Daily Farm Report – 5/15/08
Posted on May 15th, 2008 by roarke in Chris Perez, Daily Farm Reports, Jess ToddThis article indicates that the Cardinals will either be putting Isringhausen on the DL or possibly designating him for assignment. I would imagine that he would clear waivers at this point and his comments seem to indicate that he would accept a minor league stint to find a cure for what ails him. The corresponding roster move would almost certainly be to bring Chris Perez to St. Louis for his first major league experience, since that was the plan for about a half an hour a few days ago before minds were changed. I am sad to see Izzy struggle, because he has given us some good times, but I am really excited to see Perez in The Show.
As mentioned in the comments, Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus had some nice things to say about Jess Todd in an article today. The article is subscriber only, but I’m not sure about this audio interview on BP with John Abbamondi, Cardinals AGM. Elsewhere, Kary Booher has the details of the Cory Rauchenberger retirement and Mark McCormick‘s promotion to Springfield.
The system went 4-1 on the night, with Springfield’s seventh loss in a row as the only blemish on the evening. All the details are after the jump.
- Joe Mather hit a two run homer in the bottom of the 12th to bring home the victory. Atta boy, Joe! It was his only hit in six chances on the night, but he made it count.
- Colby was dropped to eigth in the lineup but it made no difference on this night. He went 0-4 with a sacrifice.
- Brian Barden went 3-6 with a double and Mark Johnson went 2-3.
- On the mound, Anthony Reyes got the start and gave up two runs on six hits, two walks and a hit batsman over 3.2 innings. He struck out three.
- Hugo Castellanos went three scoreless innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out one.
- Allen Craig played leftfield tonight and went 3-4 with a homerun and a double.
- Jon Jay went 1-3 with a homerun and two walks.
- Isaias Garcia went 2-4 and Matt Pagnozzi went 2-3.
- Tyler Herron had a bit of a rough outing, giving up five runs on seven hits, two walks and two hit batsmen. He struck out five.
- Marco Gonzalez pitched two hitless innings, giving up a walk, hitting a batter and striking out one.
- Brian Cartie follows up his successful debut with Palm Beach with a huge night, driving in all five Palm Beach runs while going 3-4 with a double and a homerun. He DH’d today after playing third yesterday.
- Daryl “Tools” Jones went 2-3 and Arnoldi Cruz went 2-4 and also threw out two runners attempting to steal.
- Kyle Mura got the start and didn’t have a particularly good day. He gave up four runs in five innings on eight hits and two walks. He also struck out three.
- Brandon Garner and Jon Mikrut each pitched two scoreless innings. Garner struck out three and gave up two hits while Mikrut gave up a hit and a walk and recorded one strikeout.
- Quad Cities only managed two hits, doubles by Andrew Brown (1-3 with a walk) and Paul Vasquez (1-4).
- Joshua Wilson got the start and lasted five innings, giving up a run on three hits and two walks, while striking out one.
- Brian Broderick went four scoreless innings, striking out three and allowing two hits.
- The batting line of the day goes to Carlos Yegues, who went 3-5 with a pair of doubles.
- David Brito gets the pitching line of the day for pitching 3.2 hitless innings, giving up only a walk and striking out two. Honorable Mention goes to lefty Miguel Lopez for giving up only an unearned run on two hits over four innings and striking out three.
Entries (RSS)
Colby, man… After getting on base on a force error in the seventh on his sac bunt attempt, he led off the ninth trying to bunt himself on in a freshly tied ballgame.
If that’s not hitting rock bottom, I don’t know what is.
Very much looking forward to seeing Perez pitch tomorrow. And here’s hoping Izzy gets his game back together. His post-game comments were heartbreaking today.
When do we start to discuss what’s going on with Rasmus? Something isn’t right.
Nice to see Jess Todd getting some recognition for his great start. I didn’t think he had a future as a starter to begin with, and he may still not. But he’s handling the role with aplomb so far. Has anyone seen him in person this year? I ask because I’m curious as to his changeup. We’ve heard it has good potential; is he using it much? If so, how does it look? I know I probably sound like Baseball America, worrying about his changeup, but I do think him having a third pitch will make a lot of difference as to what he’s going to be down the road.
I’m also excited to see Chris Perez, (hopefully) get the call. As for Izzy, I don’t think there’s much else I can say about him I haven’t already.
I also hope we see Mather up with the big club before too long. I think he’s just playing too well to leave in the hinterlands. Plus, it would be nice not to have to live in quite such constant fear of seeing Aaron Miles somehow make his way over to third base.
They’ve got to move someone to see Mather. They’ve been reluctant to trade high on any of their outfielders thus far not sure why they would now. . . although I keep hoping Chris Duncan reels in something we need.
sigh. Yeah, you’re probably right, Az. Personally, I just keep hoping we’ll see the end of the four middle Infielders of the Apocalypse era soon, but it’s probably not going to happen.
Sometimes being a Cardinal fan is really more frustration than it’s worth.
I think B. Barton is regressing with the limited playing time. For the good of his development, he needs to go to AAA. I think we should work a deal with the Indians so we can send Barton to Memphis and bring up Mather. The fact that Mather can play the corner IF spots in addition to the OF might get him a few ABs than Barton was able to get in STL.
With Perez apparently on his way up, Sean Smith’s recent study on the predictive value of fastball velocity might be relevant.
http://lanaheimangelfan.blogspot.com/2008/05/fastball-velocity-and-pitcher.html
“Knowing a pitcher’s velocity doesn’t tell you anything about his chances of success that you didn’t already know by looking at his minor league numbers.”
Nice to see McCormick making some progress. I lament the 3/2 K/BB ratio though. Is this kinda of pitcher (inconsistent control) the future of the Cardinals pen? It will make make me want for the days of Izzy.
My Colby Theory: My theory is he’s seeing guys like Ryan Braun, Evan Longoria get big contracts and he’s putting way to much pressure on himself.
The difference between Braun, Longoria, Tulowitzki, and Rasmus is that Rasmus was drafted as a high schooler – the others were all polished college products. He’s 2-3 years younger than all of those guys. So he shouldn’t be pressing… But I agree, something is up with him.
In Colby’s defense, (I’m not just trying to keep the blinders on here) I’m sure it’s frustrating to keep hitting balls hard (when he does) and have them hit right at people. The last several games he’s proabably had 3-5 pretty hard hit balls that were just at’em. One of his ground outs to first was hit pretty good.
It’s funny, he’s doing worse this month and his LD rate is actually a lot better. With his BABIP being so low, he’s actually gotten more “unlucky” if that even makes sense.
I know we all hope he snaps out of it but maybe he’ll just have to struggle for a while. Maybe it will be good for him to struggle then work his way out of it (trying to look on the bright side here).
Also, it’s nice to see Josh Wilson pitching well.
Colby’s Pace isn’t that far off last year.
I took his stats (R,H,2B,HR,RBI,BB and K) and prorated his 2007 season to the number of G and AB he has had this season.
Here is what I got:
2007 (G/AB) 2008
R 28/29 22
H 39/40 30
2B 11/11 3 !!!(this concerns me most of all)
HR 9/9 6
RBI 21/22 15
BB 21/22 19
K 32/33 31 (hmm, his K rate is down)
To figure this out I found that he is currently played in 29.6% of the games he did in all last year and has 30.9% of the ABs he had last year. I multiplied his 2007 stats by each of those percents to get his rate in games and ABs. Then I compared that to this seasons totals.
He has only 10 less hits which we know he can make up with a couple weeks of 3-4 type games which he is capable of. His HR rate is slightly down and his 2B and 3B rates have plummeted. I think his RBI rate is actually surprising considering his his missing 10 hits and if half of those scored a runner then he is on pace. His BB rate and K rate are similar as well. I think he may be pressing but it also seems to be really bad luck.
todd’s changeup is a work in progress. the night i watched him his fastball was 89-91 and his changeup was 83-85, about the same speed as his slider. but, that was his first start for springfield and his control was all over the place
Is Rasmus still playing CF in Memphis? Seems he might be better off getting reps at one of the corner positions? Ank is putting on a show in CF with the big club…
Maybe he just retired as Rauschenburger and will come out of retirement as Corey Meachem!!
Hey..if Michael Jordan can come back as #45….he can come back as Meachem!
Barton can’t go to AAA. He’s a Rule 5 guy and would have to be offered back to Cleveland, who have already made it clear that they’d scoop him up in an instant. He’s in the bigs for the rest of the year, unless the Cardinals are willing to cut ties with him entirely.
Too bad about Rauschenburger. It hurts something awful to acknowledge that you’re never going to achieve your dream. Good luck, Cory, in whatever future direction your life takes you.
Bill, he can go to Triple-A if they work out a deal with Cleveland.
I love watching Ankiel in center, but I doubt the Cards keep him after next year. He will be a free agent and we seem to have the cupboard stocked with outfielders. Rasmus is the future of the position. I am seeing Duncan and Ankiel traded if a good offer comes along.
I think Ankiel has established himself as a Cardinal and only a Cardinal. I just can’t see him going anywhere, he’s also one of TLR’s favorites.
I agree with erik. With all of the time and money invested in Ankiel plus his success, there is no way they let him walk in his first fa year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him sign a three year deal in the offseason to buy his last arbitration year and first two of free agency.
Birdo, Cleveland made it clear earlier in the year that they will NOT work out a deal to let us keep Barton in the minors. It is 100% their choice, and by multiple accounts, they have chosen not to deal. He goes down, he’s gone, period.
Looks like Perez is a Cardinal. This will hopefully calm the bullpen down and stabilize it.
Eric/Jawac
Guys I know, sentiment is large on this one. I am just having a hard time seeing it. If he stays are we looking at a outfield of LF-Barton, CF-Rasmus, RF-Ankiel? Goos outfield with good D, kinda reminds me of the Gilkey, Lankford, Jordan trio. If that is the case then we will have Duncan and Mather on the block. I guess Mather could be the fourth outfielder.
Mather to me is the perfect utility guy. Reminds me of Spiezio a lot. He can hit for power, can play the OF positions (I assume he could play CF in a pinch, not sure how good he is there though) and he can play the CIF. He makes Duncan expendable.
Rasmus, Ankiel, Barton, Ludwick and Mather would make a pretty nice OF in 09.
It is official: Izzy is on the DL and Perez is up with the team. I have been looking forward to seeing Perez up with the big club ever since spring training. I was more impressed with Perez than any other player there.
To Bill
>>Barton can’t go to AAA. He’s a Rule 5 guy <<
Of course he’s a Rule 5 guy. If you read the post closely it says “work a deal with the Indians so we can send Barton to Memphis”. Essentially you trade for Barton from Indians. As we have the Rule 5 gig hanging over their heads, it ups our bargaining position. Not to say it would be an easy deal to make but we have way more leverage in such a case than if we were to try and pry a similarly situated prospect from another team.
BJM — Ankiel doesn’t have the service time to be a free agent. The Cardinals will have him through 2010 for arbitration.
Pretty sure Ankiel is a free agent after the 2009 season.
Looking at Cot’s they have him at a little over 4 years of service time, so you’re probably right. He reaches 5 at the end of this year and 6 at the end of 2009.
Joe,
The Indians weren’t happy to lose Barton. They thought he could slip through because of his recent knee surgery. They’re the ones with the bargaining position. If the Cardinals seriously want to send Barton to Memphis, then the Indians will make the Cards pay probably more than his value to make it happen.
AZ-
I was thinking that he would be a free agent after 09. They basically will need to make a decision on him after the year. If they want him they probably need to come up with a deal over the offseason to buy ou the last year of arb and some extension years or try to trade him.
Disagree Forsch31. Until Brian completely implodes, we’re the ones with the bargaining position. We have Barton and they don’t. There is egg on the face of the Indians front office. They miscalculated in leaving him unprotected. Thus, they are spouting public relations hubris about how rigid their bargaining position is. All the Cards have to do is get to roster expansions in September (or if they fall out of the race) and Barton is property of the Cardinals. That is leverage. It requires the Indians to discount their asking price for Barton all things considered. It’s rather plain despite what the Indians front office may publicly say.
But if Barton doesn’t implode, then there’s no reason to send him to Memphis, and there’s nothing to bargain for. If he’s struggling, he’s taking up a roster spot better suited for another player or prospect, and the Cardinals are limited in what they can do. They’re play as a team is hurt, and Barton’s development is hurt. The Indians–who don’t have to do a thing–are the ones with the bargaining power. Getting Barton back isn’t the point for Cleveland–they know that the Cardinals like him, which is why Mo took a chance on a Rule 5 draft player. Getting something back for Barton now that they’ve lost him would be in their interest, and depending on how desperate the Cardinals are in sending Barton to Triple A, they’ll squeeze them to overpay.
It’s not public relations hubris. It’s reality and the risk you take with Rule 5 picks. They have to be ready to play at the major league level in some role, or you’re risking a roster spot for someone who can produce more.