In these long 5 months with no baseball I'd like to fill the time by encouraging a discussion amongst us baseball fans concerning next year. I'll start the discussion by giving my predictions for the ROY awards from each league as well as some rookie sleepers and my top Minor League prospects.

AL ROY-Jacoby Ellsbury; also considered..Wade Davis, Jacob McGee, Evan Longoria, Joba Chamberlain, and Clay Buchholz. I've heard Cameron Maybin will be spending the majority of the year in AAA to get some more experience. That's why I didn't include him.

NL ROY-STEVEN PEARCE; also considered..Clayton Kershaw, Geovany Soto, Matt Antonelli, Chase Headley, Joey Votto, Homer Bailey, or Greg Reynolds. Jay Bruce and Colby Rasmus are 2 studs I would have included but it's not clear whether they will start the year in the Bigs or if they will be mid-season callups. They are probably the 2 best of the bunch I listed.

My Top 15 Minor League Prospects...(feel free to argue, these are just from off the top of my head, so i possibly left somebody important off)
1. Jay Bruce
2. Colby Rasmus
3. Clayton Kershaw
4. Evan Longoria
5. Cameron Maybin
6. Johnny Cueto
7. Andrew McCutchen
8A,B,&C. Schafer/Heyward/Gorkys (take your pick)
9. Chris Marrero
10. Wade Davis
11. Michael Burgess
12. David Price
13. Greg Reynolds
14. Fernando Martinez
15. Deolis Guerra

Noticed I left off Travis Snider and Nick Adenhart from my list.

Come on..somebody humor me. With College Football over, Pro Football winding down and Baseball season still 2 months away I NEED to discuss baseball. Give me your pics for ROY and your top prospects.

Being as how they will be rookies, I don't think I've heard of any of these 'cept for Joba and Rasmus.

So, me discussing this at this point would be umm... pointless.

Your such a sigmonchi..

Is this Eva's brother?

Same thing i was thinkin

But i really have not looked at baseball that much in the offseason.
Give me a couple weeks and we can argue, as usual, about who will be the best.
Oh and it will not be the Brewers.

For those who haven't heard of Longoria yet....you won't have to wait long after the season starts to start hearing about him. He will most likely be the top offensive rookie in either league this year. He is a slick fielding, power hitting, On Base Machine from Cal State Fullerton who has hit well at every stop he's been at so far. He is as complete of a player that you're probably going to see out of any rookie this season.

Now I love Jay Bruce, but he will struggle this year as he K's WAY too much. Same story with Rasmus, he has potential to be 30-30 man in a couple seasons but he hasn't played at a level past AA yet and is still learning. The best thing for the Cards to do would be to start him in Memphis and bring him up in May or June but it looks like they will be so desperate for OF help that he might be the starting CF in St. Louis.

Bueller....Bueller? C'mon people i want you to opine on this topic.

I really can't argue too much about your assesment. I do think that Longoria will probably be the best of the bunch. He has tremendous potential. I do like what I've heard of Rasmus but I have not seen him play. He sounds like he may be a 5-tool player. I sure hope so, the Cards need all the help they can get.

The issue with Rasmus is obviously how much playing time will he get this year? The Cardinals signed Juan Gonzalez yesterday so where does that leave Rasmus? It is looking more and more like we might see him in Memphis to start the season for at least a couple months.

That might be best for him and the team. He will get more experience and the team can sort out who will or will not be roaming the outfield this year.

Speaking as just a fan of baseball and definately NOT a Cardinal fan I think starting at AAA would be great for Rasmus. He has had no experience past AA and In my opinion, would really struggle if they threw him into the mix on opening day. Jay Bruce, on the other hand, although the same age as Rasmus is the most polished prospect in the NL and should be starting in the outfield in Cincy on opening day. He is FUN to watch if you get the chance trust me.

Everything seems to point to Rasmus needing another couple months AAA ball at least (if not the year). And if Juan Gonz can produce anything at all, that would be a massive plus, but I'm not holding my breath.

Just patting myself on the back for No. 6. Did anybody see him pitch...WOW!!!