Here is Baseball America's Top 20 in the Carolina League. Frederick puts 5 players in the Top 20, about as good as the Orioles could have hoped for.
No surprise that Matt Wieters placed #1, but very nice to see Jake Arrieta at #2. Brandon Erbe also was a nice surprise, not that he was on the list, but that he was all the way up at number 8. Also good to see Brandon Snyder and Billy Rowell, two former first round picks, both make the Top 20.
It should be interesting to see who makes the Eastern League list. I'd have to assume Chris Tillman will be there. Nolan Reimold certainly has a shot. Which of the other Baysox pitchers will be there? David Hernandez and Brad Bergeson both certainly have a shot to be there as well.
Also, with the regular season wrapping up yesterday (I know, I know, I haven't been following the major league team at all. Tough when they've ended the season so poorly.) you might wonder whether I'll keep blogging over the winter. Basically, yes. It seems that recently the off-seasons have been more exciting than the regular seasons at the Warehouse, so I'll be here to follow every rumor that gets mentioned this off-season. Mark Texeira, AJ Burnett, a Markakis extension, trades of Huff/Mora/Hernandez, maybe even Roberts. Lots of stories to follow this winter, and I'll be all over the Hot Stove.
My first off-season prediction: MacPhail gets Markakis inked to a 6 or 7 year deal somewhere between 65 and 75 million dollars. They've apparently talked during the season, but couldn't get anything done. I think this gets finished sometime early on in the off-season.
Keywords: Baltimore Orioles
