Comments on: Cards Make 40 Man Roster Moves

By: jjray

jjray — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 22:05:19 +0000

Cruz would have to make it as a 3rd catcher / corner infielder. I think you make a good point that it’s easier for a team to stash a guy with that profile than a straight up catcher with hardly any experience above AA.

By: jjray

jjray — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 22:02:29 +0000

Matt Scherer redux?
http://www.futureredbirds.net/2008/11/20/prospect-profile-matt-scherer/

JMo has some splain’in to do on this one.

By: DK

DK — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 19:56:27 +0000

It’s not that we’re giving up on him, it’s the fact that no one would claim him as his abilities are too far from major league quality that makes it a waste of a roster spot, IMO. Cruz is a guy who has a much better chance of being selected, so I’d rather Cruz get the roster spot than Kozma.

By: Gruntosaurus

Gruntosaurus — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 03:17:56 +0000

Perdomo had one game in the majors last year. His AAA performance would have been good enough to make most bullpens, but of course San Diego’s pen was loaded, so he was kind of a “break glass in emergency” guy, and they didn’t need to break the glass. Parisi didn’t appear in the bigs, and kinda stank things up during a brief AAA stint. I don’t know what happened to him from there, but he recently signed a minor-league contract with the Cubs.

Yes, trades have been the main offender rather than Rule 5. My point is just that I think the team has undervalued young bullpen arms for a while. If keeping Kopp does lead to Cruz being lost, one might argue that they’ve gone too far in the opposite direction, but I really don’t think they’ll lose Cruz.

By: shaneo69

shaneo69 — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 00:50:48 +0000

Catchers like Bryan Anderson don’t stick after being Rule V selections, but Cruz is more of a C/3B/1B guy which might be easier to keep around.

By: cariocacardinal

cariocacardinal — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 00:35:16 +0000

But not in the Rule 5 draft. Perdoma is the only one and he didn’t even see the majors last year I dont think. Neither did Parisi (though he was offered back to us).

By: Gruntosaurus

Gruntosaurus — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 19:37:12 +0000

As regards Cruz, the guys at Baseball Prospectus pointed out some time ago that while many catchers get selected in the Rule 5, almost none of them stick with their new teams. Even if he’s picked, the risk of losing him would be low, according to that analysis, particularly since he doesn’t look as MLB-ready as Anderson or Hill (who after all have been there).

Presumably the risk of “losing” Koz is greater, although I don’t see that the “loss” would be so all-fired great. As for Kopp, you could fill a pretty good bullpen with guys the Cardinals have allowed to get away in the last few years …

By: myraclehof

myraclehof — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 19:08:32 +0000

I can’t believe there are people wanting to leave Kozma off the 40 man. He’s 22 years old and won’t turn 23 until just after the season starts. Way early to be giving up on him, especially when he’s been one of the younger players in his league throughout his pro career.

By: tenniner

tenniner — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 18:02:43 +0000

I really don’t understand the Cruz non-move. He’s tearing up the AFL, we need a backup to Yadi, and TLR doesn’t have faith in Anderson. When Pagnozzi was dfa’d I thought for sure that meant Cruz was impressing this fall with a chance to be the backup. Mo wants a backup that can hit. Mo, meet Mr. Cruz!This is really puzzling to me.

By: kelley

kelley — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:50:42 +0000

I agree that putting Kopp on the 40 man looks like a mistake and I assume that the only reason they are placing Kozma on the 40 man is to protect their investment to date, coupled with the hope that he is a very late “bloomer”. I guess that they are taking calculated risks on the un-protected players that other teams won’t take them in the Rule 5 draft. I think there is a “log jam” at many positions in the cardinal farm system, so it might be a blessing to some players to be traded or taken in the Rule 5 draft. Am I looking at this right?