I had a terrible day yesterday and was in no mood to watch the Cardinal’s bullpen implode for the thousandth time. But it did. So I’ve got some gripping to do.
The Cardinals are looking for a lefty, yes? Randy Flores hasn’t been a good pitcher in a couple years despite the constant talk of him as a left-handed specialist. So the Cardinals now find themselves with a lefty who is striking out batters and pitching very well in relief. What do they do? Send him to the rotation of course. I haven’t seen Fiske in person so I can’t speak to his stuff from an eye witness perspective, but his numbers are very good. A 5:1 K:BB ratio at Springfield with a FIP under 3. He’s holding lefties to a .612 OPS on the season (righties .722). Maybe he’s completely unprepared but with the absence of a second reliable left hander, I would have liked to see what he could do for the major league club before this (seemingly) random conversion to starting.
Already well known but, Garcia down and Boggs up.
Rotoworld has their midseason top 150 prospects. I’ll take Colby over the pitchers if only because it’s hard to shake TINSTAAPP from the back of my head. The ETA’s seem way off to me and I’m surprised by the inclusion of Ottavino on the tail end after all his struggles this season.
- Colby Rasmus 2-for-5 with a double. It’s quoted in the Rotoworld piece but I still have never seen anything definitive that tells me Rasmus is a slow-starter. It’s stated often (I’ve probably said it) but I’ve yet to see the data to back it up. Also, what defines a slow starter? First 50 ABs? 100? 200?
- David Freese goes 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles.
- D’Angelo Jimenez goes 2-for-4 with a HR.
- John Wasdin was perfect through 7 before allowing a solo shot to former Tiger Chris Shelton in the 8th. A single followed and he was pulled. He struck out 11. Wasdin’s a career minor leaguer and has had the thankless task of being the veteran in a AAA organization moving towards the young side of the spectrum. So tonight, we salute you Mr. Wasdin. Game well pitched.
- Jason Motte followed up with 2 scoreless frames striking out 5. Can’t leave things to chance.
Springfield 7, NW Arkansas 10 (13 innings)
- Jon Jay went 2-for-6.
- Allen Craig was 3-for-5 with a double and a walk.
- Cody Haerther was 2-for-5 with a walk.
- Case Rowlett was 2-for-5 with a HR and a walk.
- Pop Warner apparently wanted to use every pitcher he had on his roster. I’ll hit the highlights of the 7 different pitchers.
- Justin Fiske went 3 subpar innings allowing 3 runs on 3 hits, 3 walks and 4 K. I promise I wrote the intro before checking this box score.
- Josh Dew threw 2 innings allowing 2 hits and striking out 3.
- Luke Gregerson was tagged for a run in his inning of work allowing 2 hits, 1 BB and 2 K.
- Daryl Jones was 2-for-3 with a walk.
- Brian Cartie was 2-for-3.
- Brandon Dickson was smoked for 9 runs in 5 innings.
- Eddie Degermen allowed 5 runs (1 earned) in 1 inning.
- Blake King was the lone pitching bright spot. He struck out 4 in 2 innings walking just 1 and allowing a hit.
- Pete Kozma was 2-for-4 with a double.
- Francisco Rivera was 2-for-4.
- Nick Additon had a terrific outing marred by one at bat. He allowed a solo shot in the 4th that QC simply couldn’t overcome. Additon pitched 7 innings of one-hit ball, walking 2 and striking out 6.
- Shane Peterson was 2-for-4 with a double.
- Arquimedes Nieto had an incredibly lucky outing allowing 9 baserunners (5 hits, 4 BBs) over 5 innings but no runs. He struck out 2
- Adam Riefer pitched a scoreless inning striking out 1 while earning his 9th save.
- Nico Vasquez was 0-for-1 with 3 walks. Be still my heart.
- Paul Cruz and Edgar Lara both recorded a hit and a walk.
- Kevin Thomas allowed 3 hits and 2 walks over 4 scoreless innings. He struck out 3.
- Reynier Gonzalez struck out 5 over 2.2 innings allowing 1 ER. He walked 3 and allowed a hit.
Entries (RSS)
Az, I would be impressed by Nico’s three walks, but he has a worse LD% than Tim Beckham and graduated at 19 instead of 18. So really it isn’t that impressive y’know?
I really hope that was sarcasm Ryan :P
Niko was facing likely the best pitcher he will face in 2008, Mr. Shooter Hunt.
He walked 3 times….impressive maybe, a nice sign for the future..definetly.
It was most definitely sarcasm. ;)
Is it just me or is the system becoming ever more poor defensively?
Rob, what do you mean by “the system”? Is there even a metric to measure that?
I get BA’s annual every year, and our teams are generally in the middle of the pack in their leagues in fielding percentage. They usually have one or two guys who lead a league in something positive, like assists or putouts.
In his last 10 games, Niko is 18-36 with 12 walks & just 3 strikeouts. Gotta love the reduction in K’s nearly as much as the astronomical BB rate.
Allen Craig may be headed for Minor League Player of the Month for July, as he’s hit .388 and slugged well over .700–if he continues to mash over the final several weeks, AC looks to be on target to take over in StL come 2010….
Jason Motte now has an incredible 78 K’s in 48 innings for Memphis. Is this the highest strikeout rate of *anybody* in the upper minors? (19/3 K/BB over his last 11 innings, to boot.)
Just to throw a wet blanket on the enthusiasm for Niko’s plate discipline: it is still Rookie ball. There are a lot of pitchers who just aren’t getting it close that can inflate those walk numbers.
A few years ago I was enamored with Jose Martinez. He was a middle infielder who had just lit things up at Johnson City. He was slugging as well as our top draft pick (Rasmus) and taking walks while playing SS. Unfortunately, the walks disappeared by the time he hit the Midwest league.
When do Colby and Barden leave to be with team USA? Don’t the Olympics start sometime in August?
Completely off topic, but I was reading John Sickels site and came across this on Sean Rodriguez:
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2008/7/15/570837/prospect-update-sean-rodri
This got me thinking that they seem to have a surplus of young middle IFers and at the same they’ve got lousy production from 1B/DH/OF spots.
Casey Kotchman is playing 1B with an OPS+ of 100
Garret Anderson has an OPS+ of 88
Gary Mathews OPS+ 75
I’m not sure what a “fair” trade would entail with them, but it seems like we might have a fit in terms of surplus/talent.
We had 5 on that list and 4 others that were ineligible (Barton, Perez, Garcia, Wallace)
What a difference a couple of years have made on our farm system
Anyone else relieved to see Carpenter back in the STL dugout with the birds on the bat across his chest??
Rumors from the radio, 1380 Joe Strauss:
- Jess Todd could (will?) be moved up to Memphis in the near future. Strauss mentioned that his next Springfield start could be his last.
- Mather in STL, Duncan not on the card. DL or demotion possible.
Didn’t we just send Mather down? It hasn’t been 10 days yet has it?
Dave Duncan’s master plan to keep Chris on the Cards…..put on the 15 day DL, with 9 games left to the trading deadline.
Conspiracy theorist are going nuts:)
I was thinking the same thing pickleford. Now there is no way JMo can trade Duncan …. which sucks because he needs to go.
Side note on Chris Perez he is in Memphis working on his slider.
Sean Rodriguez would be a great acquisition… too bad Duncan’s on the DL. Wonder if Anthony Reyes and Nick Stavinoha would suffice…?
I’m pretty sure you can trade a player that’s on the DL. Just has to approved by Selig.
Does anyone know if Colby Rasmus tore his MCL like his dad just posted.
posted where?
He left the game early so it’s likely he injured something.
scratch that
http://www.stltoday.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=5880884
that sucks