Mind is heavily on the book these days. Finished a first draft of the minor-league chapter over the weekend: 42 pages filled with profiles of 74 players. Kind of insane, if you ask me, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Somewhat related, I’ll be unleashing my list of Top 10 Prospects this week — either Tuesday or Wednesday depending on… stuff. Meanwhile, here’s what’s going on in the Caribbean leagues:

Thursday, December 6

Late results from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela:

• Estrellas 2, Escogido 0 (box). Vince Sinisi, batting third and playing left field, went 0-for-4 with a strikeout for Escogido. His team notched just two singles all game, one each by a couple of former Padres catchers, Raul Casanova and Miguel Olivo.
• Gigantes 3, Azucareros 1 (box). Callix Crabbe, leading off and playing left field, had two of his team’s four hits in a losing cause. Another ex-Padre, right-hander Dario Veras (!) collected his ninth save.
• Aragua 2, Margarita 0 (box). Wil Ledezma had a nice outing (6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 SO) in a losing cause. I have no clue how (or if) he fits into the Padres 2008 plans.

Friday, December 7

• Estrella 6, Escogido 0 (box). Sinisi walked twice and struck out twice.
• Gigantes 5, Azucareros 1 (box). Crabbe played center in this one, doubling and walking in four trips to the plate.
• Hermosillo 6, Obregon 1 (box). Marshall McDougall is seeing a lot of action at second base. Batting second, he went 0-for-2 with two walks for Hermosillo. He also completed two double plays (both started by Vinny Castilla, who also homered in the game) on defense. Former Padres right-hander Leo Rosales, sent to Arizona in the Scott Hairston deal, worked a perfect ninth for the victors.

Saturday, December 8

• Guasave 11, Navojoa 5 (box). Oscar Robles hasn’t played the field in a few days; not sure what the story is there. Batting second and serving as DH, he went 0-for-2 before being lifted for a pinch-hitter. Luis Cruz, who has been starting at shortstop in Robles’ place, singled and doubled in five at-bats out of the #6 hole.
• Hermosillo 9, Obregon 4 (box). McDougall singled and walked in five plate appearances. Castilla, batting cleanup, went 4-for-4 with two homers and seven RBI. What’s up with that? Seriously, why didn’t we get any in ’06?
• Mazatlan 5, Mexicali 2 (box). Brian Myrow, batting fifth and playing first base, singled in four at-bats for Mazatlan.

Sunday, December 9

Box scores from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela were unavailable as of this writing.

• Mexicali 7, Mazatlan 1 (box). Myrow went 0-for-2 with a walk. This was the first game of a doubleheader; Myrow didn’t play in the second.
• Obregon 3, Hermosillo 0 (box). McDougall, starting at third in place of Castilla (presumably exhausted from all the home runs), went 1-for-3 with a walk in a losing cause.

Whoomp, there it is…