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[azru]: I was excited when roarke contacted me about writing again. He’s an old hand at this having been a regular DFR contributor in the past.  Alas, he was waylaid by two little girls (my words not his) and children beat blogging every time. What follows are some of his notes from Jupiter and a great set of photos. Welcome back, roarke!

Hello my internet friends and acquaintances, it has been a long time.  As some of the long-time visitors to this site may recall, I used to be a regular contributor here (back in 2008, which, not coincidentally, was the last baseball season before children entered the roarke household).  Writing for Future Redbirds was not the only thing that fell by the wayside as real life intervened; my annual trips to Jupiter for Spring Training also ceased for a few years.

Until this year, that is.

I was able to sneak away for a few days and catch some games and practices last week and azru has been kind enough to let me share some pictures I took and my observations.  So, without further ado, words and pictures are after the jump.

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I am currently in the frigid plains of Nebraska, to celebrate the holidays with my wife’s family.  Seeing how today is Christmas I thought I would briefly make mention of a pretty decent Christmas present from the past.

Last year, I was sitting in the same chair in front of this same borrowed computer when I learned that the Cardinals had traded Jim Edmonds for David Freese.  At the time, it seemed that the best part of the deal for the Cardinals was that they were shedding some payroll and opening up a spot for Colby Rasmus. 

As it turns out, Rasmus didn’t take that spot, but the trade did arguably provide the ample playing time that Ludwick needed to have his breakout year.  It also turned out that David Freese was no mere throw in.  He has become a legitimate prospect that probably deserves a shot to play 3B in the majors at some point in the next couple of years. 

What started out as a salary dump (at least in my mind) turned into a steal.  Merry Christmas indeed!

I think I can speak for all of the writers at Future Redbirds when I say that we hope you all have a very happy and safe holiday season.  Maybe the Cardinals will come through with another Christmas surprise under the tree this year.

The pocket-sized version of Allen Craig‘s player profile is this: third baseman drafted out of college, has hit for good average and power at every stop and the only question mark is whether his defense is good enough at third base to play in the majors. Hmmm… that sounds familiar for some reason.

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Prior to the season I took a look at the workloads of several Cardinals prospects in relation to the Verducci Rule.  The basic premise of the Verducci Rule is that pitchers who increase their workload by more than 30 innings from one season to the next have a heightened risk of injury.  Will Carroll has found that the Verducci Rule does not exactly translate for minor league innings, but I used it as a conservative baseline for the number of innings I thought would be appropriate for the Cardinals prospects.  After the jump I’ll take a look back at the workloads for those same pitchers and how it compared to the numbers discussed prior to the season. Read the rest of this entry »

No game tonight, but the finals between Batavia and Jamestown starts tomorrow night and is a best of three with games Friday, Saturday and Sunday, if necessary.  Here is a series preview.

In other minor league news, the Cardinals signed an extention with Memphis to keep the Cardinals triple A affiliate there for another four years.  This seems like a no-brainer to me: Memphis is a nice city, good sized for a AAA club and in good proximity to St. Louis.  The only surprise for me is that it took this long to put the extention together.

This isn’t prospect related, but I just have to throw this out there: Aaron Miles is starting in left field tonight.

I meant to link to this last night, but when I went to copy the link I couldn’t find the article, even though I’d read it earlier in the day.  Sometimes Baseball America’s site confuses me.  Anyway, DG wrote a quick article about Chris Perez’ positive attitude about his role in the major leagues.  He also has a couple of quick notes about Brett Wallace and Curt Smith.  (Subscription Only)

We are so very near the end, but thankfully Batavia has kept the DFR’s alive for a little while longer. Derrick Goold follows up the UCB’s top seven lists with his own. His methodology was a little different from Erik’s, as he didn’t consider Perez, Mather, Garcia or Boggs eligible. It’s always good to get DG’s take on the prospects.

In this blurb from Matthew Leach this afternoon, he says that TLR says that there is no thought of bringing up Freese or Rasmus or anyone else due to the injuries to Glaus and Ankiel. We already knew that Rasmus wasn’t coming up, but I had kind of hoped that perhaps Freese might get a shot at some playing time in the bigs while Glaus is hurting [note: as I am typing this sentence, Felipe Lopez commits two errors at third base in the second inning of the Cards/Cubs game tonight].

And Batavia keeps the DFR’s coming as they win the best of three series against the Lowell Spinners to advance to the finals against the Jamestown Jammers.

Lowell 2, Batavia 3

• Adam Veres, a late round draft pick this year that I like a lot, had a great outing. He went seven innings and only gave up one run on two hits and a walk while striking out seven.
• Ramon Delgado relieved in the eighth and struck out all three batters he faced.
• Adam Reifer made it interesting in the ninth, giving up a run on a hit and a walk before settling down and closing out the game.
• The offense came from the bottom of the lineup: Chris Swauger was 1-3 with a walk.
• Frederick Parejo was 2-4, Xavier Scruggs was 1-3 and Jose Garcia was 2-3.

Joe Strauss’ Q & A touched on some minor league issues, but no real revelations. The quote that got my attention was his cryptic response to a question about LaRussa’s future in St. Louis:

Cardinal70: Hello, O King of the Chat! I’d make a tsunami reference but Gustav’s still dumping rain on us here in Arkansas.

What are the odds, in your mind, of TLR packing up at the end of the year? Duncan’s contract is up, the transition is still underway, etc. Or is the fire still there?

Joe Strauss: Read Friday’s Post-Dispatch. I can’t beat myself, so to speak.

• Antonio DeJesus was 1-3 with a pair of walks.
• Steve Hill was 0-2 with a pair of walks.
• Charles Kingrey was 1-2 with a double and a pair of walks.
• Shaun Garceau gave up a pair of runs over 6.2 innings on six hits and four walks. He struck out four.
• Samuel Freeman gave up a pair of runs in two innings pitched on two hits and a walk.
• Pete Parise finished the game off with a strikeout, but not before allowing an inherited runner to score on a base hit.

• Colt Sedbrook and Shane Peterson provided the bright spots in an otherwise ugly game. Sedbrook was 3-4 with a double, a walk and a stolen base. Peterson was 2-3 with a double and a triple.
• Zach Pitts got the start and only gave up one earned run over 4.2 innings, but he also gave up two unearned runs. He allowed two hits and two walks and struck out three.
• The ugliest line of the night goes to Arquimedes Nieto, who lasted only 1.2 innings, but allowed eight earned runs on seven hits and two walks. Blech.

Erik here: Sorry if the site was being weird earlier, everything should be ok now.

In addition to the Jaime Garcia injury that was discussed in an earlier post, Joe Mather is also out for the season with a hand injury (I know he was in the big leagues and technically not a “Future” Redbird, but I still consider him to be one of ‘our guys’).

Derrick Goold is asking for his readers to weigh in on 2009 prospects in three categories: Top Rookie, Breakout Prospect and Sleeper. Head on over and weigh in, if you are so inclined.

The only two teams left playing were both in action tonight. All the details are… right here (I’m not making you jump for two games):

Daytona 10, Palm Beach 9

• Antonio DeJesus was 2-4 with a triple.
• Pete Kozma and Steve Hill were each 1-4 with a walk. Hill also doubled.
• Matthew Arburr was 1-3 with a homerun and two walks.
• Luke Gorsett was 2-3 with two doubles and two walks.
• Oliver Marmol was 2-4 with two stolen bases and one caught stealing.
• Nick Additon gave up two runs in seven innings on seven hits while striking out two.
• The Casey Mulligan Experience threw 1.2 innings and gave up a run on five (!) hits.
• Samuel Freeman came in and struck out a batter to finish off the seventh inning.
• Pete Parise gave up six unearned runs on four hits over two thirds of an inning. I’m almost too depressed to go on.
• Wayne Daman gave up a run on two hits in 1.1 innings.

Batavia 2, Jamestown 7

• Jermaine Curtis and Shane Peterson were each 2-5. Curtis also doubled.
• Frederick Parejo was 3-4.
• Joshua Hester got the start and gave up four earned runs over 2.1 innings on nine hits. He also was betrayed by his defense, which resulted in an additional three unearned runs during Hester’s time. He did strike out three.
• The bullpen fared much better, starting with Rigoberto Lugo who pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, allowing only one hit.
• Hector Cardenas followed with three scoreless innings, allowing three hits and a walk.
• Daniel Richardson finished the game off with a perfect inning.

Josh Kinney‘s rehab starts have gone very well. He’s been away from the Cardinals for a long time now, but he had become a calming presence in the big team’s bullpen before his injury, so it would be great if he could return to that form.

The Quad Cities Times had a nice write-up on Curt Smith yesterday. He’s played really well since getting drafted in the 39th round – it will be interesting to see if he is able to continue his success as he moves up the ladder next year.

Five teams were in action today, all the details are after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Josh Phelps got the call to St. Louis, while Jaime Garcia was sent down and Mark Mulder was shifted to the 60-day DL. In the same article LaRussa hints that Garcia will probably not get a September call up due to the number of innings he has already pitched this season. I approve of that line of thinking, especially after he had the elbow strain at the end of last season.

Four teams were in action today, all the details are after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »