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All Aboard the Lars Bandwagon: 2008

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fcastig0220		#81	[url]	[-]
Posts: 222 07/15/08 8:13 AM	soxprospects wrote: I don't think Lars gets a promotion just yet, he was not at full health forthe first monh of the season, still needs some time to go through High A. I could see them doing something like they did last year and calling him up to Portland around August 20 for the last 2 weeks of the season. Funny. Look whose right this time.
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soxprospects		#82	[url]	[-]
Moderator Veteran Member Posts: 4168 07/15/08 8:36 AM The Dude	Congratulations fcastig, you were ultimately right and I was ultimately wrong by 30 days or so. Gloat away, you've earned it. However, I'd just note that Lars' promotion doesn't change my opinion that your underlying reasoning was completely off. soxprospects.com \| boston100.net
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norbit14		#83	[url]	[-]
Veteran Member Posts: 2030 07/15/08 11:50 AM Veteran Member	Jim Callis on his top prospects of each ML team: Boston: 1B Lars Anderson. Anderson has heated up in the last two months and has more star potential than RHP Michael Bowden. Boston doesn't deserve me.
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redsocks		#84	[url]	[-]
Rookie Posts: 72 07/16/08 12:39 AM	where will lars hit in portlands line up
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Norm in Oregon		#85	[url]	[-]
Veteran Member Posts: 610 07/16/08 1:58 AM Veteran Member	norbit14 wrote: Jim Callis on his top prospects of each ML team: Boston: 1B Lars Anderson. Anderson has heated up in the last two months and has more star potential than RHP Michael Bowden. Man, there's a lot of disrespect for Bowden. Here's a kid who has just about as many strikeouts as innings and a WHIP of less than one, who gets quality starts as easily as breathing Portland's sea air and this is what he gets? He's a 21 year old ripping up the Eastern League. Callis and Law must have some kind of incestuous thing going on the way the mop the floor with him. By the way, what the hell is "star" potential?
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Archie Graham		#86	[url]	[-]
Veteran Member Posts: 2542 07/16/08 2:06 AM	I would think Lars will hit 3rd to assure he gets maximum at bats per game in an RBI/Power slot.
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TokenWilliams		#87	[url]	[-]
Veteran Member Posts: 125 07/16/08 8:33 AM	Norm in Oregon wrote: norbit14 wrote: Jim Callis on his top prospects of each ML team: Boston: 1B Lars Anderson. Anderson has heated up in the last two months and has more star potential than RHP Michael Bowden. Man, there's a lot of disrespect for Bowden. Here's a kid who has just about as many strikeouts as innings and a WHIP of less than one, who gets quality starts as easily as breathing Portland's sea air and this is what he gets? He's a 21 year old ripping up the Eastern League. Callis and Law must have some kind of incestuous thing going on the way the mop the floor with him. By the way, what the hell is "star" potential? The big scouts main hang up on Bowden has always been they think he's a good 3 maybe a 2 on a very good team. As far as I'm concerned I'd be pumped if that's what he does, but by star potential they are talking about guys who will be considered the top couple of players at their position when they reach the majors. All-stars consistently. I know Law just saw Bowden, but he got shut down right afterwards so he might not have been as electric or sharp as he has been this season. I know he was excited to see him so maybe it was a case of that plus he had huge expectations for him and they weren't fulfilled. Callis probably hasn't even watched him this year so he's just passing on his opinion based on what he's heard, probably most recently from Klaw. Fact is Bowden might be a 5 on a great team: Beckett, Lester, Dice, Buchholz, Bowden/Masterson....
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ddawgs28		#88	[url]	[-]
Veteran Member Posts: 830 07/16/08 8:43 AM Veteran Member	Man, there's a lot of disrespect for Bowden. Here's a kid who has just about as many strikeouts as innings and a WHIP of less than one, who gets quality starts as easily as breathing Portland's sea air and this is what he gets? He's a 21 year old ripping up the Eastern League. Callis and Law must have some kind of incestuous thing going on the way the mop the floor with him. By the way, what the hell is "star" potential? Norm I don't really think this is a shot at Bowden, but more praise of Anderson. Anderson is a very elite prospect. He has the chance to hit 30 homeruns a season and hit over .300. Also from what I've read, his defense is decent. That combination could make him a perennial All-Star. As for Bowden, I see your point of view that he was tearing up the Eastern League at the age of 21, but many scouts see him as a #3 and not as a front of the rotation starter. From the reports we have heard, he doesn't have the wipeout stuff that is needed to be a #1 or #2. Now I am not saying that he can't be that at some point, but the likelihood of that happening is not that good. Anderson is farther away (though not really, he is in Portland now) than Bowden but his ceiling is much greater that Bowden. I guess it all depends on what you prefer, a #3 starter that is closer to being able to help the big club or a possible All-Star 1B that is farther away. Baseball America typically goes for guys that are more toolsy rather than guys who are surer bets to become what they are projected. I believe that Baseball Prospectus leans more towards the latter as I remember that they ranked Pedroia in the teens a few years ago (I am not positive about this). My point is that BA and Keith Law aren't disrespecting Bowden but praising Anderson.
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wskeleton76		#89	[url]	[-]
Veteran Member Posts: 445 07/16/08 8:44 AM Veteran Member	Jim Callis has always been a big Lars fan and picking Lars over Bowden is his personal opinion before scrutiny. Actually I am with Jim.
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Arquimedez Bozo		#90	[url]	[-]
Moderator Veteran Member Posts: 4660 07/16/08 9:48 AM Moderator	I agree with Callis. I think Anderson's ceiling is higher, but Bowden has a much better chance of reaching his ceiling. That's not a knock on Bowden at all - he's not saying Bowden WON'T be a star or anything. "they should go to soxprospect so that BOZO THE CLOWN and the rest of THE WANTS TO BE will give you some information" - A SP.com Legend "A doubleheader is better than tipping the other team off the side of a cliff." - Cin1010
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ChuckZ		#91	[url]	[-]
Rookie Posts: 61 07/16/08 10:01 AM	I actually think both of them have very good chances of reaching their ceilings. Why? Because from all we've heard, despite the fact that they play different positions, they have advanced approaches to the game that tend to translate well to the next level. Bowden, for all of the comments about how his stuff isn't that good, is apparently a very cerebral pitcher who simply understands how to pitch to hitters. And his stuff is good enough that with that, he has a very good chance of continuing his success at higher levels. Lars, from everything I've heard and all the stats I've seen, has a very advanced approach to hitting. That doesn't just go away, and he's not as reliant on his tools for his success, much like Bowden. Now here's where the two of them differ. Lars projects to possibly have a much higher ceiling than Bowden. But because Lars possesses this type of game that isn't dependent on his tools, he can work through his problems more successfully than most hitters, simply because at this point, he doesn't need his massive power to be successful. Now, if you were to tell me that Lars' ceiling is 600 HR for his career, then yes, I would agree that he has less of a chance of reaching that. But realistically, a .290/.390/.550 line with around 30 HR a year appears just as reachable to me as Bowden being a good #2. Not to say that any of these guys are sure things, but I think both of them are relatively equal when it comes to fulfilling projections.
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Norm in Oregon		#92	[url]	[-]
Veteran Member Posts: 610 07/16/08 11:31 AM Veteran Member	Here's the point of my question: does Youkilis have more star power than Matsuzaka? You see where I'm going with this... I know that it's not a science, but my preference is for analysis that hews as much as possible to detail and stays away from the cloudy stuff. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see that throwing players names around in what is ultimately a meaningless comparison of different positions is all that useful. I know that ratings are what sites like this are built around and so it's unavoidable to a large extent. And that's fine. This site is great in the way it's run, the deference to posters, and the care that's taken to be fair. The point I was making is that using those sort of terms does not seem to offer very much. I'd think that writers with a large audience would be a little more thoughtful.
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Cin1010		#93	[url]	[-]
Veteran Member Posts: 415 07/16/08 11:42 AM Veteran Member	Norm in Oregon wrote: norbit14 wrote: Jim Callis on his top prospects of each ML team: Boston: 1B Lars Anderson. Anderson has heated up in the last two months and has more star potential than RHP Michael Bowden. Man, there's a lot of disrespect for Bowden. By the way, what the hell is "star" potential? FWIW Norm, from what I was able to learn about Lars personality, while he was in LNC, he would most likely agree with you. He wouldn't feel he had earned that type of praise, and that Bowden is at a much higher point in his development and doing amazingly well. And I think he would REALLY hate the term "star" potential, he just wants to play baseball.
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BriantheTaoist		#94	[url]	[-]
Veteran Member Posts: 1512 07/16/08 12:17 PM	Honestly, I don't disagree with Callis, but I think the distinction is pretty arbitrary. I think the projected futures of these guys overlap more than they diverge. Both of them are excellent prospects who have a decent chance of being valuable major league players. Maybe Lars has a little more chance to be a multiple All-Star type of player (and Bowden probably has a little more chance of under-shooting hopes), but it's not enough to get too exercised over. I think they are both turning into everything you'd want in your top prospects, a great mix of projection and likelihood of reaching it. But he's gotta pick someone, so he needs to come up with a rationalization for picking Lars. shrug
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Quintanariffic		#95	[url]	[-]
Veteran Member Posts: 1061 07/16/08 12:45 PM Veteran Member	fcastig0220 wrote: soxprospects wrote: I don't think Lars gets a promotion just yet, he was not at full health forthe first monh of the season, still needs some time to go through High A. I could see them doing something like they did last year and calling him up to Portland around August 20 for the last 2 weeks of the season. Funny. Look whose right this time. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once ina while, Mr. Sign em All. ________________________________________________________________ Final line for Bard: 3IP, 3H, 6ER, 3/1 K/BB, 1HRA, 3HB, 4WP, 5SBA, 1 groin - amfox1
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LondonSox		#96	[url]	[-]
Rookie Posts: 61 07/16/08 1:17 PM	fcastig0220 wrote: soxprospects wrote: I don't think Lars gets a promotion just yet, he was not at full health forthe first monh of the season, still needs some time to go through High A. I could see them doing something like they did last year and calling him up to Portland around August 20 for the last 2 weeks of the season. Funny. Look whose right this time. Who is? Who's? Whose right is it to correct you?
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TokenWilliams		#97	[url]	[-]
Veteran Member Posts: 125 07/16/08 3:15 PM	Norm in Oregon wrote: Here's the point of my question: does Youkilis have more star power than Matsuzaka? You see where I'm going with this... I know that it's not a science, but my preference is for analysis that hews as much as possible to detail and stays away from the cloudy stuff. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see that throwing players names around in what is ultimately a meaningless comparison of different positions is all that useful. I know that ratings are what sites like this are built around and so it's unavoidable to a large extent. And that's fine. This site is great in the way it's run, the deference to posters, and the care that's taken to be fair. The point I was making is that using those sort of terms does not seem to offer very much. I'd think that writers with a large audience would be a little more thoughtful. it's a matter of opion, obviously, and you also changed the original word potential to power, which is a major difference. If you want to discuss power, does that mean who's better right now? I'd argue they are both right about the same in respect to their current positions. I'm not ready to use Youks current OPS and stats as a end all and be all measure until he does it for a full season so they are both probably tier 2ish at their positions, no? If you stay with potential which i think of as ceiling then Matsuzaka's ceiling is probably considered to be higher than Youks even if it's ones opinion that Youk is doing better (per his position than Dice is per his) right now. Plus, if you bring Dice into it then there's a whole new type of "star power" that's brought into it on the outside of the baseball world. He's like a Rock star in popularity in Japan. i agree with the premise that it's hard to compare players across positions, but he was working within the frame work of his article there. It wasn't a scouting report it was his opinion of each teams top prospect. he did give his reason which was that he things Lars has a better chance to have a higher cieling. going back to the original point of yours in comparing positions - he couldn't say that Lars has more comand and a superior change-up. So he referenced that he thinks he has a better chance in his opinion to reach star status and that pretty much tells you all you need to know. This is from his chat today on ESPN.go.com: Question asker (name deleted): What are your thoughts on Bowden? Seems he could be a very good middle of the rotation starter to me. Jim Callis: (2:16 PM ET ) Me too. But that rotation is so crowded that he's going to have to wait longer than he would with most clubs.
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DoSomethingGood	Lars Anderson Interview	#98	[url]	[-]
Rookie Posts: 49 07/16/08 3:21 PM	Lars Anderson Discusses Promotion to AA on Today's Clubhouse Show Show airs live from 5-6 PM on Magic 1340 and www.JetHawks.com Lars Anderson Discusses Promotion to AA on Today's Clubhouse Show Show airs live from 5-6 PM on Magic 1340 and www.JetHawks.com Thought some folks might be interested in this. It says Anderson will reflect on what led to his promotion, give answers to what turned a productive season into a more successful one and how he deals with expectations.
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EatTheMeeek		#99	[url]	[-]
Rookie Posts: 56 07/17/08 9:35 AM	This may be completely off base, but I think a good comparison to Lars is Tim Salmon. Based on the stats so far, Lars doesn't seem to have light tower power but he can still drive the ball well. I think he can hit the 25 hr and 30 doubles that Salmon averaged a year. Salmon also had a career ISoD of .103 and so far in Lars young career, hes shown he can maintain that. Salmon also struck about 120 times a year and his average fluctuated around 300 during his prime, which is another thing I believe Lars is capable of. Just food for thought
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TokenWilliams		#100	[url]	[-]
Veteran Member Posts: 125 07/17/08 9:52 AM	EatTheMeeek wrote: This may be completely off base, but I think a good comparison to Lars is Tim Salmon. Based on the stats so far, Lars doesn't seem to have light tower power but he can still drive the ball well. I think he can hit the 25 hr and 30 doubles that Salmon averaged a year. Salmon also had a career ISoD of .103 and so far in Lars young career, hes shown he can maintain that. Salmon also struck about 120 times a year and his average fluctuated around 300 during his prime, which is another thing I believe Lars is capable of. Just food for thought Don't forget Salmon was also an above average first baseman and like Salmon Lars will be able to pull the ball off the Monster consistently.
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