I’m not sure where you got the notion that saying there was “hardcore grade inflation” constitutes “blasting” or “flaming” you or your opinions. For pete’s sake, you’re the only one here choosing to type words in bold and all caps. And yes, posting multiple times “John Sickels disagrees with you!!!” was petty at best, and you deserved to be called out on it.

Second, I’m sorry that I didn’t get around to responding to your reply on the other thread about friendlier grading/Kila. It wasn’t personal—I’ve been swamped with midterms and I haven’t been following some threads as closely as others.

Third, regarding why your grades were friendly, simply comparing them to Sickels’ grades does that quite well. Ka’aihue, Duffy, Cortes, Rosa, Melville, Gutierrez, Wood, Pimentel, Taylor, and Bianchi all received higher grades (to one varying degree or another) from you than from Sickels. That’s half your list. To me, that’s grade inflation, though I do agree with some of your grades, like giving Melville a B+. All in all, I don’t think it is a huge deal, I think it is just an aspect of how fans (and I include myself here) sometimes overvalue their own prospects, and I wanted to note that I felt like some substantial grade inflation was taking place.

On why Kila should not be a top-5 prospect for the Royals—there are tons of reasons, pick your favorite:

1. His career line includes only one outstanding season. His stats in two years of A ball in Burlington are thoroughly unremarkable, especially for a first baseman, and his 2006 line in AA ball was absolutely abysmal, especially for playing in a hitter’s league (I don’t care what position you play—a .202/.305/.303 line with a .608 OPS is horrendous). To be fair, Kaaihue did post a very respectable line in 2005, but between 2002 and 2007, it was clearly the outlier.

2. He had to repeat AA ball twice, and was actually demoted from AA to high A ball following his awful 2006 campaign. Good prospects shouldn’t have to repeat a level more than once and shouldn’t have to face demotion from AA to high A ball.

3. He doesn’t possess any outstanding tools—his physical attributes and talents are good, but not anything to write home about.

4. Both the Texas League and the PCL are extremely hitter-friendly leagues, and it is little surprise that a 24-year-old should do well in those environs. I would draw absolutely zero conclusions off of his September big league stats, as they are a ridiculously small sample size.

5. There is a significant chance, based on Kila’s track record, that he will regress from his 2008 stats. The 2005-2006 transition shows this pretty well.

A top-5 prospect in any remotely decent farm system (which the Royals have—their cupboard was pretty bare after Gordon and Butler were called up, but it is less so now) should be a player who projects as an above-average everyday starter in the big leagues. Kila simply hasn’t evidenced that on any sort of year-to-year basis.