Archive for the “Tyler Greene” Category

The Cardinals have struggled this year at shortstop. They’ve seen six different players accrue time at the shortstop position. Veterans Nick Punto, Ryan Theriot and now Rafael Furcal have all manned the key defensive position and farm products Pete Kozma, Daniel Descalso and Tyler Greene have as well. Combined they have hit .255/.316/.330 and shown what could be generously described as porous defense.

The Cardinals will have some decisions to make as the year progresses and rosters expand in September. One such decision is whether to free Tyler Greene or not.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tyler Greene up. He’s had some defensive miscues but he’s hitting at a reasonable clip and he’s a very good fielder when you evaluate his total body of work.

Jon Jay up. He’s your fourth outfielder who is likely to spell Ludwick and Holliday on their offdays. Mather in center on Colby’s offdays make the most sense to me since those offdays should be against lefties when needed.

Allen Craig optioned. Not unexpected and makes some sense to let Craig get regular playing time and get things going.

Felipe Lopez to the DL. I hope this isn’t worse than it turns out to be. Makes you wonder if this wasn’t some of the delay with his offseason contract.

BJ Rains on Twitter

Goold on Twitter

I have a hard time worrying about the Brendan Ryan news and, now that the children have been consoled, let me tell you why.

Read the rest of this entry »

Selected just two spots after Colby Rasmus in the 2005 draft, Tyler Greene has steadily moved his way through the farm system.  Often regarded as something of a raw college talent who had some bad metal bat tendencies, Greene struggled to make consistent contact through the minors and did little to offset that with plate discipline.  Defensive metrics for the minors show Greene having everything from slightly below average seasons to well above average ones.  His defense is generally regarded as above average for a shortstop and he exhibits good range and a strong arm.

Something clicked for Greene last season though and it seems that it’s been somewhat overlooked. Read the rest of this entry »

It is to no great surprise that Tyler Greene was added to the forty man roster. While he does have his deficiencies in terms of making contact, he’s hit well enough in the Arizona Fall League to be taken in the Rule 5 draft if he was left unprotected. A .905 OPS from a middle infielder is impressive, even if it includes 28 strikeouts in 83 at bats.

Scherer comes a bit as a surprise. He’s 25, was a 16th rounder from a small school who went on to put up some monster numbers a couple of seasons ago. He struck out 106 in 80.1 innings in Palm Beach but was old for his league and never closed. Last year for Springfield he pitched OK in middle relief, striking out around a batter per inning. This year, his strikeout rate was way down (13.91%, and only 8.2% swinging strikes) and he had a really low ground ball rate of 34.4%. From the accounts I have read, he throws an 86-89 MPH fastball, a slurvy breaking ball and a nice splitter. You just typically don’t see middle relievers protected like this, unless they are a specialist of some sort, and Scherer is not. Maybe I’m undervaluing him, the club obviously sees something I don’t.

Mark McCormick and Luis Perdomo were the notable names left off, I’m surprised Perdomo was not protected given he has higher upside than Scherer and is all that remains of Flat Hat. McCormick has never been able to stay healthy or throw strikes, but some club may want to gamble on his upside with hopes of making him a reliever.

With the winter meetings coming up in about a month, clubs across the majors are looking at which of their players they need to add to their 40 man roster in order to protect them from that quirky Rule 5 draft. The Rule 5 was created in order to keep clubs from stockpiling too many players in their minor league system, it gives some players a chance to pursue their baseball career elsewhere. It used to be a lot more exciting until the new CBA added another year before the players are eligible, but since then we’ve seen Dan Uggla and Joakim Soria go out and blossom into All Stars, so there still is talent to be had.

Last year to my excitement the team took Brian Barton with the tenth pick in the Rule 5 draft from the Indians. Most of us remember Barton was the highest regarded player in the draft but was not overly impressive, putting together an OPS+ of 97 in 153 at bats. Given the croweded OF situation, he looks to be AAA bound given the crowded outfield situation.

This year, the Cardinals have several players that will be available in the Rule 5 without protection, all of which are college players drafted in 2005.

Tyler Greene – Could be the only protected player. He’s hitting hot in the AFL right now, batting .321/.410/.566. He still strikes me as being limitedly useful because of his inability to make consistent contact, but he is still an impressive athlete who could be a late bloomer. Mo recently spoke out that Greene is a possibility to make the MLB team out of spring training.

Mark McCormick – The flamethrower has flamed out. He cannot seem to throw strikes consistenly and his troublesome mechanics have led to big time health issues. He probably won’t require being added to the 40 man, and is unlikely to be taken in the Rule 5.

Luis Perdomo – Here’s where things could get interesting. You would hate to see the team lose the remains of Anthony Reyes, and given his power stuff I could see him intriguing teams. He hasn’t pitched well at all in winter ball. It is a bit of a toss up on whether or not he should be protected.

The rest: Kenny Maiques, Trey Hearne, Cody Haerther, Elvis Hernandez, Casey Rowlett, Brandon Yarbrough, Matt Pagnozzi and Matt Scherer. A year ago I would have said Maiques must be protected, but he fell completely apart this past season. Haerther’s star has faded into oblivion and I can’t see any interest in the rest.

Prediction: Greene and Perdomo will be added, no Cardinals will be drafted.

We continue our way around the infield with a look at the shortstops in the Cardinals system. As with second base, shortstop has been a weak spot in recent years – the last shortstop of any signifigance that came through the system was Jack Wilson, who made his major league debut in 2001 with the Pirates. Brendan Ryan was with the big league club for most of the season and many hoped that he could become the everyday shortstop for the Cardinals, but his performance this season has made that possibility seem remote.

Unlike the keystone, however, the minor league system currently has talent at the position sprinkled throughout the levels. We’ve got a minor league trade acquisition playing at a high level in AAA (and now the Olympics), a first round draftee that has regained some luster in AA (and hopefully will continue to do so at AAA), a recent first round draftee that has been proving that he deserved such a high pick in A ball, and a 2008 high school draftee that has been tearing up rookie ball. We’ll take a look at them all after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

One last post about my trip to Spring Training and then I swear I’ll shut up about it.  This one will be more observational and less photo-riffic (although I can’t resist throwing a few more pictures out there).  So, after the jump I’ll list the guys that made positive and negative impressions during my time in Florida. Read the rest of this entry »

My father and I got an almost-private showing of morning practice for the minor league squads on Monday. We were lucky enough to run into Brandon Dickson‘s father outside the gates to the minor league side of camp. He got a guard to let him and us into the practice facilities at about 10:00am. Brandon was undrafted out of Tusculum College and was Quad Cities Pitcher of the Year in 2007 (according to his father). His numbers look pretty good, with a nice K rate, although his father said he was more of a grounball pitcher than a strikeout pitcher.

More observations from Monday after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »