#the League of Jays is so silly <33

[helpmyinterestsareverywhere]

ASDJHLWJLDHJLSADH ITS HIM!! THEY CERTAINLY WEREN'T LYING

I'VE MISSED HIM - BBG PLEASE COME HOME ME AND KIDS MISS YOU

[workingchemistry]

Ooh what about a platonic O!Jay and Dami for 27 and 33??? Can you do that or is it against the rules?

There are no rules in this popsicle stand. Its anarchy. I was only going to do an outline-y kind of thing but y’all really came in here with those good ideas so now I have no choice. ;)

It took a couple hours to hunt Damian down, but Jason was determined. Damian might have League training, but Jason... Jason is a heavily pregnant omega and he refuses to be separated from his pup. Especially when his pup has been vomiting for the past day and a half and was hiding it.

The hole in the wall is well hidden, and small enough that Jason really shouldn’t have been able to fit through it, but he made it work. Even if he did have to pause to catch his breath after.

The lump of nest in the corner of the hidden room seems promising, so that’s where Jason heads first. He crouches at the edge of the nest, not inviting himself in, but does reach out to stroke Dami’s flusher cheek with a soft croon.

“Todd.” Damian eases up one elbow, frantically trying to push Jason away. “You can’t be here. The pups—“

“The pups are safe and sound.” Jason rubs over his swollen belly, reassured by the life kicking at his palms. He takes Damian’s hand and lets him feel the violent declaration of health from six tiny feet. “See?”

Damian might not be the most omegan of omegas, a trait he shares with Jason, but he can be won over by a baby belly as easily as any other member of their caste. A soft coo escapes Dami’s throat before he pulls back and sets himself to rights. “As pleased as I am to hear that, I know that they should most definitely not be exposed to whatever illness I carry.”

With a tsk, Jason waves that fear away and invites himself into the nest. Damian is much larger than he used to be, it would appear that both of the Wayne omegas are doomed to be alpha sized, but he still has a little height on the teen. It’s enough of an advantage that he can wrap around Damian and envelop his sick pup in his scent. He rubs their jaws together, purring when Damian submits without further argument.

“How did you find me?” Damian asks. He sounds put out as he nudges a pillow back into place with his toe.

Jason nips his earlobe lightly in rebuke before massaging over Damian’s collarbone with the base of his palm. “Maybe next time you see fit to involve your mate in your deception, you ought to make sure he knows that he’s in on it.”

“Blast, Jon.” Damian hisses, half rising to grip his katana. Seconds later it catches up to him. His squawk is cute, even if his swat stings more than it should. “Jon is not my mate.”

“You might not share bite marks yet, but you’re most certainly mates.” Jason croons as he tucks Damian closer. “That boy worships the ground you walk on.”

“Tt.” Damian grudgingly nuzzles at the scent glands over Jason’s collarbones. “His only useful quality.”

In return Jason merely rumbles in amusement. His biggest pup is warm and snuggly in his arms while his smallests all turn summersaults in his stomach. Just another month or so and he can hold them all in his arms. Somehow, despite the pain and stretch marks and constant need to pee, he thinks he’ll miss this eventually.

“He—“ Damian swallows, staring at his fist. “He asked me to mate him.”

“Dami.” Jason breathes out, clutching his pup closer. Joy, relief, pain all flood his chest with the warmth of such emotions. “What did you say?”

“I told him not to be ridiculous, we were on a stakeout.” Damian looks up. “Do you think he meant it?”

“That kid looks at you like you hung the stars in the sky, Dami.” Jason finger combs through Damian’s hair. It seems like his pup is all grown up now, nearly mated himself. It’s been a long time coming, according to Uncle Clark, Jon started saving his allowance at twelve just so he could show Bruce that he was worthy of courting Damian.

Jason presses a kiss to Damian’s sweaty forehead. “Dami, Jon adores you. If you don’t like him in return, then definitely don’t accept his nest, but...” it’s hard to swallow down his plea for Damian to stay his pup forever,” “but if you love him, I think you would be hard put to do much better.”

“His nests don’t have orange.” Damian whispers. If the others were around, they might laugh. But they’re alphas, they don’t understand how much it means to know someone pays attention to the things that make you feel safe, even when it’s something as stupid and silly as a color. “I didn’t even have to say anything to him. His nests never have orange or yellow.”

“Sounds like he’s perfect.”

“Will father be mad?”

“Bruce has had plenty of time to resign himself to you mating Jon.” Jason teases. “Dick has been advocating for you two since you were smaller pups. Haven’t you noticed how lax the meta rule has been lately?”

Damian hums, the notes fading to purrs. “I’m meeting with Jon tomorrow. He asked me to dress nice.”

“We’ll find you something designer that’ll make the kid burn in Hell with his lust.” Jason promises, his own purr growing in strength as Damian rubs over the triplets, coaxing them back to sleep.

[chelsea-winchester-blog1]

It’s Not Fair

Summary: Jensen and Y/N went to high school together, and in Y/N’s second semester of college, her dad is dying. She remembers stories as she waits in his room.

Characters/Pairing: Reader x Dean, Jess (OFC), Mom (OFC), Dad (OMC)

Word Count: 1565

Warnings: DEATH. Hospital. Angst.

Author’s Note: This is for my dad. He died late Thursday night, and writing is therapeutic for me. If you want to be added to or removed from my tag list, let me know.

“Jay, I really need you here.” You sobbed into the phone, needing your best friend with you. Sitting in the hospital with a loved one was torture, especially when that loved one was dying. Well, he could stay alive on dialysis and the ventilator and his medicines, but your dad wasn’t your dad. There were toxins that just couldn’t be filtered, and they were damaging his brain. He probably wouldn’t ever be himself again, even if the rest of his body healed.

“I’ll be there in ten, Y/N. Do you need me to stay on the phone with you?”

You nodded before realizing Jensen couldn’t see you. “Yeah. Ple-please. I just-I-I need to-be able-to…” After each word came a sob, followed by the next, and so on.

“Shh, it’s okay, just breathe, I’m on my way.”

The road through New Mexico was long. Beautiful, but long. There wasn’t much to do but listen to the music playing in the speakers. You sat in the back with your sister, fighting her for extra space, when Moonlight Feels Right by Starbuck came on. You didn’t think much of it until the middle of the song, when your dad started drumming on the steering wheel--to a xylophone solo. Your mom was the first to look over at him, bursting into laughter at the sight. That’s when you and your sister noticed, and you all laughed about the rockin’ xylophone solo.

That song would never be the same. It would be accompanied by tears and a small smile as you remembered the silliness. Hell, all music that you listened to wouldn’t be the same, whether your dad had ever listened to it or not. You would know exactly what he’d say about it.

“Y/N, you still there?”

Clearing your throat, you said, “Yeah. I’m here. Just… thinking.”

“I know, Y/N. I know.”

Chelsea vs. Arsenal. The London Derby. This game was your Super Bowl. Winner gets bragging rights (and three points). So naturally, you had to mess with your mom when she went outside to smoke.

Your dad turned to you and mouthed, “On three.” Knowing exactly what he meant, you grinned and nodded. “One, two, three.”

“YES!”

The door opened and your mom stuck her head inside the frame. “Chelsea scored?!”

With a completely straight face, your dad looked at her. “No.”

“Jackasses.” Laughter burst out of you and your dad as your mom went back outside, flipping you off after the door shut, which only caused the laughter to grow.

Jensen walked into the room, where you sat with your sister and mom. He pulled you into a crushing hug, knowing you needed the comfort of his arms.

“How is everything?”

Your mom's answer came slowly. “It's not good. He’s, uh… he's not gonna make it. We have to take him off everything. He wouldn't… he wouldn't want to live like this. He's not going to be him.”

Jay nodded, still holding you against his chest. Your sister Jess was sitting on a chair with her head in her hands. The only indication that she was crying was the movement of her shoulders. She was taking this incredibly hard--you all were--and she could barely stop the tears from flowing.

You mostly started crying when you thought of all the memories you shared with your dad. When he used to go to the doctor with you, or when you went on road trips, or even when he just sat on the couch being the biggest dork possible. Your dad’s only mission in life was to make his family laugh--and he was definitely able to do that.

“They can’t fool me. That is a trash can.”

Your dad was insisting that the biohazard can was a trash can. It had a piece of paper on it saying, “This is not a trash can.” He always had to be the biggest dork at the doctor simply to make you laugh, and this was one of those ways. Your mom was just sitting in the corner trying to hide her laughter, not wanting to enable his idiocy.

“It’s a biohazard can,” you said, “it’s not meant for trash.”

“But it’s still a trash can.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Clearly, it is a trash can. Trash goes in there, right?”

“Biohazard--” Trash. Biohazard trash. Mostly, you had been arguing with him because it was funny. It was a trash can being used as a biohazard can.

The doctor entered the room, sitting down at the tiny desk next to you. She asked routine questions, typing them into the computer as she went. At some point, she asked about school.

“I go to TWU. I absolutely love it, it’s beautiful.”

“Yes, very clean campus. Lots of trash cans.” Leave it to your dad to say that. You and your mom stifled laughter as the doctor gave your dad a look that said, “Ok, weirdo.”

When you left the office, you started laughing at your dad. “Really?”  Your voice was screechy as you asked your dad if he had really just done that, finding it slightly embarrassing but absolutely hilarious.

“Mom, do you remember the rolling chairs?” you asked.

“Oh my god! Those damn things…”

Jensen looked at you inquisitively. “Rolling chairs?”

“I was at the eye doctor when I was thirteen or so. There weren’t enough chairs for all of us to sit in, so my dad decided the rolling chair was the best place to sit. But he didn’t just sit. He rolled around the entire room, and almost out into the hallway. For some reason I was terrified of the doctor walking in and seeing my dad acting like a five-year-old, so I kept begging him to stop.”

“Which only made him do it more,” your mom added.

“Right. So ever since then, when he went somewhere with rolling chairs, he had to sit there or at least point the damn things out and roll around. It doesn’t sound that funny, but if you were there… And you know my dad. The biggest dork on the face of the planet.”

The laughter died down as you realized that he would never roll around in a doctor’s office again. He wouldn’t point out those goddamn trash cans, and you wouldn’t watch another Chelsea match with him.

“Can I have a moment?” You got out of your chair and walked to the side of his bed as you asked.

“Of course,” Jensen answered, and everyone in the room left so you could have a moment with your dad.

“Hey, Dad. I know you don’t really know what I’m saying, but I think you can still hear me. I just…I need you to know that I love you. I wish you could be here to see me finish my first year of college. I wish you could be here to see me get my undergrad. I wish you could be here to see me--” You tried to push away the lump in your throat. “--graduate from medical school. I wish you could be here to see me finish my residency. I wish you could be here when, uh, when Jess graduates from high school.” The tears fell freely now, and you didn’t try to hold back the sobs. “I wish you could see Chelsea kick Hull’s asses on Sunday. I wish you could see Chelsea win the Premier League. I wish we could all go on another road trip together. I wish you could have seen a whale.” You were barely able to choke out your last wish. “I wish you could still be here.”

You sat on a chair and tried to breathe, but the sobs racked your body so hard. The room began to spin as you took shaky breaths, not wanting to hyperventilate. This isn’t real, right? It’s not happening. He’s not…

He wasn’t even himself. The toxins were in his brain, causing irreversible damage. Even if he could wake up, he would never have the same quick wit he always did. He wouldn’t make you laugh again.

That night, just after you, Jensen, and Jess went home, your mom called, saying that the ventilation tube had a leak in it and your dad’s blood pressure had dropped to 66/33. You went up there as quickly as you could, getting to the hospital 30 minutes before he flatlined.

Walking into his room, his eyes were still slightly open, as was his mouth. Looking at him made you sick. There’s a difference between being really still when asleep, and not moving at all.

You practically ran out of the room and sat in the waiting room, crying in Jensen’s arms. All you could feel was emptiness, and a sense of...not quite relief, but that was the best word for it. He wasn’t scared, he wasn’t in pain. And his death wasn’t the result of your mom’s decision to pull the plug. You didn’t have to get up in the morning to go see your dad die. It was just nature’s course. Of course, you wanted to punch nature in the face, but death is a part of life, whether you liked it or not, and you understood that. But for now, you were going to be in pain that you had never felt before.

This wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fucking fair, but you had to deal with it.

Forever Tags:

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Pond Tags:

@aprofoundbondwithdean @manawhaat @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @loveitsallineed @leatherwhiskeycoffeeplaid @notnaturalanahi @impala-dreamer @deathtonormalcy56 @deandoesthingstome @cici0507 @curliesallovertheplace @captain-princess-rose @wevegotworktodo @babypieandwhiskey @samsgoddess @sinceriouslyamellpadalecki @waywardjoy @helvonasche @jpadjackles @chaos-and-the-calm67 @plaidstiel-wormstache @teamfreewill-imagine @writingbeautifulmen @oldfashioncdvillain @ruined-by-destiel @deals-with-demons @supernatural-jackles @maraisabellegrey @faith-in-dean 

[bulbwalrus6-blog]

Who is Cubs' best prospect in past 15 years?

MLB Pipeline's new Top 100 Prospects list will be unveiled to the world on Saturday night on MLB Network and MLB.com with an hour-long special at 8 p.m. ET. It will be the 16th time MLB.com has assembled a preseason Top Prospects list, and the 10th time it has been revealed on the Network.

Some of the players on this year's list will go on to become among the greatest players in their organization's history. Others undoubtedly will not pan out. We won't know who those players are for quite some time, so for now, let's take a look back and see how teams' most highly touted prospects have fared.

Top Prospects lists archive

Below is a look at each Major League organization's most highly ranked prospect in the past 15 years.

Since we're only taking our preseason rankings into account here (we've also put out midseason lists in recent years), some notable names will be missing. Houston's Alex Bregman and Atlanta's Ronald Acuna Jr., for instance, ranked as baseball's No. 1 overall prospect during the 2016 and '18 seasons, respectively, but neither started the year at the top of the list.

And be sure that this year's rankings will add some new names to this "best of" list, as three teams will have a prospect ranked higher than they have on any of our previous lists.

Two teams, the Rays and Twins, have accounted for more than half of the No. 1 overall prospects in the last decade and a half, so picking just one player to focus on for those clubs wasn't easy. And while some teams have had more highly ranked prospects than others over the past 15 years -- the Rays have had the most Top 10 overall prospects (11), followed by the Braves, Dodgers and Nationals with 8 -- only one team, the A's, has not had a prospect rank among the Top 10.

American League East

:: Complete 2019 Top Prospects coverage ::

Orioles: Matt Wieters, C (No. 2, 2009) Signed for $6 million as the No. 5 overall pick in 2007, the Georgia Tech product was ranked as baseball's best position-playing prospect two years later and quickly lived up to expectations with an impressive rookie season. He ultimately spent eight seasons in Baltimore, during which he was a four-time All-Star, a two-time Gold Glove winner and an 18.0-WAR player overall. Dylan Bundy gives the Orioles a second former No. 2 overall prospect (2013).

Red Sox: Andrew Benintendi, OF (No. 1 in 2017) Three years after hitting one home run during an injury-marred freshman season at Arkansas, Benintendi ranked as the best prospect in baseball. In between, he won the NCAA Division I home run crown and the Golden Spikes Award in 2015, went seventh overall in the Draft, reached Boston 13 months after turning pro and posted an 1.111 OPS in the 2016 American League Division Series.

Yankees: Gleyber Torres, SS (No. 3 in 2017) Torres had impressed with his advanced bat ever since signing with the Cubs for $1.7 million out of Venezuela in 2013, but he really raised his profile after Chicago made him the centerpiece of a trade for Aroldis Chapman in July 2016. While the Cubs ended their World Series drought with Chapman, a 19-year-old Torres became the youngest MVP and batting champion (.403) in Arizona Fall League history.

Video: Top Prospects: Gleyber Torres, SS, Yankees

Rays: Delmon Young, OF (No. 1, 2005-07) Tampa Bay has had the No. 1 prospect in baseball five times in the last 15 years. Young, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 Draft, held that distinction for three straight seasons, the last of which saw him finish second in AL ROY voting at age 21. Though he never truly lived up to the high expectations ascribed to him as a top Draft pick, Young produced a .283/.316/.421 line with 109 homers over 10 seasons, and while he hasn't appeared in the big leagues since 2015, the now-33-year-old remains active and led the Venezuela Winter League with 19 home runs this offseason. David Price (No. 1, 2009) easily has been the most successful among Tampa Bay's former top-prospect contingent, and Matt Moore (2012) also had flashes of excellence early in his career.

Blue Jays: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B (No. 1, 2018) Guerrero is one of the best prospects we've ever seen, one with an elite combination of hitting ability -- he's the first ever to earn an 80-grade hit tool by MLB Pipeline -- and power that could make him a historically good big leaguer. He flirted with .400 for much of 2018, finishing at .381/.437/.636 with 20 homers in Triple-A at age 19. Altogether, he's compiled a .331/.414/.529 career line, with more walks (146) than strikeouts (135), since signing for $3.9 million in July '15.

Video: Top Prospects: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B, Blue Jays

AL Central

White Sox: Yoan Moncada, 2B (No. 2 in 2017) Moncada was No. 2 on our Top 100 -- and on our Red Sox list behind Benintendi until going to the White Sox in a Winter Meetings trade for Chris Sale. Scouts considered him a faster version of Robinson Cano, though holes in Moncada's swing and an overly aggressive approach have prevented him from making that kind of impact in Chicago.

Indians: Francisco Lindor, SS (No. 4 in 2015) We correctly pegged Lindor as a guy who would play Gold Glove defense, hit for a solid average and steal a few bases. He had just hit 19 homers and slugged .384 in four years in pro ball, so we graded his power a 40 on the 20-80 scouting scale, which now looks silly after he's coming off 33- and 38-homer seasons.

Video: Top Prospects: Francisco Lindor, SS, Indians

Tigers: Cameron Maybin, OF (No. 3, 2008) Maybin reached the Majors as a 20-year-old in 2007 and was ranked as the No. 3 overall prospect that offseason when the Tigers sent him (in a package that also contained Andrew Miller) to Miami for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. The trade marked the first of six in Maybin's 12-year career, during which he's been a 13.5-WAR player while playing for seven teams.

Royals: Alex Gordon, 3B (No. 2 in 2007) Gordon was the No. 2 overall pick in that vaunted 2005 Draft, just behind Justin Upton, and was in the big leagues by 2007, when he was the No. 2 prospect behind Delmon Young. It took Gordon a while to find his footing in the big leagues, but he's a three-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner in the outfield, leading a career WAR of 35.2, good for a tie at No. 41 on the career active WAR list.

Twins: Joe Mauer, C (No. 1 in 2004) Mauer just hung 'em up, perhaps our first No. 1 prospect to do so after a long and successful big league career, which is why we give him the nod over two-time No. 1 prospect Byron Buxton. No, Mauer didn't produce in recent years like he did at the outset, when he looked like a sure-fire Hall of Famer, but he still retired with a career .306 average and more than 2,100 hits, adding up to a robust 55.1 WAR.

AL West

Astros: Carlos Correa, SS (No. 3 in 2015) Though he missed the second half of the 2014 season with a broken right fibula, Correa already was exceeding expectations -- a rare feat for a No. 1 overall pick. He was a better pure hitter and better defender at shortstop than originally projected, which helped him jump from high Class A in 2014 to the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 2015.

Angels: Mike Trout, OF (No. 1 in 2011) The Angels also had a No. 1 prospect in Shohei Ohtani a year ago, but this was about as close to a no-brainer as there is. Trout, of course, was the Angels' first-round pick in 2009, close to the end of the opening round. He's since made every team that didn't take him regret that decision. He currently is sixth on the career active WAR list (64.3) and is the only one in the top 24 with less than 10 years of big league time. He's made seven All-Star appearances, won six Silver Sluggers, two MVPs and a Rookie of the Year, and he's still just 27.

Video: Top 50 Prospects: Mike Trout, OF, LAA

Athletics: Addison Russell (No. 12 in 2014) The A's are the only organization that has never had a top 10 prospect, though Russell came in at No. 5 a year later, after he had been traded to the Cubs. He had gone to the Futures Game in 2013 and looked like he would join Correa and Corey Seager as high school shortstops from the 2012 Draft to become stars. He did help the Cubs win a World Series in 2016, but hasn't reached elite status.

Mariners: Felix Hernandez, RHP (No. 3 in 2005) Before he became the King, Hernandez was the best pitching prospect in baseball, one who in retrospect should have ranked ahead of Delmon Young and Ian Stewart, who ranked first and second back in 2005. Hernandez graduated off of prospect lists that year, and his current 50.9 WAR puts him 16th on the career active list.

Rangers: Jurickson Profar, SS (No. 1 in 2013) Profar either ranked as the No. 1 prospect or won MVP honors in each of the three Minor Leagues he played in before making his Major League debut as a teenager, and he looked like a future superstar with the chance for plus tools across the board as a shortstop. Then a torn shoulder muscle in 2014 led to two full seasons on the disabled list and kept him from becoming a big league regular until 2018, after which the Rangers traded him to the Athletics.

National League East

Braves: Jason Heyward, OF (No. 1 in 2010) The No. 14 pick in the 2007 Draft, Heyward was the No. 3 prospect in 2009 then ascended to No. 1 a year later, ahead of Stephen Strasburg, Giancarlo (then Mike) Stanton and Buster Posey. While perhaps he hasn't quite lived up to that placement, he is in the top 50 among active players in WAR (34.9), ahead of Strasburg.

Marlins: Jeremy Hermida, OF (No. 2 in 2006) The top high school hitter in the 2002 Draft, where he went No. 11 overall, Hermida elicited comparisons to Eric Chavez, Paul O'Neill and Andy Van Slyke at the plate. Though he arrived in the big leagues with a .284/.399/.433 Minor League batting line and hit a grand slam in his first plate appearance with the Marlins, his hitting and on-base numbers never translated to the highest level and his power never materialized.

Mets: Amed Rosario, SS (No. 5, 2017) A breakout performance in 2016, during which he hit .341 after reaching Double-A at age 19, made Rosario a Top 10 prospect the following year, and he took over as the Mets' everyday shortstop that August. He underperformed last year in his first full season, slashing .256/.295/.381 over 154 games as a 22-year-old, but still showed loud tools and plenty of upside while producing 43 extra-base hits and 24 steals.

Video: Top Prospects: Amed Rosario, SS, Mets

Phillies: Domonic Brown, OF (No. 4 in 2011) The 2011 list started with Trout and had Jeremy Hellickson and Bryce Harper rounding out the top three. Brown was No. 4 and he never quite lived up to his potential, though he was an All-Star in 2013 during a season that saw him hit 27 homers. He played in the Mexican League in 2018.

Nationals: Bryce Harper, OF, Nationals (No. 2, 2012) Possibly the most high-profile prospect in baseball history, Harper, the No. 1 overall pick in 2010, was No. 3 on MLB Pipeline's Top 50 the next year and one spot higher in '12, when he was named an NL All-Star and, later, the ROY at age 19. He added an MVP Award to his résumé in '15, and, overall, earned All-Star honors in six of his seven seasons as a 27.4-WAR player with the Nationals before hitting the open market at 26. Strasburg also reached the Majors in the same year he ranked as MLB Pipeline's No. 2 prospect (2010). He's been a 26.3-WAR hurler for the club over parts of nine seasons, during which he's twice been a Top 10 finisher in the Cy Young Award voting as well as a three-time All-Star.

NL Central

Cubs: Kris Bryant, 3B (No. 2 in 2015) Bryant was the consensus college player of the year in 2013, when his 31 homers at San Diego exceeded the total of 223 of the 296 NCAA Division I teams, and the consensus Minor League player of the year in 2014, when he led the Minors with 43 homers, 78 extra-base hits, a .661 slugging percentage and 1.098 OPS. The next two years would bring National League Rookie of the Year and MVP awards, plus a World Series ring.

Video: Kris Bryant is ranked the No. 2 prospect by MLB.com

Reds: Jay Bruce, OF (No. 1 in 2008) Bruce hit the top 10 in 2007, two years after being one of many high school outfielders (Upton, Maybin, Andrew McCutchen, Colby Rasmus) taken in the first round of the 2005 Draft. He was our No. 1 prospect in '08 after a year that saw him hit 26 homers and play across three levels of the Reds' system.

Brewers: Orlando Arcia, SS (No. 6, 2016) The No. 88 overall prospect on Top 100 for 2015, Arcia jumped up to No. 6 on the list the following year and finished the season in the Major Leagues. He hit .277 with 15 homers as the Brewers' everyday shortstop in 2017, though early-season struggles in '18 prompted a demotion to Triple-A. He fared better after returning for good in late July, then served as Milwaukee's hottest hitter in the postseason, slashing .360/.385/.600 with a pair of home runs against the Dodgers in the NLCS.

Pirates: Andrew McCutchen, OF (No. 8 in 2008) Based on WAR, no one has had a more productive big league career among the high school outfielders taken in the first round of the 2005 Draft than McCutchen's, whose 42.0 WAR bests everyone from that first round except Ryan Braun and Troy Tulowitzki, two college draftees. Having never ranked higher than this, the argument can be made that McCutchen was undervalued a bit as a prospect.

Cardinals: Oscar Taveras, OF (No. 3, 2013-14) Taveras ranked as MLB Pipeline's No. 3 overall prospect in back-to-back years and was generally considered to be the sport's best offensive prospect during that time. He debuted with the Cardinals in May 2014, after hitting .320/.376/.516 over six season in the Minors, and ultimately appeared in 80 games as a rookie. Sadly, Taveras' promising career came to a tragic end that October when he was killed in a car accident in his native Dominican Republic.

NL West

Dbacks: Archie Bradley, RHP (No. 5, 2014) Selected with the No. 7 overall pick in 2011 out of the Oklahoma prep ranks, Bradley was developed as a starter and reached the Majors in that role in 2015, one year after he had ranked as MLB Pipeline's top pitching prospect and No. 5 overall. While control problems subsequently forced Bradley to the bullpen, he's been a 4.1-WAR reliever in the past two seasons while logging 124 2/3 frames over 139 appearances.

Rockies: Ian Stewart, 3B (No. 2, 2005) Stewart was the No. 10 overall pick in the 2003 Draft and had a huge first full year in Asheville with 30 homers and over 100 RBIs. While he did have one 25-homer season in the big leagues, he never quite lived up to the expectations set in that first season of pro ball, though he did hit 61 big league homers in just under 1,500 at-bats.

Dodgers: Corey Seager, SS (No. 1 in 2016) Buxton had presided as the No. 1 prospect on five straight MLB Pipeline midseason or preseason Top 100s until Seager dethroned him at the start of 2016. He gave a preview of coming attractions by batting .337/.425/.561 during his September 2015 callup, foreshadowing the NL Rookie of the Year Award he'd win in 2016.

Padres: Fernando Tatis Jr., SS (No. 8, 2018) Acquired from the White Sox as part of the James Shields trade in June 2016, Tatis advanced to full-season ball the next year and became the first 18-year-old in Class A Midwest League history to post at least 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases, before making the jump to Double-A in August. While season-ending thumb surgery in July 2018 cost him a second straight 20-20 campaign, Tatis did return healthy and excelled in the Dominican Winter League. Earlier this week, MLB Pipeline ranked Tatis as the No. 1 shortstop prospect in baseball.

Video: Top Prospects: Fernando Tatis Jr., SS, Padres

Giants: Buster Posey, C (No. 4 in 2010) The only player on this list to win a World Series in the same year that he peaked on the Top 100, Posey lived up to the Mauer comparisons that followed him everywhere. There were some mild concerns about his receiving but he cleaned those up and became a Gold Glover behind the plate.

Source: https://www.mlb.com/news/mlbs-best-prospects-in-the-past-15-years/c-303107172

[thegloober]

Revisiting the MLBTR Archives: November 2013

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Zelous! (Hannah Foslien/Getty)

Welcome to November. The offseason’s first month. And, since we’re in a new month, it’s time to go back in time to make our regular run through the MLB Trade Rumors archives. The transactions and rumors pick up now because, well, it’s the offseason. Not much happens in September and October.

The 2013 Yankees went 85-77 and could’ve been a whole lot worse. They missed the postseason and went into the 2013-14 offseason needing everything. Starters, relievers, infielders, outfielders, a catcher … you name it. The farm system was thin and the core was aging. And Robinson Cano was a free agent. That was a pretty big deal. Time to dive into the five-year-old hot stove talk.

November 1st, 2013: Yankees Re-Sign Jeter To One-Year, $12MM Deal

The Yankees announced that have re-signed shortstop Derek Jeter to a one-year deal worth $12MM. Jeter, who is represented by Casey Close of Excel Sports Management, had a $9.5MM player option on his previous contract, but this deal will override that option. 

This was the time the Yankees gave Derek Jeter a raise simply because he’s Derek Jeter. There was no other reason. Injuries limited Jeter to 17 games in 2013 and the Yankees, who were supposedly planning to get under the $189M luxury tax threshold in 2014, could’ve let Jeter exercise his $9.5M player option and been done with it. Who was signing a soon-to-be 40-year-old Jeter after the season he just had? Instead, the Yankees reworked his contract and have him an extra $2.5M just because he’s Derek Jeter. It’s good work if you can get it.

November 3rd, 2013: Yankees Interested In Infante If Cano Signs Elsewhere

Though the Yankees remain the odds-on favorite to employ star second baseman Robinson Cano for the foreseeable future, GM Brian Cashman has reached out to Omar Infante as a fall-back option, report George A. King III and Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. Cashman was vague when approached for comment by the Post, and there is no reason to believe that this report indicates any change in Cano’s status.

Cano was, obviously, the best second baseman on the free agent market that offseason. Infante was second. He hit .318/.345/.450 (118 wRC+) with the Tigers in 2013 and it was so very far out of line with the rest of his career. His first full big league season was 2004. He hit .282/.320/.410 (95 wRC+) from 2004-12, then he had that big 2013 season. Infante timed his career year quite well.

The Yankees were on Infante pretty much all offseason and especially so after Cano went to Seattle. He eventually signed a four-year deal worth $30.5M with the Royals and you’d have thought the Yankees missed out on peak Joe Morgan the way the media and a portion of the fan base reacted. Infante went on to hit .252/.295/.337 (74 wRC+) in 2014 and .220/.234/.318 (43 wRC+) in 2015. Kansas City released him midway through 2016, the third year of his four-year deal. Bullet dodged.

November 4th, 2013: Yankees Make Qualifying Offers To Cano, Granderson, Kuroda

The Yankees made qualifying offers to Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson, and Hiroki Kuroda, according to a team press release.

A formality. The qualifying offer was only $14.4M that offseason. I remember there being some speculation the Yankees could pass on giving Granderson the qualifying offer after he missed so much time with injuries in 2013, but that never made much sense. Worst case scenario is he takes it and you get 33-year-old Granderson for one year and $14.4M? Not bad at all.

Given their free agent signings and losses, the Yankees had a very busy and complicated 2013-14 offseason when it came to draft pick compensation. Here’s how it all broke down:

Yankees forfeit 18th overall pick to sign Brian McCann.

Yankees gain supplemental first round picks for losing Cano and Granderson.

Yankees forfeit the Cano and Granderson picks to sign Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran.

Kuroda re-signed with the Yankees, so no draft pick compensation.

The Yankees signed three qualified free agents and lost two qualified free agents. Their first pick in 2014 was No. 55 overall, which they used on Jacob Lindgren. He appeared in seven games for the Yankees in 2015 and was non-tendered following the 2016 season after getting hurt. Lindgren hasn’t pitched since. He’s with the Braves and is currently rehabbing from his second Tommy John surgery.

November 5th, 2013: Yanks Made Preliminary Inquiry On Brandon Phillips

Preparing themselves in the event that Robinson Cano signs elsewhere, the Yankees have placed a preliminary call to the Reds on Brandon Phillips, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Cincinnati’s asking price for Phillips is said to be “way too steep” according to Heyman.

Among trade candidates, Phillips was probably the most discussed Cano replacement. He had a down season in 2013 (90 wRC+) and the Reds were good at the time — they lost the 2013 NL Wild Card Game and were planning to contend in 2014 — so they were never serious about moving him. A few years later reports surfaced that the Yankees and Reds had a deal in place for Phillips at some point (I think at the 2014 trade deadline), but he used his no-trade clause to block it. Phillips blocked a bunch of trades over the years. He didn’t want to leave his Cincinnati and hey, that was his right. But there was a lot of Phillips chatter during the 2013-14 offseason. A lot.

November 6th, 2013: Five Teams Showing Early Interest In Grant Balfour

Grant Balfour is expected to sign with a new team as a free agent this offseason after three excellent years with the A’s — two of which came as the team’s closer. According to the latest from Susan Slusser at the San Francisco Chronicle, the Yankees, Tigers, Rockies, Rays and Angels have all expressed interest in the hard-throwing Aussie.

Balfour was dominant with the Athletics from 2011-13, throwing 199.1 innings with a 2.53 ERA (3.40 FIP) and a bunch of saves. He agreed to a two-year, $15M contract with the Orioles and then the O’s backed out over something they saw during his physical. Everyone laughed because the O’s are notoriously stingy with their physicals, and hoped their team would sign Balfour on the cheap. The Rays scooped him up for two years and $12M and … he broke down the next year. Threw 66.2 innings with a 5.00 ERA (4.32 FIP) on that contract and was done for good by the middle of 2015. The Orioles had this one right.

November 8th, 2013: Yankees Making Tanaka A Top Priority; Won’t Pursue Ervin Santana

The Yankees are planning to make Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka a “top priority” this winter and are considered the team to beat in bidding for the 25-year-old, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports … The Yankees are not expected to be in the market for Ervin Santana, he adds, as they don’t feel that he would fit well in New York. 

Given their Japanese free agent activity at the time (or lack thereof), it was easy to be skeptical of the Tanaka rumors. The Big Erv stuff was completely believable. He’d been complaining about the new Yankee Stadium for years and years. And why wouldn’t he? Santana has allowed 29 runs in 39.1 career innings at the new park, postseason included. Granted, he faced the Yankees in those 39.1 innings, but still. Santana wound up with the Braves on a one-year deal and had a nice 2014 season (3.95 ERA and 3.39 FIP) before going to the Twins the next year.

November 11th, 2013: Minor Moves: Crotta, Richardson, Blue Jays

The Yankees signed outfielder Antoan Richardson to a minor league deal and invited him to their Major League Spring Training camp, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets. 

Antoan Richardson! Richardson spent pretty much the entire 2014 season with Triple-A Scranton, where he hit .271/.380/.364 (114 wRC+) in 93 games. The Yankees called him up in September to be their designated pinch-runner and he appeared in 13 games. Richardson will forever be the answer to a trivia question: Who scored on Derek Jeter’s walk-off single in his final home game? It was Yankees legend Antoan Richardson.

? Jose Pirela started the bottom of the ninth with a ground ball single, Richardson pinch ran, Brett Gardner bunted him up to second, and Jeter punched a Jeterian single to right to win the game. The 2014 season pretty much stunk. Jeter’s farewell was really cool though.

November 13th, 2013: Feinsand On Freese, Yankees, Ellsbury, Beltran

The Yankees are talking to the Cardinals about a deal for third baseman David Freese, a source tells Feinsand (via Twitter).  The Cardinals could theoretically part with Freese since they can move Matt Carpenter to third base and use Kolten Wong at second.  Freese, 30, would give the Yankees a solid plan B in the event that Alex Rodriguez’s suspension is upheld.

It amazes me that David Freese has never been a Yankee. He’s been available a bunch of times over the years and, once Alex Rodriguez became a full-time DH, the Yankees had a revolving door at third base for a while. Basically from 2011 until Chase Headley arrived in 2014. And yet, Freese was never a Yankee. Seemed like such a natural fit. A relatively low-cost third baseman who the Yankees could promote thanks to his championship pedigree. Never happened. I thought a marriage was inevitable.

November 13th, 2013: Latest On Brian Wilson

General Manager Brian Cashman told reporters, including Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger (on Twitter), that you can rule out the Yankees signing Brian Wilson after his agent told the team he won’t shave his beard.  

So silly. I mean, Wilson’s free to do whatever he wants. He had plenty of suitors, so he was getting paid either way, but imagine telling the richest team in baseball you’re not interested because you want to keep that stupid beard? Wilson signed a cheap one-year deal with the Dodgers in 2013 as he rehabbed from Tommy John surgery, then, after looking good in 18 late season appearances, they gave him a new one-year deal worth $10M. He had a 4.66 ERA (4.29 FIP) in 2014 and has been out of baseball since. Wilson is now beardless and he races cars.

November 14th, 2013: Yankees Notes: Morales, Cano, Jeter, Trades

The Yankees are interested in Kendrys Morales, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports.  Despite Morales’ history of leg injuries, Yankees scouts feel the switch-hitter could add first base depth behind Mark Teixeira in addition to taking regular DH at-bats. 

Morales had a pretty good year in 2013. He hit .277/.336/.449 (119 wRC+) with 23 homers for the Mariners. That’s not great for a DH, but it’ll work. I don’t remember whether the masses wanted the Yankees to sign Morales though. Mark Teixeira was coming off basically a lost year with his wrist surgery and there was no obvious in-house first base replacement/fill-in. Morales eventually signed a one-year, $12M deal with the Twins and hit .218/.274/.338 (72 wRC+) in 2014. Ouch. Teixeira stayed mostly healthy that season. His primary backup? Kelly Johnson.

November 15th, 2013: Mutual Interest Between Yankees, Javier Lopez

There’s mutual interest between the Yankees and left-hander Javier Lopez, agent Barry Meister tells Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger. The two sides have had preliminary discussions and plan to have more substantial discussions later in the offseason once the Yankees have had time to address their biggest issues.

The Yankees were set to lose Boone Logan that offseason and they were looking for another lefty reliever. They eventually settled on Matt Thornton, who was fine, then was let go on a trade waiver claim in August so the Yankees could save money and give Rich Hill a look. Lopez was one of the best left-on-left matchup guys in baseball with the Giants from 2010-13 and he returned to them on a three-year deal worth $13M. He was fine. Declined a little in his mid-to-late-30s but was fine overall. Everything was fine.

These days, I’m not sure a guy like Lopez sticks around all that long. Those one or two-out left-on-left guys are a dying breed. Teams use their bullpens so much now that using a roster spot on a guy who only gets one or two outs doesn’t make sense, even if they are high leverage outs. Four lefty relievers made at least 60 appearances and averaged no more than two outs per appearance this year (Luis Avilan, Jerry Blevins, Andrew Chafin, Tim Hill). Back in 2013, just five years ago, eight guys did it.

November 17th, 2013: Minor Moves: Valaika, Whiteside, Wheeler

The Yankees signed third baseman Zelous Wheeler to a minor league contract.  Wheeler split time between the Orioles’ Triple-A and Double-A affiliates in 2013, posting a .275/.354/.414 batting line.

Zelous Wheeler! The Yankees called him up in July 2014 because Yangervis Solarte was struggling big time and they wanted to try someone else. Wheeler hit .296/.367/.467 (132 wRC+) with Triple-A Scranton that year, and, in his second big league at-bat, my dude went deep.

? Come for the Zelous Wheeler dinger, stay for the Phil Hughes cameo. Wheeler went up and down the rest of the season and finished with a .193/.230/.298 (46 wRC+) batting line in 62 plate appearances.

The Yankees sold Wheeler (at his request) to the Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan following the 2014 season and you know what? He’s still over there mashing. Wheeler hit .264/.332/.414 with 13 homers in 103 games this year. Last year he hit .271/.342/.493 with 31 homers in 153 games. Huh. Rakuten gave him an extension and a couple million bucks last year. Good for him. Wheeler’s only 31 too. Still has a lot of baseball left to play.

November 18th, 2013: Yankees Interested In Jhonny Peralta

The Yankees are now expressing interest in Jhonny Peralta, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (on Twitter). Peralta would provide the Yankees with insurance should Alex Rodriguez miss significant time with a suspension or in the event of a Derek Jeter injury. He has extensive big league experience at both shortstop and third base.

It was kinda funny Peralta was being mentioned as suspension insurance for A-Rod when Peralta himself was coming off a suspension. He was one of the players who accepted the 50-game suspension for his ties to Biogenesis. Peralta wound up with four years and $53M from the Cardinals. His numbers from 2014-17 are pretty much the classic aging curve for middle infielders from age 32-35:

2014: 120 wRC+ and +4.6 WAR

2015: 105 wRC+ and +2.0 WAR

2016: 91 wRC+ and +0.0 WAR

2017: 27 wRC+ and -0.5 WAR

Imagine if the Yankees had invested $80-something-million in Infante and Peralta from 2014-17 to replace Cano and hedge against Jeter and A-Rod? Lordy.

November 19th, 2013: Yankees Won’t Wait For Cano Before Pursuing Other Free Agents

Reports have indicated that Robinson Cano is willing to wait until January to get the deal that he’s looking for, but don’t expect the Yankees to exercise similar patience. Yankees president Randy Levine told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News that the team is interested in five or six free agents and doesn’t plan on waiting for resolution on the Cano front before making offers.

November was loaded with “Cano wants $300M+” and “the Yankees and Cano are far apart” rumors. There was a daily update, it seemed. Levine coming out and saying the Yankees were ready to move forward with other free agents was designed to a) put some pressure on Cano, and b) let everyone know the Yankees were open for business. Remember, they missed the postseason in 2013, and they were desperate to improve the team. There was some thought the club would hold off on everything until Cano’s deal was done. That definitely was not the case.

November 20th, 2013: Minor Moves: Twins, Pirates, Cabrera, Ely, Alfaro

The Yankees announced that they traded right-hander Ben Paullus to the Padres for utility man Dean Anna.  Anna, who recently celebrated his 26th birthday, posted an .892 OPS in Triple-A last season.  Paullus, 24, worked his way up to Advanced-A Tampa last season.

Dean Anna! He made the Opening Day roster in 2014 and had a very short stint with the Yankees. Twelve games and 25 plate appearances. Anna spent most of the season with Triple-A Scranton. I do remember two things though. One, Anna pitched for the Yankees. Two runs in one inning. And two, he drew an eight-pitch go-ahead bases loaded walk in the 12th inning at Tropicana Field.

That was Anna’s last plate appearance as a Yankee and his second-to-last plate appearance as a big leaguer. The Yankees send him down a few days later and then released him after the season. The Cardinals signed him and he appeared in one game with them in 2015. Anna’s been bouncing around Triple-A ever since. He hit .271/.367/.341 (106 wRC+) with the Phillies’ Triple-A team this year, so I suppose he could get back to MLB at some point.

As for Paullus, he threw 81 innings after the trade, only one of which was above Single-A. He got hurt and has been out of baseball since 2016.

November 22nd, 2013: Brian McCann Closing In On Deal With Yankees

The deal is for five years and $85MM and has a sixth-year vesting option that could boost the contract’s value to $100MM, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. The deal is simply pending a physical, Rosenthal adds in a second tweet.

The first of several big free agent signings that offseason. McCann was a priority. The catching was so bad in 2013. So incredibly bad. I mean, look at the Yankees’ catcher ranks that year:

AVG: .213 (26th in MLB)

OBP: .289 (23rd)

SLG: .298 (29th)

OPS+: 70 (26rd)

WAR: +0.9 (23rd)

It is very hard to win with catching that crappy. McCann hit .256/.336/.461 (118 wRC+) with the Braves in 2013 and ZiPS projected him for .258/.340/.451 (113 OPS+) in 2014. Going from the Chris Stewart/Francisco Cervelli/Austin Romine catching trio to McCann was one of the single biggest upgrades any team could make during the 2013-14 offseason. Gary Sanchez was still years away and the Yankees needed outside help behind the plate.

McCann fell well short of his ZiPS projection in 2014, hitting .232/.286/.406 (94 OPS+) overall, but he was still a pretty substantial upgrade behind the plate. He was better in 2015 and 2016 (102 OPS+) before the Yankees shipped him to the Astros. McCann was definitely a bit of a disappointment offensively but he was a lot better with the Yankees than I think he gets credit for. He was a big upgrade — on both sides of the ball, it should be noted — over what they had. The signing didn’t really work out as hoped though. Doesn’t that always seem to be the case?

November 25th, 2013: AL East Notes: McLouth, McCann, Orioles, Saltalamacchia

The Yankees are interested in Nate McLouth writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, but more as a backup plan to primary targets such as Carlos Beltran and Curtis Granderson.

Man did we get a lot of McLouth mailbag questions back in the day. What about trading for him? What about signing him? What about trading for him now? Every offseason. It started with McLouth’s breakout 2008 season (121 wRC+ and +3.8 WAR) but he never came particularly close to those numbers again. His dead cat bounce year with the Orioles in 2013 was .258/.329/.399 (100 wRC+) with 12 homers, 30 steals, and +2.2 WAR. That’s about as good as it got after 2008. The Nationals gave him two years and $10.75M and received 79 games and -0.1 WAR in return. Imagine if the Yankees would’ve let Granderson walk, lost out on Beltran, and signed McLouth to plug into the outfield? Gosh.

November 27th, 2013: AL East Notes: De Jesus Jr., Lavarnway, Infante

The Yankees paid a good amount to sign Cuban lefthander Omar Luis last year and they’ll be making him available in this year’s Rule 5 draft, writes Ben Badler of Baseball America.  The Yanks initially signed Luis for a $4MM bonus but when an unexpected issue popped up in his physical, they negotiated that figure down to $2.9MM.  It may be a long shot that any team will draft Luis, however, given how far away he is from contributing.

Luis was the last big money prospect the Yankees signed before the international spending restrictions kicked in and he was a total waste of money. He allowed 66 runs in 99.1 pro innings, almost all in rookie ball, and walked (75) nearly as many batters as he struck out (86). I can’t find any record of the Yankees releasing Luis, but he hasn’t pitched since 2015, so I assume he’s out of the organization.

November 30th, 2013: Pirates, Yankees Nearing Chris Stewart Trade

The Pirates are on the verge of acquiring catcher Chris Stewart from the Yankees, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney (Twitter link).

Stewart was a goner either way, with or without the McCann signing. He was slated to earn seven figures through arbitration and, rather than non-tender him, the Yankees were able to send Stewart to the Pirates for a player to be named later. That player: Kyle Haynes, a righty who spent a few seasons in the farm system as an organizational arm before being released. Stewart spent four seasons in Pittsburgh and slugged .298.

November 30th, 2013: Cano Asking Yankees For Nine Years, $250-260MM

Cano asked for a nine-year deal at $28MM per year, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney, a $252MM total that would match Alex Rodriguez‘s first free agent contract.  He also wants a tenth year vesting option at $29MM.  Olney says the Yankees are in the $170MM range, leaving a gap of around $80MM. 

This was the first time we heard an actual dollar figure from the Yankees. Cano’s camp had been saying $300M total and $30M annually for weeks and weeks. This was the first time the Yankees’ offer was reported. Also, the fact they were at $170M indicated they were not offering ten years. It wasn’t until after Cano signed with the Mariners that we learned the Yankees capped their offer at seven years and $175M. That’s a gap of three years and $65M. It was a bummer to see Robbie go. I wish he could’ve been a lifelong Yankee. But the Mariners made it very easy to say goodbye with that offer.

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