Prospects Chat: Keith Law On Yu Darvish, Manny Machado and Others

ESPN's Keith Law hosted a chat on Thursday afternoon and here are some excerpts:

Tom (San Francisco, CA)

Keith, would you rather have Darvish or Chapman in your organization?

Klaw

(1:24 PM)

Darvish. Even if Chapman's arm wasn't in question after the poor AFL showing, I'd still take Darvish.

I may be a little early on this, but can we label Reds hurler Aroldis Chapman a bit of a bust thus far? I wonder if the Reds will make him their closer in 2012. That would be exciting and he could really dominate if he can harness his control a bit.

Kevin (Jersey)

Profar or Machado? Or are we splitting hairs?

Klaw

(1:25 PM)

Machado. But it's not a huge gap. Pretty strong crop of SS prospects right now.

I drafted Jurickson Profar in the Fake Teams Dynasty League a few weeks ago after his tremendous 2011 season. Profar is still a few years away from making an impact in the big leagues.

More from Keith Law after the jump:

BassmanUW (Chicago)

If you were in a front office, would you rather sign Soler or Cespedes? Or would it depend on if you needed an outfielder in the next year or two or could wait on a 19 year old to develop?

Klaw

(1:28 PM)

I've seen neither guy live, but based on what I've been told by guys who have, it sounds like Cespedes is both more advanced and has more ceiling.

Cespedes agent is already talking about starting the contract negotiations at Aroldis Chapman money, which is $30 million, and MLB network's Peter Gammons mentioned the other night that Cespedes could get a $50-60 million deal.

Beau (NOLA)

D'Arnaud or Mesoraco? Why?

Klaw

(1:38 PM)

Mesoraco. Major-league ready immediately, cleaner health record. Both are future stars though.

This might be a good idea for an article over at Minor League Ball. I will try to write something this weekend on this. I own Devin Mesoraco in the UBA NL-Only keeper league and am curious how he will perform in 2012? Is 15 home runs asking too much?

Tim (Fresno)

What are your thoughts on Tommy Joseph? Giants have a lot of depth at catcher. Does he eventually move to 1b?

Klaw

(1:44 PM)

Catching skills massively improved this year. Could always throw and hit for power, but he's going to stay behind the plate, which wasn't certain a year ago.

Could he push the Giants to move Buster Posey to first base in a few years? Joseph will have to hit well at AA RIchmond this year to prove his breakout 2011 season was no fluke.