Daily Farm Report 5/2/08
Let’s just me get this out of the way: SKIP!!! He’s never been my favorite player, but since 2007 he’s been different. I’ve read different things about him the past couple of offseasons, about him working with Mark McGwire and about him doing insane workout routines during the winter. Whatever it is, he’s establishing him as a pretty interesting player. I’ve been a Schu doubter, but I’m coming around. Maybe we’ll have to do a retro on him sometime.
Ottavino has a pretty good excuse for not pitching well this season. His shoulder is troubling him, and he’s hit the DL.
Pete Kozma doesn’t make this week’s Prospect Hot Sheet, but he did get a brief mention. Nathan Rode later hosted a chat and was asked a question about Kozma.
Q: JAYPERS from IL asks: What is Kozma’s timetable? Do you see him ever developing any power?
A: Nathan Rode: Kozma will certainly need a few years of seasoning in the minors. He’s a good defensive shortstop who might be able to fit in the No. 2 spot of a lineup, but is probably suited for the bottom of the order. He’s slugging .538 in the Midwest League, so he may be showing some hints of a little power, but he has a line drive approach that would make some think otherwise.
Normally hearing “bottom of the order” would make me get upset about him being drafted in the 1st round, but after such a hot April and having seen him in person I’ve become a Kozma Konvert. I don’t think he’ll hit for a lot of power in the big leagues, but when I think of Kozma I think of Michael Young, with better defense. I know that Michael Young is an All Star and has had 5 straight 200 hit seasons. I’m not trying to get carried away, but that to me would represent his upside. If he just hits his median then I think he’ll be a pretty valuable piece. I just think there’s no use moaning over Kozma anymore, because he hasn’t done anything but hit this year. Until he gives me reasons to do otherwise, you won’t hear me whine about him going in the 1st round any longer. I’d rather focus on his (many) good points, not on his lack of 20+ HR power. (Yes, I know Young hit over 20 homers a few times. Arlington doesn’t count!)
Nate Silver looks at 2B prospects through the lenses of PECOTA, and PECOTA classifies Jarrett Hoffpauir as a “very good prospect.”
Kevin Goldstein looks at the top minor’s hitters in the month of April, using equivalent runs to determine who had the best months. I keep forgetting about those nifty DT’s being available. KG mentioned no Cardinals, although he mentioned a few other players with the same amount of EQR. Notable snubs were Pete Kozma, Steve Hill and Tyler Henley. This blogging thing is tough, so I won’t hold it against KG. But “where’s the love”?
Speaking of Henley, he hit the 7 day DL today. James Rapoport was moved off the DL in his stead.
John Cahill of MLB.com introduces us to Jess Todd. He sounds exactly like the opposite of me, likes-wise. Todd likes to listen to country music, and enjoys hunting and fishing. Me, I’d rather listen to music from the early to mid 90’s (hip hop or grunge), play poker and not get eaten up by mosquitoes.
On to tonight’s action. Allen Craig’s bat, meet ball. Ball, meet pain. Did someone mention pain? Because QC pitchers got pounded tonight. They’ll need to sleep that one off. Sleep? The Palm Beach game was quite the snoozer. It’s all in your DFR.
Memphis’s game was suspended by rain, tied 1-1.
- Colby had a double, and Mitch Boggs pitched 3 innings, allowed a run on a solo shot. He had 3 walks, 1 hit and 2 K’s. The game will resume Sunday at 1:35.
- Allen Craig seems to be waking up from his April slumber. He went 3 for 4 with a HR, 3 RBI and a SB. The HR is his 4th, and his 2nd in as many days.
- Pride of the Huskers Luke Gorsett went 2 for 4 with HR.
- Matt Pagnozzi also chipped in a homer of his own.
- Jon Jay walked and stole a base, but went 0 for 3.
- Jaime Garcia continues his K fest, but he still is walking a few too many batters for me to get completely ecstatic. 6 innings, 5 hits, 5 K’s, 3 BB, 1 ER. I’m really happy with his performance. Really happy. But until he gets his walks under 4 per 9, I won’t be totally ecstatic.
- Bob Zimmerman vultured the W, allowing a run on 2 hits and a walk with a K over 2 IP.
- Zach Zuercher loaded the bases with 2 walks and a hit, and didn’t record an out.
- Luke Gregerson allowed one of his inherited runners to score on a sac fly, but didn’t allow a hit and struck out the other two hitters he faced.
- Daniel Descalso went 2 for 3 with a HR and a walk. He hasn’t really shown me he was worth a 3rd round pick quite yet, but this is a start.
- Proud owner of an FSL leading .350 EqA, Daryl Jones went 2 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. He also had an outfield assist, throwing a runner out at third.
- David Kopp apparently didn’t have his sharpest stuff, allowing 4 runs on 4 hits (including a HR), a walk, 2 hit by pitches and he struck 1 over 4 innings.
- The Kyle Mura experiment continues to go well. Mura threw three scoreless innings, allowing 2 hits over 3 innings with 2 K’s.
Quad Cities 2, West Michigan 16
- JD Stambaugh lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing 8 runs, but only 3 were earned. Four errors were committed while he was pitching, but he did have a hand in digging his own grave by hitting 3 batters, allowing 6 hits and walking one.
- Blake King was rather awful himself, allowing 5 earned runs on 4 hits, 3 walks and 2 HBP on 2.1 innings. He struck out 4. Wild thing, you make my heart…whine.
- Pete Kozma went 1 for 3 with a BB, extending his hit streak to 7 games. He’s hit safely in 15 of his last 16 games.
- Jose Garcia went 0 for 3 with 2 of those errors.
- Luis De La Cruz, normally known for his great defense, allowed 2 steals.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
I grew up on Eazy-E, DJ Quick 2 Short and tapes that were nothing but bass.
Sprinkle in Pearl Jam and Stone Tempe Pilots…and you got my excuse for being a troubled youth!
Hate to tell you this, erik, but apparently most baseball players would fall on the opposite side of the spectrum from you; fishin’, shootin’ stuff, country music, and dogs are pretty prevalent in the backgrounds of damn near every one of them, it seems.
If we’re going early 90s, just give me my Mazzy Star records and maybe Nirvana’s Unplugged album, and I’ll be just fine. Oh, and my Liz Phair records, too. Oh, and the Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie record. Ooh, and both of My Bloody Valentine’s records. And Slanted and Enchanted. Ahh, memories…
Stupid David Kopp didn’t give me any reason to tout my early presence on his bandwagon today, but, luckily, Descalso stepped in to help out. I’ve been a little disappointed in his 2008 so far, but I stand by my assertion that he’ll be in contention for Organisational Player of the Year by the end of the season.
Oh, and Guided By Voices’ Bee Thousand. And all the Pixies’ records. And everything from the Madchester years. And-
Alright, I’ll stop. Sorry.
You know, I usually hesitate to accuse any media member of some sort of bias; it’s intellectually dishonest and, to be frank, lazy. But I’m wondering if Goldstein really does have something against us. He certainly isn’t giving much credit, is he?
I loved Eazy E and DJ Quik growing up, but I’m talking hip hop, which is different then gangster rap, at least it is to me. I am talking about a tribe called quest, pete rock and cl smooth, de la soul, brand nubian, krs-one, gang starr and all that loveliness. and of course, you gotta have the beastie boys in that mix.
btw, red baron, is your draft series published yet at stlog? could link it in the comments?
Red Baron,
Where do you get off calling ANY player stupid?
Where you at the game? I was just wondering if you go to any games and watch ANY player and what are your opinions based on? Or are you just one of those armchair cyber guys?
It’s ok to be a fan whose not happy with the system, the players, the coaches but to call any player stupid just shows how stupid you are.
Jamie was promoted to AAA after last nights game.
SE Redbird, if you know RB’s sense of humor then I think you would realize he didn’t mean anything personally. Maybe it wasn’t the best choice of words, we all make mistakes and he cares to explain it that’s fine. If not that’s fine. but let’s just stop it at that, I’m not letting my blog devolve into some contest on who’s stupid and who’s not. This little corner in cyberspace is going to stay an “offense free” zone. If you wanna get riled up and get into flame wars, there are plenty of other places they will let you do that, but definitely not here. Not ever.
SE, I’m sure he was totally kidding. He seems to be a big fan of Kopp, and he was just joking that he didn’t give him another outing on which he could brag on him. I’m sure he’ll tell you himself as well.
Cardsfan1, thanks for the info on the callups. Jaime deserves it.
I just knew Ottavino was hurt. He may not fulfill some of his projections but he’s better than what we’ve seen thus far.
BA certainly have their favorites and STL players are not among them.
Does anyone know why Henley is on the DL? I hope it is nothing serious.
Over at VEB, TRB compares David Kopp to Mariano Rivera and refers to him as, “one of my own personal favourites…”
erik,
My intention was not to flame anyone. Calling a player stupid could have been construed as flaming players, regardless of his sense of humor.
Done.
So Kozma “may” be showing “some hints” of “a little power?” Funny stuff. An isolated slugging of nearly 200 points by a 20-year-old in the Midwest League tells me Pete “is” showing “strong hints” of “middle of the order power.”
As anyone who reads FR regularly would know, the Cards have rebuilt PK’s swing since he was drafted–no longer the handsy, lunging hitter who struggled in the NY Penn League, Pete now gets much more leverage into his cuts.
But far be it from BA to let actual performance on the field alter their opinion of a player. Shrug.
Great to see Garcia presented with the AAA challenge; he’s certainly earned it. Go get em’ Jaime!
A Tribe Called Quest? Never thought I would see them mentioned at ole futureredbirds. Obviously I wasn’t the only kid growing up in small town Mid-America in the early-mid 90’s with a taste for that type of music.
It wasn’t always easy to find. And I’m glad I read the DJ Quik name as well–classic.
Agreed–give me Tribe, some NWA, Digital Underground, and D-Nice and mix in Nirvana, Weezer, Pearl Jam, and Jane’s Addiction and I am set
Anyway, keep up the good work guys and I agree on Skip. He has been good enough for long enough that he certainly warrants a second look at least.
RB,
Didn’t realize you were a fan of Kopp. The stupid threw the whole thing off.
Yes, Weezer rules.
Did you notice in the MLB chat with mo yesterday that he’s going to consider promoting Kozma to PB in a month or so (around draft time?) if he keeps this up.
That he’s having so much success at QC is a fantastic surprise; that he could be on the cusp of AA heading into the offseason would be astonishing.
Wow. Didn’t realise I was going to cause so much anger with my carelessly thrown off pouting over David Kopp’s bad game.
Erik- I’m actually fighting with my web editor to put up the last of my draft series; he doesn’t like the draft stuff and is sort of ignoring it. I’m going to try and get him to post it over the weekend. Thanks for the interest, though.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Kozma switching places with Marmol…
Boo–how could he allow you to post 2 parts of a 3 part series. that’s dumb. you could always publish it here if you want. we’d be happy to do it.
I will be happy if Kozma is a major league starter. I don’t care where he hits in the order. If he’s good enough to the stick in the major leagues, it was a good draft. Already looks a lot better than 2004. Hopefully 2007 gets several parts to the show.
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