Archive for March, 2009

Couple of quick items (since work is crazy for me this week) from the STL P-D.  First, the Cardinals cut nine minor leaguers of little recognition.  The one name that caught my eye was Jameson Maj who was drafted recently and struck out his fair share of batters last year.  Brian Walton has more information on each of the released prospects at The Cardinal Nation.

Second item: This is a dumb defensive arrangement.  Rick Ankiel is just not that great a centerfielder relative to Rasmus.  Maybe it’s to take the pressure off the kid or whatever but it’s giving away hits.  I know Ankiel was fielding well last year before his injury, but he just isn’t the defensive natural that Rasmus is.  Rick’s stats, while not the sample size I’d like to draw firm conclusions from, tend to support this as well.  {Azru edit: I suspect people will slam this comment after a shaky defensive outing by Rasmus today.  I stand by it.}
{Update 3:40pmCDT} Kevin Goldstein has a piece up on scouting some players in Florida.  Colby Rasmus makes the article with more good reviews from scouts.  Quick snippet:

“I like everything I see,” said one scout. “He has all five tools, and his instincts for the game could be a sixth.”

There’s also some positive notes on Jess Todd as a starting candidate in the not to distant future.

I don’t know if this has been mentioned or not but as a big ‘broadcast baseball’ guy, I figured I’d pass it along.

The Springfield Cardinals will be broadcasting 14 of their games this year locally on KY3 NBC and Ozarks CW.

List of games after the jump

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Down-stairs we came out through the first-floor dining-room to the street. A waiter went for a taxi. It was hot and bright. Up the street was a little square with trees and grass where there were taxis parked. A taxi came up the street, the waiter hanging out at the side. I tipped him and told the driver where to drive, and got in beside Brett. The driver started up the street. I settled back. Brett moved close to me. We sat close against each other. I put my arm around her and she rested against me comfortably. It was very hot and bright, and the houses looked sharply white. We turned out onto the Gran Via.

“Oh, Jake,” Brett said, “we could have had such a darned good time together.”

Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me.

“Yes,” I said. “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”

Today, Memphis players faced ML pitching (TWICE!)

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Derrick Goold covered a feel-good story in Bird Land today about Naval officer and new Cardinals signing Mitch Harris.  He is pitching with a military personnel team as they play games around Central America and the Caribbean.  Good to see that Mitch is staying sharp.  Thanks for serving our country, Mitch.

Matthew Leach of mlb.com also writes for stlcardinals.com that all the Cardinals prospects have now been moved from major league camp to minor league camp.  You will not see very many of the Cards prospects in the big-league box scores.  Your only outlet is your friendly, neighborhood DFR.  So, let’s get to it.

On a last side note, if you are not following Derrick Goold’s and Matthew Leach’s updates on twitter, you are missing out.

So, every few days the Cardinals run out of teams which have Spring Training within a short bus ride of Jupiter and are forced to conduct a civil war reenactment on the back lots.  Brother against brother, Memphis against Springfield and Quad Cities against Palm Beach.

Everything from John Vuch is below the jump!

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Derrick Goold has a really insightful piece up on his blog about the Cardinals choices for the a “6th starter” should they need one.  If you read carefully, you can see some of the attitudes toward Cardinal pitching prospects. They aren’t necessarily good ones but some are different and some echo what we’ve said here.  Let’s hit some hidden gems:

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Hi Everyone, I’m Jeff and I’m new in town.  I’ll throw out a little about myself before the DFR, but not too much because I don’t want you to get bored.    I grew up in St. Louis and I’ve been a Cardinals fan all my life.  Additionally, I also cover the Rams over at Rams Gab.  I’m currently living in Boston and following the Cardinals and their affiliates via mlb.tv and the magic of the internet.  I moved to Boston in the summer of 2004 and you all know what happened next as I basically had to barricade myself in my apartment during the 2004 World Series.  It was not a good time for Boston-based Cardinal fans.  That being said, it warms my heart every time I see someone wearing a Cardinals hat in Boston, so keep it up guys and girls.

It’s an honor and a privilege to be posting here at FR.  I’m going to do my best not to embarrass myself.  So, go easy on me.  It’s spring training for me too.

John Vuch’s spring training report is after the jump.

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Azru: I received this post in an e-mail and it’s about a former and perhaps future Cardinal prospect. Stats are as of 3/19. FR welcomes well-written posts as guest submissions.

Is Luis Perdomo coming back to the Cards?

As most of you know the Cardinals received relief pitcher Luis Perdomo from the Indians last season in exchange for Anthony Reyes.

Perdomo will be 25-years-old next month, has a big sinking fastball and a good slider.  He has racked up over 10 strikeouts per 9 innings in his minor league career, but has never pitched above AA and was older than most of his opponents at each level.

Chone and ZIPS both project Perdomo’s 2009 big league numbers to be around a 4.85 ERA with 30 walks and 45 K’s in approximately 60 innings.  Not an eye popping projection, but Perdomo could certainly outperform those numbers and be a valuable cost controlled asset over the next few years.

The Giants obviously think the Perdomo has some value because they picked him in the Rule 5 draft this winter.  This looked like a solid pick for a rebuilding team, but the Giants front office took something of a “win-now” approach in free agency.  Now it’s unclear if the G-men will be able bring Perdomo north with the big club.  Further complicating matters the Giants are considering an 11-man bullpen, meaning Perdomo could be facing an uphill battle for one of the teams last roster spots.

Perdomo hasn’t set the world on fire this spring, but has kept his head above water posting a 4.91 ERA with 7 K’s and 4 BB’s in 7.1 IP (small sample size but these numbers are similar to his Chone and ZIPS projections).

To get a better idea of where Perdomo stands I decided to email two Giants insiders to find out.

When asked if he thought Perdomo would make the Giants, Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News responded saying “I think Perdomo will be traded or offered back to the Cards — especially if the Giants are serious about keeping 11 pitchers.”  Baggarly also added that he’s been told the Cardinals want Perdomo back.  Henry Schulman of the San Fransisco Chronicle thinks it’s still up in the air saying, “I don’t even think the team knows yet.  I know they like him.  We’ll have to wait til the end of camp to find out.”

If Perdomo misses out on a shot with the Giants due to a roster crunch, then it appears that the Cardinals will have a good chance of getting him back.  While the Cardinals bullpen already has plenty of right handed arms, there is still some upside to a player like Perdomo who could go to Memphis and offer insurance in the event of an injury and provide even greater organizational depth.

link

Eh. I liked Gregerson, he had one of the better sinker/slider combos of anyone in the system, but the club has a plethora of right-handed relief as it is. BA rated him the Cards’ 29th best prospect. Last week, it was announced that Mark Worrell is going to undergo Tommy John surgery. So far it’s hard to like this deal from a the standpoint of a Padre fan.

Note: As pointed out by Alex, I goofed big time on my last analysis, but since I’m the godfather I’m going to take a mulligan. 23 year old C pitching prospects have a surplus value of $1.3M each. It’s that low because they have a 78% chance of busting, a 19% of becoming a contributor and a 3% chance of being an everyday player according to Victor Wang’s piece in The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2009. Khalil Greene is projected to be a 1.5 wins above replacement player, worth about $6.6M on the free agent market…the predicted free agent market that is.  It’s more like $6.15 given the amount of below market deals made this winter, perhaps even less.  Greene’s salary is $6.5M. So in the end, the Cardinals gave up $2.3M in assets and are paying an above market salary for Greene.

Doesn’t look like a win, but considering they only had to give up two older C prospects for someone who has not long ago posted WARs of 3.8 and 3.5, it’s definitely worthwhile move in my view. So far in spring training at least, Greene looks like a good bounce back candidate, both offensively and defensively.

Because KLaw’s comments went over so well, let’s toss some more fuel on the fire:

psugator01 (Coral Springs, Fla.): Is there anything about Jason Motte‘s mechanics that would prevent the Cardinals from naming him their closer?

Kevin Goldstein: I’m not sure I have something against his mechanics, it’s just a bit weird because the second he throws, you KNOW he’s a converted catcher. I think the bigger concern is his secondary stuff, but he really can bring it and he’s worth a look.

If you take Jason Motte‘s slider in isolation, I don’t think it’s an average pitch. The movement is ok but not great. It’s not particularly deceptive and he’s really using it to give the hitter a different look, not get an out. The pitch works because he’s got such a straight, high velocity fastball. I’ve seen him toss a couple truly good sliders this spring but they’re erratic. Any professional level pitcher is going to whip off a good slider on occasion but not all of them can do it consistently. Motte’s been working on this pitch for quite some time now and I haven’t seen enough to make me think he’s really taken that next step forward with it.

Matt (St. Louis): Possible Memphis rotation of Boggs, Hawksworth, Todd, Walters, Mortenson – who has the best chance to stick in the majors?

Kevin Goldstein: More to come again next week on some spring training scouting reports, but Todd has definitely opened some eyes this spring.

That’s a solid AAA rotation but it has little in the way of upside for the majors. Maybe two of those guys become backend pitchers. Perhaps you have higher hopes for Todd.

Reassigned to AAA: Tyler Greene, Blake Hawksworth, Jon Jay, Fernando Salas, Bryan Anderson

None of those should be terribly surprising although the Anderson assignment is a bit worrisome. We’ve seen a couple of notes in the paper and heard comments on the radio about how everyone loves Matt Pagnozzi‘s skills behind the plate. Unfortunately, he sucks fiercely at the plate unlike Mr. Anderson. Anderson isn’t likely to be a world beater but you’ve got an opposite handed catcher who can hit well to platoon or spell your starter . . . and you go with Pagnozzi. Bryan Anderson is shaping up to be a controversy in the next year or so.

Be sure to check out Brian Walton’s notes from the day here (bottom of post).  He’s got some great photos as well.

Onto John Vuch’s notes for the day:

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All of the games for 3/21 were rained out.  Thus there won’t be a DFR.