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I’m going to put some time in tonight on the Yovani Gallardo trade story, in hopes that I can finish and roll it out in the morning.

In the meantime, here are the prospect features I wrote for the 2015 Bound Edition on the two minor leaguers who accompanied Luis Sardinas in the deal, righthanders Marcos Diplan and Corey Knebel, whom I ranked 13th and 19th in the Rangers system, respectively.

Marcos Diplan, RHP (number 13 overall) (International free agent/2013)

The Rangers blew away their international bonus pool allocation in 2013, ignoring the $1.94 cap and paying out more than $8 million once the tax penalty was added to the stack of bonuses they gave a handful of Dominican and Venezuelan teenagers. Of the high-profile names, only Diplan was a pitcher, and according to Baseball America, he was the top available arm in the entire crop of J2-eligibles, in spite of the fact that he stands under six feet tall. Small righthanders have long been discounted from a scouting standpoint, though perhaps the Royals magical run in 2014, with hard-throwing, sub-six righties Yordano Ventura, Greg Holland, and Kelvin Herrera at the forefront on the pitching side, could signal a greater tolerance. Texas signed Diplan for $1.3 million in July 2013 but kept him in the Dominican Summer League for all of 2014, a far more conservative decision than when the organization assigned Martin Perez to Short-Season A Spokane to make his 2008 debut. Diplan’s results were outstanding. Permitting more than two earned runs only once in his 13 regular-season starts, he posted the fifth-best ERA (1.54) in the 36-team league. He held opponents to a helpless .154/.302/.213 slash line (allowing only 32 hits in 64.1 innings — easily the best hit rate among all pitchers in the league) and struck out eight batters per nine, though he did lead the league with 36 walks. In the DSL championship series, the 17-year-old blanked the Red Sox over four frames (three hits, four walks, five strikeouts) in helping the Rangers knot up a best-of-five that they eventually won in four games. Showing velocity at 89-92 when he signed, Diplan touched 96 this summer, flashing a curve and change that he’ll look to start developing further when he pitches stateside in 2015. Whether his ultimate future is as a starter like Ventura, or a late-inning weapon like Herrera or Holland, Diplan is part of a wave that’s three or four years away but with the type of ceiling that could be very much worth the wait.

Corey Knebel, RHP (number 19 overall) (Trade with Detroit Tigers/2014)

Knebel’s profile matches Huston Street’s so closely that there’s at least some sense that he hasn’t quite met expectations, which is crazy. Street was undrafted out of Austin Westlake High School, Knebel undrafted out of nearby Georgetown High. Both were dominant closers as University of Texas freshmen. Both were supplemental first-round draft picks after their junior year (Street 40th overall, Knebel 39th overall), dominated pro competition that summer, and less than a year after their final college appearances were big leaguers. That’s where the parallels end, as Street won Oakland’s closer job out of spring training in 2005 and won AL Rookie of the Year honors, while Knebel joined Detroit last May and was shaky every third time out, getting sent back to AAA after six appearances (five runs on eight hits and three walks in 6.2 innings, with eight strikeouts). The 22-year-old was as dirty in his return to the International League as he had been before the call-up (four runs on four singles and eight walks in 14.1 frames, 16 strikeouts), much of which took place with Texas sitting on his appearances as Joakim Soria trade talks were developing. Perhaps stemming from those talks, the Tigers brought Knebel back up to the big club on July 19, getting him into two games before the Soria trade was made four days later, when they sent Knebel and AA righty Jake Thompson to Texas for the veteran reliever. The Rangers assigned Knebel to AAA Round Rock with clear designs on getting him to Arlington by season’s end, but after three strong weeks with the Express (20 strikeouts in 12 innings, .205/.300/.364 slash line), he was shut down with an elbow sprain. When he’s right, the 6’3” Knebel touches 98 and mixes in an out-pitch curve with sharp, late break. Along with Keone Kela, he represents another closer prospect for the Rangers to factor into the relief picture, and he should begin to make an impact on the big club in some form in 2015, assuming the elbow is sound.

There are 70 more minor leaguers featured in the book, which is for sale in two formats:

* Hard copy ($24.95)

* eEdition ($9.99)

Catch you tomorrow (I’m hoping) with the Gallardo writeup.