For some reason, why I don’t know, the Cardinals have signed retread futility infielder Miguel Cairo to a minor league contract. How many infielders does Memphis need? And certainly they don’t expect him to contribute at the big league level, do they? Weirdness. Also, C Kelly Stinnett is back on board, and will be called up in September to fill in that all important 3rd catcher role. Yes, I am being sarcastic. Not like it’s a huge deal, but it’s kinda sad mediocre has beens will be getting September call ups over the kids.
Mark Shorey was not happy about being sent to Palm Beach. He’s proving his point by hitting .308/.438/.846 in 13 at bats back in A ball.
Steve Hill is a bad, bad man. He’s at a loss of words in explaining his success thus far. A .434 BABIP helps explain some of it, but he’s shown good power with a .234 ISO. Almost all of his .403 OBP is BA. While I’d like to get excited about him, he’s 22. I got excited about Nick Stavinoha after what he did out of college in the early goings, and he hasn’t panned out quite as well as I hoped. His 15 game hit streak was snapped tonight.
Springfield and Johnson City are ready for some football. Mike Blazek sizzles. And the big Cubs may have to wait to play the Cardinals, two Cub-Cardinal teams renewed rivalries today. And the Swing are one hit, yet still win. It’s all in your DPR.
- Mike Parisi allowed all 6 of the I-Cubs runs off of 11 hits and a couple of walks, while striking out 5.
- Brian Barden walked twice.
- Jarrett Hoffpauir doubled and walked.
- Mark Worrell pitched 2 scoreless innings, allowing just a hit while fanning 2.
Springfield 17, Corpus Christi 10
- Colby Rasmus went 4 for 5 with a double, homer and a walk. He also scored 4 times and drove in 2. The double was his 35th and the HR was his 22nd. 55% of his hits have been the extra base variety.
- Jose Martinez went 5 for 6. He’s now hitting .301.
- Uncle Rico Washington went 3 for 6 with 4 RBI.
- Adam Daniels allowed 4 earned runs on 4 hits and 5 walks. AA has proven him, and Daniels is found wanting. Probably time to convert him to relief soon, him being left handed and all, but he has actually done worse facing southpaws then port-siders.
- Zachary Zuercher, Kyle McClellan and Matthew Scherer all gave up a homer apiece, and 2 runs apiece.
- The offense had 20 total hits.
- Trey Hearne allowed 5 earned runs on 8 hits and a walk, striking out 4.
- James Rapoport went 3 for 4 with a steal, his 30th of the season between A and A+.
- A.J. Van Slyke went 2 for 4 and had a fielding error. He also stole his 18th base of the season.
- Despite being 1 hit, the Swing pulled off a W due to some solid pitching. Blake Wood had not hit them through 8 innings and was lifted due to a pitch count.
- Clayton Mortensen allowed 3 hits and a walk, striking out 4 and induced 8 ground ball outs in 5 IP.
- Kyle Mura was perfect through 1.2 innings, striking out 3.
- Kenny Maiques cruised to his 29th save, getting a strikeout, ground out and a fly out.
- Daryl Jones walked one and hit an RBI single in the 9th.
- Thomas Pham struck out twice and walked twice.
- Daniel Descalso went 2 for 4.
- David Carpenter went 2 for 3 with a double.
- The pitching was brilliant, holding the opposition just 4 hits.
- Phillip Andersen made his Batavia debut, and didn’t allow a run over 2 innings despite walking one and allowing 2 hits.
- Joshua Dew picked up his 11th save.
- The Cardinals beat up Pedro Martinez to the tune of 5 runs in 1.1 innings. Not that Pedro. Pedro P Martinez.
- Casey Mulligan went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and a homer. That’s a lot of bases.
- Pete Kozma went 1 for 4 with 2 walks and 2 K’s. He also stole a base and committed 2 errors. That makes 9 errors so far in a short while. There’s room for growth, obviously, but scouts said he was a true SS. Hopefully they will work with his defense. Errors aren’t everything, there is range and an arm, and reportedly Kozma has both.
- Travis Mitchell went 3 for 5, including a double.
- Beau Riportella went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI and 2 walks.
- Nicholas Vera went 2 for 6 with a grand slam.
- Mark Diapoules surrendered 6 runs on 4 hits, 3 walks while K’ing 5. He also had a balk.
- The offense had 16 total hits.
- Not to be outdone by Deryk Hooker the other night, Michael Blazek struck out 10 in 5 innings, while allowing 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks.
- Guillermo Toribio, Scott Thomas and Luis De La Cruz all had 2 hits apiece.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
colby rasmus and jose martinez have been unreal lately. isn’t it nice to have a pair of 21 year olds killing the ball in AA? not to mention they play centerfield and shortstop.
i am a little PO’ed with the cairo signing. yeah i liked him when he was here, but i have a feeling he will take the spot that jarrett hoffpauir deserves in september.
Jarrett Hoffpauir doesn’t deserve a call up! He’s an untested rookie who tore up AA and AAA and must prove his mettle by repeating Memphis in 2008. Now, if he were 5′3 and had a goatee, could switch hit and get an extra base hit every 503 PA’s, I could see it. But the Cardinals are paying Aaron Miles a million dollars to provide a valuable service that The Hoff can’t provide.
These are some of the most entertaining boxscores in a while.
Erik, you mentioned that Pham walked twice. According to the box score, he was INTENTIONALLY walked twice, by two different pitchers. He also scored 1 of the game’s 2 runs, so clearly it backfired.
Also, 18 of Springfield’s 20 hits were singles. Colby had the only two XBHs. By contrast, the other team had 3 HRs, 3 2Bs and a triple.
All that’s in addition to our 35th-round draft pick striking out 10 in 5 innings.
I heard Tony say on the radio yesterday (during the rain delay programming) that Miguel Cairo and Eduardo Perez were two of the best he’s ever seen at picking up tells on pitchers. He said that they had some indication for about half of the pitchers that they faced, and that Cairo could find one after watcing ten pitches.
As to why that never seemed to help them at the plate, I can only guess that it’s the kind of skill that comes from sitting on the bench. A lot.
nice catch lou on all points. nice to see a 35th rounder dominate like that. and why walk pham intentionally…twice? odd.
With the way that Trey Hearne has absolutely collapsed this year, I hope the Cardinals will learn the lesson here. Guys with fringy stuff, regardless of their record of success, just don’t have the same kind of long term potential that your higher upside, ’stuff’ pitchers do. I feel bad for Hearne, I really do, but there’s a reason that guys like him tend to top out at about high A.
I really think this organisation needs to look at the top drafting clubs. Most of them draft ceiling, and if a player misses his ceiling, he can still contribute. If you draft a fringy player who’s maximum upside is to be an occasional starter/bench player, what happens if he misses his ceiling? Hint: it’s not a trick question.
Oh, also, a word about Jose Martinez vs. Jarret Hoffpauir. I’ve had the good fortune to see both of them play, and, for my money, I’m more excited by Martinez. Part of it is the age difference, but, mostly, Martinez is just a more athletic player. Hoffpauir’s good with the bat, but I wasn’t impressed with his range in the field. Martinez does a nice job at short, and I think he would have the athleticism to be a dynamite 2b. A middle infield of Brendan Ryan at SS and Martinez at 2b sounds pretty decent to me. The range alone those two would bring to the table would make a pretty decent dent in the starter’s ERA with the big club.
Maiques, Rasmus, Martinez, Mortensen—-I am starting to get excited about our farm system
We have a glut of Outfielders. Everybody knows that. Does anyone think that any of these guys can be everyday major league players. I am talking about Mather, Stavinoha, Haerther, Shorey, Danielson, Marti—any MLB starters in that group.
If at least 2 out of our 3 middle infield roster spots on the big club are not occupied by some combination of Ryan, the Hoff, and Martinez by opening day 2009 then I’m going to be pretty disappointed. I would hope we can at least get one starter and one utility guy out of those three for a few years.
Paul, to answer your question about outfielders, I doubt if anyone on that list projects as an MLB regular, much less an above-average player. Haerther is probably the closest to having the right tools for making a big-league roster (reports are that his defense in left is better, and we always knew he could hit for average), but it’s hard to see him generating enough power to make it as a corner outfielder in the majors.
Colby is the best we have, and he gives every indication of being able to replace Edmonds by 2009.
The other two guys who intrigue me are Tyler Henley, who draws walks and might be able to hit enough to make it as a leadoff hitter, and Jon Jay. I have no idea if Jay’s run of injuries is a hint of things to come, or just flukey bad luck.
That said, the guy who could be the best of all is Daryl Jones, if the Jones we’ve seen this August is the real thing or just a small-sample-size illusion.
I don’t think the organization got too worked up over Hearne, I think the fan base got too worked up over him.
I think the front office knew they were drafting a guy who would end up somewhere between organizational soldier and MLB mopup guy. You have to have some of them in the system, and we’re talking about a 28th-round draft pick, not a top-10-rounds pick. The Cardinals have brought exactly one 28th-round pick to St. Louis: Joe McEwing. Hawksworth could be the second, but he was a draft and follow.
Hearne was a guy who got people out in college, had more than a strikeout an inning, and didn’t give up many hits. It’s worth a 28th-round pick to take a chance on somebody like that. At this point, it looks like it probably won’t work out…which puts him in the same category as 36 of the other 39 28th-round picks…the exceptions being McEwing, Junior Spivey, and Paul Molitor. The latter two didn’t sign with the Cardinals.
the outfielders that have the tools to be regulars are mostly down in the lower levels, and most of them aren’t performing that well. of the guys you listed, joe mather is the only one that i would say has a legit chance at being a regular. he easily has the power with 24 doubles and 25 homers this season, but he needs to show the ability to hit for average.
as i mentioned, some of the guys that project the best are down in the low levels and not performing like future everday players at the moment. daryl jones, jon edwards, tommy pham, and edgar lara have some of the best tools out of any of our outfield prospects. jones and pham are potential 5 tool guys who haven’t hit for much average. edwards and lara have huge power, but are pretty strikeout prone.
another guy that should be considered is allen craig. if he continues to suck defensively at third, you may see him moved out to left.
After seeing Mather 5 times this year, I personally think he has a shot to be something. He has really quick hands up in the zone and impressed me greatly with his ability to turn on pitches while still being able to generate power to right center. Physically, I think he’s a good frame for the majors, although he could maybe add a few lbs. of muscle (physically, I see some similarities to a young Jason Bay), but you can see the raw power he possesses already. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see him in a MLB outfield in the next year or two. Take it for what it’s worth…I’ve been wrong before…but he’s the horse I’m betting on out of that group.
I’m also a little disturbed with the Cairo sighting…one, as mentioned, it hoses Hoffpauir…but two, I just dug Cairo’s name out of my mind’s nether regions to describe Arnoldi Cruz (physical appearance) on here about a week ago…and voila, he’s a Card. If Jason Bay ends up with birds on the bat, I’m suddenly becoming dangerous here and will start comparing Nick Stavinoha to a never-emptying refrigerator of Corona in my basement bar.
There is no way Haether can be a Major League outfielder. I have seen him every home game the last two years and Duncan was a better outfielder LAST year than Haether is this year. Also he has no speed at all. It does not show in the stats but his outfield play has cost the Springfield team at least 3 wins this year. Shorey should be in Springfield.