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Originally Posted by Nightfyre
I really really like how DM has built the farm system. But his ability to acquire major league starting pitching has been pretty poor. On the other hand, having Paulino and Duffy's arms fall off at the same time is pretty unfortunate. Wil Smith is really coming on, based on what I'm seeing. Dwyer/Monty are looking increasingly like they won't work out. Odorizzi looks like a AAAA pitcher to me, but I will watch again tonight and see if he changes my mind. Ventura/Adams/Rodgers are all looking good at their low-levels of pitching and maybe that's where DM is ultimately planning on deriving his rotation. Hopefully Zimmer is ready sooner than later. DM will ultimately be successful in the major leagues, imo. He identifies too much talent not too. But he needs Glass to let go of the purse strings to make a run, though. Just commit 40 million to the pitching staff and watch a 40 game swing year-over-year.
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How John Lamb, Duffy and Paulino come back from TJ is going to have a lot to do with how Moore does, too, IMO. If Lamb - still hasn't pitched this year, not sure when he will - comes back strong, that could be a boost to start the year.
Will Smith, to me, is an internal, cheap back-end option. Those are valuable. Odorizzi is an internal 3/4 option. I know Jasons thinks he's an ace, but even if he's just a 3, Odo still has value.
And from there, in order of level (other than Dwyer/Montgomery):
Ventura
Sugar Ray Marimon (AA - doesn't have overwhelming stuff but could be a solid back-end guy. Made a BIG jump from 2010 to 2011. )
THose are both guys who could jump up to help next year. But beyond that, not much help for 2013.
Jason Adam is probably the only interesting guy to watch at Wilmington now, but I have heard reports he's starting to use his stuff more effectively and K more guys. Seems to be getting stronger as the year goes on (Schaum chalks this up to long-toss, it seems).
Angel Baez is a name to watch that hasn't gotten much play on here. He's been getting rave reviews at Kane County and has tremendous upside.
Kyle Zimmer looked good in his first start at Kane County, but even if he's a quick riser, hard to picture him being anything more than a September call-up in 2013.
Kyle Smith and Bryan Brickhouse are both at Kane County, too. Smith could move quickly, and I think he'll sail until he hits AA. He's a kid who is already probably maxed out physically, so not sure he's as good as his early results. Brickhouse is not going to move as quickly, but has much more upside.
Sam Selman has been a stud at Idaho Falls and I imagine they'll move him aggressively next season. The rest of the 2012 draftees (Rodgers, Fairchild) will probably be moved more slowly.
The Royals are stacked with high-upside guys at Kane County and especially at Rookie ball on both sides of the ball. The Burlington Royals particularly have a ton of talent. Starling everyone knows about, but fellow OF Fred Ford has been just as impressive defensively and offensively. Ford was an under-radar JUCO guy and early results indicate he might end up being a diamond in the rough.
There's not a lot of help on the way immediately. The Royals are going to have to spend some dough to get better at the SP next year, the team's only glaring weakness.
Here's a name we haven't mentioned before... but Kevin Millwood is a FA I could see Moore bringing in. I'd prefer to see that as the third guy added to the rotation. He's been a quality pitcher the past few years, he has ties to Moore, and he'd be a a nice fit as the experienced vet mentoring the young guys.