I keep hoping to see the headline that reads “Feliz signs 3 year deal with Not-the-Giants” so that we can get some sweet, sweet, draft pick compensation.

Pucetas was just one of many on an excellent Green Jackets rotation last year, I’d love to see him, Tanner, and Snyder all take steps forward with wherever their promotions send them next year. None of them throw particularly hard but Tanner and Snyder both have the advantage of being left-handed.

I keep hearing that the team likes Villalona’s arm strength from third and that he definitely has the arm to the play the position. I think they are worried the most about how much weight he’s going to pack on over the next 2-3 years, he’s only 17 so he should continue to fill out. The team seems to understand that he’s a potential 1B in waiting but I like that they haven’t moved him off of third base yet. I’ve heard he’s also working with JT Snow on the first base position, not a bad mentor to have. If his bat develops like everyone hopes it will, he can easily hit enough for either position.

Yeah, good point about the position heavy top 10, that’s mainly a function of so many of the top pitchers graduating to the majors in 2007, Lincecum, Sanchez, Wilson (or rather that they finally didn’t qualify anymore for the prospect list) and only Henry Sosa had an outstanding enough season in 2007 (the other guys - Cowart, Pucetas, et al - had great seasons but don’t have the velocity so they will have to prove themselves at every level before they make lists like this. Like Misch, I would have included him on my top 10 list, but he’s like Lowry, only seemingly better with a dominating year where he struck out over 9 K/9). I would put Synder, Tanner, Waldis Joaquin, maybe Dan Griffin, Cowart, Pucetas, on the watch list for the next generation of starters, including, of course, Alderson and Bumgarner.

I wouldn’t get down about the farm system, it hasn’t rated highly in BA’s rankings for years, but the Giants have rebuilt their pitching staff from the farm system so they must be doing something well. And, as you note, it should only get better after we get a #5 pick in 2008.

FYI, the last top 5 pick the Giants have had was Will “the Thrill”, they have rarely been that bad since those sad mid-80’s teams. It’s like I’ve been saying, the best and fastest way to rebuild is to make the team bad enough to get a couple (or three) Top 5 picks (and live with the lumps) while preparing for the next round of success, much like how the Tigers have done it with their team once Dombrowski took over. That’s why I want to play all the prospects in 2008, get another good pick in 2009, then pursue success in earnest in 2010.

Teams should really emulate what Dombrowski has done, he did it with the Expos, building up their early Felipe Alou teams, he did it with the Florida Marlins, and now he’s doing it with the Tigers. Crash and burn, build the farm system with Top 5 picks, and of course, do good scouting otherwise plus pick up good players internationally (he’s been mainly a Carribean guy). For Detroit in particular, he started with pitching, Bonderman, and has built upon that with Verlander, Miller, and Porcello in the drafts.

Hopefully the Giants saw what they did with Porcello in 2007, and use their pick (hopefully) from Feliz signing with another team, to pick some player who fell and pay them above slot to join the Giants. Of course, that would involve saving some money from the budget for this.

Exciting stuff on Villalona, he’s looking like he could be a special one from his performance thus far, obviously his high bonus set expectations high, but it’s good to see performance to back that up. He could be ready for us by 2010, maybe even 2009 if he really pushes things in 2008. But 2010 would be great. Any word on whether he’s 3B worthy still, there’s been fear before about his weight?

Velez has been old for his league much of the time he’s been with us, so caution is the way to go with him until he proves otherwise. He could be our utility guy if Frandsen does end up playing a lot of 3B (or even 2B), but he has exciting speed, we could be like the Cards of the 80’s if Velez, Burriss, McBryde, Richardson all come up and contribute to the team.