When last we spoke, I told the tale of the great Edgar Renteria acquisition. I would be remiss if I didn’t feel somewhat responsible that on that very day, Pablo Ozuna was released from his current employment.
With Allen Craig continuing to rake at a clip that mirrors his numbers at just about every level since T-Ball, the organization finds itself in a place going into next season where they have two options of guys who likely can hit but play very stationary 3B defense. One will be 35 years old on Opening Day coming off wrist surgery and costing a sizable amount over 2 or 3 years. The other will be 25 (going on 26) without any MLB experience and not having been a QB in college nor ever had Bobby Cox specifically point him out to Joe Morgan.
Allen Craig’s MLE right now (according to minorleaguesplits.com) comes to you at:
15 2Bs
17 HRs
.270 BA
.315 OBP
.434 SLG
Derosa in both leagues combined this year:
14 2Bs
21 HRs
.259 BA
.329 OBP
.466 SLG
Now, I’m not saying DeRosa won’t be a better player than Allen Craig next year but will he be the following season, when we are still paying him (probably more than the year before)? DeRosa is a serviceable utility defender at 3B, meaning if it is hit right at him he can make the play and the throw. Anything in either direction and he either can’t catch it or can’t throw it. His ability to play 2B not withstanding, defensively he doesn’t provide the Cardinals that much more flexibility than Craig would who has played 3B, 1B and LF over the last two years.
The thing is, Mark DeRosa cost us two RH reliever prospects at the upper levels of our system. Think of them what you may but they had value both to this team and in the market. If that value was Mark DeRosa, perhaps we spent on something we already had. That’s spilt milk and I like the DeRosa signing. The point is, going forward, DeRosa would take more of an investment, financially this time.
Where as just calling up Allen Craig next year would be like trading for a Mark DeRosa, without giving up anything at all…
Just food for thought.
Memphis 5, Colorado Spring 7
- Jon Jay and Nick Stavinoha both picked up 2 hits and a RBI.
- Mark Hamilton smashed a 3 run HR.
- Evan MacLane didn’t have one of his magical outings, going only 5.1 innings. He gave up 6 hits, 5 Runs (4 ER) with 4 punchouts.
- Fernando Salas wasn’t super sharp, giving up 3 hits and an earned run in 1.2 innings. He struck out 2.
- Ian Ostlund gave up a hit and an unearned run in his lone inning. He struck out 1.
Palm Beach 10, Fort Myers 3
- Adron Chambers is a contact machine. 3-for-5.
- Chris Swuager rocks the party that rocks the body. 3! Doubles in his 5 at-bats and 2 RBI.
- Oliver Marmol picked up a double for 1 of his 2 hits.
- Tommy Pham did the most damage with a 3 hit, 3 run-HR day.
- David Kopp had mixed results in his 4 innings. He gave up 5 hits, 3 ER, 3 BB and struck out 4.
- Good Blake King showed up as he picked up the win. He twirled 3 innings, striking out 1 and walking 2.
- Jason Buursma gave up 2 hits and a walk pitching 2 innings and striking out 2.
Quad Cities 1, Kane County Bail Bonds (555)-423-5140 4
- Jack Cawley had the only XBH, a solo HR.
- The other 6 hits were all singles by Ryde Rodriguez, D’Marcus Ingram, Jermaine Curtis, Richard Rocobaldo, Fredrick Parejo, and Domnit Bolivar.
- Miguel Tapia lasted 5 innings and took the loss. He walked 5, gave up 4 hits and was tagged with 2 runs on only 2 strikeouts.
- Adam Veres went 2 innings of 2 R (0 ER) ball. Striking out 1, he walked 2 and gave up 2 hits.
- Nicholas McCully finished things off with a walk and a strikeout.
Batavia Muckdogs 4, Vermont Teddybears 3
- Michael Swinson, Luis De La Cruz and Alan Ahmady all went 2-for-4. Ahmady’s 9th inning sac fly won the game.
- Kyle Conley, have yourself a day. A double and a homerun in the precedings.
- Nico Vasquez wishes the previous 4 months never happened. If he was a selfish man, he could actually make that reality but for all the babies born during that time he will make the sacrifice. 2-for-4 with a double.
- Jesse Simpson struck out 6 but walked 3 and gave up 2 ER in 4 innings.
- Tyler Lavigne struck out 1 in his scoreless inning.
- Jonathan Edwards was strong in his 2.2 innings, striking out 5. Unfortunately he also gave up 2 hits and an earned run for a blown save.
- Joshua Squatrito picked up the win, striking out everyone of the 4 batters he faced.
Johnson City 9, Bristol 4
- Ted Obregon was 2-for-5.
- Robert Stock solved the mystery of the starter, driving in 4 runs on 2 doubles and a homerun in total.
- Corporal Kleininger Teran had a double and a single in 4 at-bats.
- Audry Perez went deep.
- Robert Smith had 2 hits.
- Rainel Rosales was 1-for-1 with a double.
- Yunier Castillo had a double.
- Reynier Gonzalez went 4.1 innings, striking out 3, walking 2. He gave up 3 ER on 5 hits, one of which was a HR.
- Andrew Moss picked up the win in his 4.2 innings, striking out 3 and being tagged with 1 ER on 4 hits.
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Stock’s “other hit” happened to be a homerun by the way. 3-5 with 2 doubles and homerun. Not too bad.
I agree completely about Craig. Unfortunately, the Cards bigheads apparently decided earlier this year that Craig couldn’t play third. Maybe they’ll reconsider, esp since Brett Wallace is now gone.
3 bb in 4 IP? Jesse simpson’s boots were made for walkin’?
I hope derosa does well, so that we get to the postseason and do well there, but also so when we offer him arb he declines and gets picked up elsewhere.
We now have some depth at 2b with descalso and luna and (never thought I’d say it) skippy. If they’re serious about signing holliday, I don’t think we need derosa in LF. 3b is the big question, but hopefully mather and freese are well and craig has changed some minds in management.
What’s the new conventional wisdom on salas? 3d best relief prospect?
Anyone know why Tommy Pham is already is Palm Beach? Isn’t he really young and was only drafted last year? He seems to have had a bad year but is really heating up in the last few weeks. He a legit prospect?
Pham is 21 and was drafted out of high school in 06. He is one of those guys where the production has not caught up with the tools yet. A lot of people, including me, was hoping he would pull a Daryl Jones and break out this year. He did not but he is still relatively young and the tools are still there as far as i know.
Yea, spot on. Lots of scouts love him. There was a discussion on Twitter about him last night. Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus likes him a lot and sounds like he is going to write about him today.
Okay, is it premature to say that Robert Stock is now a top 5 prospect for this organization? I know he’s doing his damage in the Appy league, but he IS only 19 y/o and just now playing catcher full time, and he IS playing against other professionals. I think I have found my new favorite prospect to pine for.
I don’t want a 740 OPS, SLG heavy, no-glove 3rd basement next year. That’s a bad player.
Hopefully we can do better than that.
Miller, Mateo and Stock will all probably be in the Top 5 or at least near misses. I am more interested on where Jay, Craig, Greene (is he still eligble?), Lynn and others from non 09 drafts will shake out.
MLEs. Anyone see a study on how accurate the MLEs have been? HL, when you put the numbers side by side like that – it seems like a no-brainer. Cheap equivalent production with upside. The downside, and therefore the reason that this is not the obvious choice to management, must be the questionable accuracy of the MLE.
i dont think derosa will be too expensive. his market will be limited by his type A status, his age, and his offseason surgery. i dont think there will be too many teams lining up to sign him if it means losing their first round pick. his best bet may be to accept arbitration in which case he might just be expensive for one year, which i could handle.
Derosa is a clubhouse leader, Craig is currently not. Leadership was missing from this team and now with Derosa and Holliday to go with LaRue, Pujols, and Carp we have a campionship caliber team. The numbers from Craig may be the same or better than Derosa, but the intangibles made the deal a value.
Then take the money given to DeRosa and hire the Dali Lama, if intangibles are that important.
For every back pat he gives, he negates it with a missed dive to the left and a strikeout.
What does Oliver Marmol have to do to prove that he can’t hit? He’s below the Mendoza line for the last 170+ games.
I just hope they offer arbitration to DeRosa. If he accepts then great you get him back on a one-year deal. If not, then you let him walk and let Craig do the job. I have been on the Craig bandwagon for a couple of years and all I see is a hitter. Every level is the same…~.300 average, ~20-25 bombs, ~.330-.340 OBP. I see no reason he won’t do the same at the ML level. I also agree that his defense has to be as good/bad as DeRosa’s.
While I do think that DeRosa is a good clubhouse guy, I am not too worried about it with a solid core of Pujols, Molina, Holliday (hopefully) as well as Carp. Also, so long as TLR is at the helm, there is no question about who is in charge.
As much as I like Craig, I still see DeRosa as a little bit different animal, with more middle infield ability then AC…plus the TLR-approved swiss knife options for reliable fielding positions and a clubhouse presence that probably couldn’t be matched by a rookie player. If I had to name a player he resembles in terms of perceived ability, I’d vote Spiezio…who I also really liked, sans addiction.
Regarding Stock, I’m still stinging from the Niko V. over-reaction from last year, where I bit hard. I’d perhaps have Stock smelling the top 10…maybe a 12 spot…but I’m leary to give him anywhere near top 5 based on 100 at bats.
I’m also going to make a request…a selfish one at that, given that the writers here put a lot of effort out of their lives/family time to draft humorous tid-bits for our satisfaction. My request is could you guys please keep the box score links active, as I suspect a lot of us pull those up and use this site as the “one-stop-shop” for this type of reading. I realize this is akin to me telling Brad Colbert to quit wasting ammunition as I sit on my couch, but likely similar to a lot of the FR readers during the day, I’m at work (and for the record…”on break”) and I’ll have the internet gestapo knocking on my door if I log on to too many non-work sites.
I now have a mental picture of HL as the soup nazi…”No DFR for you!!! Next!!!”
I sort of agree with CJW…i think for this team, this season, Derosa was needed and Craig could not have cut it…he would have had the getting used to ML pitching period and Derosa didn’t have that…So i still like the trade(though i wish todd had not been the PTBNL)
I also agree that we should offer arbitration and let Freese, Craig, and Mather battle for the 3rd base spot next year…but if we do that, we HAVE TO RESIGN HOLLIDAY
DeRosa went 0-for his first 10. He is hitting .216 with the club.
I liked the DeRosa acquisition but let’s also not act like Allen Craig couldn’t have hit .217 over the past 5 weeks.
Or 5-for-29 to start his Cardinal career with 3 HRs.
Re: Craig. I have to wonder if there are other questions than whether he can play 3b or not. I’m wondering if they think he’s a JOhn Gall type whose offense will take a big hit at the highest level. Otherwise I can’t see why the FO seems so cool on a guy who can hit seemingly everywhere including spring training. I agree that we should put our money into signing Holliday and see if DeRosa will bite on a one year arbitration contract. If not we’ve got some decent choices for the position and, surprisingly, we seem set at the all the other infield spots. If we can stay in contention with Joe Thurston getting most of the starts at 3b we can certainly do it with the best of the other guys.
Option C – Glaus on a one year deal…
In other news…
Kozma named best defensive shortstop in the Texas League on Baseball America’s best tools survey.
HL, i agree with you…but craig was not hitting at the time of the derosa deal, and there is no way anyone could be sure he would at the ML level
Agreeing with VolsnCards5, and also adding, Craig wouldn’t have brought the versatility and experience the DeRosa brought. Getting DeRosa was and still is the better decision… better than hoping Craig could produce.
I’m a fan of Craig’s bat like the next guy, but let’s not forget David Freese just yet. Not as hot as Craig, but since his return to the Memphis lineup he’s hitting .324/.405/.486 which is not shabby at all. He only had 19 AB in the majors but before that he seemed to have a straight shot to be the starting 3B. And unlike Craig, we know Freese can stick at third long term.
Goldstein on Stock:
It’s official, I’m blowing this guy up
Robert Stock, C, Cardinals (Short-season Johnson City)
Wednesday’s stats: 3-for-5, 2 2B, HR (5), 2 R, 4 RBI
When Stock signed on to play at Southern California as a 16-year-old in 2006, everyone expected him to be an elite first-round pick three years later. Disappointing performances dropped him to the second round this June, and it’s almost like people forgot how young he was. So now we have a 19-year-old catcher with outstanding tools and three years of major college play under his belt. After last night’s outburst, he’s now batting .356/.424/.606 in 28 games and the breakout is official.
The main problem I have is the risk involved with giving Allen Craig the major league job. DeRosa is a known quantity we know he can hit major league pitching. Craig could come in and fall flat on his face. There is actually a pretty high probability for that as he is not a blue chip prospect. These MLEs are something nice to look at, but are just an educated guess. I’m not saying that we should necessarily re-sign DeRosa, but we also can’t afford the risk of not having a third basemen again next year and having to give up some blue chip prospects for a rental.
Shaneo69′s comment re: a one year deal for Glaus might actually happen. The Cardinals will have a better idea than any other teams about whether his shoulder has healed. If it has and if they can resign him for short and cheap that’s a good deal.
I don’t think you go after Glaus after this season. 2008 was a bit of a aberration in my opinion. The guy has always had health issues. We got lucky in 2008, but this year we paid for last season. After this shoulder surgery and his past injury issues, he’s not a safe bet. He won’t come too cheap, and will actually have more value and probably more success playing in the AL. The ability for him to DH and maybe play 1st next year for the AL would ensure him the healthiest path to a full and productive season. I wish him luck, but I think he’s run his course for the Cards. Personally, I’d like to resign DeRosa, and have Freese and Craig compete between one another to be a bench player/ platoon player with DeRosa at 3rd. I still love DeRosa’s experience level and his versatility.
Off the topic question.
Can anyone inform what’s happened to Curt Smith?. His last game at Palm Beach was August 4th and since then, nada, nothing, zilch. Is he hurt or, is the organization qiving playing time to those recently called up from lower classification teams. Thanks for any info.
I haven’t been impressed enough with DeRosa to want to keep him around. He’ll be 35 before next season. He doesn’t really have a position anymore; yeah, he’s versatile, he can’t play 2B, 3B, or the OF. 2008 was a career year for DeRosa, now he’s on the way down, what I’ve seen from him this year is as far down as I want to ride. You could probably get better production (on offense and defense) from Freese/Craig right now. The HRs are nice, but that is ALL that DeRosa is contributing….otherwise, he’s an out machine, his approach at the plate has been horrible.
The thing is, DeRosa isn’t versatile. His defensive range at 2B and 3B is NOT GOOD.
It’s like saying Albert Pujols is versatile because he played SS in high school, played 3B, LF, 2B and 1B in the Major Leagues. He can play them but not particularly well (other than 1B).