Dodgers bring back Trayvon Robinson on minor-league deal

The Dodgers signed a familiar name to a minor league contract as Trayvon Robinson will reportedly return to the organization that drafted him and then traded him away.

Nothing is official, but Matt Eddy of Baseball America reported Friday Robinson is back in the fold as he attempts to work his way onto a major league roster once again after flaming out in Seattle. Robinson, who won't turn 27 until September, was a 10th-round selection in 2005 and sparked interest amongst Dodger faithful when he hit .293/.375/.563/.938 with a .400 wOBA and 26 homers in 100 games for Triple-A Albuquerque in 2011. Before he could finish the season, he was sent to the Mariners in a three-team deal.

I wasn't a fan of the deal at the time, as the Dodgers seemingly got little in return for a talented guy like Robinson who was just breaking out. Even if he amounted to nothing down the road, it seemed Ned Colletti had sold quite low. Stephen Fife and Tim Federowicz were the main pieces coming back, and while neither has become a key piece to the big league team Fife has been nice rotation depth and Federowicz is a cheap backup catcher with an excellent defensive reputation.

Robinson made a couple of highlight-reel catches but quickly faded into obscurity after failing to hit big league pitching. In more than 300 plate appearances between 2011-2012 Trayvon posted a sub-.300 OBP. He tried to catch on with the Orioles last season, but didn't show much in Double-A and Triple-A.

There's no risk in bringing Robinson in on a minor league deal and what will likely be a Spring Training invitation -- the Dodgers give those out like candy -- as continued poor performance would be met with his release or a permanent spot back in Albuquerque as depth.

In a perfect world, Robinson would hit like Peter Bourjos and play defense like a poor man's Bourjos, thus allowing him to be a fourth- or fifth outfielder in The Show; back up Matt Kemp as a true center fielder; and perhaps even allow for one of Carl Crawford or Andre Ethier to more easily be moved without worrying about depth.

In all likelihood, this is going to turn out to be nothing more than a feel-good story of a former Dodger prospect and Los Angeles native returning home for a second chance.

Photo Credit: Roger C. Hoover (rogerchoover), Flickr

Baseball America's Top 10 Dodgers' prospects leaked

Well, Friday was to be the day Baseball America released its Top 10 Dodgers' prospects. But the Dodgers' official Twitter account beat 'em to it.

"@Dodgers: '@BaseballAmerica Top #Dodgers prospects: 1-Lee 2-Webster 3-Eovaldi 4-Silverio 5-Reed 6-Gould 7-Withrow 8-Lindblom 9-Pederson 10-Federowicz"

Here's the cleaned-up version of the list:

1. Zach Lee
2. Allen Webster
3. Nathan Eovaldi
4. Alfredo Silverio
5. Chris Reed
6. Garrett Gould
7. Chris Withrow
8. Josh Lindblom
9. Joc Pederson
10. Tim Federowicz

And here's a side-by-side comparison to my rankings from nine days ago:

Rank	Baseball America	FKB (mine)
1	Lee	Lee
2	Webster	Eovaldi
3	Eovaldi	Webster
4	Silverio	Gould
5	Reed	Sanchez
6	Gould	Pederson
7	Withrow	Songco
8	Lindblom	Tolleson
9	Pederson	Smith
10	Federowicz	Lemmerman

As you can see, Baseball America and myself differ on a lot of the Top 10. In fact, the only one we had the same is Lee (with Eovaldi and Webster flip-flopped).

Analysis

We all know Baseball America's love for former high draft picks, which is why Reed, Withrow and Lindblom are ranked as high as they are. I'm not a believer in Reed as a starter (though I hope he proves me wrong), Withrow seems destined for the bullpen unless he can start throwing strikes consistently and Lindblom is a nice bullpen arm, but doesn't belong in the Top 10.

I'm higher on guys like Angel Sanchez, Angelo Songco, Blake Smith and Jake Lemmerman than BA, which is totally unsurprising to me.

And I don't think we could differ more on Federowicz. I just don't see him being able to hit enough to justify a Top 10 ranking in the system.

The most surprising inclusion is Silverio at No. 4. He had a great season for the Lookouts, but did he do enough to jump into the system's Top 5? I don't think so. I had him just outside the Top 10 (No. 11) and want to see if his 2011 was a sign of things to come or a fluke.

Looking forward to the Top 30 in the 2012 Prospect Handbook.

Dodger prospects in Baseball America's top 100 since 1990

I found an interesting post on Minor League Ball where someone compiled a list of all the Baseball America Top 100 prospects every season since 1990. I'm going to take a look at the Dodgers on the list and break it down a little.

This seems appropriate as it's prospecting season and my Dodgers' Top 30 will be out in the next 2-3 weeks.

• No. times a Dodger was ranked: 89
• Highest ranking: 2, Paul Konerko (1998)
• Most in a year: 9 (2006)
• No. of times in top 10: 12
  
• Players ranked the most: Roger Cedeno, 1993-96 (ranks 85, 38, 26, 57); Paul Konerko 1995-98 (ranks 45, 42, 11, 2); James Loney, 2003-05, 2007 (ranks 34, 42, 62, 44)

The Dodgers have experienced some highs and lows with their farm system over the years. In the early '90s, it was chock full of potential stars and future Hall-of-Famers. Players like Mike Piazza and Pedro Martinez led the list.

Then came the run of four consecutive Rookies of the Year -- a time in which the Dodgers had one of the strongest farm systems in baseball.

From 1998 to about 2003, the Dodgers' system was stripped by trades and busted prospects. Hell, the only guy to make the BA Top 100 in 1999 (catcher Angel Pena) and 2001 (outfielder Chin-Feng Chen). This was due to extremely poor top draft choices from 1995-2001, where the names David Yocum, Damian Rolls, Glenn Davis, Bubba Crosby, Jason Repko, Ben Diggins and Brian Pilkington all were present.

The system began to re-emerge under former General Manager Dan Evans and Scouting Director Logan White. The 2002 draft produced players like James Loney, Greg Miller, Jonathan Broxton and Russell Martin. The 2003 draft was also a solid effort, netting Chad Billingsley and Matt Kemp.

Once those guys graduated to the majors or dropped off the list due to poor performance and/or injuries, the Dodger system went back into a lull. Since Clayton Kershaw graduated in 2008, the Dodgers' system hasn't been well-regarded by prospect experts. It seems like the system is ticketed for another uptake in the not-to-distant-near-future.

Here's a year-by-year breakdown of the Dodgers on the BA Top 100 since 1990 (ranks in parenthesis)

1990
Kiki Jones, RHP (6)
Jose Offerman, SS (10)
Tom Goodwin, OF (30)
Braulio Castillo, OF (34)
Eric Karros, 1B (84)
Jose Vizciano, 2B/SS (99)
Comments: Offerman, Goodwin and Vizciano saw time in the bigs. Karros was the 1992 Rookie of the Year and the L.A. Dodger all-time home run leader

1991
Offerman (4)
Raul Mondesi, OF (14)
Henry Rodriguez, OF (29)
Jamie McAndrew, RHP (41)
Jones (41)
Dan Opperman, RHP (71)
Goodwin (74)
Karros (94)
Comments: Boy, they had high hopes for Offerman. Rodriguez made his name in Montreal.

1992
Pedro Martinez, RHP (10)
Mondesi (21)
Comments: A future Hall-of-Famer and one of the better five-tool players of the 1990s who also won the 1994 ROY.

1993
Mike Piazza, C (38)
Martinez (62)
Mondesi (82)
Roger Cedeno, OF (85)
Comments: Another HOF'er and my favorite player of all-time in Piazza. Martinez dropped and was later traded for 2B Delino DeShields.

1994
Darren Dreifort, RHP (11)
Chan Ho Park, RHP (14)
Todd Hollandsworth, OF (27)
Cedeno (38)
Mondesi (51)
Rick Gorecki, RHP (75)
Comments: Dreifort was the No. 2 pick in the 1993 MLB Draft behind Alex Rodriguez. Oh what might have been. All these guys saw time in the bigs, and all but Gorecki saw significant time.

1995
Hollandsworth (13)
Antonio Osuna, RHP (15)
Cedeno (26)
Paul Konerko, C/1B (45)
Park (41)
Karim Garcia, OF (98)
Comments: The first Garcia sighting and like the previous year, these guys all made the big leagues.

1996
Garcia (7)
Park (18)
Konerko (42)
Hollandsworth (44)
Cedeno (57)
Wilton Guerrero, SS (61)
Comments: Garcia looked bound for superstardom and the Dodgers signed the wrong Guerrero, as Wilton is Vladimir's brother. Hollandsworth won the 1995 ROY.

1997
Konerko (11)
Garcia (20)
Adrian Beltre, 3B (30)
Guerrero (49)
Onan Masaoka, LHP (95)
Comments: Believe it or not, I remember Masaoka (No. 40). Beltre makes his first appearance.

1998
Konerko (2)
Beltre (3)
Mike Judd, RHP (59)
Dennis Reyes, LHP (91)
Comments: Talk about top-heavy. The Dodgers haven't had two guys in the top five since and didn't prior to 1998.

1999
Angel Pena, C (41)
Comments: Pretty sad when you think about it.

2000 (23)
Chin-Feng Chen, OF (17)
Eric Gagne, RHP (49)
Comments: The Dodgers made a splash in the international market to bring in Chen and Gagne had potential.

2001 (28)
Chen (86)
Comments: Back to being sad.

2002 (25)
Kazuhisa Ishii, LHP (35)
Chen (64)
Ricardo Rodriguez, RHP (2002)
Comments: Ishii was a free agent from Japan and Rodriguez was later traded for RHP Paul Shuey.

2003 (14)
James Loney, 1B (34)
Jonathan Figueroa, LHP (35)
Edwin Jackson, RHP (99)
Comments: The turnaround begins. Unfortunately, Figueroa never made it (R.I.P.)

2004 (2)
Jackson (4)
Greg Miller, LHP (8)
Franklin Gutierrez, OF (31)
Loney (42)
Comments: Jackson came up in 2003 on his birthday and out-dueled Randy Johnson to earn this ranking. Gutierrez is now one of the best defensive outfielders in the majors and was traded for Milton Bradley prior to the '04 season. Miller had some of the greatest potential of any Dodger prospect.

2005 (2)
Joel Guzman, SS (5)
Chad Billingsley, RHP (19)
Jackson (30)
Loney (62)
Andy LaRoche, 3B (74)
Russell Martin, C (89)
Miller (100)
Comments: Another international signing in Guzman, which has been missing from the Dodgers' farm system in recent years. Billingsley makes his first appearance.

2006 (2)
Billingsley (7)
LaRoche (19)
Guzman (26)
Martin (42)
Scott Elbert, LHP (55)
Jonathan Broxton, RHP (63)
Blake DeWitt, 3B (82)
Andre Ethier, OF (89)
Matt Kemp, OF (96)
Comments: This was the year that had everyone talking. Despite having nine guys in the top 100, BA still ranked the Diamondbacks' overrated farm system ahead of the Dodgers'. Ethier was acquired in the Milton Bradley deal while the others were homegrown.

2007 (6)
LaRoche (19)
Clayton Kershaw, LHP (24)
Elbert (31)
Loney (44)
Comments: Graduations hurt the Dodgers' minor league depth. Grabbing Kershaw at No. 7 overall helped a lot.

2008 (6)
Kershaw (7)
LaRoche (31)
Chin-lung Hu, SS (55)
Elbert (88)
Comments: Kershaw established himself as one of the best pitching prospects in baseball and was on the fast track to stardom. Hu forced himself onto the list with a breakout 2007.

2009 (23)
Andrew Lambo, OF/1B (49)
James McDonald, RHP (56)
Comments: Again, graduations and poor decisions (like trading Carlos Santana for Casey Blake) hurt the depth. Ironically, these two were traded for Dotel in July 2010.

2010 (24)
Dee Gordon, SS (46)
Chris Withrow, RHP (48)
Comments: Withrow had a horrible 2010, which will likely keep him out of the 2011 Top 100, but Gordon should be firmly entrenched on the list.

The Dodgers' farm system has the ability to turn it around with high-potential prospects like Gordon, Rubby De La Rosa and Zach Lee. It'll be interesting to see how they develop of the next couple years and how the Dodgers plan to replenish the system. Getting back into the international market would be a great start.