Who's the #8 prospect?

[Tony-OH]

Ok, I'm going to make it easier on you guys and NOT put Erbe in at #8 because he's not at number 8. However, it'll be interesting to see who you guys vote as number 8 without him in the poll.

[Mackus]

I think it'll be Hoes.

Should be Erbe though

[Stotle]

Wow, to me Spoone is in a different tier than all of those choices. I have to go with him here.

[Mackus]

Wow, to me Spoone is in a different tier than all of those choices. I have to go with him here.

If not for the injury, I'd agree.

Shoulder surgery is terrifying though, even with it being a bit less damaging than a few years ago. The injury knocks him well out of the top-10 for me.

[Sports Guy]

I think this is Tony's guy..Spoone.

I have Spoone lower but not because of talent...just because of injury.

Tony said the injury may not impact him as much because he loves his upside.

[Moose Milligan]

I went with Spoone, too.

[hoosiers]

I'm in on Spoone. Stuff is too good, IMO, for Spoone to be outside the top 10.

Not sure how this bodes for Patton who, IMO, should be considered comparable to Spoone and should also be on the fringes of the Top 10.

[Icterus galbula]

I voted Britton. Its nice to see a guy who actually makes improvements in his game at every level he stops at.

[JTrea81]

Going with dem Hoes again....

[Frobby]

None of the other healthy pitchers deserve to be listed ahead of Erbe IMO, so I voted for Spoone, who after all, was ranked ahead of Erbe last year. I like Hoes but this is too high for a guy who put up OK numbers in the very lowest level of the organization.

[TakebackOPACY]

Hmm. If I could only have one of these guys in my organization, who would it be? I don't know. Do we expect Spoone to return to form? If so, then it's a no brainer. If not, I may have to go with Hoes by a nose.

As for the other guys, I think David Hernandez is awesome, but those 71 walks (tops in the Eastern League) probably knock him out of projection to the rotation. If he can harness his stuff a little more, I could see him appearing in 70 games in a season for the O's.

Britton is a lefty who can't buy a beer at the stadium yet. Lefty batters, many of whom can legally buy their own beer, hit .166 off him. After about mid-May, he held the entire South Atlantic League below the Mendoza Line. And there's a very good chance that his 2.81 GO/FO ratio will flourish with a little better defense behind him as he progresses.

I'm excited by Henson as a prospect, but he's fifth on this list for me.

The way I look at it, Hernandez would have to be a hair ahead of Britton because of how many guys have put up great numbers in the SAL league before Britton's '08 season. And those two guys would be ahead of Hoes out of respect for what they've done and what Hoes hasn't done yet. (Of course there's more to it than that.) But the way Tony's mind works, I THINK it's a decision between Spoone and Hoes.

Either way, if we expect Spoone to be fine, he's #8. And based on what I've read, we feel pretty good that Spoone will be fine. So he's my pick.

[Lucky Jim]

Should be Erbe. But I'm going with Spoone here.

Spoone.

Britton.

Hernandez.

Hoes.

Henson.

[NoVaO]

I went with Spoone as I do have him at this spot though I do have Erbe rated higher for reasons I'll get into later when he is finally ranked.

But the biggest issue with Spoone is obviously the injury though recovery rates are much better than they once were. Given his potential before injury was a No. 3/2 starter, I do think this is the right spot for him since I consider the others below him to not have quite that upside or are too far off to project.

[Ruzious]

Even if there's only a 50/50 chance that Spoone comes back 100%, you gotta take him over the others choices that Tony gave us, imo - since Erbe isn't one of the choices.

[Hank Scorpio]

Pretty sure this is Spoone.

I'll be interested to read the write up on Erbe, whenever he shows up!!!!!