When I read Jonathan Mayo's Prospect Watch material at MLB it revived the old 'journalists vs pro scouts' debate in me much like when I read Baseball America. A great example of that was on display today when I read that Mayo rated Starling Marte as the 7th best outfield prospect in the minors link.

That's crazy nuts. Don't get me wrong - I like Marte but certainly not THAT much. For one, he'll never stay in CF (especially at PNC where you need a burner) because he's an average-at-best runner so that means he'll have to play a corner or play for club with a smaller CF. And two, he relies too much on his wrists to make contact because his bat speed is below average and that means he'll be vulnerable to good pitching. Bottom line, he's only 5' 11", isn't speedy, and has very little pop in his bat so no matter how strong a corner he plays, even if he hits for average he'll always be a below-average hitting corner.

Regardless of how or what you think of Marte, I believe Marte is the perfect example of a journalist's 'upside' player - he plays the game hard every second he's on the field... he's a fan-favorite kind of guy that everyone roots for. Unfortunately, very few of those types of players (shy in the toolshed) stick for any length of time in the majors (see: Nate McLouth). So after reading my opinion on Marte I'll understand when you say - Jake's nuts.. Marte is *much* better than he thinks he is. Trust me, I understand... been there, felt that.

But three years from now when Marte's value is lost because Huntington didn't deal him at the height of his career (his 2A numbers were one-plus standard deviation above his norm so we can expect significant decline in 2012), I'm thinking we may be remembering the argument that journalists make for good stories, and scouts make for good analysis.

And, perhaps, that's one reason the Pirates are where they are? Too many feel-good PR stories and too few scouts...??