It's the biggest travel day of the year in the U.S., and that means a short list of links today.
Rockies get pitcher from White Sox for Kahnle - Greg Johns / MLB.com
After being Designated For Assignment as part of a 40-man roster crunch last week, the Rockies found a trade partner for Tommy Kahnle on the south side of Chicago. In return, they received Yency Almonte, a 21-year-old long shot with promising upside who will need years to work on his craft.
There's plenty to like about this arm though. In small doses, he's already improved at each level he's pitched since being taken in the 17th round of the 2012 draft. Take a look at this:
Rookie ball: 60 Innings pitched, 7.50 ERA
Low-A: 134.2 Innings pitched, 4.21 ERA
High-A: 44.2 Innings pitched, 2.82 ERA
He'll get a much better test to see how he handles High-A in Modesto next season, but if it goes anything like his 44 inning in Winston-Salem, he will rocket north on every prospect list.
Prospect Countdown: Yency Almonte - Taylor Ward
This link is old, but relevant as it provides us a look at an Almonte scouting report from two years ago before started posting some impressive results on the field. I often like to read scouting reports on players from different time periods to see their growth over the long haul. If you read enough of them, you start to grasp what's most important to look out for with each type of player.
Then there's also this report from Future Sox:
Carrying the flashy nickname "Showtime", Almonte is said to have a consistent delivery and approach with good extension. He also has more advanced control and fastball command than most pitching prospects his age. The pitch arsenal includes a low 90's fastball that he commands well, a low 80's slider with good late break, and a work-in-progress change-up. The delivery appears to be low effort, coming from a 3/4 slot or maybe a little higher.
Rockies SS Jose Reyes pleads not guilty to domestic abuse charge - ESPN
Switching gears to a much more somber topic, Jose Reyes took the next step in the painfully slow legal process to determine if he did or did not abuse his wife. The most important piece of information here is that the next court date isn't until January 14th, meaning that the Rockies are likely going to have to complete most all of their off season plans before MLB comes down with any sort of ruling on Reyes. I'll have more on how I think the Rockies should handle this situation in coming weeks here at Purple Row.
Here's a piece I ultimately disagree with but is a good read on a topic that's going to gain momentum over the next year as we head towards the next Collective Bargaining Agreement window. The Dodgers have blown past their spending limit on International Free Agents by a margin of light years and the 100 percent tax hasn't even come close to slowing them down. Only MLB rules which prevents them from signing any more of these players in 2016 after blowing past so many stop signs will keep them in check momentarily.
The big topic this is pushing is the potential need for an international draft. Either that or a way to somehow incorporate these players into the June draft already in place. One way or another though, there's going to be a response from MLB because the current system where the Dodgers outspend everybody else by orders of magnitude in this department isn't working.
Spector argues that the Dodgers will just spend the money somewhere else which is true, but if you confine their spending completely to the free agent market where they have to pay for older players over long periods of time during their decline years, I think you limit their financial advantage. The thing you don't want is the Dodgers using their money to bully their way into more cracks at potential young stars. The opportunity to get the best young talent should be reserved for the teams with the worst records each year to help continue to promote as much turnover in MLB success over time as possible.