As we transition back to our daily format, we’ll be moving away from the Prospect Stew’s each Sunday and back to recapping the news on a daily basis.
There’s some Colby Rasmus goodness in today’s Bird Land. I had a hard time not bursting forth with praise on Easter when he knocked a ball out of the park. Several relatives were asking who he was and it took a lot of restraint not to break out the T-shirt jersey.
There’s also some talk of how they’ll handle the closing situation in Memphis. Here’s an idea on how to clean that problem up. . .dump the crappy pitchers like Politte and Jimenez from the major league roster. What exactly is Worrell going to accomplish in Memphis? Perez I can understand given the walk problems. Motte I can understand given the poor secondary offerings. Worrell’s mediocre spring did him in but the fact remains that he was death on righties last year in AAA. He’s a better pitcher than Jimenez right now yet he’s slated for a crowded Memphis bullpen.
Danup takes a look at Parisi and Hawksworth. I think he might have sold me on Hawk > Parisi but the question really should be if either of them can overtake Dewon Brazelton for the next-man-up title.
Couple of rehabbing starters in Memphis and some encouraging outings from several top prospects round out today’s DPR.
Memphis 8, Alberquerque 1
- Joel Pineiro made a start after being sidelined with some shoulder stiffness. A good outing striking out 2 in 2 IP with just 1 hit. His command doesn’t seem to be back yet as he threw just 18 of 34 pitches for strikes but he was resting in the upper 80s, which is servicable. As long as he’s not tipping pitches, right! Right?
- John Wasdin also made an appearance throwing 2 innings allowing a pair of hits, walking 1 and striking out 1. I’m not sure what he offers the club at this point and I’d rather see him cut and his innings go to someone like Walters, Boggs, Garcia, etc.
- Joe Rogers threw 3 innings allowing 2 hits and 1 ER while K-ing 4.
- Jason Motte had a perfect inning.
- Amaury Marti had two solo homeruns. He was credited with 4 RBIs for the homeruns. Don’t ask; it’s because he said so.
- Joe “I’m a better option than Izturis” Mather had a pair of doubles and 3 RBIs.
Springfield 5, Carolina 1
- Adam Ottavino threw 4.2 innings allowing 4 hits and striking out 7 against 2 walks. “Improve Command” should be the bumper sticker for our minor league pitchers this year. Getting the walk rates down (and to that effect, knowing where their pitch is headed) is critical to several players. If Ott takes a step forward in that regard, it’s a really big deal. (Keep an ear to the ground for 2-seam talk with him as that learning curve was attributed for some of the problems last season).
- Tyler Herron pitched 3 innings allowing 2 hits and 1 ER with 1 walk and 2Ks.
- Jon Jay was 3-for-5.
- Bryan Anderson was 3-for-3 with a double.
- Tyler Greene and Dan Nelson both collected a pair of hits.
Palm Beach 1, Jupiter 6
- Blake King, another “Improve Command” candidate, threw 4 innings allowing 2 hits and 2 ER. Unfortunately, he walked 4 while striking out 4.
- Cordoza Tucker threw 1 inning allowing an unearned run. No, I don’t recognize this name. Yes, it is an awesome name.
- Brandon Buckman was 2-for-4.
- Daniel Descalso was 1-for-2 with a walk while Arnoldi “Tony” Cruz collected his hit and walk in 4 PAs.
QC#1 9, Greensboro 5
- Nick Additon went 3 innings allowing 1 hit and 1 ER with 3 walks and 4 Ks.
- Travis Mitchell doubled and homered.
- Carlos Pupo was 3-for-4 with a “homer over the batter’s eye in CF”.
- Beau Riportella had a pair of doubles scoring a run and driving one in.
QC#2 2, Marlins minor leaguers 5
- Blech outing for Brett Zawacki: 4IP, 5 hits, 3ER, 3BB, 2K. No bueno.
- David Riddle (no relation to Edward Nashton — anyone, anyone?) pitched 2 hitless innings walking 2 and striking out 2.
- Matthew Arburr was 2-for-4 with a HR.
- Ivan Bellazetin was 2-for-4.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
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Who is Ivan Bellazetin, a new Russian walk-on?
Da.
Is Hugo Castellanos still on the spring training roster?
As Leach pointed out, the most important thing about Pineiro’s outing was that he had a long wait between innings but didn’t experience any tightness. The velocity and control should come back.
Joe Mather plays short, too? What, he’s trying to be Marti and play 10 positions in one game?
Mather’s a better option at third. They already have Miles and Ryan but they need Izturis too?
Miles is pretty limited at short; I don’t think anybody will argue that. He’s a decent utility guy who can fill in when needed, but he shouldn’t be getting the kind of exposure he got last year.
Ryan is an unknown at this point. The fact that he suffers from ADD and refuses to take medication bothers me. That’s going to affect his overall play, which probably accounts for his up-and-down performance (three errors at short in fewer chances than Izturis, giving him about the same fielding percentage; at least two bonehead running mistakes that Goold mentioned–including getting picked off at third base). Izturis is needed to keep Ryan focused–I honestly don’t think the Cardinals want Ryan to get relaxed, because a relaxed Ryan = a player you can’t trust.
Izturis looked woeful this spring training until recently, but thinking that he came in with the same lack of rope as Junior Spivey is a mistake. One of the Cardinals’ biggest weaknesses is the middle infield, and I honestly don’t think that LaRussa trusts anybody there enough for a full-time job to cut a candidate who can still contribute. You need depth on the 25-man roster to cover positions of weakness. Third base–with Gaus as the starter and Ryan as the back-up there as well as short–isn’t one of them.
nobody is fighting brazelton for anything. according to derrick goold he has been released. i’m liking jaime garcia’s chances of making that memphis rotation a lot better right now.
Huh…and Reid Gorecki’s gone, too.
I’m really happy to see Jon Jay’s name in these things almost everyday. Hopefully it’s harbinger of things to come.
Brazleton and Gorecki gone — those are better indicators of the youth movement than anything that’s happened at the major league club. There’s too many compentent pitching prospects to wait and see if Brazleton has anything left.
Same with our centerfield prospects. Guys like Jon Jay, Daryl Jones, et al need the time in CF on a regular basis. Smart, important and likely to be unheralded front office moves here. In previous years, they probably wouldn’t have happened.
Here Here.
It’s increasingly my observation that Mo knows what he’s doing in the minors (whether through Luhnow’s advice or his own cognizance). The fact that these same moves aren’t being done with the ML team (i.e. keeping Miles on the roster, giving Juan Gone an opportunity over Barton (seems a moot point now), keeping Reyes out of the rotation) tells me that Tony is running the show up there more than Mo.
Only another indication that TLR shouldn’t have been brought back. Skipping record.
You have to keep TLR if you want to keep Dave Duncan–and Duncan may be as important to the Cardinal’s success as Mazzone was to Braves’ incredible run…which promptly ended as soon as he left.
Garcia in AAA sounds great to me, too. And the extra base power we’ve seen from Beau Ripportella down in Florida could foreshadow a very good year for The Ripper at Quad Cities. Here’s hoping.
I’m really excited about Joe Mather–He’s been doing so well lately…I’m just excited to see how quickly he can make it to STL.
You can’t compare Duncan and Mazzone for the fact that Duncan has not developed young pitching like Mazzone, something that we need a pitching coach to do. Outside of Matt Morris and Wainwright, name one young pitcher that has successfully developed under him? Bud Smith, Rick Ankiel, Anthony Reyes are a few that he hasn’t helped.
I think the Cardinals would be better off with both of them. Converting all of your pitchers to sinker ball pitchers won’t work (as we have seen with Reyes and Ottavino), so we need someone that will work with what a pitcher already has.
Why do we need to keep Dave Duncan? I would not mind giving someone else a chance to work with these young guys as they come up. Don’t get me wrong I think DD has done a great job and is a great coach, but with all this young talent coming up in the next few years I just wounder if he is the guy.