Where Are They Now? The 1996 Top 100 Prospects (60-41)

[Fishercat]

PART I CAN BE FOUND HERE: http://strike3forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11517

PART II CAN BE FOUND HERE:http://strike3forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11543

PART III of WHERE ARE THEY NOW? THE 1996 TOP 100 PROSPECTS (60-41) IS NEXT:

60) Pokey Reese, SS, Reds
Pokey Reese blows chunks. Pokey was and likely still is one of the flashiest and best defensive middle infielders in the league. He has a World Series Ring (2004), and a cult following in Boston. He has two gold gloves with over 3,000 plate appearances. So, why does he blow? He cannot hit. He has, basically, a career .250-.300-.350 line, producing an OPS+ of 68. Oh, and he didn’t appear when he signed with the Marlins, leading to Dan Uggla being a Top 30 VORP player as of May 26th. Uggla.

59) Todd Greene, C, Angels
Fun note, Todd Greene’s closest player in similarity rating through 34 years of age is Bill Haselman, with a score of 890. When a score is that far from 900, the player really is not that similar. Kind of hard to believe that a man with around 1500 plate appearances as a journeyman catcher could be that different, but baseball is a weird sport. Our 38th major leaguer so far.

58) Jose Valentin, C, Twins
Yes, I thought of the wrong Jose Valentin as well. His full name is Jose Javier Valentin Rosario. You all know him better as Javier Valentin, one part of the Reds’ catcher duo. The Twins third-round pick in 1993 has had a generally undistinguished career. He has one truly abnormal season with the Reds (.883 OPS in 254 plate appearances), and in general, has been a Kelly Stinnett-esque backup catcher.

57) Roger Cedeno, OF, Dodgers
He is the infamous Suckdeno. Well, that name is a bit harsh, but he got severely overrated after a couple nice seasons with a lot of stolen bases, especially for the M-E-T-S METS METS METS. He was basically a decent outfielder with impressive speed and below average hitting abilities, although really, out of the 57th prospect, it isn’t a bad return.

56) Matt Morris, RHP, Cardinals
Matt Morris is the first all-star on this segment of the list and only one of four pitchers overall in the 60-41 segment. He is the 8th all-star so far and our 41st major leaguer. Morris has had a respectable career, spent fully in St. Louis until this year. He has over 100 wins; he had a season where he ranked Top 3 in the Cy Young voting (2001) and he has an ERA+ of around 115. Luckily, his B-R ad that says Cardinal fans are glad to have him on their team ends in a few weeks.

55) Andrew Vessel, OF, Rangers
Andrew was a big, fun looking dude of the Rangers originally. He never made the majors and not much can be said. He is the 5th career minor leaguer on the list.

54) Chad Hermansen, SS, Pirates
.195-.255-.329-.584, 541 PA, 49 OPS+. Now, how did he get that many PA again?

53) Dustin Hermanson, RHP, Padres
I could mention a generally good career for the former third overall pick with a slightly better than average ERA and around 1300 innings. However, this player epitomized, along with the Lansing trade, much of the Dan Duquette era. He was traded for by the Red Sox, he pitched 12 games with a slot machine ERA, Duquette gave up three (none successful) prospects.

52) Chris Snopek, 3B, White Sox
If there is one thing these rankings have done for me, they have helped me realize how many craptastic, short-term utility players there have been in the major leagues that actually got more than a few at bats. Go figure.

51) Jason Varitek, C, Mariners
Jason Varitek starts off a streak of four all-stars in a surprisingly potent portion of the list. The first on the list, Jason Varitek, was acquired in one of the rare Red Sox trades where they do the ripping off. Hitting wise, he’s been an above average catcher, specifically for the last three years. He is a two-time all-star who won both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger in 2005. He is the 9th all-star so far and the 45th major leaguer.

50) Richie Sexson, 1B, Indians
Sexson has been an all-star and a productive high-power high-strikeout first baseman. However, he has been part of two lopsided trades, both of which benefited the Milwaukee Brewers. The Indians, who had Thome entrenched at first, traded him to the Brewers for Bob Wickman, along with five other players total, none of which did well for their team. Wickman has been a closer with mixed success for the Indians for the past five years, while Sexson provided the Brewers with almost four years of superior first base performance. Then, before 2004 began, he was traded with Noochie Varner and Shane Nance for…Junior Spivey, Craig Counsell, Lyle Overbay, Chad Moeller, Jorge De La Rosa, and Chris Capuano. Yes, six major-leaguers. Sexson had about 100 plate appearances for the Diamondbacks before getting injured, and bolting to the M’s.

49) Geoff Jenkins, OF, Brewers
Geoff Jenkins has always been a quiet, but very productive player. He has a 120 OPS+ (.857) over his career through 2005, all of the years spent with the Brewers. Jenkins is a 280-350-500 caliber player who has over 1000 hits in his career. This 1st round pick in 1995 has turned out to be a very nice player for the Brewers.

48) Ugueth Urbina, RHP, Expos
Ignoring the sad story of his family problems back in Venazuela, UUU has been quite the capable reliever. Over the course of just under 600 games, he has posted a 3.45 ERA with well over a strikeout per inning. He has recorded 237 saves over his career in almost 700 innings. The two-time all-star also has a World Series ring, and he has had a very nice career.

47) Brooks Kieschnick, OF, Cubs
Brooks could be the most interesting player on the list. He has posted considerable time as both a primary batter and primary pitcher. As a 1B/OF for the Cubs, Reds, Rockies and Brewers, he posted a .760 OPS in about 330 Plate Appearances. However, he pitched for two years with the Brewers, recording 74 relief appearances with an ERA of 4.6. He was a respectable if not that good of a player on both sides of the ball, and I am kind of bitter that his AUTO card of mine, limited to 225, didn’t go anywhere.

46) Shannon Stewart, OF, Blue Jays
Stewart is another solid player, but with noticeably more playing time than most of the players on the list so far. He debuted in 1995 and got his first real starting assignment in 1998. Stewart is a career .300 hitter with a career .360 OBP (approximately, through 2005) and .440 slugging. He has almost 180 career steals and over 1400 hits. He inexplicably finished 4th in the 2003 AL MVP voting, with Jayson Stark hitting his zenith of stupidity by saying he should be the MVP. Still, that does not make him any worse of a player, and he wasn’t that bad.

45) Andy Yount, RHP, Red Sox
Yount has a crazy ass story.

Andy Yount showed a lot of promise when he was drafted, boasting a 95-97mph fastball and impressive numbers in high school. However, while attending the funeral of a close friend he had a freak accident -- he was holding a Coke bottle in his hand, and, in his grief, he didn't realize how tightly he was squeezing it. The bottle shattered, and severed the tendons in his hand. He had surgery, then reinjured his hand several times while attempting a comeback. Eventually the Red Sox decided that he was through, and they released him. However, in 1998 Yount signed with the Tigers and is currently trying to resurrect his career.

Source: http://koreanfilm.org/darcy/95draft.html (Dated approximately 2000)

Man, I was going to blame this on being a Duquette prospect, but now I feel bad. He is the 6th career minor leaguer.

44) Todd Hollandsworth, OF, Dodgers
He had around 3300 PA as a career average hitter in pretty much any aspect humanly possible. Well, he was a negative impact player on the basepaths, but still, he was the definition of an average major leaguer.

43) Alex Ochoa, OF, Mets

Look at Todd Hollandsworth. Now picture him with about 1000 less PA. Seriously, they are eerily similar offensive players. They were both slightly worse than league average fielders according to RF to boot.

42) Paul Konerko, 1B, Dodgers
I would just like to note that Konerko got about 3-4 more million dollars than Geoff Jenkins in spite of playing first base, even with similar offensive performance. I guess that’s the champion’s premium. Still after being dismissed for Dennys Reyes and Mike Cameron in two separate deals, he broke open with the White Sox. He was an all-star, being the 13th so far on the list. His 4th most similar player is my boy Matt Stairs.

41) Derrek Lee, 1B, Padres
A Gold-Glove caliber first baseman that swung a respectable bat prior to 2005. Then he went absolutely crazy on NL pitching. In 2005, he put up an OPS of 1.080, almost 200 points higher than his former career high. Funny, he was the Silver Slugger last year and the 14th all-star on the list, along with the Gold-Glove winner, but he only came in third in the NL MVP voting, behind another first baseman. His most similar career player? #42 on the list, Paul Konerko. His #10 is Richie Sexson (#50). He is the 54th major leaguer and 14th all-star.

All-Stars: 14
Career Minor Leaguers: 6
Major Leaguers: 54
Major Award Winners: 2

[Witlon]

Hating on 5 tool prospect Chad Hermansen now. Man, was that guy a mistake.

[Dry1313]

I loved Todd Greene. He was a pimp daddy. Now, Alex Ochoa was quite the dude. I loved his name. And another "savior" for the Mets Organazation ends up becoming a bust. Shocker.

[Saber]

Todd Greene will reach his potential soon, I can feel it.

[Porter]

Hating on 5 tool prospect Chad Hermansen now. Man, was that guy a mistake.

He was a high prospect too.

About Jason Varitek........**** Heathcliff Solcumb.

[Witlon]

Now wouldn't be a good time to bring up Paul Spoljaric and Mike Timlin for Jose Cruz Jr. would it, P?

[msneezie31]

Man, i had a Brooks Kieschnick rookie card. Such high expectations