Guess I missed this one late last week, but Kevin Goldstein over at Baseball Prospectus had a chat prior to leaving for the Winter Meetings. Here's some key tidbits from those questions:
Grady (Prague): Who has more potential as an offensive player, Javier Baez or Francisco Lindor?Kevin Goldstein: Baez, but Lindor is the better prospect, because he's going to stay at shortstop.
The consensus I keep hearing is that Baez would have to move off of shortstop eventually regardless of whether Starlin Castro is there at the time or not, so for fantasy purposes, it sounds like Baez, but not by much. I would imagine that Baez will end up either at 3B or at 2B long-term.
Ryan (GR): I've heard rumblings and grumblings about Arenado possibly starting in the bigs in 2012, this is folly correct? Thanks
Kevin Goldstein: That's folly. He's a really good prospect, but he's not ready for that.
Arenado really emerged in the past year, and while he did very well against the competition in the AFL, he has never played above high-A to this point, and I'd be shocked if the Rockies felt like they should rush him that much.
Walton Goggins (NYC): Kevin can you give us the prospect you were most wrong about in terms of you thinking he wasn't very good and he became a star and the reverse of that? You loved him and he stunk?
Kevin Goldstein: There's been a lot. Franklin Morales? Andy LaRoche? Brandon Wood?
Just a reminder to ourselves, even the experts get it wrong sometimes. There were very few examples of a player that the industry as a whole was entirely wrong about, but Brandon Wood went out and proved them all wrong.
Paul (DC): Any recent news on the continuing recovery of Ryan Westmoreland?
Kevin Goldstein: Still no timetable for a return to play. That said, doctors are confident that he'll live a normal life from here on out, so that's good.
It's good to hear that he's going to be alright healthwise after dealing with that he has, and I read somewhere that he was cleared to play in a Dominican League game last week. Hopefully he'll be able to make it back, if for no other reason that the story would be amazing.
Mesa (CA): Taijuan Walker or Carlos Martinez?Kevin Goldstein: Walker. Far more likely to remain a starter.
There seems to be a lot of disagreement on how Carlos Martinez is viewed long-term, and Kevin is not the first person I've seen mention that they think he will more likely end up in the bullpen. Both are a ways away still, so there's still a lot of time to find out.
GBSimons (Boise, ID): Will Shelby Miller make any starts for St. Louis in '12? I heard both Westbrook and Lohse have full no-trade clauses, so do Cards fans then need to hope for a Westbrook injury to get Miller called up?
Kevin Goldstein: If the over/under on big league starts for Miller in 2012 is 0.5, I'm betting heavy on the over.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if Miller is up this year, and if you wanted to stash him in a keeper league, I think that might be a decent idea depending on your situation.