As the Cardinals complete their second round of minor league releases, it’s apparent that a) they’re releasing a significant number of pitchers who haven’t shown signs of development after years in the lower levels and b) they still have too many players on the rosters. There’s more releases yet to come as the major league roster gets pared down and displaces more minor leaguers as well.
Tommy seemed indifferent today when he walked by you in the hallway. He’s probably ready for the weekend.
Memphis 1, Springfield 1 (5 innings)
Memphis
- Matt Meyer struck out 4 in 2 innings walking 1. Meyer is a lefty out of the Indians organization.
- Rich Rundles struck out the side. Rundles, 29, is a well traveled minor league vet most recently out of Cleveland’s organization also.
- Matt Scherer allowed 1 ER on 2 hits while striking out a pair in his inning of work.
- Casey Mulligan walked two in a scoreless frame.
- Shane Robinson doubled and scored a run. He’s seen some time at 2nd this spring so don’t be shocked if he winds up there on occasion during the season.
- Daniel Descalso singled and walked.
Springfield
- Blake King tossed two scoreless innings striking out 1 and walking 1. King remains an elusive lottery ticket. His command is terrible but he’s got lights out stuff. He’s yet to make a stop in the minors where he doesn’t strike out more an a batter an inning. At the same time, he hasn’t walked fewer than 5 batters per 9 IP above rookie ball. The Cardinals continue to hold onto him because he’s a live arm but the results have been disappointing to date. He’s the Tommy Pham of pitching.
- Jason Buursma allowed 1 run in a pair of innings. He was tagged for 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 2.
- Adam Reifer pitched a perfect frame.
- Adron Chambers reached base three times: 2 walks and 1 HBP.
- Matt Carpenter went yard for Springfield’s lone run.
- Tommy Pham was 1-for-2.
Palm Beach 7, Quad Cities 4
Palm Beach
- Shelby Miller threw three innings. He struck out 2 allowing 2 hits and 1 walk for 2 runs (1 earned).
- Justin Edwards pitched two perfect innings with 1 K. He quietly had a nice season with QC last year including a 3:1 K:BB ratio and more than a strikeout per inning.
- Ryde Rodriguez was 3-for-4.
- Kyle Conley doubled and homered racking up 4 RBIs.
- Alex Castellanos was 2-for-4.
- Frederick Parejo went yard.
- Jose Garcia, Richard Racobaldo, Luis de la Cruz and Jason Stidham all singled and walked.
- Xavier Scruggs singled and got plunked.
Quad Cities
- After reading the Palm Beach hitters, it should be apparent that the QC pitchers didn’t fare well. Scott McGregor was the primary culprit getting tagged for 5 ER on 6 hits in 2.1 IP.
- Chris Notti struck out 4 but also allowed 4 baserunners in 3 innings of work.
- Devin Sheperd hit a two-run homerun.
- Niko Vazquez went deep off of Miller.
- Ted Obregon, Luis Mateo and Ivan Castro all singled.
Entries (RSS)
Az, your comment about more releases forthcoming: Is there a limit on how many players a team can keep in extended spring training? If so, how many?
CRay-
I don’t think there is a limit on extended spring training, but there is a definite cost associated with keeping players around that the team has to weigh their potential of usefulness (ie value) against.
Excited about seeing Kyle Conley developement over this season.
i’m looking forward to seeing meyer develop. he could be a very nice Rule V pick.
@CRay: I think BJM is right. It’s not a pure roster crunch since they have extended spring training but they’ve got to have an idea of where these players are going to get eventual playing time if they’re going to pay them.
I think that you could have ended the report on Blake King with the first sentence….or maybe added that King has no earned runs for spring training and only given up 2 singles. King has shown very good control this spring training and had a very productive 2009 season being voted to have the best slider in the Cardinal organization at the age of 22. These players are supposed to get better every year and that is what King has accomplished. King will continue to have above average number of walks because he does have a live arm with lights out stuff, but if they don’t score why should you make an issue of his control. There are plenty of pitchers that gave up nearly 3 times the number of hits that King did, but they are said to have had good seasons…don’t runners score that get hits?