The main question with the new top prospect in the system is the timing of his arrival in St. Louis.

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Teufelshunde4 wrote: I wonder about the pressure on Oscar... Many will be greatly disappointed if Oscar doesnt come up and be a superstar from day one..  I find it a bit unrealistic and unfair to the young man..

cardinalnationhouston wrote: Wow, great articles on the prospects. Thank you guys for all the freebies. I will probably read them all again between now and opening day. These prospect threads have helped me immensley with Cards minor leaguers. One thing that made me think was CC says "In fact, as I saw commented on our message board this week, is there any way the youngster can not fail to live up to expectations?" Then at the end Brian says "It is worth noting that he represents the most celebrated hitter to come up through the system since Colby Rasmus". It made me wonder why so few people brought up the "incredibly high bar" scenario when Colby was slumping? Is it that some St.Louis fans were unable to like this kid from the very start or is it that Tavares is considered a much better prospect? I am curious to see if this kid sticks in centerfield where i believe he is  most valuable to the team or does he  become a corner outfielder. I am also curious to see how his unorthadox swing translates to the MLB level and whether or not he develops as a base stealer. At any rate with a very low K total last year Oscar should be very fun to watch. This is the one youngster Cards should hold on to regardless of trade scenarios. I think you can give up 1 or 2 young arms b/c there is a lot of depth at that spot but no way they trade this kid. Could be looking at a Curt Flood with a lot more power.

Jmodene1 wrote: Just checking...

Chili Davis, in 6+ years with the Giants thru the age of 27, gave the Giants a line of .267/.340/.422 with an OPS+ of 113. 

Rasmus, in 4 full seasons through the age of 25, is at .243/.313/.422 with an OPS+ of 98.  Moreover, since the trade, he's given Toronto a line of .213/.273/.384 with an OPS+ of 76.

I suppose Colby's still a better defensive player than Chili ever was... but anyone who thinks Colby hasn't stunk up the joint as a major leaguer (except for the one decent season) is mistaken.

Colby may have been a five-tool player but he's missing the sixth tool... a head.

Jmodene1 wrote: Just checking...

Chili Davis, in 6+ years with the Giants thru the age of 27, gave the Giants a line of .267/.340/.422 with an OPS+ of 113. 

Rasmus, in 4 full seasons through the age of 25, is at .243/.313/.422 with an OPS+ of 98.  Moreover, since the trade, he's given Toronto a line of .213/.273/.384 with an OPS+ of 76.

I suppose Colby's still a better defensive player than Chili ever was... but anyone who thinks Colby hasn't stunk up the joint as a major leaguer (except for the one decent season) is mistaken.

Colby may have been a five-tool player but he's missing the sixth tool... a head.

Regardless of what you think about my Davis/Colby comparison, I don't think you can justly call Colby a bust yet.

Compare him with Alex Gordon then if you don't like Davis.

Gordon's OPS+ in his first four years: 90, 109, 87, 84 (avg 92.5) and then he broke out with a 140 last year and a 125 this year at 28 years old.

SoonerinNC wrote: Brian I'm sure you will see Mike Shildt sometime during spring training. It would be interesting to hear his take on the possibility of Oscar as a potential major league center fielder.

I saw about 30-40% of Springfield's games on the net last year and Shildt was using him in center field almost exclusively late in the season. To my untrained eye he really improved his defense as the season went on.

Also I think he has more speed than most observers give him credit for and maybe more speed than Jay. He was beating out base infield rollers for base hits and taking the extra base more as the season went on.

blingboy wrote:

SoonerinNC wrote: Brian I'm sure you will see Mike Shildt sometime during spring training. It would be interesting to hear his take on the possibility of Oscar as a potential major league center fielder.

I saw about 30-40% of Springfield's games on the net last year and Shildt was using him in center field almost exclusively late in the season. To my untrained eye he really improved his defense as the season went on.

Also I think he has more speed than most observers give him credit for and maybe more speed than Jay. He was beating out base infield rollers for base hits and taking the extra base more as the season went on.

It will be interesting to see how much CF Taveras plays in Memphis.

DTFlush234 wrote:

blingboy wrote:

SoonerinNC wrote: Brian I'm sure you will see Mike Shildt sometime during spring training. It would be interesting to hear his take on the possibility of Oscar as a potential major league center fielder.

I saw about 30-40% of Springfield's games on the net last year and Shildt was using him in center field almost exclusively late in the season. To my untrained eye he really improved his defense as the season went on.

Also I think he has more speed than most observers give him credit for and maybe more speed than Jay. He was beating out base infield rollers for base hits and taking the extra base more as the season went on.

It will be interesting to see how much CF Taveras plays in Memphis.

Given Chambers will be playing all around the outfield and CF is his primary position will be interesting to see how much time Taveras gets in CF.

blingboy wrote: Re the talk about Rasmus above. He just signed for 2013 for $4.675M avoiding arb. So that puts him around $9M for his career so far. He's what, mid twenties. I could stand flopping like that. My dad could say whatever he wants. Sign me up.