Baseball America has done their top 20 prospects for each minor league. The Padres are well represented:
- Pacific Coast League. #1 Sean Burroughs, 3B; #20 Cesar Crespo, UT.
- Southern League. #6 Dennis Tankersley, RHP.
- California League. #1 Dennis Tankersley, RHP; #2 Xavier Nady, 1B; #5 Jake Peavy, RHP; #8 Ben Howard, RHP; #16 Ben Johnson, OF; #18 Eric Cyr, LHP.
- Midwest League. #18 Oliver Perez, LHP.
- Northwest League. #5 Jake Gautreau, 3B; #9 Jason Bartlett, SS; #13 Justin Germano, RHP.
- Pioneer League. #3 Josh Barfield, 2B.
Off-hand, I’m a bit surprised that Burroughs and Germano were ranked so high, and that Peavy and Perez were ranked so low. The latter two, as well as LHP Mark Phillips, who didn’t make any top 20 lists, were hurt by the fact that they split time between two or more leagues this year.
Looking back at my top 25 Padres prospects I see a few things I’d like to change. Rating LHP Mike Bynum at #7 was probably a mistake. I gave him too much credit for being closer to the bigs than guys like Perez and Cyr. Barfield might have been a tad low, Sain a tad high (probably my USD bias). Cyr and Germano may be too low, too, although I worry about the former’s off-the-field troubles.
And now for something completely self-indulgent: <voice="DonPardo">If I Ran the Padres.</voice>
Okay, here’s what I’d do. First, much as it pains me, I’d deal Phil Nevin. Get some good, young, cheap players for him, preferably guys up the middle. The Braves want to move Chipper Jones to the outfield, so they would seem to be a good candidate, right? So maybe move Nevin for Wilson Betemit, Odalis Perez, and a second-tier prospect or two — say Ryan Langerhans and Matt McClendon. Stick Perez at the back of the rotation or use him as a swingman, and let Betemit learn second base at Portland — he’ll be ready to take over for Damian Jackson by August at the latest.
Here’s how I’d build the lineup:
- Sean Burroughs 3b
- D’Angelo Jimenez ss
- Ryan Klesko 1b
- Bubba Trammell rf
- Ray Lankford/Mike Colangelo lf
- Mark Kotsay cf
- Ben Davis c
- Damian Jackson/Wilson Betemit 2b
Or, if leading off Burroughs is too radical, swap him and Kotsay. Maybe move Davis up a slot to break up the lefties. Honestly, if the Pads don’t deal Nevin this winter, I don’t see how they’re going to accommodate everyone. And you sure as heck can’t send Burroughs back to Portland. Nice problem to have, though…
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