Before I start in with the community projection posts, I wanted to throw up a couple of links that I found to be interesting. I've been pressed at work or I would have posted these a while ago because they're all well worth the time.

First, some sad news out of the St. Petersburg Times as Dioner Navarro and his family continue to face difficult circumstances.

There was the medically miraculous saga involving wife Sherley's recovery from a 2003 brain aneurysm. The frightening hit-and-run auto accident he and his family were involved in shortly after being acquired by the Devil Rays during the summer. The surgery his infant son had in September to remove his left kidney, forcing the Devil Rays catcher to miss the last week of the season. Dioner Jr., now 19 months old, needs another operation to correct problems with his urethra and remaining kidney. The surgery was supposed to be performed last month but had to be delayed when he developed severe ear and respiratory infections.
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Navarro reflects on what he has dealt with in a perspective far beyond his years. He wears No. 30 to mark the date - Sept. 30, 2003 - doctors said his wife wouldn't live past, but otherwise he treats the episodes with little drama.

Man, his luck has got to turn around soon. In the meantime, keep the former Yankee prospect and his family in your prayers. Hat tip to Dodger Thoughts for the link.

Speaking of prospects, Project Prospect listed their Top 30 Outfielders Under 25. Jose Tabata (#17) and Melky (#20) both made the list. Robbie Cano came in at #1 on the Top 10 Second Basemen Under 25 list as well as at the top of the list (with Howie Kendrick) of The Best Young Second Basemen of 2007 at THT.

The good news is that both are exceptionally talented at making contact and probably will compete against one another for a batting title or two over the next few years. The bad news is that neither is a particularly strong fielder (not sure if I completely agree with that) and they both take a walk only once every 10 days or so. Their free-swinging ways lead to merely average on-base skills right now, but I think their upside is excellent in spite of these present weaknesses.

Finally, I be remiss if I didn't link to this very informative post over at River Ave. Blues. In it, Mike A. enlists Fabian of RLYW fame, and EJ from Pending Pinstripes for a little Q&A about the Yankees farm system. If you like the minor leagues, go check it out as these three guys are among the most knowledgeable amongst the Yankee blogosphere (still an odd word to me). Seriously, I'm sure everyone knows Mike A. from IGWT fame and I've been reading Fabian's stuff since he was at Minoryankeeblog. EJ is someone I didn't really read until recently - well, that's not exactly true. It turns out that I had read EJ's work plenty of times when he used to post as "DownFromNJ", who has a very strong presence on a number of prospect site. In any case, I have been making up for lost time by reading his previous site, Pinstripe Potentials. It's a heck of a site and there's a lot to be learned there. If you want to get an idea of his writing style and his take on prospects, here's a good place to start.

Also, if you haven't checked out River Ave. yet, I would do so. I've been reading Joe P., Mike A. and Ben K.'s stuff for a good long while now and they are all funny guys, great baseball fans and good writers to boot. I expect to see a lot of good stuff coming from there.