Future Redbirds

Rounding up Redbird notes from around the net.

Keith Law had a chat recently at ESPN and a few Cardinal comments made it in:

Ryan (STL): What are the upsides of Cards minor leaguers Mitch Boggs, Mike Parisi, Ottavino, and Clay Mortenson? Do they stand a decent chance of helping in a few years, or will they end up in the pen?

Keith Law: Cards fans in full effect today. In order: Mid-rotation starter or plus setup guy; org player; setup guy; middle reliever. I’ve talked to Cards people about Mortensen, and I know they’re very high on him, but he had mediocre stuff when I saw him last spring, and I want to see a lot more out of him before I buy into him as a future MLB starter.

I didn’t like the Mortensen pick at the time of the draft although I’ve softened my stance on him. We knew Law wasn’t a particular fan of Ottavino so that shouldn’t be a surprise. Mitchell Boggs seems to have flown under my radar for the last few years if he really turns into a mid-rotation starter. Parisi gets some ink from LBoros as a sleeper for the 5th starter in coming years but he’s a fringe player at best.

On the Cardinals offseason:

Keith Law: [...] I liked their end of the Rolen/Glaus deal. They haven’t done anything stupid or rash. They haven’t given away young players or prospects. And there wasn’t a magic bullet out there that was going to make them a 90-win club in 2008. Much better to wait until next winter, see how the kids develop, and save the cash for a better free agent class.

Filed in “You take that back, Keith Law. TAKE IT BACK!” :

Tom, St. Louis MO: With the Cardinals signed Molina to an extension to you think Anderson will stay behind the plate?

Keith Law: I assume he’ll move to another position now or be used in trade.

Jim Callis ranks Colby Rasmus the number 7 overall prospect. I’d have him higher because I’m not as trusting of some of those high ranked pitchers and Mike Moustakas is fresh out of the draft but that’s just me.

Dan Fox says he’ll be releasing a spreadsheet of minor league defensive numbers from his SFR system. It’s (what I call) a psuedo-play-by-play defensive metric built from Retrosheet style data similar to the TotalZone system over at Chone Smith’s site. The only thing that concerns me initially about the SFR numbers for the minors is that the defense is relative to the league. So until some kind of translations are available between leagues, comparisons will be difficult to make with accuracy. Still it’s a huge step forward for defensive metrics for the minors and I’m really excited to see what comes out. SFR profiles well with UZR and I’m really hopeful, although skeptical, that they’ll incorporate the numbers onto DT or PECOTA pages.

Prospect guru Bryan Smith will have a chat this Tuesday at noon CT — you can enter questions in advance. I’ll try and remember to throw up a reminder on Tuesday. [Update: looks like they bumped it up to Monday @ noon.]

Is it just me or does Pujols look about 20 pounds lighter in this commercial for EA’s 2004 MVP Baseball than he does now? I can’t place the pitcher — it looks like his back says Trevor but I have no idea who that would be? And who is the old guy talking to TLR? I miss 2004 though.