Author Archive

Subtitled: WHAT?
Per Jim Callis of Baseball America:
‪

#Cardinals‬, 1st-rder James Ramsey agree on $1.6 mil ($1.775 mil pick value). Believe that’s 2nd-highest bonus in ‪#mlbdraft‬ history for c …
James Ramsey’s $1.6 mil is 2nd-biggest ever for college senior. Trails only Matt LaPorta’s $2.07 mil. #mlbdraft #Cardinals

It was not long ago that I made peace and appreciated the Cardinals draft for where they spent money and where they saved money. I based a lot of that (and my following piece on where the Cardinals were with their draft pick signings and pool allotment, based on some bad information re: Max Foody) on James Ramsey signing for slightly more than the $500k he turned down last year. That would have saved about a million dollars, but now, the Cardinals will have very little money left over to attempt to sign Trey Williams (11th round) and Max Foody (12th round).

I’ll work on some of the draft math later this week, but needless to say, the savings on Heyer and Meijia will not be enough to sign both Trey Williams and Max Foody and probably not even one of them.

Nineteen year old Breyvic Valera’s name has been popping up in a bunch of different locations this year.  Let’s take a closer look at Breyvic Valera (plus video) after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

It is that time again! Time for Batavia, Johnson City and the Gulf Coast League to get started. And it is time for me (after the jump) to throw some cold water on any excitement you may have generated for getting to see the stats on these new (and old) players. Read the rest of this entry »

Kurt Heyer, Alex Mejia and James Ramsey will be playing tonight at 9pm ET/ 8pm CT on ESPN2 as Arizona takes on Florida State in the College World Series. Kurt Heyer will be getting the start and he pitched 9.1 innings his last time out in an extra inning win.  Check them out and let us know what you think in the comments!

(Sorry for the ugly post, the editor is not working right.)
As expected, the Cardinals signed Carson Kelly. Jim Callis has the details:

“#Cardinals agree w/2nd-rder Carson Kelly on $1.6 mil. Highest over value ($574,300) so far in #mlbdraft. Oregon HS 3B/RHP is 2-way talent.”

Before that signing, the Cardinals were on pace to be $778,610 under their pool

Carson Kelly’s pick value of $574,300 adds another approximately $1 million over slot. That puts the Cardinals currently on pace to be $221,390 over slot. Considering savings for James Ramsey in the 1st rounder looks to be at least $1 million.

The Cardinals have also signed Max Foody for $400k per Kendall Rogers of Perfect Game USA: 

“#Cardinals 12th-rdr and talented LHP Max Foody signed for $400K. Pick value for Foody was $100K. #FloridaState signee.”

So, the Cardinals put $300k back against that cap. I imagine the Cardinals will also get some small savings with Alex Mejia and Kurt Heyer in the 4th and 6th round.

That would leave the Cardinals $500,000 over slot to work with pending Ramsey, Mejia and Heyer’s deals. That seems like it would be enough over slot to sign Trey Williams for up to $600k.

It has been about two weeks since the Cardinals (and the rest of the league) had their First-Year Player draft.  Anticipation was very high because the Cardinals had 5 picks on the first night in the first round and first supplemental combined.  The Cardinals had what I thought was a big bonus pool and I was hoping they would go out and be aggressive.  But, what happened was different and it is hard to explain my emotions between disappointed/upset/let down.  But, after hearing how the new draft rules shook out the draft, I think the Cardinals did what they had to do and may have even been ahead of the game.  The rest after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

Matthew Young
Jr, Cal State – Dominguez Hills, CA

Height: 6’03″
Weight: 230lbs
DOB: 08/17/90
Throws: R
Bats: R

(Amazing photoshop job by the gotoros.com site putting a Cardinals jersey on Mr. Young.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Jeremy Schaffer
Sr, Tulane University

Height: 6’01″
Weight: 215lbs
DOB: 01/16/90
Throws: R
Bats: R

Read the rest of this entry »

Joseph Scanio
Sr, Northwestern State

Height: 6’4″
Weight: 230 lbs
DOB: 11/30/90
Throws: R
Bats: R

Jeff’s Quick Take: Scanio looks the part of a big, hard throwing bullpen arm. He was switched to the bullpen in college and should continue there during his pro career. He’s a senior, so should be an easy sign for the Cardinals.

Read the rest of this entry »

(azruavatar note: This post was written on 6/1 and … then the draft happened. It’s my fault, not Jeff’s, that it didn’t run pre-draft and now I’m working to unbacklog some posts. Any stats in this post are prior to his most recent start on June 5th. I hope to complete — and update — draft recaps this weekend. Apologies for the delays.)

Keith Law reported recently that it seems like Shelby Miller seems “bored” in AAA and his fastball has moved down to more of an average pitch in the 90-93 MPH range as opposed to the plus pitch that he had been sporting in the recent past. I’m not going to speculate on that, but instead take a look at his numbers and see what they can tell us.

Read the rest of this entry »