Not only that, but the way i read his comment, he’s putting the onus more on the player who stalled out at AAA as opposed to the organization.

I think he’s advocating for drafting Trahan which is exactly what he said in his first comment, “I’m even more convinced we should draft him.”

It seemed to me at the time that the pressure was on Colby, who rose to the challenge at first. And Jones did pretty well at times before injuries set him back. (Didn’t KLaw or someone else have him in his top 100 one offseason?)

I wasn’t referring to IFAs, because with the Latin American kids it’s understood (at least with position players) that you’re signing 16-year-olds. It’s almost all projection, traditionally with very little scouting in game situations.

With the draft you have a clear choice. Most of the kids are 18 in June, but we now know that slight differences in age can have a surprisingly large effect on their ceiling. You have to adjust downward for a 19-year-old who’s been playing against younger kids in HS, and upward for a 17-year-old who’s spent his teen years playing against older kids.

You can also look at players like Oscar Taveras and say he’s been a success, but the more highly ranked Roberto De La Cruz has been a dud.

You know as well as anyone Lou that the person’s makeup has more to do with their development then anything. After all, they try to teach all the players how to best maximize their talents. How you mature (or don’t in Rasmus’s case) and learn are both things the teams try to help in, but can’t totally control. Albert Pujols was a 13th round draft choice and matured basically overnight. We drafted his cousin(?) in the 8th round and he was a total flop from the start. Without question it’s a much harder read to judge 18 year olds. On the other hand I believe I read an article comparing the two which basically stated that college drafts and high school picks were basically even in major league star power. If I’m wrong someone please correct me here.

Someone else mentioned that maybe the Cardinals have prospects stalling out at AAA. They gave a list. I mentioned that maybe those players that mentioned are just the guys they turned out to be and it has nothing to do with what the organization did wrong AAA. Personally I think Wallace and Barton turned into the players they were meant to be. Decent hitters without power.

What do I have against Trahan? Nothing I want the Cardinals to pick him.

What did the Cardinals do wrong with Anderson? He never developed the power he was supposed to. He never learned how to handle a pitching staff or catch and throw effectively. Plain and simple he’s not a good catcher. That has nothing to do with Duncan or TLR, that is on Anderson.

I’m not sure if your talking to me or someone else or what but your points make no sense.

What are you trying to argue? That the Cardinals aren’t putting finishing touches on players at AAA? Because you just made a case against yourself with all of the guys you mentioned that have come through the sytem and been successful.

On the other hand, you neglect to mention guys who are successful who wore the Redbirds uniform. Let’s take a quick run-through; Jaime Garcia, Adam Wainwright, Dan Haren, Chris Perez, Luke Gregerson, Chris Narveson, Jason Motte, Lance Lynn, Matt Adams, Dan Descalso, David Freese, Allen Craig, Yadier Molina, Jon Jay, Skip Schumaker, Matt Carpenter etc.

As for catchers, I’ll give you that, but that was partly to do with La Russa and his love for defense first bckstops like Matt Pagnozzi. Anderson has always had to play second fiddle to him and Tony Cruz in Memphis, even though Bryan was a highly ranked prospect. I’d certainly blame his stalled development on the organization for mishandling him, as they did Pete Kozma and Daryl Jones. Two more highly ranked talents who fell by the wayside. On those two I agree with you.

I’m not sure what you have against Stryker Trahan other then his youth. If that’s the problem then I give you Brett Wallace, Zack Cox (which also makes your argument against Memphis) and about 20+ college pitchers who’ve been drafted in the past 7or 8 years in the top five picks.