Cardinal Outfield Jam-Up
Posted on April 6th, 2011 by Jeff in Memphis Redbirds, Springfield CardinalsThe Cardinals have a bit of a glut of outfielders currently at the top of their minor league system and the way they sorted them between Springfield and Memphis is interesting and may tell us a little about each player after the jump.
(My proposed starters in bold)
At Memphis:
Daryl Jones – DJ Tools gets an aggressive move up to Memphis after 2+ years in Springfield with a total .741 OPS there. This is a sink or swim year for Jones. He’s still only 23 (turning 24 in June) – so he is not completely used up. Jones’s day in top prospect lists have already past, now the Cardinals have to see if he will make a quality major league regular. Youngsters Craig, Jay and Chambers are all ahead of him on the totem pole.
Adron Chambers – The aforementioned Chambers is the hottest name in the market amongst hitters in Memphis, he even got praise from noted curmudgeon Joe Strauss during Spring Training. He’s only been in Memphis for portions of a season before this year, so his numbers there will still be important.
Andrew Brown – The Cardinals seemed to have officially moved Brown off of 1B and into the outfield. He played 1B most of the time in 2008 and 2009 and about 50% in 2010. Brown will more than likely be the backup to 1B in Memphis, but play mostly in the outfield. Brown hasn’t played in Memphis before, so this is also another test for the 26 year old.
Jim Rapoport – Rapoport spent most of last season with Memphis. He’s not known much for his slugging or his offense, but the Cardinals keep him as a reserve outfielder and capable defender.
Sugar Shane Robinson - Robinson has been up to the big leagues for a cup of coffee, but like Rapoport, he does not get on base or hit for power and will stay in Memphis as a reserve outfielder.
At Springfield:
Tyler Henley - Henley is a big surprise for Springfield because he spent part of last season in Memphis. He struggled, but Brown and Jones had not even played in Memphis before. The Cardinals likely want to get Henley consistent at bats in Springfield, where he has dominated.
Aaron Luna -Luna also spent part of last year in Memphis and was also leapfrogged by Brown and Jones. Luna also struggled in AA, so is in the same boat as Henley. Both are in need of at bats and both should dominate in Springfield.
Tommy Pham – Pham is 23 (similar age to Jones, amazingly) and finally made it out of the pitchers paradise in the FSL to Springfield last year. This is his natural place to start the year and hopefully builds on his strong finish to 2010.
Chris Swauger – After a mid-year promotion to Springfield last year, Swauger is a solid fit for depth in the Springfield outfield this year.
Alex Castellanos – After a solid full year in Palm Beach, Castellanos earns a promotion to the crowded outfield in Springfield, but he won’t get much further until he cuts down on his K’s and increases his walks.
What do you think? Are Brown and Jones being set up for a “final challenge”. Are Luna and Henley being marginalized?
Entries (RSS)
Regarding the last questions. For sure….. it’s sink or swin for Brown and Jones as to them ever being able to make it in the bigs and I would bet they already know Luna and Henley will never make it?
If we end up needing an extra OF this year, I’d bet several dimes that it would be without a doubt Chambers though no matter how well anyone else is doing.
Also, Springfield and QC have stacked teams this year!
And can we get a request out to TLR to switch Berkman and Rasmus already?????????????
One of our scrub MI
Puma
AP
MH (when he gets back)
Colby
Freese
Molina
Our other scrub MI
P
MUCH BETTER!!!!
For a second I thought you meant switch them defensively when I read the first line of your post. Glad to know we don’t have anyone that is Charlie Sheen crazy on here
Since when is .300/.350 a scrub?
This is the final challenge for Jones. He has to go back on the 40 man roster or he will be a six year minor league FA at the end of the year. Brown is under team control for 2 more years after this as a minor leaguer (if he doesn’t go in the rule 5 draft). Brown also earned his promotion with a top 5 league OPS in AA.
Dont understand Rappoport being kept at AAA over Luna or Henley. Henley didnt play much last year due to injury but keeping Luna in AA after a top 6 league OPS is silly.
I’ll bet Robinson is not a reserve OF in Memphis (to start the season). I bet he gets the majority of the starts in CF.
Even though the Cards are listing Stavinoha as a catcher in Memphis, my guess is he will get more OF innings than catching innings.
Crap. Forgot about Stavin.
Why wouldn’t Chambers start in center? Does he only play left?
He has played CF in the minors but most people think he wont be able to play there in majors. Robinson is our only RH CF candidate so the Cards may want to get him a longer leach.
why not? does he not get a good jump on pitches out there? all Chambers really has is speed, his bat is sub-Jon Jay and Jay doesn’t hit like a corner outfielder either.
I don’t think you can quanify Chambers limitations yet, he’s still new to baseball and has improved alot in the last year or so. He’s probably our best OF prospect at this point. His only real physical limitation at this point is his power.
TLR did say if Colby went down with a long term injury that the new CF would be Robinson. Not sure if that was before or after we got Berkman thus freeing up Jay to play full time in CF.
This may be a numbers glut of outfielders but it doesn’t seem like a glut of talent to me. Of the names mentioned only Pham impresses me as having a chance ( and at that a small one) of becoming an impact player in the major leagues. Chambers could be a reserve but the rest are minor league fodder.
The real outfield talent is slated for the Quad Cities this year. Longmire, Tavares and Parejo, in my opinion, have to become the outfield hopes for the future or, well, we don’t have any outfield hopes for the future.
Luckily we have Holliday, Rasmus, Craig and Jay already there which allows us to wait a while for help from the farm.
There are only two players on that list that I see a posible future for:
1. Tyler Henley
2. Dayl Jones
I would rank Henley ahead of Jones as far as the possibilty of making it as a mlb player.
Jones hasn’t shown anything in many years and was just sent to Memphis probably as a last chance. How does Chambers not have a future if Jones does?
Regarding Chambers… I just don’t see the potential that Henley and Jones have. I see Chambers and Rapoport as undersized players with not enough power. I absolutely loved what I saw last spring training out of Henely as well. A nice short quick swing, striaght path to the ball, and a very tuff out. He takes veey good at bats. If he wasn’t injured last year he would more than likely be starting in the OF for Memphis this year.
Gotta say Vince Coleman didn’t need power..to me Chambers has the drive and the intangibles that Jones doesn’t.
I have to agree with Cariocardinal on this one… makes no sense that Luna is back in AA from a performance standpoint. Not sure how you can say he struggled in AA. Wasn’t he named a starter on the All Star roster and was one of their top players? We now know that the reason Henley struggled is because his arm was falling off. Seems he had a very good spring training and is back in healthy form. Finally Chambers is going to get some ABs. He was stuck watching a bunch of games in Memphis last year. A victim of to many players and not enough positions.
My guess.. Jones is in Memphis so someone can assume he is still a prospect. Maybe part of a trade down the line. He surely didn’t earn his way on that team. Brown may be in the same boat as he is 26. Stavinoha is a role player at this point so maybe he is trade fodder as well. Usually things shake out after a month or so… so, let’s see what things look like then.
i assume jeff meant that luna struggled at AAA – luna had an unimpressive, though brief stint in memphis. his only full season in springfield was excellent.
i read the jones and kozma promotions the same way – they have talent pushing up from behind. this is their one big chance. flop, and you go to the back of the line. of course, i thought the same thing about stavinoha, and he gets a spring training invite and is being called a catcher without anyone putting quotes around the word. so what do i know?
Disagree on Kozma he really seemed to show something this spring and with Tyler Greene in STL most likely most of the year Memphis needed a starting SS.
It’ll be surprising if Greene stays in StL after Punto comes off the DL.
I’m also coming to the same conclusion. Greene is not getting playing time. The 40 man roster is full. Greene lacks options. Somebody is getting voted off the island when Punto comes off the DL. They could move DD back to AAA and remove another player from the 40 to make room for Punto but that causes two moves instead of one. Not looking good for TG.
Greene has an option
I think there are a few decent #4 OFers on that list. I don’t see any starters though. I could see Luna eventually getting some MLB playing time. He was a 2B in college…crazier things have happened (Skip).
Get rid of Stavi, Rapoport, and Sugar Shane and bring up Henley, Luna, and Steve Hill for crissakes. I’d also probably cut bait with Hamilton and move Andrew Brown back to 1B.
Hamilton has done nothing but hit. Why would you cut bait on him when Brown is most likely an inferior talent. We may need Hamilton next year cutting bait on a guy who hit 18 homeruns in about 300 AAA at bats.
Not totally clear how much better a hitter Hamilton is than Brown. Brown has been more consistent. Brown also can play 3B and is probably a better OF.
Don’t know the break down but Hamilton has done well the last few years and hit a number of home runs last year. Not sure if they were in the Pacific League parks or how they were spread out. Guess we will see this year vs the same competition. I’m willing to bet that Hamilton is a better baseball player.