Last Thursday was a sad day for baseball. Rod Dedeaux died at age 91 in
Glendale, Calif.

Dedeaux is best known for winning a record 11 College World Series
championships, but he did so much more than that. John Manuel detailed
Dedeaux' many accomplishments in our obituary last week, so I won't repeat
them all here. He played briefly in the majors and started a
multimillion-dollar trucking company before becoming head coach of the
Trojans, where he won five straight titles from 1970-74 and sent 59 players
to the majors, including Randy Johnson, Mark McGwire and Tom Seaver. Dedeaux
had as much to do with making baseball an Olympic sport as anyone.

He also was one of the best ambassadors the game has had on any level. I've
been to the last 17 College World Series, and every year I'd bump into
Dedeaux at some point. Always alert, he'd be tooling around with his
baseball-bat cane and calling people "Tiger." He'd always make a nice comment
about Baseball America and be up on all the current baseball events. He took
great pride a few years ago when I did a big feature that concluded he was
the best college coach ever, and more pride in former player Mike Gillespie
restoring the USC program to national prominence. One year, he compared my
oldest son's pitching delivery to Seaver's, and my son will never forget
that. Nor will I. I always enjoy the CWS—it remains my favorite baseball
event, and I take my sons every year—but I won't enjoy it as much without
Dedeaux.

While researching a column for the current edition of the magazine, I
discovered that Texas has just pulled off the sixth double baseball-football
national championship at the highest level of college competition in the same
year. The others: Minnesota in 1960; Southern California in 1972, 1974 and
1978; and Miami in 2001. Sometime I'll have to track down how many athletes
played on both championship teams.

The compensation draft picks for free agents are nearly complete. The lone
remaining free agent requiring compensation is Jeff Weaver (Type A), formerly
of the Dodgers. Here's the up-to-date list:

First Round
18. Phillies (from Mets for Type A Billy Wagner)
21. Yankees (from Phillies for Type A Tom Gordon)
22. Nationals (from Athletics for Type B Esteban Loaiza)
25. Angels (from Indians for Type B Paul Byrd)
26. Nationals (from Angels for Type B Hector Carrasco)
28. Red Sox (from Yankees for Type A Johnny Damon)

Supplemental First Round
31. Orioles (for Type A B.J. Ryan)
32. Giants (for Type A Scott Eyre)
33. Diamondbacks (for Type A Tim Worrell)
34. Padres (for Type A Ramon Hernandez)
35. Marlins (for Type A A.J. Burnett)
36. Phillies (for Wagner)
37. Braves (for Type A Kyle Farnsworth)
38. Indians (for Type A Bob Howry)
39. Red Sox (for Damon)
40. Yankees (for Gordon)
41. Cardinals (for Type A Matt Morris)
42. Braves (for Type A Rafael Furcal)
43. Red Sox (for Type A Bill Mueller)

Second Round
50. Braves (from Dodgers for Furcal)
52. Padres (from Orioles for Hernandez)
53. Cardinals (from Giants for Morris)
55. Indians (from Rangers for Type B Kevin Millwood)
56. Indians (from Cubs for Howry)
57. Orioles (from Blue Jays for Ryan)
71. Braves (from Yankees for Farnsworth)

Supplemental Second Round
74. Indians (for Type C Scott Elarton)
75. Cardinals (for Type C Abraham Nunez)

Third Round
82. Red Sox (from Dodgers for Mueller)
85. Diamondbacks (from Giants for Worrell)
88. Giants (from Cubs for Eyre)
89. Marlins (from Blue Jays for Burnett)

Fourth Round
118. Twins (from Cubs for Type B Jacque Jones)

Finally, the 2006 Prospect Handbook has gone to the printer, so Ask BA will
return to its regular once-a-week schedule for the rest of the year.





         With Justin Upton signing and Chris Young arriving via trade,
         where do they slot into the Diamondbacks Top 10?

         Joon Pahk
         Cambridge, Mass.



Though he has yet to make his pro debut because he just signed for a
draft-record $6.1 million, I'd put Upton on top of the loaded Arizona Top 10.
He might not stick at shortstop, but I've had too many scouts tell me Upton
could be the next Ken Griffey Jr. in center field, and I like him more than
Stephen Drew. In fact, had he signed before we sent the Prospect Handbook to
the printers, I would have ranked Upton No. 2 on my overall Top 50 Prospects
list, between Delmon Young and Brandon Wood.

Young is supremely talented as well. I liked him more than any prospect in
the White Sox system (though Bobby Jenks will be No. 1 in the Handbook)
before the Javier Vazquez trade, and he made my Top 50 list at No. 24. Yet
that would only put him fifth on a revised Diamondbacks Top 10, behind Upton,
Drew, Conor Jackson and Carlos Quentin.

No team in baseball has five prospects as good as Arizona's. And it doesn't
stop there, as No. 6 Carlos Gonzales is one of the best outfield prospects in
the lower minors and one scout told me No. 7 Dustin Nippert was the best
pitcher he saw in the minors last year. Throw in catcher Miguel Montero,
righthander Garrett Mock and 2005 draft picks such as righties Matt Torra and
Micah Owings, and the Diamondbacks have one of baseball's elite farm systems.






         A quick question on the Dodgers farm system. After the Milton
         Bradley-Andre Ethier trade, where would Ethier rank on the Los
         Angeles Top 10?

         David Sarell
         South Gate, Calif.



Ethier ranked No. 4 on our Athletics Top 10 before the trade, but there's a
huge difference in the strength of those two farm systems. Oakland's has
thinned out after they promoted Huston Street, Joe Blanton, Nick Swisher and
Dan Johnson to the majors last year, while no organization has more talent in
its system than Los Angeles.

I've always been lukewarm about Ethier, seeing him as more of a fourth
outfielder than a regular on a good big league team. The Dodgers are so deep
that I wouldn't put Ethier on the Top 10. I'd insert him at No. 13, behind
first baseman James Loney and righthander Justin Orenduff.

Ethier's scouting report won't appear in our magazine, because of the timing
of his trade and our schedule for the Top 10s. Below is our Ethier writeup
from the Prospect Handbook. If you like this stuff, there are 899 more player
reports like this one in the Handbook.

Background: Ethier was having a breakout season in 2004 when a stress
fracture in his back cut him down in July. He spent the offseason working on
his conditioning and earned Double-A Texas League MVP honors in 2005. He hit
.361-9-39 in the first two months before pitchers stopped throwing him
strikes.

Strengths: A gifted hitter, Ethier has simple swing mechanics, getting the
bat into the zone quickly and keeping it there for a long time. He has
average power, and he's a good corner outfielder with a solid arm. One of the
keys to his breakout season was a change in attitude. Once considered a
hothead who was easily flustered, he showed a more mature approach and
consistent effort in 2005. He also won an award for his sportsmanship in the
Arizona Fall League.

Weaknesses: Ethier doesn't have the speed to play center field and may not
have the power teams desire from an everyday corner outfielder. He can become
enamored with his power at times, causing him to overswing. A walk machine in
college, Ethier has yet to show the same plate discipline as a pro.

The Future: There's no clear opening for Ethier in a crowded Oakland
outfield, so he likely will spend the majority of 2006 in Triple-A. Coming
off a career year, he also could be useful as trade bait.






         With the recent trade of highly touted prospect Chris Young to
         the Diamondbacks for Javier Vazquez, I was wondering if any team
         has dealt away more prospects than the White Sox over the last
         five years. Could you do a Top 10 list for the prospects the Sox
         have traded away?

         Scott Reimers
         Springfield, Ill.



Kenny Williams became White Sox general manager in October 2000, just when we
began work on our first Prospect Handbook. By my count, Williams has traded
21 players who have appeared on Top 30 Prospects lists in the Handbook, and
that doesn't include six others who had lost their prospect status by playing
too much in the majors by the time they were dealt (Rocky Biddle, Matt
Ginter, Gary Glover, Jeff Liefer, Miguel Olivo, Josh Paul). I didn't take the
time to check every club, but that total has to be one of the highest, if not
the highest, in baseball.

Williams was Chicago's farm director before becoming GM, so you might think
he would have been more attached to his prospects than most of his
counterparts. But Williams explained the reasons for his willingness to part
with young talent before the 2005 season: "Two words: nineteen seventeen. How
many more generations of fans are going to have to wait? I don't want to
wait." Obviously, Williams and the White Sox got the job done last year,
ending an 88-year drought between World Series championships.

Below is my Top 10 list of traded White Sox prospects, which peters out
quickly into question marks and middle relievers.

1. Chris Young, of (December 2005 to Arizona for Javier Vazquez)
Often compared to Mike Cameron, should be better
2. Jeremy Reed, of (June 2004 to Seattle for Freddy Garcia)
Better than advertised defensively, and his bat will come around
3. Gio Gonzalez, lhp (November 2005 to Philadelphia for Jim Thome)
Polished lefty was top pitching prospect in bat-heavy system before deal
4. Josh Fogg, of (December 2001 to Pittsburgh for Todd Ritchie)
Nothing special, but eats innings at back end of rotation
5. Mike Morse, ss (Garcia)
Cooled off after blazing big league start, then got suspended for steroids
6. Daniel Haigwood, lhp (Thome)
43-1 in high school and 32-11 in pro ball, though stuff isn't as good as
numbers
7. Matt Guerrier, rhp (March 2002 to Pittsburgh for Damaso Marte)
Emerged in Twins bullpen last year after getting claimed off waivers
8. Gary Majewski, rhp (July 2004 to Montreal for Carl Everett)
Also traded in March 2001 for Antonio Osuna, reacquired that July for James
Baldwin
9. Josh Rupe, rhp (July 2003 to Texas for Carl Everett)
Looked good in September, has above-average stuff but needs more consistency
10. Franklin Francisco, rhp (Everett/Texas)
Promising 2004 big league debut ended with chair-tossing incident, had TJ
surgery in 2005