are nice innings eaters, but are back end starters. The X-factor is Barry Gruber, who looks sharp in four starts (2-1, 2.81, 16K, 3BB). The bullpen is in good shape here. NEEDS: At least one starting pitcher.

COLORADO (50-39, 12GB in the West, 2nd place wild card): Take KC out of this division and Colorado is in the top two or three teams in the AL. They hit the ball hard: .326BA, .919OPS, 138HR, 655RS. Unfortunately for them, so does the opposing team. All five starters have ERAs over 5.00. The closer, Ryan Witt (18 SV, 1.53 ERA) is nice, but the road to him is rocky. billabercrom may not need pitching, though, if the hitters hold up. NEEDS: Pitchers. All kinds.

MEMPHIS (47-42, 8GB in the South, 3GB in the wild card): We suck. Seriously, though, we've gotten beaten by injuries this year, losing LF Max Broadhurst, utilityguy Pinky Neal and starter Yuni Mantalban to season enders. My bench is okay and my top seven hitters are solid. A little worried about the two rookies batting 8-9. Chip Hayes (.146-1-4) and Mark Long (0/9 this season) are taking their sweet time getting into gear. Pitchingwise, we made our move by acquiring Randall Wheat to round out the rotation. My setup guy, Sammy Williams, could change his name to Steve Karsay and no one would notice. And, I'm in love with my closer. NEEDS: A veteran outfielder who can hit, maybe another reliever.

Untitled

Torey Eaton  may have already earned the world's most prestigious award -- the Byun Hyung Kim trophy for worst closer.

Chicago's fire...starter(?) has converted 8-of-16 saves, giving him eight blown saves. A thing of beauty and poetry. In 33 games and 30.2 innings pitched, Eaton has surrendered eight homers and posted a 20/11 K/BB ratio. Opposing hitters are batting .291, reaching base 36 percent of the time and are slugging at a .520 clip. Oh yeah, his ERA is 6.75.

In his last glorious outing, he...oh shit, he got a save. A six-pitch save. And, in all fairness, he hasn't blown a save since the PM2 cycle on 2/21, when Austin converted 25 of his pitches into one hit and the winning run.

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Fighting It Out for the Craig Biggio Trophy

Editor's Note: Craig Biggio is the modern day hit by pitch leader. The all-time leader is Hughie Jennings, who played in the late 1800s, during a period of time where it was acceptable to, say, step into a pitch to get on base. Jennings is also an alumni of my alma mater St. Bonaventure University. Thought I'd bore you with some Jared trivia.

We have a tight race for the Craig Biggio Trophy, awarded to the player with the most hit by pitches in the major leagues. Wayne Jones (MIL) and Dicky Mohler (RIC) are tied at 12, while five other players are tied at 10.

Jones is an interesting case. His 12 beaners are exactly half of his current walk total (24). Of course, Jones has also whiffed 56 times, giving him an OBP (.342) only 69 points higher than his batting average (.273).

Only Mohler has more strikeouts, with 62. Richmond's medical team says that Mohler has been hit in the head so many times that he sees more than one ball being pitched and often "swings at the one in the middle."
 

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Nerio Watch

Nerio, oh, Nerio, where for art thou Nerio...

Memphis actually, but he's there more in spirit than anything.

Since the 2/24 AM cycle, Nerio has missed three games. In his past three games on the field, he has taken only three trips to the plate.

Nerio Turner stands at 45 home runs and 110 RBI, still league leads but under assault by San Juan's Timo Phillips (40/104).

Nerio has 329 at bats in 84 games and an average of one homer per 7.31. At this current rate, Nerio is on pace to hit 82 home runs in 600 at bats.

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The Picks Are In

Top five picks Trent Milligan and Garland Nathan have signed deals, ending their holdouts.

Milligan, the high school pitcher drafted by Monterrey, signed a record $7m deal and was immediately assigned to AAA.

Santa Fe came to terms with Nathan on a $6.1m bonus and went 1-4 in his professional debut.

First rounders still waiting are Jason Hurst (#8/RF/Milwaukee), Javy Tatis (#16/P/Augusta), Lee Lilly (#19/P/Buffalo), David Lynch (#27/P/Montana). Two other supplementals remain, but if they were any good they would have gone higher. Losers.