It’s the godfather, pinch hitting for AZ, whose in Springfield watching the team get slaughtered. Feels good to be DFRing.
Brett Wallace likes playing for the A’s.
Hey Mo: Wladimir Balentien is F.A.T.
I find it interesting that the A’s seem to consider Shane Peterson the 2nd best player in the Matt Holliday deal. He did have an OBP north of .500 for Long Beach, maybe that’s their fascination. He’s playing CF for Double-A Midland, which is where his value would most be maximized. Not sure he can stick there, he is a converted 1B.
Jeff Sackmann looks at the trickiness that is DSL statistics. This is something to bear in mind before you get excited about players like Grabiel Hernandez.
Question for everyone out there: Is FR less exciting now that the system has been stripped nearly bare? The system will rise again, but it could take some time. The draft can’t happen soon enough. OK, Enough lamenting.
- Allen Craig went 2-for-4 with a double. He’s hitting .354/.411/.708 for the month of July.
- Jarrett Hoffpauir went yard.
- Daniel Descalso went 1-for-2 with 2 RBI. Since Hoff has been sent back down, I’ve seen Descalso play 1B a few times. Seems like it should be the other way around, as Hoff’s defensive metrics have been terrible. And Descalso has been getting chatter in trade rumors and by scouts, so I don’t understand what gives.
- Shane Robinson doubled.
- Evan McLane got zapped. He allowed 7 ER on 12 hits, including 4 HR over 5.2 IP in Zephyr Park, which is by far the most power suppressing ballpark in the PCL.
- Casey Rowlett pulled an Aaron Miles/Scott Spiezio and climbed the mound tonight. He allowed a run on a couple of hits. Wish Triple-A had pitch f/x.
- Scott Gorgen allowed 6 runs, 3 earned on 7 hits and 4 walks with 7 strikeouts. Dude knows how to fill out a box score. Oh, and he allowed a HR.
- The trio of our favorite relief prospects Fernando Salas, Francisco Samuel and Tyler Norrick got 10 runs over a combined 2 innings. No further explanation needed. Why couldn’t the Indians taken Samuel? Stupid results-oriented teams.
- Chicken Fried Steven Hill went 2-for-4 with a HR.
- David Freese went 2-for-4 with a walk. Our future 3B still? Maybe, maybe not. I wonder if both Wallace and Freese were allotted the same amount of PT, Wallace at 1B and Freese at 3B, who would come out with a higher WAR total over their first 6 years? Yeah, I’d put my money on Wallace, too, but I think it’s possible Freese could outperform Wally on the strength of his glove.
- Donovan Solano doubled and walked.
- Pete Kozma went 1-for-5 with 3 K. He committed his 19th fielding error. Rick Porcello didn’t do so hot tonight, either, so take some solace in that.
Palm Beach, Lakeland was PPD due to rain.
- Arquimedes Nieto allowed just 1 ER on 7 H over 7 IP. Struck out 4, induced 12 groundball outs. He walked two (one intentionally) and had a balk.
- Gary Daley wasn’t an epic disaster tonight. He allowed a run on a hit and a walk and struck out two.
- Frederick Parejo doubled, tripled and walked.
- Jose Garcia went 2-4.
- X went and gave it to ‘em. That is to say, Xavier Scruggs went yard.
- Ryan Jackson, Alan Ahmady, Beau Riportella, Ryde Rodriguez and Ivan Castro all had base hits.
JC and Princeton also got rained out.
Entries (RSS)
Alas, Gary Daley’s scoreless inning streak ends at three.
I don’t care if the system is full of 33 year-old utility infielders and middle relievers with fastballs topping out at 87. I’m still hooked on FR.
In defense of 2 of the 3 Springfield relief trio, Norrick and Salas, that top of the eighth inning should have never happened. One of the infielders should have charged an easy grounder and made the first out on the first batter. Then another infielder made an error on another routine grounder, which should have been out two. Then the rest of the inning is different and most likely Norrick k’s the third guy. Salas might not have even pitched at all. With the momentum in are favor after that inning we might have even came back, but thats baseball.
(I left the infielders names out, because I love this organization and I’m not into pointing fingers or bashing anyone.)
it is less exciting, but I’m in it for the long haul. As a site note robert stock (and maybe kozma) has become my new favorite prospect now that wallace, todd, and mort are gone.
To all the editors and writers of this site i just wanna say i love the work and effort all of you put in. The work you guys do is amazing and all of us appreciate it. I love baseball in all its forms especially Cardinals baseball. Minor league baseball is GREAT to follow, awesome actually, but i think a lot of the people on this site,writers included, need to take a step back and look at the big picture. Farm teams are meant to help the big club, nothing more nothing less. If that means trading ‘prospects’ for veterans then so be it. Getting attached to all these cards ‘prospects’ is foolish. People loved b anderson so much n now he is peaked way lower then expected. D jones is the next anderson sorry but its true. Im not trying to be a downer but its true. Ill post an email addy if anyone wants to respond. Remember its all about the big club!!!!!
Sorry, Erik. FR is less exciting. Partly because I have fewer bandwagons to jump on, and partly because it’s tiring seeing another E-6 in the box for Kozma, WP for Samuel, and loss to another directionally challenged Arkansas team. Give me Miller striking out 10 in his first game, Descalso continuing to hit, Stock finding some power in the C position, and I’ll find some more enthusiasm for our prospects. Still, I’ll be here every day appreciating what you guys do for us visitors.
Free Allen Craig
There’s no doubt the system is less exciting now – but you know what, it’s time for some of these kids to step it up. If we could say that there was a pretty nice cupboard of high end talent before, well, the cupboard is more or less empty. Time for some of these kids to shine, to blaze their way to St. Louis. The opportunities are there; the problem is that so many of these prospects have disappointed this year. But things change quick and they decide their fate.
Of course it is all about the big club. The arguement is not about using the minor league system. It is about using the minor league system correctly. As far as the Holliday trade is concerned it appears that the Cardinals gave up as much or more for a couple months of Holliday than the A’s gave up for the whole year of Holliday. For DeRosa the Cubs got two pitchers who were in the low teens in the Cleveland system, plus another lower rated pitcher none of whom were major league ready or who have seen time in the majors this year, while the Cardinals traded two pitchers who were in the top ten in their system both of whom seem to be major league ready and could be helping their struggling bullpen right now. In DeRosa’s case it again appears that the Cardinals paid much more for a rental than Cleveland paid for the whole year. Now I have not done a study to see whether there is a trend for rentals costing more than players traded in the off season (I realize the salaries involved are a factor), but it would seem logical that six months of a player would be worth more than 2-3 months of a player.
I don’t think the trades will affect my enjoyment of FR. I think that turnover like this is inevitable in the minor leagues.
Ideally you’d like all the good prospects to graduate to the Cardinals, but I’d rather see them used in a trade like this than, say, watch John Gall for a few years.
I guess my point is, if choosing between too much turnover and watching players stagnate, I’ll take the turnover.
The Cards may be too aggressive with their promotions, but at least it keeps things interesting. Somebody said this a couple days ago, might have been Roman, but it’s fun to see who will be the next big prospect, like watching Descalso’s ascension this season.
Keep up the good work guys!
The thing that ticked me off about these trades was not the players invovled. In fact I think each of them had atleast one tool that was well below major league average, meaning that they were all flawed prospects. What gets me about these trades was the shear number of players we gave up. Even if you think Todd was a fringe MLBer you could have used him as the centerpiece in a deal to bring in another Vet reliever. If you don’t think Mort was going to make it (I still think he has a shot) you could have flipped him into a 5th starter for the rest of the season. Wallace and perez were the center pieces, but we gave up way too much on the fringe.
The answer to the question posed in the intro is “no”.
I wouldn’t call coming to FR to see Brett Wallaces line of 0-4 with 1K, “Mortenson gets a bunch of ground ball outs, and Jess Todd closes the door on another for his xth save” all that exciting.
Of course, i am downplaying a bit, but cmon people… the overreaction here is overwhelming. There will be plenty of youngsters to follow… personally, i come to FR to check up on Double D’s and DJ tools, among others. Wallace and Mortenson were prolly in the lower half of the top 10 to top 20 of who i was following.
I can’t wait to follow the likes of S. Miller, Mateo, and Stock, etc.
Point is, sure our farm system took a pretty big hit, but as far as FR content goes, to me it barely scratches the surfaces. You pretty much know what you’re gonna get out of Wallace, mortenson, and Todd which makes things a little unexciting.
/kind of rant
Don’t let the trade get you guys down!
I had a tough time watching the games this weekend. On Friday, it was like TLR stole my girlfriend. But I love the redbirds and am excited about watching our system climb out of the basement of organization rankings again. Assuming we sign Miller and those extra draft picks materialize for next year, it won’t take long.
I live in Panama and happily watch the progress of Nieto. Another QC player I like is Parejo. He did well last year and is still very young.
Off topic
It was stated by bernie, and later applauded by Azru in his politics of the trade post, that Lunhow did good by not overvaluing and hoarding his prospects like collectible russian decorative eggs. Maybe i don’t understand the actual roles of the various front office positions, but really what say does Lunhow have in these trades. It is Lunhow’s job to draft and develop minor league talent, but does he really have even veto power when it comes time to trade minor leaguers for ‘proven vets’? Apparently TLR has a say, as does Dewitt, and probably Dunc the Elder, so it probably should not surprise me that Lunhow may have input…..
Luhnow definitely has input and considerable clout of his own. He’s said before (and I heard him say it again today on 1380 morning show) that the farm system is there to augment the majors. Prospects aren’t value as an end themselves but as a means to an end (by either being traded for major league talent or by becoming major league talent).
I don’t think its any less exciting. The system might be lacking in big names, but its hardly barren. I look at this as an opportunity for other players to show what they can do.
Keep in mind the farm system did exactly what it was supposed to do. It supplied the big club with premium talent for a chance at the WS. It was direct in some cases (Rasmus) and indirect in others (Holliday/DeRosa).
Hopefully in next years draft we will take a lot of high-upside players with the chance to rise quickly through the system. If we do resign Holliday and/or DeRosa we’re going to need to supplement the big club with cheap players somehow.
Predicting pitchers is an admittedly shaky art, but here are some Peak numbers (per Clay Davenport’s projection system):
Jess Todd DERA 3.94
Mort 6.25 (not a typo)
Lance Lynn 3.66
Eduardo Sanchez 2.93
I think the Cards kept the right guys.
Or how about Nick Additon’s 3.60? Gotta like that one.
Anyway, I guess I’m a cockeyed optimist, but I don’t feel the system is nearly stripped bare. Did the Cards overpay? Not if Wallace is a .860-.880 OPS guy in his prime, with unusable hot corner defense. If, however, he’s a .920-.950 guy with merely below-avg. D, then, yes, the Cards gave up too much.
Twelve months from now, it isn’t unrealistic that any of the following players could be top 100 prospects: Daryl Jones, Dan Descalso, Lance Lynn, Eduardo Sanchez, and, yes, Bryan Anderson. (While 2009 was a lost season for the 22-yr-old, he *did* finally show some of the increased isolated power people have been waiting for. Again, this is a AAA backstop young for his league–the book on him is yet to be writ.)
Let’s not sleep on Freddy Parejo, either. At 18, he’s playing CF now & batting third for Quad Cities, with solid plate discipline and a substantial increase in pop from last year. Assuming the kid repeats the MWL next year, I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s an .800 OPS hitter in 2010 as a 19-year-old. If he does THAT, with continued good glovework and sound BB/K numbers, I’d put him in my top 100.
Azru,
I understand Luhow’s position. I was just wondering how much say he has in the matter. If cleveland comes and says they want perez and Todd for DeRosa, can lunhow actually say ‘No effin way – that is too much’? What is the balance of power in this decision? I realize there are politics to this particular series of events – let’s disregard those for the moment. In a decision to make a trade, Mo must have the final say in the matter, and he will likely consult many opinions within the organization. Is it safe to assume that Lunhow gave his opinion on the future of these prospects before ‘allowing’ the trade to go ahead? If so, this makes these trades more palatable to me. At least we have the expert on the cards minor league system contibuting his educated opinion.
I’m not sure if Luhnow has any kind of veto power if you will. I’m inclined to believe (and this is my opinion not based on anything but what I’ve heard or read in the paper) that there’s more of a committee approach to decision making than a strict hierarchical one. Again, strictly my opinion. I do not believe Luhnow can kill a trade by himself.
With the additions or Miller, Mateo, and Stock, we have more potential impact players in our system than we did in May.
We lost some relievers, a back end starter, a tweener, and a defensively limited hitter. Not to diminish any of them, we lost a lot, but the truly exciting guys are still around.
Naw. After some gnashing of teeth yesterday I’m already coming back into looking for evidence of more Descalso’s in the system. (didja see that Parejo doubled and tripled yesterday?) What hurts much more than the players we lost is the poor performances of so many of the other top twenty as well as the injuries. Truth be told I thought that we gave up much more in the DeRosa deal than the Holliday trade. I was more reserved about Mort and the Walrus than some but I truly believe in Perez. I also thought highly of Todd and will do so until he proves himself unable to be effective against major leaguers. Anyway, if we sign Miller and get some redeeming performances from some of the other guys in the next month I’ll hyperventilate as much as ever.
I doubt Luhnow has any veto power. What he CAN do is offer a realistic assessment of the talent offered; for example, that Mortenson and Wallace aren’t nearly as projectable as some make them out to be (Todd, too, for that matter). He is another voice in the room–but at the end of the day, DeWitt and Mozeliak make the call.
I think I’m most irked that we gave away Blaine Boyer and his 1.16 WHIP…
I don’t know where he should play on the field….but what’s it gonna take to call up Allen Craig.
Sadly, this is now what we have to be excited about.
Was at the Memphis game last night. McLane really got nailed. I have not personally seen that many HRs off one pitcher in that park since it opened, and I go to a lot of games there. It wasn’t just the quantity of HRs, but the authority with which the ball came off the bat. Of course, he took Hawksworth’s start, so maybe he just wasn’t ready on short notice. On the plus side, Rowlett exhibited a nice little wrinkle and was a seeing eye grounder away from a scoreless inning. Maybe a potential replacement for Wellemeyer?!
Two response points;
1. To Illinois Cardinal Fan: two of the prospects that the Indians gave the Cubs were in their pre season top 30 and one just outside it. One of the two is currently pitching well with the MLB Cubs, Jeff Stevens.
2. Big Jawn Mize: As with all of us we hate the fact that the Cards gave up what they did, but let’s not lose site of the fact that they are the team that got BOTH Holiday and Derosa. I read that a number of teams were in on Derosa. If they had given up less of the prospects that we are wishing weren’t traded we may not have gotten one or both Holiday and/or Derosa. I think getting probably the two best hitters that were on the market has a synergy that is greater than if they had only obtained one of them.
Less impact prospects don’t mean less enjoyment of FR. No way. The system took a big hit but still way better than the days when guys like Travis Hanson, Reid Gorecki, Eric Haberer, Shaun Boyd were our better prospects.
To Indiana Cardinal Fan: I did miss Stevens call up, but I did say two of the prospects were in the high teens. I’m not all that upset about Jess Todd, though he did have a good nickname, but my point is still that the quality of prospects the Cardinals gave up for DeRosa seems to be higher than what Cleveland gave up for a longer period of time.
To Illinoiscardsfan: As to the quality of what the Indians gave up versus what they received from the Cards, you are correct. I think the Indians had two advantages last winter in that the Cubs were not willing to trade him to an National League team and had to move him quickly to able to sign Bradley, thus limiting the options that the Cubs had. In June more teams were in on Derosa and thus the Cards were forced to give up more to cause the Indians to pull the trigger one month before the trading deadline and not risk someone else (even the Cubs were trying to get him back) swooping in and getting him.
I like most of us regret giving up what they did, but there were just not many good players available and the Cards got probably the two best hitters available one month (derosa) and one week (Holliday) before the deadline. Even someone like Ryan Garko cost the Giants a very good pitching prospect yesterday.
Final point, the Cards have now somewhat set the price for trades made this week up to the deadline and may cause their competition in the NL, particularly, the NL Central to give up more of their prospects to obtain players of varying levels of value.
OK, so if Lunhow does not have veto power – why is Bernie all of a sudden praising Lunhow for his willingness to part with his eggs? Just trying to 1. understand the FO process to evaluating the trade and 2. trying to understand what the hell the PD writers are talking about. On a related note – how could the FO be surprised that Todd was the PTBNL??? Makes no sense.
I live in Springfield and enjoy going to several S-cards games a year, but all those games combined don’t compare to watching the big birds in the playoffs. It hurts now because we are still in the regular season. Although, if the Cardinals are in it at playoff time I won’t be thinking about any of these lost prospects. I have been a Cardinals fan since I was a child and almost all of my favorite memories of being a redbird fan have been in the playoffs. So I say go birds, lets get a winner this year and stack this decade on the shelf next to the 40s, 60, and 80s.