EDITOR’S NOTE:I have no idea what is going on with the server. It’s been really slow the last few days but I’ve just spent the last hour trying to get this DFR published and am doing so now post-haste hoping to get it in before it crashes again.
Is there any more beautiful a place in minor league baseball to play than under the bridge in the Quad Cities? I went to a Scrappers game this week (who have the coolest hat logo ever) and all we got was a nice view of the woods or the mall parking lot. Still a lot of fun, $5 for seats right next to the scouts behind homeplate only 2 rows back. It pays to have friends in the team’s offices!
The system lost 2 in blowouts, won 2 in 2 run games and was rained out in the last. The Jump!
The latest buzz in Latin America is that the Cardinals are expected to sign 16-year-old Dominican outfielder Wagner Mateo for a bonus of approximately $3 million on July 2.
A $3 million bonus would be the second-biggest bonus ever given to an amateur international player from Latin America, and the largest bonus ever for a Latin American hitter.
Wow. Not only is a $3M bonus the largest bonus given to a Latin American hitter, it’s also almost the largest bonus the Cardinals have ever given to an amateur. J.D. Drew received a $3M bonus, Rick Ankiel’s was the 2nd highest bonus at $2.5M. This also obviously shatters the $1.1M record bonus given to Roberto de la Cruz last year by far. Pretty monumental stuff.
My initial reaction is “wow”. That’s a lot of scratch for a 16-year old kid. Is he worth it? Kiley McDaniel ranked him the 3rd best Latin American on the market, besides Miguel Sano and Gary Sanchez. McDaniel says he’s what scouts call a “tool shed” and he’s been drawn some lofty comparisons — Carlos Beltran, Curtis Granderson and Grady Sizemore. Reading other sources, some scouts like his swing and see him as more of a line-drive hitter than a big home run threat. They also see a filled-out body for a youngster (yes, his background checks were fine) at 6-1, 190 and think he’ll eventually be moved to a corner, where his bat wouldn’t profile quite as well.
Here’s a video of Mateo in action, shot by BP’s Kiley McDaniel.
This is exciting stuff, but I’m always a little leery about giving 16-year old kids gobs of money like this. If this means no Shelby Miller, which I don’t think it does, or at least I really hope it doesn’t, then groovy. Way to build up the farm system with some high upside talent. But Mateo at the expense of Miller wouldn’t look as hot.
What’s also interesting about this is that Joe Strauss reported earlier that Mozeliak was traveling to the DR to look at Sano. No doubt he was also checking out Mateo, and there was a rumor that Mateo turned down a $3M offer. Sounds like they realized the mistake and took the offer after all.
Winner, winner chicken dinner as almost everyone won tonight (except for JC) and every team but Quad Cities was in action. One game short on either side of the perfect everyone plays, everyone wins DFR. One day we will get there.
The GCL League started today and as you know we will not be covering them in the DFRs. There will be coverage of the team however, just not in a DFR basis.
UPDATE: I’ll be doing a bi-weekly GCL update so we can see who is doing well/not so well from a macro level.
The closer you get to the present, the harder it is to evaluate a draft. 2007 isn’t so far removed that we know how things are going to turn out but it is far enough back that we’ve got an idea of what some of these players have done in their pro careers. If 2005 brought upside and 2006 brought a lot of fringe depth, 2007 looks to me like it may have a lot of mid level league average type talent in it.
Brian Walton has the JC Cardinals roster. Notably absent is their big July 2nd signee Roberto de la Cruz, whom Luhnow was gushing about last fall and had projected he’d very likely skip the DSL, GCL and move right up to Johnson City. Looks like that was a tad optimistic. It does however make the GCL team worth following a lot more. More after jump.
Miller could be a case of highway robbery at #19, and the Cardinals definitely focused on the higher-ceiling types with the majority of their high picks. They’ve been a successfully drafting team of late, and 2009 should continue that trend.
Twelve starts. No wins. Eight losses. A 5.67 ERA. Forty-one walks in 54 innings.
Those troubles have come from a season-long inability to gain command of his fastball. Ironically, command of all of three of his pitches is what landed Ottavino a spot in the Redbirds rotation out of spring training, allowing the Cardinals to move Jess Todd into a relievers role.
As Ottavino himself says, it’s the walks this season that are so alarming. For me, it’s alarming in two parts: 1) no command makes him a non-entity as a prospect and 2) I’m hoping he’s not injured.
There are several other situations where a talented first-rounder just doesn’t figure to beat out a talented minor leaguer. These include Rangers lefthander Matthew Purke (No. 14) vs. first baseman Justin Smoak, Indians righthander Alex White (No. 15) vs. catcher Carlos Santana and Cardinals righty Shelby Miller (No. 19) vs. third baseman Brett Wallace.
I’m not sure that I disagree with BA here with regards to Shelby Miller. I’m also not sure I agree with them about Wallace. Although the alternative, Daryl Jones, hasn’t been lighting the scouting world on fire apparently.
Batavia gets postponed. Palm Beach has the night off. Double dose of QC tonight though. And away we go.
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