January 7, 2004
Yes, we know you’ve been holding your breath for the last month as you waited for us to announce the 1st Annual Minor Opinions Organization Player & Pitcher of the Year for 2003. But during that time period we’ve spent countless hours burning up the phone lines, straining bandwidth and crunching the hell out of the numbers as we sifted through our list of 75 prospects to determine who wears the crowns. Okay, maybe it was just five minutes of chat but it was a really, really intense five minutes.
Given the lack of decent position players in the Astros’ minor league ranks, the Player of the Year Award goes almost by default to 2B (or is it SS? CF maybe?) Chris Burke, whose second stint in AA re-kindled thinking that he can be a leadoff option for Houston in the near future. The Pitcher of the Year was not as easy to select. After the five-minute bell rang we came to believe that acknowledging both his minor league season and what he did over the winter down in Venezuela the winner has to be Fernando Nieve.
Now on to…
3rd Annual Minor Opinions Top Ten Prospects List Contest
Once again, MO readers will have the opportunity to match wits with the authors and select their own Top Ten lists from the 75 players previously identified on the MO prospect lists. Webmaster Waldo has worked hard to bring us up to speed on the latest technology, and the selection process is now fully automated. You can easily make your selections at:
http://www.orangewhoopass.com/topten.php
Here’s how it works: you will be presented with an empty Top Ten list and eight smaller list boxes, one for each position (C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, RHP, LHP). To add a player to your list, click his name and then click the “Add to List” button directly below the position list. If you wish to rearrange the players in your list, select the player in your list that you want to move and click either “Move Up” or “Move Down”. To remove a player from your list, select his name in your list and click “Remove Player”. When you are satisfied with your list, check to make sure that all three fields (your name, TZ username, and e-mail address) are all correct and that your list entry is as you want it. Entries without this information will not be counted (if you are not registered for TZ, just enter your name or another alias to use). Then click the “SUBMIT LIST” button. You will receive a message with your Top Ten list confirming that your entry was submitted. You should also receive an e-mail containing the same information at the address you provided.
After you submit the list, your entry is final. We will only assist you if an error occured during the submission process. If that is the case, please send your top ten list and the other requested information to [email protected]. You’ll only be allowed to vote once. The cutoff for entering the contest will be Monday, January 26.
We’ll announce the MO Top Ten Prospect List on Wednesday, January 28 along with the winner of the contest. With the automated process, we should also be able to release the scores of all contestants so you can see how you stack up with everybody else.
As far as the contest scoring, the way it’ll work this year is 9 points will be awarded if a player you choose shows up anywhere on the MOTTPL. If you’ve correctly identified the exact spot on the list where the player shows up, an additional 1 point is awarded. Thus, if you identify all ten players on the list and in the correct order, you’ll receive the maximum 100 points.
No giveaways for winning the contest, just braggin’ rights.