While talking about Richard Castillo today, one of you mentioned the Cardinals are players in the hunt for obtaining the services CF Yorman Rodriguez, a Venezuelan hitter whose raw power rates as high as a 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale and has drawn some Carlos Beltran comparisons. One major problem however is that his ability hit for contact has been called into question. He could get a record bonus for a Venezuelan, meaning he’ll probably cost a good bit more than Brett Wallace to sign. ESPN ranks him the # 2 international prospect and they hint at the fact that he may already have an agreement with a team. Saberscouting also has more on Yorman and others, and they believe that team may be the Reds. Since when has Cincy become such big players in Latin America? The free agent signing period for international players starts this Wednesday, and I think the Cardinals are going to make some noise whether they sign Yorman or not.
Daryl Jones is under BA’s Helium Watch section on their Hot Sheet today after hitting .563/.650/.625 last week. A fan (perhaps even an FR reader) inserted the aforementioned Castillo’s name in today’s post-Hot Sheet chat only to be met with a dismissive attitude over Castillo’s “demotion”. It’s no a big deal, as BA’s job is so broad that some info can fall between the cracks, but we all know it wasn’t a true demotion. Kopp is about to get reactivated, and Castillo is just sliding into the starters role in the QC.
Memphis wins by a field goal. Johnson City also puts up a football score. On the flip side, Springfield, Batavia and Palm Beach all have relatively quiet nights offensively. And the River Bandits beat up on a top pitching prospect. It’s all in your DFR.
Colby Rasmus 2-for-3, 2 BB, 1 K.
Joe Mather 3-for-4, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K.
Shane Robinson 2-for-5, 2B.
Jarrett Hoffpaiur 3-for-4, 2B, 3 RBI, HBP.
Brian Barden 3-for-6, 2B.
Josh Phelps 2-for-5, HR.
Rico Washington 2-for-4, 2 2B, 2 BB.
PJ Walters 2 IP, 0 H, 3 BB, HBP, 0 K.
Matt Clement 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K.
Jason Motte 1 IP, 3 H, 1 K.
Nick Webber 0.2 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 2 BB.
It’s a little disheartening to hear the GM today say what Chris Duncan needs to find himself in the big leagues. No he most certainly does not, not when he’s blocking Joe Mather he doesn’t. That really flies in the face of the whole “earning your spot” motto they’ve been touting all season. Grr…It’s a small sample, but Robinson is back to hitting over .400 again, this time in AAA. I’m not sure why PJ had the quick hook tonight.
Mark Hamilton 3-for-3, BB.
Andrew Brown 1-for-3, 2B, BB.
James Rapoport 0-for-5, 3 K.
Adam Daniels 4.1 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 HR.
Fernando Salas 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K.
James Rapoport made an inauspicious AA debut. Why Rapoport to AA over Jones, I wonder?
Tyler Henley 0-for-5, 3 K.
Donovan Solano 2-for-5.
Arnoldi Cruz 2-for-4.
Daryl Jones 2-for-3, 1 BB, SB, CS, fielding error.
Kyle Mura 6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, HBP 6 K.
Elvis Hernandez 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K.
Casey Mulligan 1 IP, 1 K.
Interestingly, Henley was playing in left while Jones was playing in CF. Jones is hitting .486 in his last 35 at bats. Casey Mulligan started the season as the team’s backup catcher, now he’s back doing his best Jason Motte impersonation. Arnoldi Cruz is hitting .351/.459/.738 in his last 10 games.
Pete Kozma 2-for-3, 3 R, 1 BB, SB.
Francisco Rivera 2-for-3, 2B.
Matt Arburr 2-for-4, 2B, HR.
Thomas Pham 0-for-3, 3 K, 1 BB.
Mark Diapoules 6.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K.
The Bandits roughed up top pitching prospect Neftali Feliz for 6 runs over 4.2 IP. Feliz still manged to strike out 8, but he allowed 8 hits, including Arburr’s 12th HR of the season.Tommy Pham threw out a runner at home from center, and Kozma was charged with his 15th error.
Jermaine Curtis 2-for-5.
Chris Swauger 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI.
Colt Sedbrook 2-for-4, BB, SB, CS.
Zachary Pitts 4 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K.
Arquimedes Nieto 3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 K.
Adam Reifer 1.1, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the pick of Jermaine Curtis when it was made considering some other names that were still on the board and his up and down season at UCLA, but he’s looking pretty good so far, hitting .333/.400/.528. Sedbrook is pretty hot himself right now with his .460 OBP.
Johnson City 14, Elizabethton 4
Curt Smith 3-for-4, 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1 BB.
Nico Vasquez 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K.
Guillermo Toribio 2-for-6, 2B.
Jairo Martinez 2-for-3.
Deryk Hooker 4 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, WP.
Brett Zawacki 2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 1 K.
Ladies and gentleman, it’s Curt Smith. Smith hit .403/.498/.722 last year as a senior at Maine, and his name is all over their record books, for what ever it may be worth. He’s hit 4 homers in 4 games, and you can read more his hot start at milb.com. I’m started to get a little excited over Nico Vasquez. When you stack up Kozma to Nico head to head in what they did their first few weeks in JC, it’s really no contest. Not saying that means anything, just saying is all. Toribio is now hitting .400 for the season. Not the greatest of nights of either Hooker or Zawacki, neither are off to a blazing start.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports, Yorman Rodriguez
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
If Kozma goes to PB at the end of the year does Niko get thrown right into A ball?
PW left because of injury, however i dont have a clue as to what it was or how bad it is.
PJ was drilled with a come-backer, and it looked like it hit his elbow. He finished the inning, but didn’t look the same. Hope everything is alright!
Hmmm…ESPN said Yorman is not fleet-footed and Saberscouting said he has plus-plus speed.
Couple things…
Johnson City turned a triple play tonight.
Kyle Mura had all 6 of his Ks in the first three innings. Makes me wonder about his prospects as a relief pitcher, rather than a starter. I don’t know much about his repertoire, velo, etc…. just wondering if he might not be a better fit in a setup role.
Hey REDBARON, do you like the walkmen or just the picture?
rapoport over jones, cause springfield needed a leadoff hitter(robinson gone, jay & greene ain’t filling it), not power hitter.
you will also notice henley was activated at palm beach from rehab at gcl as their leadoff hitter.
just a leadoff thing
PCG-
Both, actually. The photo itself is a fairly famous one. It was taken by a man named Lewis Hines, one of the truly great investigative photographers of the early 20th century, with many of his shots of urban life having become iconic representations of pre WW1 life in America’s cities. This particular picture is a shot of a group of three newsies, taken here in St. Louis in 1910, in a part of the city called Skeeter Branch which no longer exists.
Hines took the photo while he was working for the National Child Labour Committee, investigating child labour practices. It’s actually not nearly as dark and upsetting as many of the images he captured, being a relatively innocent picture of boys attempting to act like the men they hoped to become, rather than a harrowing shot of exploited children working in canneries and the like.
Also, the Walkmen are awesome, though I wish they would return a bit to some of their earlier sound, from the Everyone Who Pretended… era. Their more recnt records have been fantastic, but I think they’ve lost some of that delicate, off key fragility that really marked their early work. Things like We’ve Been Had simply seem to have fallen out of their sound a bit, while they’ve moved toward a more jangly, Spectorish, sonic soup sound. Still wonderful, but I think they’ve lost something magical.
Got to see the JC game last night. Smith is a heavy 5′10″ 1B. I don’t know quite where he fits down the road. Obviously based on a very limited sample, he doesn’t look like he belongs at JC. Setting college records doesn’t exactly change that impression.
Vasquez had a couple of poor throws that Smith corraled. Niko showed some serious range on a popup down the LF line, which isn’t exactly the range I wanted to see, but he wasn’t tested last night. Footwork looked OK. A little overmatched at short was the general impression, but not Aaron Miles or anything.
One minor thing, the 2B Castellanos consistently hustled to back up plays at first in a blowout. Not something to harp on, or anything.
Newsies, eh? Those kids could really sing and dance, and I even heard one of them even grew up to be great superhero. Nyuk, nyuk.
why do you continue to call Chris Swauger Charles or Charlie?
Wackity-schmackity dooo!
Last night on the post-game radio show for springfield one the team brass said that we had signed 49 of 50 draft picks. He would have inside information and several St. Louis brass have been in town for the all-star game and such, but still, he seems to be misinformed. Any thoughts.
That was rather wackity-schmackity of me, wasn’t it? I can’t help myself sometimes. Actually, that is pretty interesting. I’ve always considered myself a fan of history, in fact I’d ace history in school without even trying whereas I’d try my darndest and still struggle with other subjects like math and science. I just found it easy to remember, as I was always fascinated with dates and people.
joe—I keep calling him Charles for the same reason people call me Derrick or Larry. Just an accident, that is all. Duly noted, hopefully I don’t do it again.
Meanwhile, down in Venezuela, 17-year-old Deimer Bier (6′ 2″, 174) had his 2nd dominant outing in the last 3 starts. The pride of Miranda fanned 9 guys over 5 innings, and didn’t issue a walk.
After a dismal start to the season (ERA around 5.00, with just 2 K’s over his first 13 IP), Bier has really turned it on in June: a 19/4 K/BB ratio over 23 innings, and a 1.96 ERA. The kid looks to be developing nicely.
On the year, Joe Mather now has an OPS of exactly 1.100, with a terrific BB/K ratio of 24/29. Yowza.
Over the last 5 weeks or so, Colby R. is mashing to the tune of roughly .370/.470/.610.
…so when Chris Duncan starts in the outfield for the Cards, is the AAA outfield of Robinson, Rasmus, and Mather actually better both offensively and defensively than our MLB team? If Ludwick isn’t in the lineup, I’d say so.
I see what you’re saying, jrocke–but of course any genuinely good prospect has to be promoted according to his own timetable, completely regardless of the specific team needs at the next level (e.g. if Niko keeps mashing for Johnson City & the Cards want to challenge him with a Quad Cities promotion, but feel Pete Kozma isn’t ready for Palm Beach, Vasquez would *still* be sent to QC, but probably divide his time between DH, 3B, 2B and some SS.)
I’m not saying Daryl Jones *is* ready for AA–in fact, given that this year is his first real professional success, I’d kinda like to see him stay at PB and thrive. The young man’s confidence couldn’t have been very solid coming into 2008, and I’d rather he had nothing but positivity going into next season.
“Feliz still manged to strike out 8,”
Downright Pujols-ian of him.
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
I’m excited by the starts to the season by the short-season clubs…looks like we’ve got some hitters down there….
got the impression from mo’s comments last night that cd will be given every opportunity to get his mojo back at the major league level, until july 31. if he does, he’ll likely be gone. if not, i’d guess he’d be headed down in order to establish a higher value this winter. personally, don’t see him as a better option than mather or rasmus in 09, so he has to go; maybe skip or lud too.
The Cards have wanted to up the ante and compete on these Latin bonus babies.
But if the market as a whole is headed up, it will be interesting to see what happens.
Explain why we re-claimed Cody Haerther from the Blue Jays after we originally let him go over the winter?
Because the organization underestimated (or was simply unsure of) the production it was going to see in 2008 from (1)Ludwick, (2)Schumaker, (3)Mather, (4)Robinson, (5)Jon Jay, (6)Daryl Jones, and even Rick Ankiel. Haerther was a (admittedly small) insurance policy.
It really is extraordinaary how many breakouts & pleasant surprises the Cards have received from outfielders throughout the system.
Now will they be smart and cash in on their good fortune with some shrewd trading?
SInce May 1st, Daniel Descalso is batting .190 (28 for 148,) and he hitting .150 for the month of June. I think it might be time to send him to QC and get his problems ironed out.
El Hombre: The present head count on drafted signees is likelier to be 39 than 49. They could get a few more before mid-August. That would put them over 80 percent for a signing rate, while also taking on some tougher challenges.
Back to Latin market, one thing fun is it is pure free market, none of the best talent reserved for losers philosophy of the draft. This puts a premium on talent evaluation for 16 year olds.
With so many teams wanting to pour money into the Latin signings and with only a limited number of prize jocks, there could be a bonus explosion.
I still think the Descalso pick was a, we missed out on Eric Sogard…so lets take the generic version of him…2 or 3 rounds early so we dont lose out this time.
Hey it worked before when they missed out on Jay Bruce and took Rasmus…but its hard to catch lightning in a bottle twice.
Good thing about Dom DeLuise Descalso….he is still only 21
Jrocke-the Jones gets on base and steals bases, so how does he not profile as a lead-off hitter exactly?
Jones is doing just fine, where he is. The Cards do not want to fix what is working. He plays everyday at Palm Beach. He is experiencing success.
The job at AA is not fulltime. They have Jay, Shorey, Brown, Hill when he comes back. For a part-time CF, Rapoport fits the bill.
Rapoport signed after his junior year, so should be about 2 years older than Jones (who signed the year before out of HS). Good to move him up.
Three sufficient reasons why Jones continues to work on his game at Palm Beach.
[...] Daily Farm Report 6/27/08 While talking about Richard Castillo today, one of you mentioned the Cardinals are players in the hunt for obtaining [...] [...]
If Joey Bombs keeps hitting this way - it will be impossible for Mozeliak to keep him down, IMO.