Well, let me know if this new template combines the look and functionality for you all. I’m not a fan of some of the of the gray and odd green buttons at the top, but WordPress is pretty cookie cutter stuff. It’s hard to get everything you want, unless you wanna pay. But we got the bells and whistle back in their usual spot with this one.
Pete Kozma had a nice debut in A ball, but after reading this scouting report on Rick Porcello, it’s hard not for me to get into the woulda, coulda, shoulda camp. I’ll resist, but man…
Speaking of 1st rounders, or potential first rounders. The Saber Scouting gents are not a fan of Harold Martinez. Not at all. The Saber Scouting guys will be scouting the FSL all summer, keep your eyes open for any Palm Beach Cardinals.
Congrats to Brian Barton, who started his first MLB game today with a bang. Love his speed, hustle and just the way he plays the game with a smile on his face. McClellan was no slouch tonight, either. Nice to see Rick go yard again, too. It seems like just yesterday we had the Ankiel Watch. Those were fun times.
On to the DFR.
- Joe Mather was the star of the day, going 3 for 5 with a homer, a HBP and 4 runs scored. The homer was a 3 run homer that he hit in the 8th. If he hits, they can’t keep him tucked away in AAA.
- Batting with a chicken bone and wrapped in mummy rags, the Legend of Amaury Marti went 3 for 4 with a double and a walk.
- Brian Barden went 3 for 5 with a HR. Despite a bad year last season, the man does have a career .800 OPS in the minors. And he does play flashy d. He could still be a useful utility infielder.
- Colby Rasmus went 1 for 6. That doesn’t make the Raz Watch look cooler.
- Nick Stavinoha went 2 for 5.
- The ever patient Jarrett Hoffpauir went 1 for 3 with 2 walks.
- Joe Rogers gave up 5 runs on 6 hits with 5 strikeouts. He allowed 2 gopher balls.
- Mark Worrell has 2 K’s over 1.2 hitless.
- Chris Perez allowed a homer in his 1 inning of work.
- Jaime Garcia had some trouble finding the strike zone tonight. Of his 73 pitches, 43 were for strikes. He gave up 2 runs on 2 walks, 1 HBP and 6 hits. Despite all that, he struck out 6 in 4 innings of work.
- Cory Rauschenberger threw 2 hitless innings, striking out 3. Perhaps the move to the bullpen was best for all parties involved. That, or he’s making his case to be put back into the rotation.
- Fernando Salas allowed 2 hits and struck out 4 over 2 IP.
- Luke Gregerson threw a perfect 9th, K’ing 1.
- Cody Haerther went 2 for 4 with a double.
- Jon Jay went 1 for 4 and stole a base.
- Mark Hamilton went 1 for 3 and drove in the team’s only run.
- Daryl Jones went 1 for 3 with a double and a walk.
- Arnoldi Cruz went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI.
- Brandon Buckman drew 2 walks and scored 2 runs, despite being hitless. Good things happen when you get on base.
- Daniel Descalso doubled.
- Mark McCormick allowed 2 runs. He walked 2 and gave up 3 hits over 3 innings. He struck out 1 and allowed a HR.
- Brad Furnish picked up the W, striking out 2 in 3 perfect frames. Furnish is a guy I seem to like better then most, in part because I’ve seen him in person and think he has major league stuff. 91-93 MPH fastball, very nice curve. I’m not saying he’s Rich Hill yet, but he’s good.
- Marco Gonzalez threw 2 perfect innings with a strikeout.
- Kenny Maiques walked 4 batters, which brought in a run, while fanning 1 and getting a line out. Not a great start for my man Kenny.
- Josh Dew bailed him out, recording the final out.
- Pete Kozma went 2 for 4 with a run scored in his first A ball game. Nice to see.
- Adron Chambers smacked 2 doubles and had a throwing error.
- Catcher David Carpenter tripled. Whither Luis de la Cruz???
- QC returnee Jose Garcia drew 2 walks and stole a base.
- Shaun Garceau, a person fave of mine, dominated the dojo tonight. Garceau going 3.2 innings with 6 strikeouts. He allowed 1 run on a walk an and a hit. His name is fun to say in a Cajun Man accent. Try it sometime.
- The lefty and former BYU Cougar Jonathan Stambaugh one upped Garceau, fanning 7 over 3 innings with a walk and a hit. If Mather was the hitting star, then I’d say Mr. Stambaugh is the pitcher of the night.
- Wayne Daman allowed 2 runs on 3 hits over 1.1.
- Fransisco Samuel struck out 1 and gave up a hit en route to the save.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
how about that pitching for QC tonight. 15 K’s.
monster game for mather. hopefully he can keep mashing all summer and earn a spot on the big club. although if ludwick keeps hitting like he has that may be tough to do.
A coupla things
1. Is the reason that the SP’s are not going deep into games at all due to effectiveness (please be spelled and used right) or just the facts that it’s cold and its April so why burn out the arms now?
2. Did you see this FanPost at VEB?
http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2008/4/4/389762/blocked-ss-prospects-that
Which of those guys (or do you have one or two of your own) do you like and is there a need to trade for one of them? With Ryan, Hoffpauir, Martinez, Greene and Kozma the system seems to have depth but no real standout. Would they be better off by taking a wait-and-see approach to find out if these guys are any good or is there reason to have so little faith in them that we need blocked prospects, who I can’t believe would cheaply.
Thanks for the hard work and the site design would have to be awfully atrocious to drive me away. It is what it is.
How can you give up a HR and it not be earned?
bad boxscore
JDK, I think if there is an error with 2 outs then all remaining runs after that in the inning are unearned, since the error should have ended the inning. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
mikedallas, I believe you are correct.
Mike-
Nope, that’s correct. If an error would have accounted for the last out of an inning, then all runs, no matter how the were scored, are unearned from that point on. Seven more runs, on two homers? No earned. It’s an interesting rule, to say the least.
The new format is just fine, erik, but I didn’t have a problem with the other one either. Love the logo. The green before didn’t bother me. The content is the thing, baby.
Joe Mather is an absolute beast. They can’t keep him down forever.
Does anyone know exactly how serious the club really is about making Arnoldi Cruz into a catcher? I have no idea what sort of defense he would bring back there, but the offensive numbers he generates would make him an awfully intriguing prospect. Are they committed to it?
Good to see Mather still hitting. I’m going to the QC game today to get my first look at Kozma we’ll see how it goes.
I am also intrigued by Arni Cruz at C. He must have a good arm from playing 3B but after that I don’t know how they decided to put him back there with Anderson ahead and Yadi all signed up for the next few years.
You know, there’s something about Porcello’s mechanics in that clip that bothers me, but I can’t put my finger on what it is. Maybe it’s the way he lands stiff-legged, or something in the release that I can’t identify, but it just doesn’t look completely right to me. I’m not ready — yet — to say that passing on him was the blunder that it superficially appears to be.
Incidentally, based on the limited data so far, who are the candidates for demotion once some of the injured pitchers come off the DL and join the major-league team? There will presumably be some trickle-down of demotions, right?
Jackson -
1). You are probably noticing the piggyback system at PB and QC. They have two starting pitchers assigned to each day and each one will throw around 4 innings or so. It’s something they are doing to protect young arms. I don’t think many (if any) of the FR writers, including myself, are fans of it, at least at PB.
2) There aren’t really any prospects on that list that are 100% bets (Lillibridge would be close though). We’ve got enough in the way of middle infield both short term (Brendan Ryan) and long term (Martinez, Kozma) that I doubt the club feels any need to acquire other prospects at this point. They still believe in Kozma as the long term answer.
I was thinking maybe we could have the win loss records of each of our minor league teams listed on the side somewhere.
The problem, AZ, is that none of those middle-infield prospects you cite are particularly _good_ prospects. All three of them, and maybe a few more (Hoffpauir?), have reasonable chances of at least being “average” major-league shortstops or second basemen. But if there’s a star among them, it certainly isn’t obvious yet. Replacing the current guys with average players does not drive the team toward a pennant.
The attractive thing about Lillibridge, to name one, is that his ceiling is really in star territory. So is Brignac’s, although I don’t think Tampa Bay is likely to trade him for anything less than the moon and the stars. In fact most of the guys on the VEB list have ceilings higher than Martinez’ or Ryan’s, and probably Kozma’s as well. A minor-league system with useful filler at every position is exactly that, useful. Our system has to be better than merely “useful” for the long-term health of the franchise.
Just got back from watching Kozma play. He didn’t really impress me much, he’s got an ok looking swing but he doesn’t appear to be anything special yet although I’ll see him a few more times and get a better idea of him throughout the season. The River Bandits don’t hit.
The pitching was solid though. In game 1 of the DH we saw Brian Broderick. He was solid through 5 striking out 3 while walking 2 and giving up 5 hits and 2 runs. He had some solid pitches and a nice delivery.
In game 2 we saw Nick Additon. He was dominating through 4 strikingout 9 walking 1 and giving up 2 hits with no runs. There was no speed gun on today but both guys were throwing really well especially Additon.
Also we got to watch Phillippe Aumont of the Mariners pitch. He was pretty solid but sometimes seemed like he had no clue where his pitch was going.
Bill -
The organization thinks Kozma is a good prospect. Regardless of how we feel, we can’t wishcast away the decision makers in the front office and there is a reason they drafted Kozma with their first pick last year.
The other problem is acquiring any of those truly high ceiling SS requires something in return. Another team isn’t going to take some relief pitching for their stud SS prospect. So unless you want to move Rasmus, good luck getting any of those players.