Archive for May, 2009

Evan Brunell of MVN asked me to participate in an all-blogger mock draft, to which I said “yes!”  I took Rex Brothers, a left-handed pitcher out of Lipscomb. I drafted who I think the Cardinals would pick, not necessarily who I would’ve picked, although I do like Brothers. Other possible option that are plausible are: Sacramento State OF Tim Wheeler, Kentucky LHP James Paxton, Indiana RHP Eric Arnett, Kennesaw State RHP Chad Jenkins or HS outfielders Mike Trout and Everett Williams.

It’s very possible the Cardinals could take any of the outfielders and I think that might be my preferred scenario.  I probably would have taken Paxton if not for a report about his velocity being down 2-4 MPH in his last start. Jenkins seems to be the Cardinals cup o’tea and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Cardinals pop him.  College? Check. Sinker? Yep. A little unorthodox? You bet. Results? Try a 5:1 K/BB ratio and a 2.11 FIP on for size. Will he sell jeans? You tell me.

Big upside? Well, he is big. And he has big league upside. Is he the #1-2 starter upside that we’re all hoping for? No, but I’m not sure anyone will fit that bill at #19, unless it’s for signability reasons.

Happy Memorial Day everyone, I hope you all had great weather for whatever your various holiday activities were.

The organization went 1-2 as Palm Beach was off today. I’ll never understand minor league scheduling. I guess everyone in Florida just wanted to go to the beach instead.

Read the rest of this entry »

The draft is now only 2 weeks from tomorrow, and you will soon be getting a chance to see a lot more potential picks on tv as the NCAA regionals and super regionals get underway the next 2 weekends.  This draft is still very fluid, even more so than recent years, but I thought it would still be fun to get some kind of mock down to just get an idea of how the board might shake out.  Of course anything this early is likely to be way off, but I think there is some concensus starting to form of who the top 10 players or so are in this draft.  However, after you get through those players, teams could start pulling some real stunners.  With this mock I just went down to the Cardinals’ pick, check out my best guess on who we will take after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Weekly Link Dump:

Need a Venezualan Summer League fix? Josh Jones has details over at The Cardinal Nation. It’s important to remember that stats from the VSL and DSL are going to be highly variable due to the quality of competition from a year to year basis. The league is probably on par with one of the short season clubs but not low-A ball.

Blake Hawksworth is having quite a run.

“It feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve had a stretch like this, but at the same time I’m trying not to make too much of a big deal out of it, just keep working,” said the 26-year-old Hawksworth (4-3).

I’m still not sold on Hawksworth being a major league caliber starter. He’s always been noted for his changeup but injuries robbed him of his velocity on his fastball.

Jon Jay just isn’t getting the hits to fall.

“I don’t worry about Jon Jay. He’s is a .300 hitter everywhere he’s gone, and he is still technically in his first trip around this league,” said St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league hitting coordinator Dan Radison, who was finishing up a weekend with the Redbirds on Monday.

“He’s also getting back to the things he does best, going to the gaps, hitting line drives. He’s a Wade Boggs-type hitter.”

That’s something of a tall comparison but I don’t think Jay’s slump is really a downfall yet. He’s got a .304 BABIP with 21% line drive rate, which speaks towards some bad luck.

Matt Baker has some updates on roster moves:

• Joe Williams release ends the brief Mike Marshall flirtation.
• Matt Arburr replaces Mark Hamilton who landed on the DL with a groin injury. If I ever feel a ‘pop’ down there, I think I’d cry like a little girl. It’s a tough break for Hamilton who was batting over .300, getting on base 45% of the time and slugging nearly .600.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the future, there will be robots that are strong enough to throw you across the room. They will do so many times while fighting you. It will hurt and they will break things. They will refrain, however, from attempting to kill you until a climactic moment. They will never simply punch your face in or rip out your throat despite their inhuman strength giving them the ability to do so. If you are reading this, you are the resistance.

Terminator Salvation – good action scenes, decent acting, decent plot, some small contrivances that you don’t want to think too much about. A solid ‘B’ movie of action flicks.

Craig goes boom. One of my favorite prospects goes toe-to-toe with Steve Hill. Brian Broderick has a very democratic outing. The River Bandits take on . . . an apple?

It’s all in your DFR.

Read the rest of this entry »

Watching the season finale of House on USA network. Have I mentioned that this is the best TV show on air right now? This is the best TV show on air right now.

Read the rest of this entry »

Please note that this is not me breaking trade news.

The Chicago White Sox and the San Diego Padres had the framework in place for a Jake Peavy trade.  Peavy, who has a full no-trade clause, nixed the deal for various reasons.  There’s differing opinions on the value of Peavy outside of Petco Park but let’s see if we can take a quick look at what the package would be.

Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s get right to the fun. Oh, wait, I almost forgot the picture.

On September 11th, 1297 William Wallace sent a shockwave through the mighty British Empire by defeating their massive army in the Battle of Stirling Bridge.
Read the rest of this entry »

Shane Robinson has returned to Memphis with the activation of Chris Carpenter. Someone else will be going down when/if Rick Ankiel is activated, more than likely Stavinoha.

Memphis had the night off. There were 2 one-run games and 1 game in which the score wasn’t very close.

Read the rest of this entry »

This past weekend, the Cardinals decided to promote top prospect Brett Wallace from AA to AAA in his first full season of pro ball. The lefty hitting third baseman has responded well in Memphis going 8-for-17 thus far. With David Freese on the DL due to a lingering foot injury, the Cardinals had the opportunity to inch Wallace closer to the big leagues in much the same way they did with 2007 supplemental round pick Clayton Mortensen. Was this the right decision or are the Cardinals running the risk of stunting Wallace’s development by moving him too far too fast?

Read the rest of this entry »