Archive for April, 2009

Last year you could watch archived games for free.  This year not so much.  Is there really a significant market that justifies charging for this video?  I get that MLBAM is a business but, to me, all this does is make the minors less accessible to fans.  That’s not going to increase interest in these games or in the MLB.  This is (theoretically) one fewer baseball game I’ll attend this season.

But then again, the people who watch archived MiLB footage are likely hardcore enough to bite the bullet and buy a subscription.

First and foremost Alex Eisenberg, FR contributor and man about town on Cardinal blogs has a guest post over at Pitchers Hit Eighth in which he takes a deep look at Jess Todd’s mechanics.  He comes to the defensible conclusion that the Cardinals made the right move by switching him to the bullpen.  There has been a lot of discussion for both sides of this argument, but this is a must read article, no matter how you feel now.  I’m not saying how you should feel on this topic – just read it, ok!

And now we are going to jump into the DFRs this evening as there has been plenty of discussion about Luis Perdomo, Matt Scherer and everyone in between, so let’s see how they did in the games that counted.

Quad Cities was rained out again, so we’ve got three games to track and the clubs went 2-1.

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The Padres claimed Luis Perdomo after the Giants put him on waivers.  John Mozeliak had mentioned in recent interviews that the Cardinals would take Perdomo back given the opportunity but the Padres acquired their third St. Louis right-handed reliever in the last 6 months.  This one was basically free.

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Apparently Francisco Samuel‘s hurt finger led to the wild outing yesterday in which he walked three batters. No word yet on what caused the 53 BBs in 63 IP last year. I think he must have been missing a limb or something.

The annual “Blake Hawksworth is ready” article is out for the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Quoting Hawksworth:

A lot of people have written me off in a sense. Looking at my numbers, they don’t really know what’s going on between the lines. It kind of fuels my fire a little bit. It makes me more hungry to try and go out and have the best season I can.

That’s really the best attitude you can hope for him to have at this point. He’s had some injuries and he has had some pretty awful outings over the last couple years. It’s not just the stat lines since his stuff still hadn’t really returned to it’s non-bionic shoulder days. Which Hawk seems to also recognize:

All I can do is go out and try to get this ball club wins, which I haven’t been able to do that the last two years. If I can switch my record around, we’ll be in good shape.

At 26 the clock is ticking and although Hawksworth was placed on the 40-man roster again this year, I’d be somewhat surprised if he was the first starting pitcher called up from Memphis. Best of luck to him though.

It’s an abbreviated DFR with Memphis rained out and PB/QC having the night off.

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I feel for Jarrett Hoffpauir. He’s a marginal second baseman in an organization that LOVES to employ marginal second baseman. Yet rather than employ one from the minors the Cardinals converted Skip Schumaker to 2nd. Not to mention that Joe Thurston has shown a surprising amount of pop in his bat to further stand in the way. Still, it sounds like Hoffpauir has the right attitude about it.

Quad Cities has a really awesome ballpark. It’s nice and cozy, easy to get to and generally just a great family feel to it. They’ve also got some awesome promotions coming up. The van down by the river sounds pretty hookey but:

Bobblehead giveaways featuring St. Louis first-round picks Pete Kozma and Brett Wallace

Ummmm, yes please. One of the reason that I love the minors is that I feel like I don’t have to share these players. Even Kozma, whom I’ve had a tumultuous fanship with isn’t someone that I hear people talking about around the water cooler at work. He’s a secret to be treasured among obsessive types like . . . well all of you reading this. See this page for the promotions.

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I was somewhat pleasantly surprised to see Luke Gregerson make the Padres out of spring training. So far he’s made a nice jump from AA – no runs and 3 strikeouts in 3 innings pitched.

Let’s take a look at Gregerson through two games through the lens of pitch f/x. I should warn you, I’m no Mike Fast or Harry Pavlidis. In fact, I just learned how to chart some of this stuff yesterday and know enough to be dangerous…just thought it would be fun to try out on with Gregerson.

Pitch fx’s pitch classification is pretty poor at times, Gregerson is more of a sinker/slider guy and I’m sure some of those four-seams should be classified two-seam. I was just too lazy to change them.  That is a nice slider, as advertised.

Here is where his pitches went -

And now for his release point -

Overall, I think Gregerson will fit in nicely with the Padres. He’s not a world-beater and probably is no more than a middle reliever, but he has a nice sinker/slider combo and will keep the ball on the ground and in the park. Especially in Petco.

Let’s have a quick chat about DFRs.

A DFR is:

• A recap of the games from the night before
• Links to player pages
• Quick hit commentary based on sample sizes that are too small to draw lasting conclusions from

A DFR is not:

• A complete scouting report
• An objective statistical analysis

DFRs are supposed to let you know how the previous night went in a bullet point, skim-and-see fashion.  This isn’t protracted analysis where we break down where things went right and wrong.  We’ll spout off about little things we notice in the box score and try to keep an eye out for trends when we notice them.

If you disagree with an adjective, feel free to comment on why you think player X was actually better or worse than the box score but remember that the author is working from the boxscore.  Also, remember that we have to write about 150 minor league games over the course of the year.  I can guarantee that you’ll find something to quibble about in each DFR.  I don’t want to stifle commenting but I do want everyone to realize that you can input additional or first hand info in a way that adds to or detracts from the conversation.

I’m glad that everyone is following the minors.  I’m glad you come here to catch your recaps.  I want that to continue.  I also want all the authors here to not feel like their under a barrage because of a single adjective.  Perspective is important.  It’s a long baseball season.  We now return to you regularly scheduled broadcasting blogging.

Doesn’t take Wallace long to get into a baseball article does it? A 4-for-5, 2 HR night will do that for you though. It can’t be long till he gets to Memphis.

The questions about Wallace are far more about his defense at third than anything he does with the bat; it’s hard to find a scout who doesn’t think he’s going to mash, and there are very few who don’t think he’ll be ready by the end of the year.

I didn’t know enough about Wallace at draft time to be excited about this pick but it looks like a home run even if he winds up at first base in the long run. He’s a heck of a trading chip to have in the cupboard.

Also, check below for the latest on Perdomo.

It’s good to be back doing DFRs. Away we go!

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Claimed by the Padres.  More commentary to come next week.

“His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of mans heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.

The officer, surrounded by these noises, was moved and a little embarrassed. He turned away to give them time to pull themselves together; and waited, allowing his eyes to rest on the trim cruiser in the distance.”

A week ago, Jason Motte thought the thing that would most make him like Charlie Sheen in Major Leagues were his sweet glasses and blazing fastball. Now, as he prepares himself for the red tag to be hung in his locker, we find the farm system going 3-1, with some powerful, weak and soggy results.
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