I’ve got to get an earlier start on these DFRs. It’s 12:19 AM and I’m writing the intro. Chances of me being concious before 8 tommorrow: 10%.
The Minor League Ball draft was today. Unclebuck44 took Mike Minor in the first round. Rounds 2 & 3 may be of interest as well.
Human interest story in the Memphis Commercial Appeal about Mark Shorey. He’s playing for the Redbirds right now but, in honesty, this isn’t someone you’ll see barring cataclysimic injuries in St. Louis. He’s about 10th on the outfield depth chart. . . if that.
Another MCA article on the bullpen for the Redbirds. Quick quote:
Redbirds relievers have combined for a 10-4 record with a 14 saves and a 3.09 ERA, a big reason why the team leads the PCL with a 3.73 ERA.
Matt Baker has an article in praise of Descalso’s defense. I haven’t seen him enough to know but reports peg him as a solid second baseman.
Donovan Solano was promoted to Memphis with the Tyler Green promotion. Nick Derba was added to the Springfield roster as backfill — he becomes the third catcher on their roster.
David Kopp and Nick Derba explain their special bond.
Jeff Luhnow doesn’t want to say more on Tyler Herron‘s release.
In an e-mail, Luhnow echoed today what Springfield Cardinals manager Pop Warner said yesterday: “He wasn’t meeting our expectations and he has been with us since 2005.”
There certainly seems to be more to this story than the Cardinals are forthcoming with. The “on field performance” logic fails a prima facie test. Keep an eye out for future details.
- Bryan Anderson was 2-for-4.
- Mark Shorey was 2-for-4 with a HR.
- Donovan Solano was 3-for-4.
- Mitchell Boggs was tremendous throwing 97 pitches in 7 innings. He allowed just 5 hits and 2 walks for 1 ER. Everything was working as he struck out 10 and recorded more groundouts (7) than flyouts (4).
- Royce Ring takes over the closer role for a day with Jess Todd unavailable. He picked up the save with a 2K scoreless frame.
Springfield 5, Corpus Christi 8
- Daniel Descalso was 2-for-5.
- Matthew Arburr was 2-for-5 with a HR.
- I’m quite proud of being early to the Tyler Henley bandwagon. He had himself a night going 4-for-5. He’s hitting .348/.410/.539 in Springfield over 141 ABs.
- Ryan Kulik got tagged for 4 ER in 6 innings.
- The relievers were generally bad as well. Nothing to see here folks.
- Shane Peterson was 3-for-3 with a HR. I know there are a couple commenters who have hopes for Peterson. He’s hitting well with a .852 OPS in Palm Beach this season.
- Tommy Pham was 0-for-4 with 3 Ks. He’s hitting .212 on the season.
- Scott Gorgen struck out 8 in 5.2 innings. He allowed 1 ER on 3 hits and 3 walks.
- Casey Mulligan struck out 2 in a scoreless 8th.
- Adam Reifer made the 9th a bit more exciting with 2 Ks but also a walk and a hit.
Quad Cities 9, Clinton 10 (14 innings)
- Both teams scored 2 runs in the 13th inning. How pissed are you if you’re Clinton and let the River Bandits score twice in the bottom of the 13th after you take the lead?
- Brett Lilley was 1-for-7 with 4 Ks.
- Jared Bogany was 3-for-4 with 2 walks.
- Frederick Parejo was 2-for-6 with a pair of doubles. Parejo is someone to keep an eye on — he’s only 19 in full season ball — despite strugging so far this season.
- Travis Mitchell and Niko Vasquez both went 2-for-5.
- Gary Daley was pounded for 10 hits in 5 innings. He allowed 4 runs (3 earned).
- Scott Buursma struck out 2 in 2 scoreless frames.
- Quad Cities was undone by errors. They allowed 10 runs but only 6 were earned. If 6 is a serious number, than 21 is a sad number because that’s how many errors Niko has on the season.
Entries (RSS)
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/9FD3FFEF1C3FC674862575CE000C1F60?OpenDocument
Something tells me this article is going to create a fervor among the minor league fans.
“I think it’s fair to ask why those decisions were made,” La Russa says. “We’re all accountable. And it affects the future of the franchise.”
Bull-hockey. YOU aren’t accountable Mr. LaRussa. If you were, you wouldn’t be allowed to make the player decisions you do.
Don’t get angry because the new GM doesn’t give you every think you want like the old GM did. Use what you have. Stop benching Ludwick and Rasmus.
written by no one other than joe strauss, farm system hater.
they are some fair questions to ask, i guess, but the draft is a lot more a crapshoot than people realize.
and i believe it is a lot less of a crapshoot than a lot of people make it out to be. everybody knows who the top talent is, and top talent has a lot better chance of making it than lesser talent. you have to be willing to pay for that top talent though.
I guess Shorey’s manager must just be in idiot or something too since he see’s the guy everyday?
But Redbirds manager Chris Maloney disagrees, pointing to Shorey’s superlative statistics thus far in the year. Those numbers have been boosted by a recent hot streak for Shorey in which he has gone 13-for-30, including 2-for-4 on Saturday.
Player POS G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG OPS E
Mark Shorey RF 45 119 11 39 4 0 3 12 52 9 22 1 1 .380 .437 .328 .817 0
“Mark has done a whale of a job for us,” Maloney said. “The thing that stands out about him is that he’s really a mentally tough guy and he doesn’t back down from anything.”
Mark Shorey = Nick Stavinoha neither of whom project as everyday outfielders in the majors or project as top talents among the Cardinal prospects right now. Maloney’s not going to disparage his player in the press (he’s not La Russa after all) so there’s nothing much to read into this.
You need to be more objective about the subject.
T minus five months to the jose oquendo era in cardinals baseball.
If Larussa were accountable he would have to explain why he runs Big Baby out there just about every game. Why he benches Brendan Ryan and plays Skip at 2nd instead after Ryan was 2 for 5 the night before and had been hitting over .350 his last 10 games. Why he isn’t playing Skip in LF in stead of Big Baby. And I don’t care that in 2007 Big Baby hit 21 hr’s. He also struck out 123 times in only in 375 AB’s 1/3 of the time.
That was a nice link to the article slusher in the StlToday. Makes you wonder about why certain players are drafted instead of others. Does it have anything to do with $$$’s. Lets draft an average player instead, he’ll cost less to sign. Wouldn’t put it past the MGMT.
I don’t really want to think about a rotation of Carpenter, Wainwright, Lohse, Porcello and Joba.
Or Haren.
“I don’t really want to think about a rotation of Carpenter, Wainwright, Lohse, Porcello and Joba.
Or Haren.”
That’s puke inducing………
Count me on the Shane Peterson bandwagon. He’s one of the first guys I look for in the box scores.
Good to see Gorgen continue his hot streak. I’d like to see his BB rate come down, but he’s been pretty impressive nonetheless.
I’m glad Mitchell Boggs has shaken off whatever the heck that was that had him in the funk.
Boggs needs to be a strikethrower. Pitch-to-contact or not, he’s got a plus fastball and his breaking pitches are improving. He needs to continue to strike out AAA hitters at a solid clip.
Mitch Boggs needs to be up and starting in place of Lohse. He was good enough to fill in for Carpenter but not Lohse?
Congrats to Derba for his promotion. The young man certainly deserves it, he works extremely hard and has a great work ethic. Organization needs more like him, in my opinion. He’s willing to do whatever is asked of him.
On the article…I just feel that Strauss kinda made the point for the farm system in its current form. The system is going to provide everyday players on the cheap that are going to perform. I am pretty sure the spending on talent criticisms are not entirely based on evidence–look at Latin American spending. If you can find star level talent in Latin America and fill the system with everyday players in the draft–is this not a style of team building that we need to give a chance.
I’m not a big Strauss fan but I have to say that the article was a pretty fair piece. This year’s disappointing performances by the farm teams and prospects has underscored the point that we have been drafting players based on current performance rather than taking chances on long term potential. What’s odd is that the FO didn’t seem to be inspired by the success of the risky choices we did make in ’05. Rasmus, Jones and Garcia look to be the best prospects we’ve gotten in recent drafts yet we seem to be trying to corner the market on right handed middle relievers and pretty good left handed hitting corner outfielders. We don’t even have any right handed ones to platoon with all of those guys. We may have more guys in the organization who will make it to the majors than any other organization but few will have real careers. Since we are not a team that spends big money to attract free agents we have really limited ourselves.
I personally think the Strauss article was long overdue. I am of the opinion that our farm system has improved dramatically since Luhnow and co. took over. However, it’s the truth….there is no one in the current farm system that I would be comfortable considering a “core” guy. Sure Wallace can hit, but where’s he going to play? Third for 2-4 years then the inevitable switch to first. Jones has skills and his numbers are solid, but not eye-popping. And Strauss hit the nail on the head when referring to the pitching. None of our mound prospects project to be nothing better than a #4 guy on a championship caliber club. The depth is there, absolutely no denying that. But the impact talent is non-existent and I hope the front office and scouting department sacks up on Tuesday and takes a risk on high-ceiling talent. We don’t need anymore middle relievers or future 1B/DH’s.
jaime garcia is hurt right now, but if the stuff comes back (and it sounds like it is so far) he has what it takes to be at least a #3 and i think he will be a #2 type starter.
i do agree with your basic point though that we don’t have much upside on the farm, and i hope that changes on tuesday.
Apparently Shorey’s manager must not know anything either. After all he only sees the guy everyday.
But Redbirds manager Chris Maloney disagrees, pointing to Shorey’s superlative statistics thus far in the year.
“Mark has done a whale of a job for us,” Maloney said. “The thing that stands out about him is that he’s really a mentally tough guy and he doesn’t back down from anything.”
We need more guys like this.
I guess hitting .328 in your first year at AAA must not be that good. I don’t expect to see the guy this year either. But you can’t just dismiss a guy and say “He doesn’t hit for power so he sucks”.
I never said that because he doesn’t hit for power he sucks. But he’s not a prospect. Of all the commenters, you seem to really struggle with the reality that not every farmhand is destined for big league greatness.
Shorey is a corner outfielder who isn’t good defensively. He strikes out a lot and doesn’t walk much. He just isn’t a good enough offensive talent to overcome his deficiencies in other areas.
Too easy for Eric to dismiss Strauss’s piece as that of a “farm system hater,” as if Strauss is some brazen outsider poaching on Eric’s precious preserve. I’m all for the Cardinals improving what was once an atrocious minor-league system, but criticism of how well they are actually doing it is always welcome and Strauss’s analysis can’t be so easily dismissed. I’m becoming increasingly convinced that the inability to trade surplus minor league talent to help the big-league club is indeed because there is precious little minor-league talent that anyone wants–lots of fairly good minor-league hitters who can’t run and can’t field and have no real position, very few guys likely to make much impact in the majors. And the Cardinals’ failure to sign and develop first-rate starting pitching continues unabated in the present regime; it shouldn’t be quite that hard. We hear a lot about the Porcello fiasco, but the story of that White Sox prospect recounted by his cousin is in some ways even more damning.
As for Nick Derba, the one thing asked of him that he doesn’t do, and apparently can’t do, is hit. He looks like another Matt Pagnozzi or Jason Motte to me. Can he pitch?
My problem with the Strauss article is that he appears yet again to be carrying water for TLR and the deposed front office faction headed by Jocketty. He backhandedly gave Walt Jocketty credit for drafting Rasmus. BS!!! Strauss never admits that our minor league system was in shambles under Jocketty. The article makes it sound like Lunhow needs to go because he’s mediocre at best as a minor league director without acknowledging that he has done a far and away superior job to the prior regime.
Do many of us wish for Lunhow to draft more players with higher ceilings? Of course. Do any of us want to go back to the Walt Jocketty system? Hell no. Those guys were awful at evaluating talent. Just look at all the terrible 1st and 2nd round selections under Jocketty. It’s a disgrace.
Year under Jocket they drafted Chris Duncan with the 46th pick in the draft and Albert with a pick in the 400 range. They darfted him Albert on accident and had no idea that he would turn out to be this good. I would like to see Walt’s crew take credit for the following #1, 2 & 3 picks:
2000:
Shaun Boyd S/R 5-11 185 08/15/81 1 2B
Blake Williams R/R 6-5 210 02/22/79 1 RHP
Christopher Narveson L/L 6-3 185 12/20/81 2 LHP
2001:
Justin L Pope S/R 6’0″ 185 11/08/1979 1 RHP
Daniel J Haren R/R 6’5″ 220 9/17/1980 2 RHP
Joseph Mather R/R 6’3″ 190 7/23/1982 3 SS
2002:
Calvin L Hayes R/R 5’9″ 180 03/21/1984 3 SS
John K Boyer R/R 6’0″ 185 03/05/1980 4 SS
Joshua L Bell R/R 6’0″ 200 07/03/1984 5 C
2003:
Daric W Barton L/R 5’11″ 195 08/16/1985 1 C
Stuart M Pomeranz R/R 6’7″ 220 12/17/1984 2 RHP
Dennis A Dove R/R 6’4″ 200 08/31/1981 3 RHP
2004:
Christopher R Lambert R/R 6’1″ 205 03/08/1983 1 RHP 06/28/2004
Michael J Ferris L/L 6’2″ 220 12/31/1982 2 1B 07/05/2004
Eric M Haberer L/L 6’2″ 205 09/14/1982 3 LHP 06/17/2004
Not sure who most of these guys were??? Looks like the 2000, 2002, 2003, & 2004 drafts were a great success. How many opf these guys are baging groceries now?
I do have to give Walt’s guys props though. They drafted Michael J Fox in the 2001 draft. His movies were pretty good. Don’t know about his baseball skills though?
2001
Michael J Fox R/R 6’1″ 195 8/13/1979 50 SS
I’d say Strauss’ article was pretty even-handed (despite Joe’s consistent mocking tone re: the farmhands in the past).
Call me crazy, but don’t Wallace, Jones, and Anderson all project as above-average MLB regulars–and now perhaps Daniel Descalso & Shane Peterson, as well? That looks like a fine quintet to me, especially given Descalso’s excellent defensive numbers for Springfield.
Starting pitchers? Don’t ask. Sigh.
By the by, Freddy Parejo (whose doubled his walk rate so far this year) isn’t 19. The pride of Carabelleda, Venezuela, is just 18. I expect his breakout to come next year when he presumably repeats the MWL. At the tender age of 19.
Oh, and keep an eye on 17-year-old Jem Argenal down in Venezuela. He’s over .350, with just 4 K’s in 42 AB’s. Nice start for the kid. (I’m looking forward to seeing what Gerardo Mannbel & last year’s star Int’l signee, Roberto De La Cruz, can do in American rookieball.)
I’ll stay optimistic. ;)
I ago with Erik he is 200% correct, the draft is a crap shoot and the draft is about getting the best players you can for the least amount of dollars.
Perhaps out of one draft class for each team, you might get a ML player or two if lucky. Most players drafted are, not so much for development, but so that they can provide teams for those they consider true prospects.
Perfectgame has does some good statistics and articles on this.
Perhaps out of each draft class, there are some players where it is very obvious, but most of the time scouting is so subjective, most times it doesn’t work out. I know many early round choices that have not panned out, and I know of later picks that have.
If it’s really no more than a “crap shoot,” then we might as well let a computer do the drafting. Why pay Luhnow and his staff if intelligence and experience have nothing to with it? Let’s give DeWitt another excuse to save money! Of course, that doesn’t explain why some teams, like the Braves, consistently draft better than the Cardinals despite years of drafting last or near last. But let’s not critique Luhnow and his cohorts and hold them accountable for the decisions they are being paid to make; let’s pretend the draft is only “a crapshoot” instead.
azruavatar,
I would have to agree with you. But I disagree about the assessment that I believe all prsopects are big league material. I can go down the list of guys on the Memphis roster and identify a few for starters.
Career Minor Leagers:
Javier Brito
Jarrett Hoffpauir
Casey Rowlett
Casey Rowlett
Mike Folli
Matthew Scherer (maybe a cup of tea in the bigs)
etc.
Just because a guy hits .300 at AA doesn’t mean he’ll even make it in the pros. Jarret H hit .345 at AA and I do not believe he is a major leagueer. If you go back through the stats at AA Springfield since 2005 I can find several guys that hit .300 that are no where to be found in the organization anymore.
Mike G.: “I’m becoming increasingly convinced that the inability to trade surplus minor league talent to help the big-league club is indeed because there is precious little minor-league talent that anyone wants…”
BS. I’d rather see them trade some of the major league guys like Duncan and demote the minor league FA’s that LaRussa loves so much (Barden, Thurston) and give our minor league talent a chance here, instead of trading them away. Why can’t we trade Duncan? Because LaRussa won’t allow it, probably because Dave Duncan would throw a hissy fit.
The other problem we’ve supposedly had is drafting high-end starters. Well, those guys usually throw hard, which runs opposite to Duncan’s preferred pitching strategy. He wants the guys who throw 91-92, keep the ball down, and pitch around the good hitters in the opposing lineup. Duncan, like LaRussa, also prefers the 30 year old guys who have failed in other organizations that are down to their last chance and will try anything Duncan suggests. How in the hell are we supposed to draft a guy that Duncan will work with? And why should we bother drafting a left-handed starter? Duncan has ruined every lefty starter he’s had with the Cardinals.
Shaneo69:
You may prefer to trade Duncan–perhaps I would also–but have you seen any indications that there is a market for Duncan? You don’t want Duncan, but what makes you think that anyone else does, and why should they if he is so unimpressive to you? It’s easy to consummate make-believe trades in which you are both buyer and seller, but in the real world you have to find someone who is willing to take what you are offering. What I’m beginning to suspect is that there aren’t that many players in the Cardinal system, majors or minors, that are all that desirable to other teams, and that puts a real crimp in our trading plans. Which of the minor leaguers that you seem so fond of in the abstract should actually be brought up to replace the players you want to get rid of? What unrecognized gems still in the minors do you imagine are ready to replace Barden and Thurston?
^
Ray Lankford was less impressive than Chris Duncan, and we got Woody Williams for him. Tampa was able to get a player for Adam Kennedy, who was also less impressive than Duncan when he was with the Rays. If you want to trade a guy, you can. If Duncan’s out of the way, you have Ludwick, Rasmus, and Ankiel with Mather and Stavinoha as your backups. Ankiel should probably be traded at the deadline before he walks, and Jay could be a potential CF starter, with Colby moving to a corner. Move Descalso up to Memphis in the 2nd half, and he could be a potential starter at 2B next year, with Schumaker moving back to OF and allowing Thurston to play more 2B where he belongs.
And Craig and/or Wallace could put up better numbers right now than the Joe Tarden combo at 3B.
Ray Lankford was less impressive than Chris Duncan? Are you actually familiar with Ray Lankford’s record? Although in retrospect he was clearly on the downside of his career when that deal was made, he wasn’t that old and the Padres were hardly irrational when they made the trade. They were getting a very accomplished all-around player who, unlike Duncan, could actually run and catch the ball in the outfield. In any case, a 10-year-old deal is hardly evidence that Duncan could net the Cardinals real value today, and value is the point of a trade unless all you want to do is dump the player, as the Cardinals did with Kennedy. Just because the Rays subsequently got a player for him doesn’t mean that the player had any real value; you certainly don’t make any such case.
As for your suggestion that that Jay and Craig are likely to improve the Cardinals’ present putrid offense, there is little in their records at Memphis to indicate that this is so, although I grant their batting averages have climbed a bit in recent weeks after horrible starts (Craig isn’t even considered a third baseman anymore. As for Wallace, despite his fast start in Triple A, have you actually looked at his overall record? He’s currently hitting about .238, with two home runs and eight RBI’s, and that includes his .500 start. In other words, he’s barely equalling what Ankiel is doing in the majors and you’re more than willing to dump Ankiel. Wallace may be a genuine prospect, at least as a hitter–his fielding is another story–but his development has been rushed, and for now he probably belongs back in Double A and certainly not in the majors. I agree about Descalso, but here you’re talking about next season, not this one.
^
I’d argue a 34 year old Lankford was done when we traded him for Woody. He was putting up Duncan-like numbers for the 2nd or 3rd year in a row and had been moved from CF to LF to make room for Edmonds. But to be honest, I don’t care what we get for Duncan, bucket of balls would be fine. At least we wouldn’t be eating much salary.
I’m only willing to dump Ankiel because he’s gonna walk at the end of the year. And yeah, Wallace would probably be better off at Springfield right now, but I still don’t think there’s any way he could make our lineup worse than Thurston.
I don’t think our problem with making trades has anything to do with how other teams value our players. I think the problem is Luhnow/Dewitt don’t want to trade the young guys, and LaRussa doesn’t want to trade his boys.
Sorry but at this point I don’t think you could get much for either Duncan or Ankeil. The best thing you could possibly do to this team is DFA Duncan and open an everyday spot for someone else in LF. As it said in todays blog in the STLToday. Larussa wants a bat. Well lets package trade Duncan & Ankeil or Ludwick his buddies for a player. Then see what he does after thier gone.