I’m sure by now most of you have seen the list of names invited to spring training.
I don’t really have a lot to add that has not already been said about some of the prospects invited up. I will say it’s definitely encouraging to see fewer minor league free agents with each year being invited. A few quick takes of each group by position:
SP- Jess Todd, Clayton Mortensen, Adam Ottavino, Tyler Herron, P.J. Walters (5) – It’ll be interesting for me to see La Runcan’s take on Jess Todd once they see him and how that will compare player development’s take. Relief could be a shortcut for Todd to reach the big leagues, but it may not maximize his value, however I’m still not sold that he’s a starting pitcher anyhow. Mortensen and Dave Duncan are a match made in heaven. It’ll be Mort’s second camp. Watching how TLR/DD perceive Walters could be telling of P.J.’s future.
RP- Fernando Salas, Francisco Samuel, Ian Ostlund (3) – I had to do a double take when I saw Samuel on the list, but come to think of it, it’s not surprising that a rare power arm like Samuel’s is at big league camp and hopefully the coaching staff can help him iron out the command issues, because that’s the only thing keeping him back from being accepted among the truly elite talent in the minors. KLaw sees him as a potential Top 100 prospect for 2010.
OF- Colby Rasmus, Jon Jay (2) – Leach offers the interesting tidbit that Colby will be wearing a big league #28 in camp. I don’t have much to say on Jay other than I’m thrilled that he was invited because he certainly is deserving. Unfortunately, it’s quite a crowd out there.
IF- Brett Wallace, David Freese, Allen Craig, Joe Thurston (4) – The competition for “Who’s at the Hot Corner?” just got a lot more interesting with Glaus now out for a month or so. Freese is the overwhelming favorite, as Wallace could use more time to work on his glove, ditto Allen Craig. I can’t help but to pull for the dark horse Craig to at least make some noise.
C – Bryan Anderson, Steven Hill, Arnoldi Cruz, Luis De La Cruz, Matt Pagnozzi, Justin Knoedler (6) – How many years is this now for Anderson? It’s interesting to me to see how he’s still a top ten prospect in most rankings but has slid down from the top five towards the bottom of the list, and it seems like everywhere you turn, doubts come up. I haven’t seen Anderson play other than a once a couple years ago, but I don’t get all the fuss. His defense isn’t perfect, but he’s still young and has improved at getting the job done, even if it isn’t pretty. Yes, he seems to cool every 2nd half of the season and that’s worrisome, but again, he’s young and the stamina issue hopefully will get resolved in time. Maybe he does bust, a lot of catching prospects do. I guess I’m just knee-jerking to what seems like a lot of people lately dwelling on Anderson’s negatives. Hill and Cruz are the two non-catching catchers hoping to gain some instruction on how to improve at the position. Godspeed to them, because their future in baseball probably depends on it.
The side story in camp has to be who is the player to be named later in the Khalil Greene deal? Is it any of these guys? We know it’s two relievers and an outfielder on their list to chose from
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i’d like to see steven hill face some big league pitching…that guy can mash, and if he shows it at all in ST, maybe he could be part of a trade to an AL team down the line
Erik- Where did you read that it was 2 relievers and an outfielder? I thought it just said it was 2 pitchers and a hitter.
maybe I was wrong but for some reason i thought it was a reliever.
I heard the same as Cardsfan1. When I saw outfielder there I flashed on Jay and panicked. That’d be too much but now that I think about it it probably is one of the invitees so that the Pads get a chance to see them in ST. Otherwise why wait this long? That makes it pretty scary if Samuel or any of the top starters are involved. I’m hoping of this group that the pitchers would be Salas and Walters and I guess I’d settle for Craig as the hitter. The more I think about this the more worried I get.
Why would the Cards want to showcase a guy for the Pads? We want them to pick the worst of the possibilities not the best don´t we?
gosh darnit who is going to backup greene and kennedy? we have 2 starting outfields yet kennedy at second. i guess its brendan ryan who is like aaron miles without talent(miles isnt that talented to begin with). joe thurston? i dont see one team in all of baseball that has a worse 2b/ss combo.
ankiel/motte/outfielder for mike gonzalez and martin prado.
we get a closer who could double as a shut down lefty if perez is really good. prado could hopefully take over 2b in 2010(or sooner). i like motte but so would other teams. do this trade and get a starter on a one year deal and we would be set.
The Cards explored Gonzalez earlier in the offseason and Moz said the price tag was way above what he was willing to spend
from what i understand we wanted escobar for ludwick, which they wouldnt do. we wanted johnson for ankiel which they wouldnt do. they wanted ludwick for johnson which we wouldnt do. they wanted ludwick for gonzalez which we wouldnt do.
the braves need an outfielder just in the exact same way we need a closer. they dont need a 4 or 5 year deal, they need a rental so heyward, schaeffer, and gorkys can develop. we need a rental closer so perez or motte can develop.
look at the braves projected starting outfield right now. u would think theyh would be calling us. they have francoeur coming off a terrible year, matt diaz, and…. i like ankiel and we would probably miss his 30 homers and good d next year but long term he has to go and getting gonzalez would be perfect.
If Rick shows he’s healthy in spring training and driving the ball, perhaps the Braves will pick up the phone. I think Rick has too many question-marks at present to land us anything of value until other teams see that he is healthy. I would really like to see Rick moved to make room Ras … and us get something useful in return. The only set of circumstances under which I see Rick Ankiel as a Cardinal in 2010 is if Ludwick is moved and that, in my mind, would be stupid.
i agree with what u r saying joe. waiting untilo spring would let him show hes healthy/productive and like someone said yesterday the market will develop. in other words the braves will realize ankiel is the best they can get. gonzalez would be perfect for us. keep in mind he too has an injury history. i think soriano for the braves would also need to look good in spring. ludwick doesnt need to go anywhere, especially with glaus being hurt. ludwick has 3 years to prove healthy/productive and the cards have 3 years to figure out what to do. no need to sign him and no need to trade him.
I assume Barden is on the roster, and that’s why he’s not on this list. He’s my pick as the backup MIF…I hope he shows well enough to start at second in 2010.
I could be reading into this a bit, but I would figure that none of these players are the PTBNL in the Greene trade, otherwise why would we invite them to ST?
If it wasn’t one of the invitees what would be the point of waiting this long? I suspect the Padres want to see their choices competing against high level competition.
[...] non-roster invites | Future Redbirds [...]
Kind of surprised Luke Gregerson didn’t get an invite since had the best winter of any of our pitchers.
martin prado??? don’t think so
In regards to the PTBNL in the K. Greene trade with San Diego – I went back and checked our transaction listing that we keep at FanHome. Here is what we recorded about the trade at the time that it happened:
12/4/08 – St Louis – The Cardinals have traded RHP Mark Worrell and a PTBN to San Diego for SS Khalil Greene. The other player may not be named until the end of Spring Training, according to Padre GM Kevin Towers, who will choose from a list of three, two of which are pitchers.
yeah, i thought it would be almost mandatory that one of these players would be the PTBNL, because I had seen that same comment. Ottovino?
Aren’t there a lot of catchers on this list? I would have thought there’d be a couple other pitchers worth a look — not to make the team out of ST, but just to show their faces and see how they look against more challenging batters — Gregerson was mentioned. I know Additon is a couple years away, but I would have liked to have seen him show his face.
last, scherer is worth protecting over perdromo, but not worth an invite to ST?
It could be one of the non roster invitees, but not necessarily so. I think the Padres asked for the April 1st date to look at their three possible choices in spring training. However note that approximately 90% of the spring training games for the Cardinal minor league teams will be complete by April 1st. Accordingly they will get almost an equal look at their possible choices, regardless of whether it is at the MLB level or in the minor league games.
I also forgot to add that Scherer did not need an invite to spring training because he is already on the 40 man roster and thus will be there.
However, I, too, agree that leaving Perdomo exposed for the Rule 5 draft seems to have been a mistake since the Cards both then and now have spaces available on the 40 man roster to have protected him. Hopefully they will get lucky and the Giants (and the other 28 teams) will not have room to keep him in the majors all season, like what occured a few years ago with Tyler Johnson.
Last week on the Post Dispatch chat with GM Mozeliak I asked the question about why they left Perdomo exposed. My question was not one that he answered.
As a member of the 40-man roster Scherer automatically gets an invite to big league camp. This is a list of “non-roster” invitees.
of course. sometimes the fingers work faster than the brain.
Regarding anderson, being a “prospect” is all about being shiny. He’s still younger than most prospects, but because he’s been around a couple of years now, the “shiny” is wearing off. I can’t believe Law had him as the 10th best catching prospect, though.
Indiana, I would have liked to have seen the answer to that question, too.