Cards sign 2B Joe Thurston, C Justin Knoedler to minor deals
Posted on December 16th, 2008 by erik in Transactions, tags: Joe Thurston, Justin KnoedlerThe hot stove is burning now, baby!
As we’ve seen with lefty relievers, the Cards seem content to bring as many middling middle infielders to spring training and let themselves sort themselves out as to who will be the new utility infielder. Seems redundant, but Thurston is kinda interesting, I suppose, for a quad A guy. He was a top ten prospect in the Dodger system between ’01-’03 and their organizational player of the year twice in a row. He was thought to be Mark Gruzielanek’s heir to the keystone, but apparently did not play well enough to convince the Dodgers to start him over Alex Cora. He’s wandered the wilderness of AAA ever since, but has put together a couple of nice seasons in a row, and hit for a .365 wOBA last season for Pawtucket. The scouting reports I’ve seen digging around in BA’s archive all note he’s a pretty solid defensive player back in his prospect days, and BP’s Fielding Runs Above Average metric has his defense a +19 last season, higher than any player in the International League.
Digging around the web, he also seems to pass the TLR litmus test with flying colors-
- Good clubhouse guy
- Outstanding makeup and work ethic
- “off the charts” instincts.
- And of course, he’s now a veteran.
Knoedler looks like he’s pulled a reverse Motte, as he struck out 38 batters in 29 innings as a 20 year old, but was moved off the bump to behind the plate to fulfill his destiny as a journeyman catcher. He actually hit a little bit last year, posting a .816 OPS for AAA for Fresno, but his OPS dropped .200 points this past season at Sacramento. 23 of his 38 hits went for extra bases, which is pretty weird. It looks like he still has an arm, nabbing 23 of 52 base stealers this past season. I’d like to see him throw a few innings for Memphis, just for fun.
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does anyone know how well Thurston plays the other infield spots since he seems to be auditioning for the utility job.Knoedler is nothing more than AAA roster filler
Thurston = Ludwick 2.0? Hey it could happen!
Apparently the BoSox liked him but he seemingly couldn’t find a chance given their young middle infielders reaching the majors.
This entry from rotoworld on April 16…
“Red Sox purchased the contract infielder Joe Thurston from Triple-A Pawtucket.
Thurston gets the call over Keith Ginter, who has gotten off to a terrible start at Triple-A. Thurston was hitting .255 at Pawtucket, but hit .382 during spring training and impressed the Red Sox with his defense. He’ll assume a reserve role.”
It is interesting that we haven’t heard more about bringing Miles back, though. Kennedy is far from a sure thing at 2B and whoever wins the backup infield job seems likely to receive a lot of playing time. I can’t see TLR being comfortable giving 300-400 ABs to Ryan, Greene, or Thurston, nor do I think I would be comfortable with such an arrangement. If we had a better starting SS and 2B, I’d be fine with such a competition but as is, give me Hairston Jr.