J.J. Cooper puts together the Indy League All Star team, a compilation of independent leaguers who either began their careers in the indy leagues or were found in indy ball after being released from A ball or below. The reason it make mention of it is current Cardinal Josh Kinney and former Cardinal Jason Simontacchi both made the team, and only the Red Sox and Angels had more than one member on the “team”. It is too bad about Kinney suffering his set back after TJ surgery, I’m afraid his baseball life is taking a turn down the Mike Lincoln career path. It seems like every year there are several players from indy ball in the system, right now only QC closer Pete Parise comes to mind. You also have to tip your cap to the Mariner scout who discovered George Sherrill, who is now the closer for the Orioles and came over in the Erik Bedard deal.
Amaury Marti has been placed on the DL. Amaury Marti…injured..that…that can’t be. What could his kryptonite be?
The farm goes 2 for 3 tonight. Oh, and the Venezuelan Summer League started yesterday.
- Jaime Garcia threw 7 innings, allowed 6 hits and a walk while striking out 6. 10 of his outs came via the gorundball. Wow. In 13 AAA innings, Garcia’s allowed just 1 run, 1 walk and has 12 K’s. I know the MLB rotation is doing well overall, surprisingly. They have started to stumble a bit as of late. It’s nice to see Jaime showing himself ready.
- Joe Mather homered, his 3rd in his last 6 games. He was also hit by a pitch. He’s hitting .321/.433/.617 in 81 at bats. The big club has 5 pretty handy OFers as it stands now, something has to give. I’m pondering what Chris Duncan would fetch in a trade…
- Nick Stavinoha went 2 for 3 with a BB.
- Josh Phelps homered.
- Chris Perez walked one and struck out one.
- Colby Rasmus went 0 for 5. I’m not making excuses for him much longer.
- Brandon Yarbrough doubled and tripled.
- Shane Robinson singled, stole a base was was caught stealing.
- Jess Todd allowed only 2 hits over 6 innings, striking out 2 and walking 1. It took him just 77 pitches.
- The 9th inning was a comedy of errors. Luke Gregerson allowed a solo homer to start the inning. Steve Hill apparently dropped an infield fly, his 2nd error of that variety in his short AA stint. Jose Martinez had an error that allowed the bases to be loaded. Gregerson then threw a wild pitch to tie game. He intentionally walked the next batter to reload the bases. Then Arkansas won it on a walk off single. Ugh.
- James Rapoport went 2 or 5 with a SB. He’s stolen 5 bases in 11 games played. He’s like our own Alex Sanchez, only with defense.
- Daniel Descalso went yard.
- Arnoldi Cruz went 2 for 4. He was 1 for 3 on catching base stealers.
- Brandon Buckman went 3 for 5.
- Oliver Marmol tripled.
- Brandon Dickson went allowed 4 runs (3 ER) on 4 hits, 3 walks and 2 K’s over 3.1 IP.
- Shaun Garceau went 3 innings, allowed 1 run on 1 hit (solo HR), walked 1 and struck out 2.
QC @ Peoria was rained out.
I can’t promise we’ll do this in every DFR, there’s just so much not really known about these players and I’m not sure how much I really care….but for opening day, what the hey…
VSL Cardinals 6, VSL Phillies 6 (11 innings)
- Gerardo Mambel went 4 for 5 with a double and a HR.
- David Brito pitched 5 scoreless innings, striking out 2 and allowing 2 hits.
- Moises Colorado threw 3 innings, allowed 2 ER on 3 hits and a walk, striking out 2.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
is it just me or does descalso seem to be showing some signs of power of late?
I’ve been having a similar thought about Mather vs. Duncan.
You have to think Mather can give the Cards the same power they get from Duncan, with the bonus of being able to play two outfield positions pretty well. (And I assume he could play first and third without embarrassing himself.)
Speaking of defense: Since Steve Hill started playing first for Springfield, doesn’t it seem as if their infield has gone to hell? Lots of errors in the box scores.
Unless the NL gets a DH in the next year or two, Hill’s value might be as trade material.
So I guess if you move Duncan then the most likely setup becomes Ankiel every day in CF, Skip/Mather platoon in right and Ludwick in left, Barton gets stuck with mop-up/pinch-hitting duty. Not saying that’t the best solution, just the most likely one.
If Steve Hill is playing all the time for AA now at first, what happened to Mark Hamilton?
I’m a little perplexed with the catching situation at Palm Beach. Don’t get me wrong…I’ve been intrigued with Arnoldi Cruz after seeing him play a few times last year…but I liked Nick Derba behind the plate a lot also. I see Derba is on the DL, but I’m surprised with his fairly strong defense and functional offensive skills that they parked him in never-never land behind an experiment like Cruz behind the plate.
And c’mon…Moises Colorado…no shit?…that’s what we’re going with? Sounds like the same witness protection program that put Ron Mexico on the radar.
Cory Rauschenberger quit the Springfield team last night after the game.
Gerardo Mannbel is probably the most interesting Redbird guy in the VSL this year–not because of his huge game yesterday, but because (1)he showed tremendous strikezone control last season (a 41/26 BB/K ratio in just over 200 AB’s), and (2)he’s a shortstop.
Last year the 5′ 11″, 165 lb. Mannbel went homerless in the VSL, but it took him just two games this year to pop his first longball. He turns 18 in a couple days, which basically makes him age-appropriate for the VSL *this* year. If the kid adds power to his patience, and is solid in the field, he becomes one of the Cards’ better veryyoung farmhands.
Are there any unemployed mad scientists in Memphis? Maybe the Redbirds could hire one to switch Mather & Rasmus back. Seems that Joltin’ Joe is pretty much doing what we all expected of Colby this year.
Actually, I’m 100% convinced that all Rasmus needs to regain his form is 8 little words from the Cardinal brass: “Go back to hitting the way you were.”
This is *not* a problem with Colby “adjusting” to those tricky AAA pitchers; this is not just a “slump” either. What it is, is a great young hitter screwed up by bad instruction/advice–from the organization and/or his father.
Remember when Coca-Cola insanely changed their formula, and New Coke was born? It didn’t take long for Coke to realize the error of their ways, and bring back real Coke under the name Coca-Cola Classic. Well, Cardinal management, it’s time to (privately admit your mistake and) bring back Colby Classic.
Chris Gibson signed out of the Frontier League and as far as I know he is still in the system. Should be assigned to short season possibly.
Chris Gibson and Stuart Pomeranz were released from extended spring training per rick hummel.
Thanks George,
Hadn’t heard that..
RAW–Your comment was not deleted, it’s just that first time posters get their comments held in a moderation queue. You’re now free to comment here.
no problem erik. just found the site, enjoy it alot. i work in the texas league so i should have some info to pass along here and there.
cory did quit the team last night here in north little rock.
@Bob
is that just speculation, or has there been confirmation that colby has changed his swing? a little more info please!
So who’d be moved up from PB? Mura, Kopp? I think Kopp can handle it.
“What could his kryptonite be?”
Nurses. Really hot nurses.
that’s good bad. i never really expected a whole lot out of cory, but he had quite a run for a low round pick and if he would have stuck with it he might have had a chance to pitch in the big leagues some day. i can see why some guys may decide to move on with their life though.