PhiWAUdelphia Phillies Top 20 Prospects

We're kicking off the NL East/AL West segment of our Top Prospect series with a look at the Philadelphia Phillies. If you're wondering how this compares to the downright depressing Rockies list I just posted, well, let's just say that I considered ranking a 22 year old first basemen who played in an independent league last year. (And he still probably would have been a Top 10 prospect for Colorado.) List, grades, and commentary are all after the jump.

Colorado WAUckies Top 20 Prospects

Finishing up with the NL West, we visit Colorado, where the Rockies system makes me want to kill myself.  Enjoy my misery, and click ahead to see individual grades for these "prospects" and system commentary mourning.

ChicWAUgo Cubs Top 20 Prospects

In an effort to finish up the NL West, we're taking the top prospect series to Chicago.  The Cubs top 20 list, with individual grades and system commentary, is after the jump.

CleveWAUnd Indians Top 20 Prospects

Finishing up the AL East, we're taking a look at the Cleveland Indians farm system tonight.  After this, we'll finish up the NL West with reviews of the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies, and then move onto the AL West and NL East.  After the jump, you can find the Indians' Top 20 prospects, with individual grades followed by system commentary.

MilWAUkee Brewers Top 20 Prospects

We're staying in the AL East to check up on the Milwaukee Brewers prospects.  The list with individual grades and system commentary is after the jump:

Detroit TWAUgers Top 20 Prospects

We're back in the AL East, where the Detroit Tigers are trying to maintain an above average farm despite recent prospect graduations and trades.  While Abe does a good enough job of hyping up his prospects, a slightly different take on his prospects is up after the jump.  As usual, there's individual grades for the prospects, followed by a system commentary.

San FranciscWAU Giants Top 20 Prospects

We'll stay in the NL West this time, checking in on the San Francisco Giants' system.  After the jump, there's a full list of the Giants' Top 20 prospects, with grades for individual players and a system commentary at the end.

Houston WAUstros Top... 35 Prospects

We're moving back to the NL West in our Top Prospect series, and all eyes are now on Houston.  The Astros have been hoarding prospects for the past five years, and trading those prospects away for more prospects if/when they reach the majors.  What do they have to show for it?  Well, this is a farm that is actually sort of disgusting in its extravagance, so much so that I had to extend the list from 20 prospects to 35, lest I want to leave out a ton of B- guys.  The list, with grades and system commentary is after the jump.

Tampa Bay Devil WAUys Top 20 Prospects

I'll start this off by saying: it is hard to incorporate WAU into "Tampa Bay Rays".  Really no good way to do that.  Anyway, we are indeed taking our Top Prospect series to western Florida, where the new-ish RaysGM is working on restoring a farm system that FourthBase obliterated about three years ago.  After the jump is the bare-bones list of rankings, with grades for individual players, and system commentary at the end.

Post Round 2: Compensatory AMAT Draft Changes

We just finished Round 2 of Free Agency, so we can look once again at the updated AMAT Draft Order.  There are only six Type A-/A free agents remaining on the market (I updated the list of those players here), so this is a mostly finalized look at the first two rounds:

Los WAUngeles Dodgers Top 20 Prospects

Moving back once again to the NL West, it's time to take our Top Prospect series to Los Angeles for a look at the Dodgers farm system.  As usual, I'm posting a bare-bones list of rankings, with grades for individual players, and system commentary at the end.

St. Louis WAUrdinals Top 20 Prospects

Swinging back to the AL East again in our Top Prospect series, now seems like as good a time as any to check in on my own St. Louis Cardinals system.  As usual, I'm posting a bare-bones list of rankings, with grades for individual players, and system commentary at the end.  It should be noted that these grades and rankings are not identical to my prospect thread in my forum, but once post editing gets restored, that thread will match this post.

San Diego WAUdres Top 20 Prospects

We're once again returning to the NL West in our Top Prospect series. This time, we're going to take a look at WAU San Diego Padres farm system. Again, as a reminder: I'm posting a bare-bones list of rankings, with grades for individual players, and system commentary at the end.

TWAUronto Blue Jays Top 20 Prospects

Shifting back to the AL East in our Top Prospect series, let's take a look at what the new management is inheriting in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system.  Again, as a reminder: I'm posting a bare-bones list of rankings, with grades for individual players, and system commentary at the end.

Post Round 1: Compensatory AMAT Draft Changes

Well, we're just about finished with Round 1, so we can take a look at the updated AMAT Draft order with changes to the first two rounds.  The Tigers just signed 1B Paul Konerko, the last remaining Type A free agent in this free agency round.  The draft order for the first two AMAT rounds is after the jump.  Protected picks are in red; compensatory picks are in green.  Remember that compensatory picks can still be pushed back if the compensating team signs a higher-ranked Type A free agent.  Also, I didn't include Round 2B, because the order posted by Rob at the forum was different than what I got, and I don't want to confuse people with an incorrect order.

Nominate your WAU FA Potential Albatross signing.

It happens every season, in every league.  Some desperate soul opens up the financial floodgates and showers some underachieving, oft-injured schmuck with piles of silly money.  There is rarely an exception to this rule.  Please use the comments section, or hashtag #WAUlbatross to nominate a player whom you think is most likely to hamstring their team, buy tying up good money for lack of performance.  At the end of FA, the nominations will be compiled to be voted on, and a winner (loser?) will be determined.

Free Agency Live: Wrapping Up Round 1

With just a few Round 1 free agents still on the market, and no bidding activity to speak of, now seems to be as good a time as any to wrap up and recap late Round 1 action.

WAUrizona Diamondbacks Top 20 Prospects

Continuing on in our Top Prospect series, let's shift to the NL West to check on the Arizona Diamondbacks system.  As a reminder: I'm posting a bare-bones list of rankings, with grades for individual players, and system commentary at the end.

2011 Type A and A- Compensation Rankings

A few people have asked me about this, so I figured I'd answer on the blog to give you all something concrete to reference. The question is: How do I find out if Typed Player X is better than Identically Typed Player Y? It's relevant in free agency, obviously, to determine which compensated team gets the better picks in the event that a compensating team signs more than one of the same type of players.  Well, you'd have to rank them in their given types using Baseball Monster, which is sort of a pain in the ass, so I've provided a ranked list of Type A and Type A- players below:

Baltimore WAUrioles Top 20 Prospects

I'm not going to be nearly as in-depth this year as the last couple, so maybe that will help me actually follow through with these.  Bottom line is this: I'm going to be going through each system and posting the Top 20 prospects, with my own personal grades for those prospects.  I'm not going to add individual player commentary this year, but I will post system commentary to go along with the lists.

We'll start this off with the Baltimore Orioles, who recently traded blue-chip OF Mike Stanton.

Free Agency Live: Wednesday's Round 1 Action

As more FA threads continue to close, let's look at a quick update on the decidedly Detroit-centric action.

Glancing Ahead to Round 2 and Beyond

Round 1 has seen quite a few Type A free agents, but there are still some on the board.  If you're wondering which players you'll soon be able to waste to first round picks on, there's a list after the jump.

Initial 2011 WAU Amateur Draft Order

Thought this could be helpful, since it's not posted anywhere on the forum.  If you were wondering which picks are protected from compensation and which aren't, as well as where your pick might be, well, look no further.  There are no in-round compensatory picks from unsigned 2010 1st rounders this year, but I included the Supplementary Round 1A here to account for Loux, Whitson, and Wilson, anyway.  Remember that compensatory supplementary picks through free agency will go to Round 1B, therefore starting at pick #32.

Free Agency Live: Mid-Round 1 Recap

Well, with Round 1 of WAU Free Agency winding down, I suppose now would be a good time to recap the action.

Welcome to WAU: The Blog

Before I go, lemme explain a couple things! So, obviously I started this blog last preseason to post some top prospect lists, and I didn't really keep up. My bad, guys! BUT: I was talking to Rory last night about free agency, and he mentioned that we should liveblog it, which would be totally badass. So, I decided to start this thing up again and make a few quick changes (mainly just delete all my self-righteous prospect bullshit and make it a WAU-centric NEWSZONE).

Now, this decision somehow coincided with maybe the most awesome addition to WAU since we got that old BrewersGM that threw escalator options at retired quadriplegic frisbee golfers. As you probably know if you're reading this, a bunch of us got Twitter pages for our WAU teams. There is no possible bad way for this end. I checked every conceivable universe in which we have WAU Twitter accounts and they are all happytimes.

Anyway, my point is this: The next logical branch for us is to go BLOG CRAZY. Or at the very least just BLOG LUKEWARM. So! If anybody else wants to have access to the blog, let me know and I will totally get on that. I like the idea of random rants about the league or team directions or really just about anything. It's a pretty good idea. Join me with it!