Comments on: Daily Farm Report 4/18/08

By: KCardinal

KCardinal — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:48:33 +0000

Thanks erik and waltdub. Good to know where you guys are coming from, having seem Bolivar live.

Swirls, I agree with your premises and those are very good points. Hopefully they will go a slightly different route this year in the draft.

I did hear quite a few times though, that Mortensen was set to be picked by other teams (the Giants, IIRC, among others) shortly after we took him - the same went for Kozma (with the Twins). So I don’t think they were necessarily huge overdrafts as some of the general concensus seems to be.

By: Swirls_AEPi

Swirls_AEPi — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:04:13 +0000

KCardinal,

While I agree that if Kozma and Mortensen pan out, Luhnow will be praised for the way he finds under the radar players, I’m afraid for the recurring effects it could have on the organization. I fear that ownership will start taking the cheap route and say “Well, we could draft person A here who is the best player available right now with really high draft bonus demands, or go for person B who everyone thinks is a major overdraft with this pick but who we think will pan out to end up being a pretty good overall player.”

In a sense, it’s like someone else mentioned earlier (either here or GRB, I can’t remember) with the “Dave Duncan Factor.” You can have Free Agent A asking for a lot of money who is pretty good, or have Free Agent B who is asking for a lot less money but has been a career underachiever. If Duncan thinks he can resurrect Free Agent B, ownership will sign him (or trade for him) in a heartbeat. See: Wells, Kip; Suppan, Jeff; Pineiro, Joel; Weaver, Jeff; etc.

I will have a lot more faith in the direction of the organization when they start drafting the best player available at their position, and saving the “overdrafts” for the rounds where they will still be available. Mortensen could have been available in the 2nd or 3rd round - that would have left their supplemental pick for someone else.

By: waltdub

waltdub — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:56:25 +0000

I got to agree with erik. Bolivar looked good in the field, but has a long way to go offensively. I’m still keeping him on my prospect list because of his age, defense, and history of power, but I was not impressed at all with the 6-7 at-bats that I saw.

By: erik

erik — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 19:29:51 +0000

I respect your opinion, but I’ve seen Bolivar and whatever positive ideas I had about him were ruined. He’s a nice looking athlete, good power and decent range. BUT, his swing is LOOOOOOOOONG and he has no plate discipline whatsoever, not in my estimation. Unless he makes a huge adjustment, I can’t see him cracking .220 in AA. But I suppose he has youth on his side, so perhaps my remarks are premature. I’d be shocked to see him succeed, though.

By: KCardinal

KCardinal — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 19:19:44 +0000

erik,
While I’m not upset about it in any way, I don’t see how you are already labeling Bolivar a “career minor leaguer”? He is an 18-yr-old playing full season ball for the first time. First hand reviews had him as very good defensively with excellent range (with albeit some error issues last year, but still very young). He also has quite a bit of power in his bat (shown much more so in the Latin American leagues I will admit), his walk:strikeout ratio has improved substantially since last year, even if his batting average hasn’t reflected it yet.
In addition, Luhnow has been on the record touting this guy as an exciting prospect. Given his age, tools, and level, I think it is a little early to label him as a total non-prospect. I agree that he shouldn’t hinder Kozma’s development, who obviously should have the priority, but I doubt that this does.

By: cardsfan1

cardsfan1 — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:17:38 +0000

Craig played left last night because Ryan is rehabbing with them and they wanted to keep Craig’s bat in the line-up.

By: the red baron

the red baron — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:33:28 +0000

Adam-

Please don’t even joke about that. We know perfectly well how much LaRussa loves replacement level, vertically challenged, hustling middle infielders. The only thing we have going for us is that Izturis doesn’t happen to be of the, shall we say, vanilla flavour? If he were, we’d really be screwed.

But don’t invite disaster by asking it to look your way. You stare into the abyss, and the abyss stares back.

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:29:38 +0000

erik, I couldn’t agree with you more. with the wretchedness that is out middle infield up at he big club, i would expect kozma to keep getting work at ss so that he can develop quicker. It makes no sense whatsoever to me to have him playing third. Unless LaRussa is going to lobby for izturis to get a 4 year extension.

By: roarke

roarke — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:27:03 +0000

I’m curious about Criag playing in LF - has anyone seen him at 3B this year? How has he looked defensively? I’ve only heard positive things about David Freese’s defense at third so far, but I’d be interested in hearing any first-hand accounts for him, as well.

I know it was only one start in LF for Craig and it may mean nothing, but these guys aren’t too far apart developmentally and eventually a decision is going to have to be made.

By: fewgoodcards

fewgoodcards — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:25:04 +0000

i don’t know if you meant kozma hit his first professional homer as a 3rd baseman or his first professional homer period b/c he did hit 2 homers last year.

as for the kozma thing, i don’t think it is a big deal if he plays third once a week or so. i saw nick noonan of the giants play left field the other day. as long as he isn’t playing over there 2 or 3 times a week i think it is ok.