Comments on: River Bandits on MLBN

By: Around the Diamond 5/4/2010 « Play a Hard Nine

Around the Diamond 5/4/2010 « Play a Hard Nine — Tue, 04 May 2010 19:44:47 +0000

[...] has a rundown of the televised QC River Bandits game over at [...]

By: rydeshelby

rydeshelby — Tue, 04 May 2010 02:28:26 +0000

@buckriggs: The Cards are never going to start McClellan. Its just a trick TLR plays every spring on Carioca.

By: buckriggs

buckriggs — Mon, 03 May 2010 22:38:04 +0000

I agree, it was a farce trying to make McClellen a starter.

By: cariocacardinal

cariocacardinal — Mon, 03 May 2010 22:18:06 +0000

So it was a farce to even have McClellen try to make the rotation this Spring? I guess well just have to agree to disagree.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:38:25 +0000

Point is even if he’s known for a half a year he’s never been a starter in his life, and it takes time to build up to pitch a full game. It’s and adjustment going from throwing full out every pitch to 90 percent so you can throw 5 times as many pitches.

By: cariocacardinal

cariocacardinal — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:31:51 +0000

Andrew, the Cards have been saying publicly since drafted (including all Winter) that Kelly was going to be converted to a starter. My judgment is not final I’m just saying i think there are other possibilities.

By: Tackle Box

Tackle Box — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:29:52 +0000

On Stock, Vasquez, Jackson, and Adams.

When I saw QC play last week, I had similar impressions of Stock, Vasquez, and Jackson. Seeing them live, I felt Jackson played a good shortstop, but I felt Vasquez was out of position. I don’t know if it’s his physique or what, but I just don’t see him sticking at 3rd. He’s got 2b written all over him and with his bat potential, that should be pretty darn good. However, there were times he just looked lost at the plate. He seems to be an all or nothing guy (from an eyeball/one game impression). Didn’t work any counts and swung at bad pitches.

Adams has a ton of power. He could very quickly develop into a pretty nice trade chip since he ain’t going anywhere but 1st. Seemed to play well enough there for the few chances I watched him.

Rodriguez doesn’t imperess me one bit after seeing him live. I hate when people knock on guys for “looking like they don’t care” but my goodness, he’s a walking (slowly) definition of that phrase.

Oh, and about Stock. When I saw him, his at bats were not impressive at all. Like you said, he does a good job behind the plate but he looks over-matched at the plate at times. Seems to have a good approach, though.

Well, here’s looking forward to seeing the guys again in 2 weeks. They’re back in Geneva then for a 4 game weekend series and I’m going to at least 1 of the games (gonna try to squeeze in 2).

By: Grant

Grant — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:04:12 +0000

Kelly has kind of a funky delivery, but his arm action is really fluid and he repeats it well.

Overall, I was impressed by Kelly. He clearly has a long way to go in his development, but his upside is high.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:31:57 +0000

We don’t know how long that Kelly has known he would be a starter and for that matter how when the team made the decison. For that matter Kelly has never been a starter and rarely pitched. It’s aa much longer process converting reliever to start as other way around. Gotta give the guy time before passing judgement.

By: cariocacardinal

cariocacardinal — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:11:40 +0000

I’m not totally sold on the idea that Kelly’s problem later into the game is conditioning. He has known all Winter he was going to be a starter in the Spring. He conditioned all Spring. We are now into the 5th start of the season. Does this mean if McClellen had won the Cards 5th starter spot we’d expect him to only go 5 innings still at this point? It is possible he doesn’t have the arm to be a starter. There may be a reason they made him a reliever in college. I dont know but it seems suspect that his arm is tiring in the 5th inning this far into the season.

As an aside, I never had any problem with the tandem per se but the way they are using it this year is different and the tandem guys are going every 5th day instead of evey 4th day like before. The idea was sold originally as since they go every 4th day they still get nearly as many innings. Not happening that way now.