Same, although how much is based on hype and how much on scout evaluations of Vlad at 17 compared to guys like Harper at 17? The answer is somewhere in the middle most likely.
Sickels Ranking:
Vlad Jr
Sean Reid Foley
Urena
Gurriel Jr
Alford
Tellez
Harris
Zeuch
Greene
Maese
Bichette
Perdomo
Woodman
Pentecost
Palacios
McGuire
Ramirez
Borucki
Rios
Jackson
Not much difference
Excellent news. This is how championships are won, with several cost controlled elite players on the roster at same time.
Will be a few lean years, but with Shatkins in charge, by 2020 / 2021 should be seeing the results.
Also, this suggests JD will get moved for an overpaid 3B bum, along with a prospect horde.
Coors a bit, yes. But also, the HOF voters don't understand what a complete ballplayer Walker was. Until more of them pay attention to defense, baserunning, OBP, etc and less to shiny s*** like average, HR, RBI, players like Walker will get shafted.
Fair enough. As I said earlier, getting Cutch elevates the team to 2nd tier of contenders, still behind a fair number of teams - and at $14M leaves little room for other additions based on what I know of the budget.
This team needs to adopt the 'long view', IMO.
It's not just the name/bloodline, its what he did as a 17 yr old in his first professional year. For a guy on the wrong side of 30, who becomes a UFA after 2018?
Let's add to this that the Jays at the time of the Dickey trade had multiple pitching prospects and were regarded by many as having the best crop of pitching prospects in the majors - dealing from a position of surplus. They don't have that today wrt position players.
Not defending the Dickey trade, just to be clear.