Curt ____ing

Two quick plugs to supplement the ads to your left:

1. John Sickels is taking orders for his new prospect book. If he really wanted to make the ad on the left work for him, he'd put a picture of a naked woman who is just barely covered by a couple of books. It worked for that site I can't remember, and that show I didn't watch. Why not a prospect book? No one ever listens to me.

   Sickels has just about the best site going right now. The evaluation of minor-league prospects he did for ESPN was great, but he's really taking advantage of the blog format now. I especially like the series where he revisits the minor league careers of established major leaguers, trying to see how he would have ranked them as prospects when they were coming up.

   More importantly, I like what he represents. He's an independent baseball writer, trying to earn his living by sharing his knowledge and passion. I want to see him turn a well-written baseball book into a gold yacht and several full-length panda-fur coats. If not that, I'm pulling for him to just be successful, and to continue offering us an alternative to most of the mainstream baseball dreck.

2. A couple of months ago I was invited to the ProTrade headquarters in San Mateo, and they gave me an overview of their new fantasy sports/stock market game. I think they thought I was more important than I really am. I played the part well. Fake assistants, fake calls from the New Yorker, wearing a shirt; the whole works.

   I don't follow football all that well, so I can't really tell you how the football part of the site that was launched is doing, but I can't wait for the baseball part to launch. The game is something like a stock market, but it's based on player futures. If you had Albert Pujols at $50 a share that's just swell, but it wouldn't have been able to compete with David Wright at $4 last year. You earn dividends on how the player performs, and they're going the sabermetric route to figure that part out, right down to tracking the speed of batted balls for defensive purposes. If it doesn't take over the world, it'll at least be a ridiculous amount of fun as it tries.

I don't get paid for those ads, nor do I have any vested interest in plugging Sickels or ProTrade. I did get a miniature football with a ProTrade logo on it, and that football came in handy when I winged it at my cat doing something he shouldn't have been doing, but that's where the full disclosure ends. However, and this is absolutely the driving force behind today's shill-fest, I can't think of a single Giants-related thing to write about. My brain almost melted trying to think of something today. I think having to write about Jose Vizcaino - twice - had a lot to do with it. Tomorrow should be different but, just in case, please allow me to ask for suggestions yet again. I'm working on a top-ten prospect list, but I really want to do a better job than I have in the past, so it'll take time.

Other suggestions, preferably not Todd Greene-related, are welcome. Begged for, even.