Q.  I thought Tuiasosopo was your #2 Doc?

A.  In an expansion draft -- in a vacuum, not knowing the other GMs' prefs -- I'd protect Ackley first, and then Triunfel or Tuiasosopo #2.

We're taking things on the scouts' terms in some of these threads.  Tui and Triu are special cases, outside the "dan" heirarchy.  :- )   So we speak in terms of Ackley, Saunders, and Moore as the ML-ready blue chippers.

But yeah, to me, there are now five M's prospects who are four clear lengths ahead of the pack, coming down the straightaway.

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=== Foxsports.com and Scout.com Fantasy Baseball ===

Picked up a fantasy mag off the newsstand a few days ago and who should be doing the M's prospect writeups but a coupla guys named Churchill and Shields.  :- )

They had Matt Tuiasosopo, properly, ;- ) top 5 in the org.  See, these national mags need more local talent if they want to get it right!  Jason and Jon's, er Fox', top 5:

• 1 Ackley
• 2 Triunfel
• 3 Saunders
• 4 Moore
• 5 Tuiasosopo 
  

The funny thing about that is that I riffled through six or eight fantasy mags, looking for some source that might be legitimately expert... Rototimes?  HQ?  Okay, Fox with Scout.com, that'll work.

Then we flip open and find that Fox was indeed beefier than your average rag.  At least they showed the good sense to get the locals in on their shtick.

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=== Leading the Second Wave ===

Hmmmm, so who's 6 with Jason and Jon then ... Julio Morban!  The guy that BaseballHQ had so crazy high in the org.  You can't stop Jason and Jon, you can only hope to contain them...

7th?  Rich Poythress, in Baseball America tools-and-upside style.  Kewl.

Git you one, Puggy.  Good mag and a buck or two less than the others, even.

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=== Spring Training ===

The M's prejudice in favor of slick defense gets awfully annoying to Dr. D at times, such as when Jack Hannahan is taking Mike Carp's AB's at first in a lame-duck season.

From everything the beat writers are saying, Tuiasosopo has next to zero chance to be the fifth infielder in 2010.  Hopefully we'll hear differently from Wok, hear something along the lines of, "No, absolutely, if Matt shows he is ready to go then he is right in the mix."

............

But I suppose that in Tui's specific case, another year in AAA has its plusses.  He has by no means a player "with nothing left to learn" against PCL fringe-ML pitching. 

Tui has a bit of his own game to master yet, before taking on the AL.  And if he can still improve in AAA -- unlike Saunders or Moore, probably -- then you might as well delay his free agency.

Jack Hannahan seems like a fine fellow.  But no org is perfect, and to me Hannahan personifies the admin's excesses.  Willie Bloomquist -- the Big Time Org Loyalist -- was shown absolutely no mercy by us pundits.  Yet Willie II is the Teflon Man, with .195 AVG's at first base being given a friendly smile and nod-how-ya-doin'.

Considering Tui's strikeout rates yet, Hannahan will be okay with SSI for another half-year or so. 

................

In SSI's ideal world, Zduriencik is wanting Tuiasosopo to go down the PCL, force his hand with a .575 SLG, and then he'll be up during 2010.  If that's the plan, I can live with it.

Cheers,

Dr D