Knuckle Curve » justin_upton

Snakes Ship Quentin to ChiSox

Geoff Young — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:45:50 +0000

The Arizona Diamondbacks have traded disappointing outfielder Carlos Quentin to the Chicago White Sox for first-base prospect Chris Carter. The 26-year-old Quentin, a former first-round pick with excellent minor-league credentials (.313/.413/.527 in nearly 1600 PA), never got his career rolling in Phoenix (.230/.316/.425 in about 450 PA), due in part to injuries.

Murton Next?

Quentin is the third first-round pick from the 2003 draft to be traded within the past week (Delmon Young, Lastings Milledge). Now it seems that another member of that class, Cubs outfielder Matt Murton, could be on his way out of Chicago before long. Stay tuned…

On the other side, Carter hit .291/.383/.522 in 2007 (his first full pro season) as a 20-year-old in the South Atlantic League. Good power, good plate discipline. Sort of like Quentin, but without the failed prospect tag.

With Chris Young in center, and youngsters Carlos Gonzalez and Justin Upton on the rise, Quentin faced stiff competition in Arizona. With a fresh start, and assuming he can stay healthy, maybe he will finally live up to his promise. If so, Chicago will have picked itself up a pretty useful player.

For the Diamondbacks, the addition of Carter, ranked #11 among White Sox prospects by Baseball America prior to the 2007 season, presumably buys them some insurance in case Conor Jackson stalls. Jackson, a fellow first-rounder in the 2003 draft (taken at #19, 10 slots ahead of Quentin), has played fairly well since arriving in the big leagues, but it’s always good to have a back-up plan.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Twenty Names to Know

Geoff Young — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:51:32 +0000

Nate Silver ran a piece the other day at Baseball Prospectus re-examining his earlier look at the 50 most valuable long-term commodities in baseball. He offers thoughts on biggest risers (including Justin Upton, about whom he correctly notes that “age is everything, and for a 19-year-old to come this far this fast is very special”), biggest fallers (comparing Jason Bay’s career path to that of Bobby Higginson), and his “very preliminary, off-the-cuff, subject-to-change, pre-PECOTA Top 20″ for next year.

Read the full article for all the details, but here are Silver’s projected top pitchers for 2008-2013. See if you can figure out which one doesn’t belong:

Johan Santana, Min
Jake Peavy, SD
C.C. Sabathia, Cle
Erik Bedard, Bal
Joba Chamberlain, NYA

Hint: His last last name is the same as that of a former British prime minister.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Justin Upton, Destroyer of Worlds

Geoff Young — Sat, 26 May 2007 23:31:41 +0000

Well, okay, maybe not worlds. But with the way Justin Upton is destroying pitchers, it’s only a matter of time before he sets his sights on the planets.

B.J.’s little brother, the first pick overall in the 2000 draft, is batting .325/.386/.775 in 11 games at Double-A Mobile since being promoted from Visalia. He hit “only” .341/.433/.540 in 32 California League games.

Wait, here’s the scary part: Upton is 19 years old.

Uh, I could make pretty mean arm farts when I was that age. Not that there’s anything wrong with arm farts, but wow. Presumably Upton can’t maintain his current pace (.450 ISO, are you kidding?) all year long, but at this point, you have to wonder how the Diamondbacks are going to keep him of the big-league roster in 2008.

Heck, they might have trouble keeping him out of Phoenix this year. Did I mention that he’s 19 years old?

I’m depressed. Think I’ll go work on my arm farts…

Post from: Knuckle Curve