The Prospect Not Sheet is not a ranking of prospects. I don’t know what it is, but it is definitely not a ranking of prospects.

No. 1 / Taijuan Walker, RHP / Mariners

What he’s eating: Walker enjoyed three bowls of Special K this week, which gave him almost as many nutrients as a third of a bowl of Total.

Why he’s here: In December of 1991, Mr. and Mrs. Walker decided it had been far too long since the two of them had enjoyed… well, you can imagine the rest.

Last week: Walker, the youngest pitcher in the Southern League, finally had the training wheels removed from his bicycle.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jason Schwartz of Boston Magazine has written an incredible article about Curt Schilling and the demise of 38 Studios, his video-game company that fell into bankruptcy last month. I don’t know that I’ve read a better magazine piece this year. You should absolutely read the whole thing, but a few highlights:

By 2006, Curt Schilling had earned more than $90 million playing baseball, not including endorsements. But what he really aspired to was being “Bill Gates rich.”

Once, after an IT guy’s rottweiler died, Schilling presented him with a brand-new pup during an all-staff meeting.

“He really needed Company 101,” [former CEO] Close told them. “For example, the whole concept of vacation was foreign to Curt. He actually said, ‘People get weekends off, right?’” Schilling at one point suggested that people work 14 straight days and then take five days off. It jibed with his baseball experience.

Schilling comes off in the piece as naive but not evil. He thought he could create a successful software company with the same willpower that had him pitching through injury. But software, alas, is not about physical ability.

I recommend avoiding any future investment in Bryce Harper’s new Internet startup or Mike Trout’s food services distribution company. (Trout Trout, perhaps?)

Q: Why should I be patient with Justin Upton in a keeper league?

A: Because he may need all the compassion you can offer. Often times, you don’t know what medical problems may be lurking beneath the surface, undiagnosed, causing significant drops in production without logical explanation. By the time they think to perform the right tests, it could be far too late, and Upton could be well on his way to an early grave. And you wouldn’t want to be the owner who dropped him three weeks before the flesh-eating bacteria consumed him whole. (Unless you’re just that competitive, in which case the stress is likely to bring you down as well.)

Read the rest of this entry »

There are 25 words to find. I’m not telling you what they are. Find them.

U Y S S E R O L F W G H N E D
V N O S K C A J N R A O C S H
D N Z B L F I A U R E G K R C
R A N E T A N B P L S F E O K
A L S N L N S E Q Z P L S M C
P E K O A A R O D R I G U E Z
P Z S L R M Z R B W N D N L I
I R V T U E R N T Q O B E A M
L O S G V R D E O Q S T M R M
C G F K H O D N M G A D M O E
A I Z Z O D R A B M O L A C R
A N I D A N R E B Q I S T H M
P M A T T H E U S W B Z S E A
D E S M O N D T T E N R U B N
E R O O M S T O R E N E R X S

Sick homestand boys!!! Let’s take this act on the road!! @davidortiz stay fair!!!

— Mike Aviles(@Themikeaviles) June 27, 2012

Took the kids to the aquarium earlier today and daddy and the girls had a blast!! #lovemydolls

— Mike Aviles(@Themikeaviles) July 18, 2012

Taking the Bart to the Coliseum is something I always look forward to, I dunno why but I love it!!!

— Mike Aviles(@Themikeaviles) July 2, 2012

Thunderstorms are relaxing, I think!! What does is make you feel like??

— Mike Aviles(@Themikeaviles) June 25, 2012

This weather is never any fun!!! #pleasegoaway

— Mike Aviles(@Themikeaviles) June 4, 2012

Just a look at some mountains from the plane, sorry I don’t know which ones!!! twitter.com/Themikeaviles/…

— Mike Aviles(@Themikeaviles) June 28, 2012

How hard is it to get a cab in Seattle!!! Haha

— Mike Aviles(@Themikeaviles) June 28, 2012

Mike Aviles seems like a very happy guy!! I like him!!!

Ryan Braun, Brewers (strained groin)

Wow, that sounds like it would hurt. I’m not entirely where the groin is, but anytime you strain anything, it has got to be painful. I think typical treatment for this condition is to see a doctor and let him take a look. He might need to use a periscope or something like that, because the groin might be inside the body. I’m not sure if it’s inside or outside, but it’s probably one of those two. It’s possible that if the strain is severe, Braun could find himself on the transplant list, but there is always a shortage of groin donors.

Read the rest of this entry »

Q: Thoughts on Gose getting called up to the bigs? And will he stay up when Bautista comes back?

A: Who knows, but I hope Gose is enjoying it, because this is probably going to be the highlight of his entire life, and, how old is he, 21? Odds are he fails, just like everyone else who tries to do anything, and even if he doesn’t fail, he’ll probably get injured. So my thoughts are that he should get a long-term deal in place by the end of week or else start reading some toilet repair books for his future career after he completely washes out.

Read the rest of this entry »

I was doing some important R.A. Dickey research when I stumbled across the Amazon page for his autobiography, Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball.

And while the first few screens of “Customers Who Bought This Book Also Bought…” links make good sense, you keep clicking and you get some strange entries:

Justin Halpern’s I Suck At Girls

Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy’s The Presidents Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity

Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (“Roger Ackroyd knew too much. He knew that the woman he loved had poisoned her brutal first husband. He suspected also that someone had been blackmailing her. Then, tragically, came the news that she had taken her own life with a drug overdose.”)

Alex Stone’s Fooling Houdini: Magicians, Mentalists, Math Geeks, and the Hidden Powers of the Mind (“From the back rooms of New York City’s century-old magic societies to cutting-edge psychology labs; three-card monte on Canal Street to glossy Las Vegas casinos; Fooling Houdini recounts Stone’s quest to join the ranks of master magicians.”)

The only sensible conclusion: Amazon thinks R.A. Dickey, dumped and alone, is going to become President of the United States and murder someone with his mind.

Baseball America sums up what happened with the 15 draft picks from the first ten rounds who were still unsigned 15 minutes before the deadline this past Friday at 5PM.

This is not an excerpt from that article:

Kevin Gausman (Orioles, first round, No. 4 overall): Finished eating sandwich. Casually picked up his cell phone for the first time in a few weeks. Saw 92 missed calls from the 410 area code. Listened to the voice mails. Checked his watch. 30 seconds left. Called back, and agreed to sign for $4.32 million, apologized for having his phone on silent since June.

Mark Appel (Pirates, first round, No. 8 overall): Read a blog post about Stanford adding a new flavor of soft-serve to its cafeteria for the fall. Added this piece of information to his pros and cons list, and decided this pushed it over the top. So long, $3.8 million. Hello, Advanced Topics in Macroeconomic Theory.

Lucas Giolito (Nationals, first round, No. 16 overall): Carefully reattached the prosthetic arm he has been using since the unfortunate elbow incident, made sure his sleeve was covering the evidence, signed onto Skype, and did a video chat with the Nationals, informing them he was willing to sign for $2,925,000.

From The Boston Globe:

“I’m the only Hall of Famer whose number has not been retired [by the team whose cap is shown on the plaque],” Boggs said. “Fergie [Jenkins] and I were the last two, but now Fergie is in [with the Cubs]. That leaves me. It’s disappointing.”

We called Jeff Idelson, president of the Hall of Fame, to ask whether all living Hall of Famers have had their numbers retired, and the research was ongoing.

Now, I don’t personally feel like doing this research, but surely this can’t be some massive project that takes more than ten minutes. There is a list of all living Hall of Famers. There is a list of all of baseball’s retired numbers.

Okay, you know what? This won’t even take ten minutes. So I’m going to do what apparently the Baseball Hall of Fame is unable to do. I’m going to scroll through the list.

Six minutes later. Uh, Barry Larkin, but maybe he shouldn’t count since he won’t officially be inducted until next week. And– Goose Gossage! Gossage was inducted as a Yankee. His number hasn’t been retired by anyone. At least not according to Wikipedia. So, Goose Gossage, you should write a letter to The Boston Globe (and Wade Boggs) complaining that you’ve been forgotten. Wade Boggs, you shouldn’t really complain, because the Rays retired your number, so, hey, that’s something. And Jeff Idelson of the Baseball Hall of Fame, it took me six minutes to do this research, and I don’t actually work for the Hall of Fame. So I think you (and The Boston Globe’s sports section) are very, very lazy.