Forty Man Roster Machinations
Posted on August 31st, 2011 by Jeff in Brian Broderick, tags: Andrew Brown, Brian Broderick, Francisco Samuel, Jess Todd, Raul ValdesAzruavatar did a great job below taking a look at what he thinks will happen once the calendar turns to September and the minor league teams all end their season. The Cardinals only have two healthy minor league pitchers on their 40 man roster and considering how the Cardinals head honcho, Tony LaRussa uses pitchers, I expect more than Dickson and Cleto to be promoted in September. After the jump, let’s look at candidates to be dropped off the 40-man and who could be brought on.
Drop Candidates: Andrew Brown, Francisco Samuel. Each player will have to make it through waivers.
Samuel is hurt and hasn’t pitched well and has been oft-injured over the past few seasons. Would some other team take a chance on Samuel on their own 40 man roster? Seems unlikely.
Andrew Brown was called up and added to the 40 man roster earlier this year. He has had good numbers, but nothing outrageous and being limited to corner outfield positions and first base and already being 26 makes him both less attractive to other teams and the Cardinals would not be heartbroken to lose him.
Add/Callup Candidates: Jess Todd, Raul Valdes, Brian Broderick.
All three players have already been to the majors, so there is no risk of starting any clocks early.
Jess Todd has long ago stopped destroying worlds and with so many stops at so many places for such small amounts of time, it is really difficult to read anything into his numbers even when compressed to level by level. Todd has a career minor league 9.1 K/9 and a 2.7 BB/9 for ratio of 3.39 and he’s not far off that this year for Memphis with 2.71 K/BB. Todd has pitched solidly in the pen for Memphis and the St. Louis pen and Todd could probably both benefit from a some time together.
Raul Valdes is lefthanded and having been up in the majors for a hot second earlier this year, that could earn him a call up for September. Valdes is gone. I had forgotten that.
Brian Broderick has also been in the major leagues this year, his time with Washington after being picked in the Rule 5 draft. Broderick was touted a bit after a quality 2010 in Springfield. He’s only 24, his time with Washington although short, was not terrible with a 96 tRA+. The Cardinals risked exposing Broderick in the offseason and were rewarded with their gamble by having him returned to them. They will need to challenge him over September to see if they should keep or add him to the 40 man roster going forward.
I had a quick Twitter convo with Mr. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who seemed to insiuate that the Cardinals had cooled on Adam Ottavino, who may be headed somewhere else in the offseason for a change of scenery.
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Raul valdes is no longer with the organization, and Todd and Broderick have 5 ERAs. Brodericks opponents average is in the .350 range and lefties hit Todd at a clip off .450. If that is considered solid, then what are marte and Fick with 1.5 and 2.2 ERAs?
I’m not opposed to Fick or Marte, they have been “solid”. I think Todd and Broderick might be more likely.
Marte wouldn’t come with clock concerns although Fick would. But, he’s approaching rule 5 eligibility anyway.
In Memphis this season. Fick has a 3.68 FIP, Marte has 3.60 and Todd a 3.96. They aren’t as far away from each other as deceptive ERA would have you believe.
Can’t get excited about any of those three. I’d be happier to see Kopp get a shot.
With Kopp going to the Arizona Fall League, probably not, even though there is not an overlap.
Yeah but if they are calling up Kopp for 2 or 3 one inning appearances out of the pen just to pop his major league hymen, does it really put that much mileage on his arm?
I still don’t see why Ottavino hasn’t been given a shot in the bullpen. As a starter he’s worthless to us and to anybody we might deal him to.
me too, seems a natural for the pen
When its a control issue, its not a good thing for the pen.
Actually works better in the pen than as a starter. some pitchers give up a lot of walks but not a lot of hits or runs. that works in the pen. As a starter it doen’t work because it causes your pitch count to go up too high and too fast.
He’s basically Dotel in the sense that he’d be a great ROOGY.
My guess is Marte.
The two guys being called up are starters, that could conceivably be used for 3-4 innings if needed. Although I’m sure Tony could conceivably utilize 16 or 17 guys in the pen, he already has McClellan, Scrabble, and Boggs for multiple inning stints. Add to that Dickson and Cleto. and I’m not sure we really will need to cover any more innings-barring injury.
I wouldn’t mind to see Kopp, but agree that the AFL will probably give some insight into his future. The real place to look, as alluded to above, seems to be people who will need to be protected this offseason anyway. Broderick is interesting, and I’m not sure if Greenwood or Freeman would qualify there. If not, there isn’t anything at AAA or AA that would really be of much help/worth potentially losing a player for.
I’ve liked Todd for a long time but he absolutely cannot get lefties out anymore. Until he figures that out, and it’s going to take a new pitch or approach, unfortunately he looks like a AAAA player (and not all that good of one this year).
Don’t see them adding someone they wouldn’t be adding in the off season anyway. to me that counts out Todd and Broderick. Freeman might be worth protecting but to that is not a given. Kopp’s protection will probably depend on his AFL performance. If they have already decided to put him on the 40 man roster, I’d cancel his AFL stint and bring him up. Todd, Broderick, Marte, Ottavino, and Kopp have all been removed from the 40 man roster once. If removed again they have the option of becoming free agents. Of all the guys mentioned, Fick is the only one that has not been up previously (and yes he is rule 5 eligible as he was last year.)
I did not take it from Goold’s tweet that he knew anything but was simply speculating.
I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to call up Sam Freeman. Unless I am mistaken, he becomes Rule 5 eligible this year, and unless the Cards are already planning to reup Arthur Rhodes, Freeman is a guy who seems like he will get a legit look in spring. Not sure any of the other lefty relievers are ready, unless one is advocating turning Additon, Gast, etc. into relievers now. Greenwood would be the other lefty reliever who is getting there, but with the exception of that very brief AAA callup, it seems that the previous spring invite that Freeman received would indicate some larger degree of confidence in his abilities. If not for his injury two years ago, Freeman could well have already suited up for the big league club, IMO. Why not give him a shot?
Fick deserves it. Marte deserves it, or let em go pitch in the show for someone else. It’s to hard to makes it to the big leagues with the Reds,Cardinals, Yankees. If they don’t take those kids up after the year they both have had then I would think they both would be gone. They need Scott Boros.
THE PAST TWO YEARS PARISI AND THEN BRODERICK PITCHED WELL IN THE AFL AND WERE STILL NOT ADDED TO THE 40 MAN. BOTH WERE CLAIMED. I WOULD HOPE THAT KOPP WOULD BE PROTECTED IF HE CONTINUES TO PITCH WELL. INTERESTING THAT KOPP HAS NOW PASSED TODD AS A PROSPECT AFTER TODD’S EARLY SUCCESS AND KOPP’S EARLY INJURIES. BOTH WERE 2ND ROUND PICKS IN 2007.
And both were returned, proving that the decision to not protect them was sound.
I DON’T KNOW WHAT WE’RE YELLING ABOUT!!!!
She… Sh… It’s terrible. She has beautiful eyes, and her hair smells like cinnamon.
I don’t care who you drop, whether it’s any of Samuel, , Brown, Kozma or Reifer. Broderick or Todd….no thanks! The Cards should be looking at one pitcher and one pitcher only: Shelby Miller. His time is NOW to have a look at. We certainly won’t be worried about running out of options with him and he WILL be up in 2012 for good at some point.