I’m going through my inbox -
- Paul Swaney writes at Stadium Journey about … yep, stadiums. Yesterday he posed his review of Modern Woodmen Park and if you click through the ‘MILB’ link at the top you’ll find reviews for Palm Beach’s Dean Complex and the Muckdog’s digs in New York. Paul has yet to review Memphis’ Autozone Park (the best complex in the organization in my opinion) and Springfield’s Hammons Field (the most accessible complex for the fans in my opinion).
- Craig Wieczorkiewicz writes about his trips throughout Low-A Midwest League. Currently, the site is featuring posts on the Quad Cities River Bandits MWL championship.
- This is a fun video recapping the River Bandits including a proposal, homeruns and fielding hijinks. Worth a watch.
James has been really great about sending some Springfield photos to me via e-mail this year, which I’ve featured a couple times here previously. I look forward to seeing more next year especially on the new Future Redbirds facebook page. A couple of my personal favorites from the last batch:
This is from James’ daughter who, despite being a decade my junior is certainly a better photographer than I am.
The most controversial prospect of 2011 on Future Redbirds.
Recently DFA’d to make room on the 40-man roster: Francisco Samuel
I’m a sucker for any picture that captures the baseball — because I’m terrible at that. Ryan Jackson takes one for the team in this photo.
Thanks again James.
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The River Bandit video is very cool.
Autozone might be one of the best complexes in the entire nation. Just a pleasure to see a game there.
This may not be the best place to ask, but does anyone have any info on Victor Deleon? He was in BA’s Top 20 for the GCL and I’ve never heard of him.
Don’t know why he would be listed. He was 0-6 with a 4.47 era?
The write-up said that he has a powerful, mid-90s fastball, but it flattens out when it’s up in the zone. It said his breaking and off-speed pitches are below average. So whatever projection he has comes from pure velocity.
In the chat, Ben Badler was asked about Bryan Martinez (he impressed people when healthy with a low-90s FB and good slider) and three ’11 draftees: McElroy, Peoples-Walls, and Jeffries. He said McElroy and Jeffries get good marks for defense but their bats are raw. He thinks Jeffries is a little ahead of McElroy at this point. Interestingly, he didn’t say anything about Peoples-Walls.
I wonder what the Cards are thinking with picks like Peoples-Walls and Tuivalala. They were guys who appeared late on scouts’ radar, so maybe the Cards bet that they were late bloomers (relative to other HS picks) who would continue to pick up the game at an accelerated pace. There’s no rush for any of them, and the money wasn’t outrageous. But it would be interesting to hear a scout explain why they went with those guys so early in the past 2 drafts, vs. guys who were better known and weren’t considered overdrafts.
Also in the chat, Badler said there were maybe 8 guys in the GCL this year who got positive mentions across the league. It was hard to separate the rest of the guys he included. Basically, they’re all projects with at least one standout skill.
(Sorry, can’t bring myself to type “standout tool.”)
Well then you can’t fully describe the skillsets of AJ Pierzynski, Ryan Braun, or Nyjer Morgan, can you?
Apparently not!
River Bandit video was as advertised. Thanks for the link.
For what it is worth, if not picked up elsewhere here, Francisco Samuel passed through waivers and got assigned back to Memphis, which I presume means he will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft if not added back to the 40 man roster, but if not added and not drafted, the Cards will get one more season to look at him.
Wont get picked in the rule 5 draft – if a team wanted him they would have grabbed him now. Of course technically we could still protect him between now and then but that also wont happen.
thanks for the info.
Í think the big question is whether the Cards will still want him – even not being on the 40 man roster.
i dunno. our upper minor league system – after graduating sanchez and salas, as well as watching gregerson, perez, etc. get traded – is pretty bereft of relief talent. the RH relievers who will be in AA and AAA will be reifer, marte, some former starters (likely ottavino and kopp), and a couple of mostly unremarkable names. there’s room somewhere for him, if the cards think there’s anything redeemable about him.
what do you think the cardinals will do with matt adams if they sign pulhos to his contract
Good question. No better time to explore trade options.
On Samuel, I understand that any team that really wanted him could have picked him up on waivers now, but then wouldn’t they have had to put him on their 40 man roster? It still seems possible that somebody would be willing to take a look at him for 25 grand next spring without having to put him on their 40 man.
If they take him the rule 5 they have to put him on their 40 man roster immediately upon selecting him and keep him on their 25 man roster throughout the whole next season.
They don’t “have to” keep him on the 25-man; they just run the risk of him being scooped back up by the losing team if they don’t. That happens some of the time but not always. Right about the 40-man part, though; that part is essentially the same in a Rule 5 context as it is in a straight waivers situation. So the fact that nobody put in a waiver claim on Samuel is reasonable evidence that losing him through Rule 5 is unlikely.
Just checked out BA’s top 20 list for the Appy League, and Matt Eddy’s chat with readers.
Good news: Eddy has Jenkins as the #3 prospect in the league, and in the chat says Jenkins is developing a changeup that gives him #1 starter potential.
No questions about Anthony Garcia, alas, but Eddy waved a caution flag over Roberto de la Cruz. He says the power is real (no surprise), but that his defense has gone backwards. Also nice words about Breyvic Valera’s speed and hand-eye coordination. He said he lacks the arm strength to play shortstop (although he’s young enough to improve), and he said Valera’s BABIP was around .450 during his 3-week hitting spree. I’m not sure about the validity of the last comment. I don’t think Valera has really had a cold streak yet.
For perspective: The JC Cards had 4 guys on the list 5 years ago: Daryl Jones, Jon Edwards, Blake King, and Tyler Herron. So, pretty hard to project guys at this level.
I did not remember that rule 5 players had to be added to the forty man, but it makes sense. Thanks for the info.
On Jenkins, interesting news. I would assume from the fact that it was said the it gives him number 1 starter potential that he already has the pitch and his feel for the pitch is such that they would rate it as a second plus pitch next to his fastball and that he just needs to show that he can throw it consistently?