Per D Goold, Chris Perez and Colby Rasmus have been removed from the Arizona Fall League rosters. They will still be playing baseball, however, as they’ve been selected to represent Team USA in the IBAF World Cup, which is an overture to the Olympic Games (I thought baseball was removed from the Olympics?)
The tourney is from Nov 6-18.
Taking the two’s place on the AFL roster is Mark Shorey and Kyle McClellan. Good for both of them, but I sort of would’ve preferred Jose Martinez get more of a look in the AFL and I’m surprised they picked Shorey for the AFL, who they moved up and down at their own leisure earlier this past season.
I also sort of wonder how stiff the competition will be in the IBAF. Maybe one of you could educate me on this, because it seems to me it would be more beneficial for Rasmus and Perez to play in the AFL, which has the cream of the prospect crop.
Hat tip, Hugo
Filed under: Chris Perez, Colby Rasmus, Kyle McClellan, Mark Shorey
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
Also we signed our 19th round pick per baseball america:
St. Louis Cardinals
Signed: OF Nick Peoples (19th round)
College seniors whose eligibility had expired were not bound by the Aug. 15 signing deadline, leading to Peoples’ late signing with the Cardinals. Peoples was a three-year starter for Texas, hitting .329/.421/.488 with 18 stolen bases for the Longhorns this spring.
As for the Olympics, baseball was removed from the Olympics for 2012 but it has not been replaced and could be voted back in for 2016 but that vote did not remove it from 2008, if the WBC goes as planned the sport should be voted back in for 2016 and we could possibly see the WBC canceled or used as a Major League version since only non 25 man roster players can be used in the Olympics.
Erik - I wouldn’t have minded seeing Martinez in the AFL either.
But, I think the addition for Shorey is a reward for all the hard work he put in this summer and was a bonus for the way he handled going to Palm Beach from Springfield this past summer as a result of the numbers game at Springfield.
It will also be a way for the Cardinals to showcase him for future trade talks. IMHO, I think Shorey may be better suited for the AL dh’ing game.
And as a side note on McClellan. He’ll only be on the Solar Sox for 3-4 weeks before he leaves to get married in early November. I saw G4 in Springfield on Saturday and Kyle turned in a good job cleaning up Jason Motte’s bases loaded mess by getting the third out in the 8th inning. Probably the only pitcher that you could say anything good about on Saturday.
I would think the rationale for replacing Rasmus with Shorey is that the Cardinals were counted on to provide an outfielder for the teams and when Colby became unavailable, they subsituted in a player at the same position who played at the same level. I’m sure the organization is also interested in gauging Mark’s ability to compete against stronger competition. I doubt he’s ready to complete the jump to AAA, but the additional exposure couldn’t hurt his chances much and should make him more aware of his own limitations.
Any word on what role McClellan will play? It seems like he will stay in the pen if he’s replacing Perez, but I think there’s a chance we’ll see him in the Springfield rotation next year. Maybe seeing what he’s capable of as a starter this fall would be beneficial.
“Any word on what role McClellan will play? It seems like he will stay in the pen if he’s replacing Perez, but I think there’s a chance we’ll see him in the Springfield rotation next year. Maybe seeing what he’s capable of as a starter this fall would be beneficial.”
I have been advocating this for a while. With Perez, Motte, Gregerson, and Sillman along with Dove, Worrell, and others at AAA I think McClellen´s value as a reliever is limited in terms of being better than we already have. It´s worth a shot to see if he can develop as a starter. I feel the same way about Maquis as well.
Will any of the games be televised?
Erik- In the back of my mind I seem to recall that players whose countries have winter ball are ineligible for the AFL. That would seem to exclude Mr Martinez from participating in the AFL if I not mistaken.
New Pagodi - no TV of the AFL games, but selected games have been available via MLB radio (internet)in the past. I’ll see if I can find a link to what games will be provided this year.
No audio schedule has been announced yet on the AFL site. Here’s a link to their home page - http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=l119