Daily Farm Report – 8/7/08
Posted on August 7th, 2008 by roarke in 2008 MLB draft, Adam Daniels, Brandon Buckman, Daily Farm ReportsI missed this in last night’s DFR, but it was mentioned by an astute commenter: Adam Daniels was released and Brandon Buckman was promoted to Springfield. I’m not sure he earned a promotion with a .260/.334/.344 line at Palm Beach, but he went 2-4 in his first outing at Springfield.
This articleat Baseball America is subscription only, but it shows the bonuses given out for every pick in the first round of this year’s draft compared to the projected slot. Note that the Cardinals game in at (or under) the slot for each pick.
The system played five games tonight and went 2-3. All the details are after the jump.
Memphis had the night off
- Brandon Dickson has not fared so well since his promotion to Springfield. This was his second outing and he gave up seven runs on nine hits and two walks over only 4.2 innings.
- Jon Mikrut followed up with 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up only a walk.
- Marco Gonzalez pitched a perfect 1.2 innings and Fernando Salas struck out two in the ninth to record the save.
- Donovan Solano has done well since moving up to Springfield. He was 3-5 on the night with a stolen base.
- Allen Craig was 2-3 with a home run and a pair of walks. I’ve been talking all year about how this season could determine who between Craig and Freese is the future for the Cardinals at third base. They have both acquitted themselves so well, though, that I’m not sure anything has been decided. This is a good problem to have.
- Mark Shorey was 3-5 with a double, a triple and a stolen base.
- Jose Martinez was 1-3 with a bomb.
- The offense was pretty limited – Kozma was 0-3 with a walk, and all five of Palm Beach’s hits came from two players: Nick Derba was 2-3 with a double and Antonio DeJesus was 3-3.
- Tyler Herron got the start and wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t particularly good either. He only gave up a pair of runs in 4.1 innings, but he walked four and allowed five hits. He also struck out four and committed a balk.
- Davis Billardello pitched two hitless innings, but was credited with an earned run when the one walk he gave up came around to score with Casey Mulligan pitching.
- The Casey Mulligan Experience has hit a bit or a rough patch. He had a bad outing last time and in addition to the inherited runner that he allowed to score tonight, he gave up two more of his own on two hits and two walks.
- Wayne Daman pitched a scoreless inning.
Quad Cities 1, Cedar Rapids 10
- Not a pretty game. My guess is that Erik showed up an jinxed the team.
- Blake Murphy and Carlos Pupo were each 2-3 and Tommy Pham was 1-3.
- Richard Castillo started and was betrayed a bit by his defense (his own included as he committed one of the three errors on QC tonight). He allowed five runs but only two were earned. He gave up seven hits, a walk and struck out six over six innings.
- Cedar Rapids blew the game open against Matt Spade. He gave up five runs on four hits and a walk in one inning of work.
- Dylan Gonzalez pitched a perfect inning, striking out a pair.
- Big night for a lot of guys. Colt Sedbrook was 4-6 with a double, Jose Garcia was 2-6 with a homer and Chris Swauger was 2-4 with a homer and a walk. [deep breath]
- Jermaine Curtis was 1-2 with a walk and a stolen base, Brett Lilley was 1-2 with a double, Frederick Parejo was 3-6 with a stolen base, and Charles Cutler and Xavier Scruggs were each 2-4 with a walk, Scruggs also doubled.
- The pitching was just as good tonight, with zero walks on the evening.
- Ramon Delgado threw the first five innings and only allowed one hit while striking out seven.
- Adam Veres followed with six strikeouts over three innings and Daniel Richardson finished the game with a scoreless inning.
- Nico Vasquez overcame his StainGuard concerns to go 2-4 with a double and a stolen base.
- Alex Castellanos also doubled in going 1-3.
- Jack Cawley was 2-4.
- Randy Santos got the start and gave up three runs on three hits and a walk. He struck out six.
- Carlos Gonzalez came in, pitched an inning and got lit up to the tune of three runs on two hits and a walk.
- Joel Pichardo pitched two perfect innings, striking out three.
Entries (RSS)
I have a question. It seems that relatively often firstinning.com does not have statistics from 2008. Does anyone know why this is? Maybe such stats are not shown when they are being updated??? It is such a great site, but I find this kind of frustrating, as I never know when the ’08 stats will be there. Thanks.
craig and freese have both been great this year, but i don’t think their performance will decide the future cardinals’ third baseman. if brett wallace can become even close to average defensively, he is the future at third. if not, then freese and craig get to fight it out.
Just wanted to remind all you draft geeks that the Aflac Game is Sat at 2PM St.Louis time on the FoxSports Regional chans.
PG Crosschecker is doing some daily write up’s and it seems like a real, real nice group of kids, better the 2007.
Its amazing to look back at the past 4 or 5 Aflac Games and now look at who is where, they sure do know how to pick them.
For this draft being a crapshoot……it sure isnt hard to find the talent for the Aflac guys.
Donovan Solano was my big sleeper pick at the beginning of the year. I’m pretty happy with my prediction thus far. His power still hasn’t come, but he’s proving to be a competent contact hitter. He can just be next in our line of midget, low power utility men.
I can’t decide if our system sucks so bad that it went 0′fer in wins tonight, or is so good it went 0′fer in losses tonight.
The third base situation is part of what irks me about the front offices inability to get a major league ready SS or 2B. The Cardinals have 3 above average options at 3rd base. And the two at the beginning of the season that we thought might make the 2010 roster will both probably be jumped by The Walrus.
Then again, we may trade for a MIF only to decide to play him in LF.
HL: #$@% placeholders…
Shi: I have noticed that, too, and it drives me crazy, as well. It is often the site I want to use as a reference when writing a post, but if it doesn’t have the 2008 stats then I have to use something else (which always seems inferior).
FGC: Even as I was writing that little blurb about Freese and Craig I was thinking about Wallace, but even though it might turn out that way, I don’t think we should be anointing him the future of 3B until he’s moved up a little and got a few more at bats under his belt. Let Craig and Freese enjoy it temporarily.
Here’s another thought: we have often talked about dealing from depth this offseason by trading an outfielder or two, but what about Freese or Craig? Unless one makes the big league club next year (just to sit behind Glaus) we will have a bit of a glut at AAA. Perhaps one of them (or maybe even Glaus) would have more value on the trade market than an outfielder.
If we contend next year Glaus won’t be traded, but at least he will bring some good draft picks.
Thankfully I did not show up, but I was sorry to miss Richard Castillo. I had some work stuff come up and wasn’t able to make it.
Re: bonuses —
The slots all jumped from ’07 to’08, so the guys signing for slot got some pretty good dough. Lynn, just to pick one, got $938k. The slot in ’07 was $787k. I can see why he signed quickly. A slot bonus is no insult to a good prospect.
This may or may not be a dumb question, but is there a site that lists all the top picks and their stats thus far?
I’d like to see how everyone is faring compared to Wallace.
Not that i’m disappointed in Wallace or anything, as i feel we got the steal of the draft and couldn’t be more excited about the guy… i’d just like to see what everyone else is doing.
I would like to see them move one of Barden, Freese, or Craig to 2B. They all have a bat that would play well at 2b and none are slouches at defense from what I have read except maybe Craig.
Hell if Freese can field 2b decently and hit I think he would be a good fit for the club.
Blazer – I’ve thought that as well. If I were a player in Craig/Freese/Barden/Barton/Robinson/etc posisition, I’d be letting everyone know of my eagerness and willingness to learn to play 2B. In fact, with this organization, I’d be letting anyone and everyone know of my willing to play any position. Versatility will get you on the big league club eventually if you have a solid bat.
Is Craig considered a below-average third baseman? BP’s stats have him at +1 defensively right now, and give him a translated defensive rating of -1. IOW, they think he’ll be one run below average as a major-league third baseman. That means he’d cost us one tenth of one run per season if he started at third base for the Cardinals.
If he hits well enough to start, I’ll settle for an average glove.
Sorry, “one tenth of one win per season.”
Blazer – Barden can play every infield position. He won the equivalent of a Gold Glove at 3B in college. He’s been playing SS all year for Memphis, but was a utility player for the majority of his minor league career, IIRC (I haven’t looked up any stats to verify this).
Since Craig is younger, I would rather have him be the everyday 3B next year for Memphis. See if Freese can handle the shift to 2B. This will allow Wallace to go to AA next year.
There’s a subscriber only article on Baseball America’s site with the tag line “Talented Memphis club typical of Cardinals’ improved farm” … anyone feel like sharing it?
I have watched Craig play all year at Springfield. He is above average 3rd baseman. He can make all the plays. I heard that a scout said he was the best 3rd baseman in the Texas League. He does make some iffy throws at time. Since Hamilton is no longer playing 1st all in the infielders are not making as many errors. He had to be the worst 1st baseman I have seen. Anyway back to Craig. He has been hitting the ball to all fields and still has his power. I have not seen Freese but I think Craig will be playing at the Major League level in a couple of years.
Finding playing time for Craig/Freese/Wallace will be pretty tough next year.
Wonder if it would make sense to start Wallace at PB, Craig at AA, and Freese at AAA and rotate the three every three weeks or so (Freese down to A+, Craig to AAA, Wallace to AA, etc.) They’d all get to play everyday, they’d all get exposed to AAA pitching, and they could all work on specific parts of their game for their rotation in the low minors.
And here’s hoping Nick Additon and the QC offense get a lead in the ninth for Maj’s first save opportunity after the promotion. (Requisite Maj reference)
I think they have to look long and hard at trading one of Freese/Craig in the off-season and get a legit SS, veteran or not.