Bond seems like a player that will go Bye-bye unprotected. I sometimes wondered how he never got even so much as a sniff. I suspect one of two things, if not both. 1) His defense just isn't good - and I think this is likely. And 2) he struggles with hard fastballs or plus secondary stuff, which he'd be sure to get a steady diet of. His on-base skills are obvious, but his power is microscopic and there must be something else to the puzzle, too.

55 % is pretty extreme for a GB%, that's what Cahill threw this season. But is it repeatable at the MLB level? Probably not. That K rate drop was significant, and i share both your sentiments that he likely won't crack the rotation.

I can see keeping both Tanner and Edlefsen protected. I for one don't believe Tanner has any major league future, and probably his best case scenario is if he turns into a groundball inducing LOOGY at some point. Still it's pretty hard to retire major league hitters throwing 86 MPH consistently. That said, he's the type of guy who makes for a good throw in in trades, and that actually is a commodity of some value. Edlefsen's a much better AAA reliever to have on the 40 man for in-season sudden needs. And Casilla was the guy I was most worried about losing. Now if they can just give him one more chance as a starter I'd be really happy. Now the guy I'm most wondering if we're going to lose is Brock Bond. Too bad, Brock, we hardly knew ye. I also think somebody will take a chance on Joe Paterson as a LOOGY type.

I'm a total stuff whore. I saw Tanner when he was in the Sally and again in the EL and both times he had about the same stuff (which was working in the 86-88 MPH range with his fastball, a slurvy breaking ball around 82, and a changeup at about 78) and I'd say I don't care what his stats are saying that stuff isn't going to play at the major league level. Anyway, Baggs had a note on the Casilla brothers in the most recent BA organizational reports, and he said Casilla's been throwing in the 94-96 range this year. And apparently (from both reports and stats) that's with a heavy sink. Which can certainly be affective at the top level, though one worry I have with Casilla is they just haven't pitched him very much . He's thrown 107 innings in his three years in the US which just isn't much to build up arm strength. He's the kind of guy that I think piling a lot more innings on his arm would result in increased velocity rather than reduced. He threw 70 innings as an 18 year old in the DSL with pretty good results.

To sorta kind of answer one of your questions. According to Casilla's brother he throws harder than he does. Since the elder Casillas throws 95-99 MPH fastballs, that's something I'd like to see, but it should mean that he at least can touch 95 MPH, but you never know. With all of the new statistics available and the death of the Win as a viable baseball statistic, I think that guys like Tanner are the most likely to slip through the cracks, that is to say the Kirk Rueter type. You know the guys who don't strike out a ton of people (career 3.84 K/9), aren't extreme groundball pitchers (career 46.7 % GB%), but find a way to get it done (4.27 career ERA). They're not the type of guys who you want at the front of your rotation, but they rarely get shelled and usually give their team a chance to win making them great 4th and 5th starters. Toss in being left-handed and they're a valuable commodity. I think it's interesting that the Giants are leaving 3 slots open though, I wonder if they plan to be that active in the Rule V draft, or just haven't made the additional decisions yet. I don't know that anyone necessarily leaps off the page as an intriguing Rule V draftee. I think that Ryan Adams, who's not on Baltimore's 40 man roster could be an interesting pick, if the Giants slid him over to 3B.

Roger, Since you're the Casilla expert, what's he throw? Velocity? Scouting report? I couldn't find much on him. My BA has long expired and I didn't want to shell out $66 (did that just go up?) to renew. I don't mind protecting Tanner -- he's still young-ish, but his ceiling is pretty low. But, as you note, he's good trade fodder. It seems like a one point a couple of years ago the Giants had a ton of guys like Tanner doing really well in low-A ball (Tanner, Pucetas, Sndyer) but none of them have panned out. It's why I'm such a "stuff" whore sometimes. Results are great, but the soft-throwers usually get burnt up somewhere along the way.