Stephen Strasburg - What's His Ceiling?

[Keeper]

I think some scout said right now he's better than A.J. Burnett. That's probably hyperbole, but if that's true that kind of blows my mind. Phenoms like Strasburg are fascinating. I only hope he doesn't blow his arm out.

 

That and the Yankees don't get him. :thumbdown

[BoSox21]

his fastball has been clocked at 186 MPH and his slider goes from dugout to dugout yet still manages to cross the plate

[Dojji]

I've heard that a number of scouts think the guy is an injury waiting to happen.

 

Odds he'll wind up in the pen in the big leagues a la Dan Bard?

[WhiskeyBreath]

His pitching mechanics are compared to Priors.

 

If he stays healthy he should be a dominant force.

[26 to 6]

I think some scout said right now he's better than A.J. Burnett. That's probably hyperbole, but if that's true that kind of blows my mind. Phenoms like Strasburg are fascinating. I only hope he doesn't blow his arm out.

 

That and the Yankees don't get him. :thumbdown

No chance we get him

[Cocos Disciples]

At least not in the draft; they're already sizing him up for his Nationals jersey.

 

And all signs point to him being a stud. Honestly I don't have the details off the top of my head, but I do know he can hit 101, and is one of the most developed and MLB ready college pitchers in a long time.

[BSN07]

Isn't this the guy that has Boras for an agent, and he wants like 50M or he's sending him to Japan?

 

 

I bet this kid falls pretty far in the draft. The Yankees might be the only team that can afford Boras's demands.

[BSN07]

Take that back, it doesn't look like there's anyway SD let's him pass. So he will be top 3 certainly.

 

SI has a great article on him. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/lee_jenkins/03/25/stephen.strasburg/index.html?eref=T1

 

Every fat guy that can throw 90MPH just hired a conditioning coach after reading this story LOL.

[diony]

I don't think Boras is bluffing. If he starts at $50 million he'll end up getting 30.

 

I don't see him passing the Sox. Yanks won't draft him.

[BoSox21]

Yea, cause Boras' salary expectations always realize themselves...

[BSN07]

Even if it is 50M(which is absurd to begin with), I don't see SD passing on the hometown kid. I wouldn't mind the Sox drafting him if he fell that far. Always nice to have a flamethrower up and coming.

 

Anyone think the Sox would pass just because it's a Boras client? After this offseason I would not be at all surprised if they take the CWS route and don't deal with Boras anymore. But outside of Holliday, he doesn't have anyone the Sox would be interested in(IMO) for the couple of years anyways(.

[BoSox21]

Any team that refuses to negotiate with a certain agent is just being dumb. You can't cut yourself out of the market for a certain percentage of free agents, you just need to do a better job of negotiating and making the player WANT to play for your team.

[Dojji]

Anyone think the Sox would pass just because it's a Boras client? (.

 

Why don't we ask Dan Bard?

[Dojji]

Any team that refuses to negotiate with a certain agent is just being dumb. You can't cut yourself out of the market for a certain percentage of free agents' date=' you just need to do a better job of negotiating and making the player WANT to play for your team.[/quote']

 

There is a time to tell a guy to go jump in the river though. Boras gets on fans' nerves just by doing his job but there's some extracurricular stuff that he does that's a bit beyond the pale, like holding JD Drew out of the draft or how he helped us ruin Craig Hansen. If that extracurricular stuff gets to be too much and starts to add a significant element of additional risk to Boras-client signings I could see a boycott of Boras. Otherwise you're reight, it's just not worth the loss of talent to make a statement.

[BSN07]

Why don't we ask Dan Bard?

 

That was before the Tex debacle:D

 

 

I should have said there probably less likely to play along with his games anymore.

 

Instead they will now go in make an offer and put a deadline on it. And if they don't take it move onto the next one. And make it public too, let everyone know the Sox are out of it. That way he can't use them to drive up the price.

 

I don't see the FO being a pawn in Scott Boras's off season Chess games anymore.

[Keeper]

Eh, I trust Kenny Williams' judgment. If he doesn't think it's worthwhile to deal with the Boras circus, so be it.

[TheKilo]

Speaking of uberprospects, check this guy out:

 

[youtube=Bryce Harper]jQQ5cZD8PgU

[BSN07]

Nice find Kilo. Be a nice Catching prospect to have in the system:D

 

 

How old is he?

[Dojji]

That was before the Tex debacle:D

 

Yes, but it was after the Alex Rodriguez debacle. Personally I don't think Teixeira makes that much difference. I think his acquisition was viewed by the Sox as "a piece it'd sure be nice to have" rather than "a player we desperately need."

 

I should have said there probably less likely to play along with his games anymore.

 

Did we ever? We just got done playing a 5 million dollar game of chicken with the guy over Varitek, and we didn't take much nonsense from him over Matsuzaka either. Not to mention Boras wanted a big league contract for Dan Bard, which Bard didn't get -- and a good thing, too.

 

We got bent over way too fast for Drew, but that's because we were in serious need of an RF at that point and Boras' contract demands were not wholly unreasonable given his level of talent. The alternative was probably us winding up with a David Murphy/Gabe Kapler platoon in RF. Gimme Drew anytime, especially when healthy.

 

Instead they will now go in make an offer and put a deadline on it. And if they don't take it move onto the next one. And make it public too, let everyone know the Sox are out of it. That way he can't use them to drive up the price.

 

I don't see the FO being a pawn in Scott Boras's off season Chess games anymore.

 

They did that all the time anyway, except the one time that the two teams were pretty close together which was on Drew.

[BSN07]

I was more talking about how the deal went down. How the Yankees ultimately got the last phone call. Not how the FO viewed Tex.

 

You bring up some valid points about how the Sox usually come out on the better end when dealing with Boras. Guess I just had a case of selective memory.

[Dojji]

Speaking of uberprospects, check this guy out:

 

[youtube=Bryce Harper]jQQ5cZD8PgU

 

Power looks nice but Wily Mo had power. What else has he got?

[Keeper]

Just looked him up on Wik. Apparently, as a sophomore or a freshman (not clear) in high school last year he hit close to .600. This kid can rake. It also says as a freshman he hit a 570 foot home run. Don't know if I believe that.

[BoSox21]

I can't find any article that talks about anything other than his power

[BSN07]

Watching the video looks like hes got a good arm from behind the dish.

[ORS]

It would be a PR disaster for the Nationals if they didn't draft and sign him. He is the consensus #1 talent in this draft, and not drafting him will only be seen as being cheap. The signing bonus will break the record, he'll sign a MLB deal, and he'll be pitching in Washington by the end of this year. His talent will just blow away lower levels, and since there's concern about injury, they might as well get whatever they can out of him before his arm gives out. On the subject of "will he slip x number of places" there's nothing to see here, folks. Please disperse.

 

Same thing goes for that HS catcher. He'll be #1 in the 2011 draft. Book it. The only way the Sox get him is if they pull off a 60 win season in 2010.

[BSN07]

Wasn't Mark prior #1 coming out of college and teams passed on him. I know Minny took Mauer over Prior.

 

I find it hard to see teams passing on this kid though. Although him being such a big SD fan, maybe this whole 50M contract(playing in Japan for a season) is to scare off DC and Seattle so he can end up in SD. Funny, if SD lost 4 more games last season they would be in the #1 slot.

[Dojji]

The track record of pitchers drafted #1 overall is pretty grim. Wasn't Floyd Bannister one of the better ones?

[Cocos Disciples]

Wasn't Mark prior #1 coming out of college and teams passed on him. I know Minny took Mauer over Prior.

 

Yes, Prior went #2 though.

 

The track record of pitchers drafted #1 overall is pretty grim. Wasn't Floyd Bannister one of the better ones?

 

Last 10 pitchers picked #1:

 

David Price, TB (2007)

Luke Hochevar, KC (2006)

Bryan Bullington, PIT (2002)

Matt Anderson, DET (1997)

Kris Benson, PIT (1996)

Paul Wilson, NYM (1994)

Brien Taylor, NYY (1991)

Ben McDonald, BAL (1989)

Andy Benes, SD (1988)

 

So yeah, not the best track record.

[TheKilo]

Harper is going to be amazing.

[SCM33]

His pitching mechanics are compared to Priors.

 

If he stays healthy he should be a dominant force.

 

 

Mark Prior has(had) terrible pitching mechanics, which is why hes only started 106 games in 6 years and the reason he has only 43 career wins.