I hope you all enjoyed the reading the DPR’s as much as AZ and I have enjoyed bringing them to you. It’s not quite over yet, as Springfield and Quad Cities have made the playoffs in their respective leagues, and the Muckdogs still play until Friday. I am hoping to start having season wraps, beginning with the GCL team as early as this week, so be on the look out for that. From there, we’ll be starting to do a lot more prospect profiles as well as following the Arizona Fall League and Winter Ball. Then before the season starts, we’ll be forecasting the new rosters, ranking the prospects and maybe throwing out some projections and all sorts of fun crap. I still have some of your suggestions in the hopper, and feel free to let me know of anything else you’d be interested in. I’m tossing around the idea of a mailbag, though I’m not trying to set myself up as an expert. Weigh in if that’s something that would interest you.
- Rico Washington fractured his right cheekbone, so Mark Shorey has been called up to take his place.
- Some Redbirds are still hoping for a September call up, in particular Brian Barden, Troy Cate, Brian Falkenborg, Randy Keisler, Tagg Bozied and Mike Venafro.
- Remember Chris Lambert? He dominated tonight in his first start for the Mud Hens. 6 innings, 1 hit, 2 walks and 10 K’s. I have no idea what to make of that. I’m speechless. (Hat tip, Matt)
Springfield finishes the regular season strong. Memphis finished up another horrid, forgettable season, but does execute one of the most exciting plays in baseball. Batavia pitchers combine for a gem. And frustration boils over in Beloit. It’s all in tonight’s DPR.
Memphis 1, Nashville 3
- Check this out from the play log: With Tagg Bozied batting, Mike McCoy steals (12) home. Michael Ferris steals (1) 3rd base. Edgar Gonzalez steals (15) 2nd base.
- Mike Parisi allowed 1 earned run over 6 innings, allowing 7 hits and a walk while striking out 5.
- Chris Perez pitched a scoreless inning of relief, striking out 1 and walking 1.
- Travis Hanson went 2 for 4 while the rest of the offense apparently went with a whimper.
- The Redbirds finished the season 56-88. Yikes.
- Adam Daniels gave up just a run on 7 hits and a walk, striking out 6.
- Allen Craig went 2 for 4 with a HR.
- Cody Haerther went 3 for 4.
- Reid Gorecki went 2 for 4.
- Casey Rowlett went 2 for 3 with 2 steals.
- Matt Scherer retired all three batters he faced.
- Springfield finished the 2nd half 36-32, winning the TL North in the first and second half of the season. Congrats to Pop Warner and his squad.
- Clayton Mortensen was awful. He lasted only 3 innings, hit 2 batters and gave up 5 runs on 9 hits. He managed a 6-1 ground out to fly out ratio, the kid is a grounder inducing machine. He also picked a man off at 1st.
- Marco Gonzalez pitched 3 innings of shutout ball, allowing a hit and a walk while striking out 3.
- Arnoldi Cruz went 2 for 4 with a triple.
- Daryl Jones singled and stole a base.
- Tyler Henley doubled and struck out twice.
- After losing 7 in a row, the Swing were understandably frustrated. Manager Keith Mitchell ejected by the 1B umpire in the 4th along with Nick Derba. Then pitching coach and ex-Cardinal Bryan Eversgard was ejected in the 6th by the home plate ump. More details on the why found here.
- The Swing have to face Beloit again on Wednesday in their playoff in a best of three. Here’s hoping they get some revenge. And here’s also hoping the Cedar Rapids Kernels can also advance, so I get a chance to see the Swing in action in my hometown.
- The pitching was lights out. Brandon Garner allowed a run over 4 innings, walking 3 and giving up 2 hits while striking out 4. Jonathan Stambaugh allowed the other 2 hits while striking out 4. Josh Dew finished it off by striking out 2.
- Jon Edwards went 3 for 4 with a double.
- Ross Oeder went 2 for 4 and committed two fielding errors.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
what is the word on narveson? i see he is still sitting on the reassigned list in minors & hasn’t pitched in over a month.
Chris Lambert (AAA Toledo): 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K.
That’s sounds about right.
lol…that line can’t be right about Lambert. It can’t be.
Erik, AZ — it’s not over, but thank you for this awesome website and the outstanding coverage you guys bring. Thanks to this website, I feel a ton more informed on the minor league teams. Here’s to hoping it’s a lot more enjoyable reading Memphis’s boxscores in 2008.
I had a chance to see Brian Barden on Saturday night. Right now, he give the Cardinals their best defensive option at third. The guy is really impressive with his glove. He later moved over to short and although not gold glove caliber, he certainly does not embarrass himself in the 6 spot. Maybe start Branyan for his bat and bring in Barden as a defensive replacement. Oh wait, that means they couldn’t start Miguel Cairo and the world might stop spinning.
http://www.whiteyball.com
i was at the springfield game today and was kinda disappointed with what i saw. yes i know they won and won both halves of the season but there were a couple of things that really stood out. 1st Allen craig is an animal at the plate but has no business at 3rd base! Not only can he not field but he has a well below average arm for a third baseman. A couple of the throws he made nearly got mark hamilton killed. Now speaking of hamilton i was a big fan of his until tonight. And this is more of a personal level because Mark has a sense of severe cockyness. I sat in the second row next to the springfield bench so i got to watch Mr. hamilton a lot. It seemed that he spent more time looking in the stands and smacking his gum with his “cool” shades on than he did paying attention to what was going on. Now again let me remind you i loved this kid when all i did was watch him in the box scores but he really struck a nerve and to me he doesn’t fit the cardinal mold. Again thats just me and hopefully he proves me wrong ill still be cheering for him. Next Mr. Shorey who looks like he should be playing fullback for some football team and not right field for springfield. Again this is another guy that i really pull for and think he got a raw deal by getting sent down to Palm beach but after today i wasn’t impressed. His arm was well below average for a right fielder and at the plate he’s all or nothing. His swing is extremely long and had no chance at catching up to the 95 mph fast ball the Travelers pitcher was throwing. As for Mr. Daniel’s i was impressed in the first inning when he worked fast and had the travels really confused with the change up. Than came the next six innings where it seemed like he was having some real control issues. I know the box score doesn’t indicate that but you can thank the travelers for swinging at balls. Adam topped out at about 90-91 but has a real good off speed pitch when he can throw it for strikes. Not much to say about Marti he did DH but he looked bad on a strikeout and other than that he hit a couple balls that didn’t seem like he got good wood on it but somehow got to the warning track before they were caught.P.S. he looks about 38 and he’s a lot smaller that i pictured. now for the good. Cody Haerther looked like a stud. He hit a couple of balls stupid hard and plays a good left field(watch out duncan). Reid Gorecki got a couple hits and stole a base easy. I like his speed and his defence actually was really good one of the things i noticed right away was that he got really good jumps on fly balls. Scherer looked pretty damn good plus he’s a massive human being. All together i was a little disappointed but than again i didn’t get to see rasdiggity or anderson so maybe that has something to do with it. Yes i know i might of been a little harsh but our best prospects are here at springfield and i expect a lot out of them but its only cause i care so much and cant wait to see them with the big club! Eric
I had the pleasure of watching Barden a lot in the Diamondbacks organization and he really is a pretty incredible defensive player, especially at third. He was also pretty darn good at the other three infield postions as well. He has a lot of potential with the bat but has battled consistancy putting together long term offensive success instead of being white hot, then ice cold, then white hot, etc. I’m obviously a bit biased, but I don’t think Miguel Cairo even has a white hot gear in the engine. Here’s hoping Bardo gets a shot to contribute because I think he can be a very useful player for the Cards.
*yawn* another year, another “33″ in the games back column.
I really didn’t think it was possible to be worse than last year…but even with Ankiel and the (few) other bright spots, they managed to, well, top last year.
If they manage to flirt with 90 losses again next year, I’m afraid I’ll be stuck watching the Braves’ AAA team…
Erik, that QC article you linked to says that Mortensen had to pitch on three days’ rest.
I was about to say that too Lou, I wonder how much of an effect that had, not in the short rest but in the fact that he didn’t know he was starting till the day before and was probably not mentally ready for a start. If he had gone out and dominated it would have shown us some wainwright type mentality that you just take your knocks and keep on dealing so I think this start is a wash for him.
Personally I can’t wait to see Barden starting for the Cards I think he will fit in nicely from the little I have read about him.
Next years Memphis team worries me as well, it will be the last season of the contract between Memphis and StL so it could be a make or break season or Memphis might just give in and resign anyway like it is being predicted. Either way though we have good talent from Springfield headed up but some of that talent could be headed to the big club too so Memphis may miss out on it all together, it will be interesting to watch.
I can’t see how Memphis and the Cards don’t come to some sort of an agreement. It’s such a good deal for both sides, especially the Memphis people, who seem to be the ones dragging their feet. Memphis is huge Cardinals territory, and them being the Cards’ AAA club has to help their attendance. I know that I’d go to a lot fewer games if they weren’t the Cards’ affiliate.
I think that things may sort themselves out as the team gets a lot better for next year (or the big team may throw them a few bones in helping to field a competitive team). I think a team centered around Mather, Hoffpaiur, Anderson, Haerther, and Rasmus with a lot of the good pitching from S-field moving up should be a lot better. Replacing guys like Mike Smith and Matt Ginter with solid guys like Boggs, PJ Walters, and maybe Jaime Garcia should go a long way.
I just hope they don’t count too much on Colby being the ticket draw for next year, as I have a feeling that he could be on the Hunter Pence-Ryan Braun plan where he comes up after a month or so.
lou–yeah i should’ve noticed that, good catch. mort has been so good, i thought something had to be up in order for him to get shelled liked that.
Good question on Narveson…I was curious a week ago and haven’t seen anything.
Eric - interesting game summary writeup. Hadn’t had a chance to see Haether play yet in person and was wondering where he fit with the plethera of other young OF options the Cardinals have. Very curious as to what happens with Memphis’ OF next season…hopefully keep Mather and then there’s Stavinoha…Colby is moving up…they have to deal with Marti (I picture Julio Franco 2002). I assume JRod will be given an opportunity elsewhere.
Next year’s STL outfield should be interesting also. Dunc, Ank, Edmonds all LH’ed…you assume Ludwick platoons…does Skip make it? Can you picture an OF with that many LH’ers? And then another one fast-tracking in Colby. JuanE’s not likely back for a couple reasons at this point. I also don’t see So coming back. Opportunity for Mather as a RH’ed OF w/ pop? Or he may be gone via minor league FA. Should be an interesting puzzle to put together for the Card’s braintrust.
Agree CardFan, the more I watch Jimmy throw from the OF the more I see that his career is ending faster then I expected and I wouldn’t doubt that we have an opening day OF of Ankiel, Rasmus and Juan (if healthy, Duncan if he isn’t) in StL next year. depending on the AFL and spring training and how Jim handles the following month. I also think while Tony may be back I really expect him to retire or move on this year, he seems emotionally drained and a year off would do him good and if that is the case we could really see younger players getting more time as well.
I’m down with the mailbag concept. Interesting comment on Hamilton, I had suspicions since I heard a Steve Balboni interview at the birdhouse. At the time Hamilton was tearing up A ball and Balboni was asked about “prospects” on the team and “hustlers” and while Hamilton’s numbers were by far the best of the bunch he was notably not mentioned… Luckily we are OK at 1st base…
Rough news on A. Craig. The good news is that all of our eggs are in the Rolen basket anyway. He just needs some good luck and I think he is due. Maybe Craig can eventually work with Oquendo (who is a secret weapon indeed when it comes to developing defensive players) on his 3B. If he could have the Russell Branyon/John Mabry/Spezio - sans 3B defensive repatoire (sp?) that would be good enough for me….
Haerther… I got to believe that he is the RedSox PTBNL or maybe Mather… or Worrell…. Just announce it already its killing me!
As for the mailbox, I would be all for it. I think your opinions are valued and on top of that you could always get good discussion in the comment threads…
Erik it’s too bad you had to come on the prospect free day at Hammond’s field. That really wasn’t the team they had put on the field for most of the year. Hamilton usually doesn’t have his head in the game, when he didn’t make the throw to second base on the pick off, nobody was surprised. You actually saw him on a good day at the plate, he looked better at his approach yesterday than normal, in my mind he isn’t much of a prospect at all. Craig is interesting, for the few games I’ve seen him he has been Jekyll and Hyde at the plate, Hopefully consistency will come with more experience, however, he surely doesn’t seem to have the tools to make it at third base, most glaringly, the arm. He’s old for his level, and has a lot of work to do.
Re: Memphis
I’d like to see Pop Warner get a shot at managing. The guy has won at Palm Beach and Springfield. Why not see what he can do with the biggest challenge in our system?
On the downside, he’s only 38 or so, meaning he’s going to be managing some players who’re almost as old as him. Maybe that’ll be our incentive for playing our younger guys at AAA and perhaps getting past our reliance on aging AAAA players.
just to clear up any confusion if any…eric was at the springfield game. I was at home listening to the crapfest on the radio, and hangin’ with my 8 month old.
Cardfaninva, it’s very simple why nothing has been done in Memphis yet.
Two years in a row, the Cardinals have sent an embarrassingly bad team here. Last year, the Cardinals refused to listen to outright begging and pleading to get rid of Junior Spivey. They’ve imposed two years of Brian Esposito as the everyday catcher — a legitimate zero-tool player who gets in bar fights in his spare time.
They’ve made no effort to try to be competitive with the product they put on the field here.
The problem this creates is that it gets harder and harder to sell tickets for a .400 baseball team whose players not only suck, they sulk. The Cardinals don’t seem to care — since they don’t own the team, they’re not losing anything when people decide they’d rather stay home than watch the AAA team get their brains beat in over and over again.
I hope they work it out, and I truly do think they will. But I think this is, as much as anything else, an extended middle finger over the Junior Spivey trainwreck last year.
erik and AZ, thank you for the work you do on the site. I come here everyday to keep up with the minor leaguers, and it’s been great.
Esposito is a zero-tool player?
If I could compose the perfect Memphis roster of 25 assuming none of them are added to the big league roster this is what I would do.
C: Anderson
1B: Craig (I think he belongs at 1B not 3B)
2B: Hoff
SS: Martinez
3B: Barden
LF: Mather
CF: Rasmus
RF: Haerther
SP: Boggs, Garcia, Haberer, Rausch, Smith/Hawks/Walters
RP: Worrell, Perez, McClellan, Motte
Fill in the blanks around that but I think that as a core would be the best we could field and would be worth watching.
While I’m still skeptical of Garcia’s elbow not needing surgery in the next 1-2 years, Joe Strauss reported in his chat on the 29th saying, “The latest I’ve heard is that Garcia will not require elbow surgery, but we know those predictions frequently change.”
Also, I enjoyed Kary Booher’s piece that specifically notes the champagne for Springfield’s celebration was non-alcoholic. For whatever reason that made me chuckle.
I would think most of the players are 21 or over…but springfield does have like 4 bible schools and about a bazillion churches there…
Anderson in particular is still 20 according to that article, which to me is reason enough to keep it N/A just because they are in the public eye.
Just bring in Stubby to coach Memphis and the Memphis brass will be knocking on the Cardinals door to sign the agreement.
What tool does Esposito have, Ryan? He can’t hit for average, can’t hit for power, can’t run, can’t throw, isn’t any good defensively beyond throwing either. And by all accounts, he’s a grade-A jerk as well.
Cariocacardinal, I highly doubt that…some of the fans would love it, sure, but that wouldn’t sway the front office that much I don’t think.
Matheny as Memphis’ manager next season? Could happen.
I think Pop will be the Memphis manager next year.
Narveson was sent home due to injury.
http://www.whiteyball.com
Just a few comments about the Springfield team. They had non-alcoholic in the clubhouse because it is a St. Louis rule now and they are owned by the big club. Haerther is not a good outfielder. Shorey is better in left but played right because of the players used on Monday. I also belive Shorey has more upside then Haerther because of his power. Another item on Haerther, I believe he sat on the bench Sunday because of his lack of hustle Saturday night on a ground ball back to the pitcher. Warner even called him out in the paper Sunday morning and I belive he was making a statement to the team. I think Craig will be fine as a hitter but his defense problems is mainly throwing. He has made a couple of nice play since he was called up. Hamilton is a very poor first baseman and I agree about him maybe being about him. It is good to see Gorecki producing some at the plate after his problems the last couple of years and because we will need him in the playoffs. He will be the rightfielder I hope. He has a great attitude. I felt sorry for the Memphis fans when I saw Maloney was going to be the manager this year. We had him for two years and the ballclub just got worse as they season went on. I know he didn’t have the talent Pop does but he has his favorites and they seem to get the playing time. Also May the hitting coach is a big plus for Pop. He seems to get across to the players real well. The Springfield team has been fun to watch this year and hopefully it continues in the playoffs. I have just been reading the site for a just few weeks now and you guys do a GREAT job.
I strongly disagree that shorey has more upside than Haerther! Shorey may have been the least impressive player on the field! His swing is stupid long and he swings for the fences every time. That is the reason he has more power than haerther. Also Shorey threw a 2 hopper to second base from short right field a throw i could of made lying down. His arm was embarrassing and i understand why he was demoted.
Shorey was sent to Palm Beach because Haerther and Gorecki came off the DL and Marti was sent to Springfield instead of Memphis as orginally planned. The Springfield manager even stated he did not deserve to be sent down but he got caught up in a numbers game. Shorey has a better arm than Haerther that is why he was in right not left. I will agree though that he does not have a rightfielder arm. I have watched Haerther every home game in Springfield the last two years that he has played and he is a below average outfielder. I agree that the throw Shorey made was not good, but I have seen him throw much better when he plays left. Anyway good luck to all the guys in the playoffs that start in less than 2 hours. It is raining now but they should get the came in. The Springfield outfield tonight is Marti, Rasmus, Gorecki left to right with a lefthander on the mound.