Buzz of The Day

The Buzz of the day is the Rule V draft of course. The biggest thing is whether Darren Cambridge should have been protected. It depends I suppose as Tampa Bay may be looking to draft two players, if protected then would only be able to get one. Looking him over at a glance I would say several GM's would be licking their chops if he is available to them.

He has Range, Arm Strength, Speed and Contact working in his favor and he can play a most deficient position, SS, to me not very well at all yet. But what happens at a deeper look? Awards show he is pretty good at the minors and why not with a high contact where pitching and defense is not the greatest. He bats left, another good combo really, and hits to the left side against an even weaker defensive area in the minors and has some pop in the bat. But can he hit ML pitching, not well IMO. What about defense, not that good by the stats as he is very error prone. Of course that could be exacerbated by a very weak 1B or 2B but I doubt by much. Plus plays are about right IMO for the minors especially last season. I see him able to achieve a very good defensive SS status with some better hitting abilities even but that will probably not be this season. The catch to me, he isn't ready for a ML uniform as of yet and maybe not for two seasons at least, not at SS anyway. His durability and health limits his playing time a bit also. He very well could make a solid 2B or 3B and maybe play some CF this year at the ML level with his current ratings. But how well is a question mark as he has only ever played SS in the minors.

Rule V players rarely get any ratings boost, have never figured out why (does WIS see this as a growth stunt?). IMO he is worth taking but don't expect much this season, especially in the hitting department. He would need a lot of playing time to make the pick worth while and hope he has a good rollover for next season.