The big news of the day of course was Brett Wallace officially signing to a $1.84 M signing bonus. He practiced with the big club today and according to the official site he’ll play primarily at 3B, but could also see some time in the OF. He’s reporting to the QC, which means I’ll most definitely be making the journey to Davenport to behold the Walrus in person.
Colby Rasmus was added to the Futures Game roster, which could mean he may get a trip to Beijing to represent the USA. I’m sure Colby will be honored, but I think he was probably hoping for a much shorter flight to a different destination. That makes four Cards participating in the game, which seems pretty much unheard of. The system ain’t perfect, but it’s come a long way, baby.
The international signing period officially begins at midnight. BA says (subscription) the Cards are no longer players for big dollar OF Yorman Rodriguez (big surprise), but just reading between the lines they could sign a Dominican fellah by the name of Anderson Pujols. Yep, he’s another cousin. I expect to see the Cardinals do something of significance this year. Remember, they hired Juan Mercado away from the Mets this past winter as their scouting supervisor of Latin America. Mercado scouted and signed Jose Reyes and Carlos Gomez, two pretty big fish.
The Farm puts up a big 0′fer tonight.
Colby Rasmus, Joe Mather 0-for-4 each.
Jarrett Hoffpauir 3-for-4, 2 2B.
Nick Stavinoha 2-for-4.
Jaime Garcia 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 K, 4 K.
Jaime Garcia only allowed 2 earned runs, but the two unearned were of his own making due to 2 throwing errors. Nick Stavinoha is back to his old tricks after his cup of coffee. Nice to see more than just singles and walks coming from Hoffpauir tonight.
Springfield 7, Midland 8 (10 innings)
Allen Craig 2-for-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K.
Isa Garcia 2-for-2.
Matt Pagnozzi 2-for-3, SB.
Tyler Greene 1-for-5, 2B.
Jon Jay 0-for-4, 1 BB, 2 K.
Adam Ottavino 6 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 3 HR.
Luke Gregerson 1.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR.
Oy. Just a 9 MPH wind out to left, no weather excuses for Adam. I still think he’s suffering from some of the shoulder stuff from earlier this year, but maybe I’m just grasping at straws. I just don’t want to believe he’s this bad, I just can’t yet. If anyone can fill me in on his velocity lately, it would be appreciated. Luke Gregerson sure has had his share of blow ups this year, hasn’t he? He allowed 2 runs in the 9th to blow the save, and Josh Dew let his inherited runner score to end it in the 10th. Allen Craig seems to be off a month, on a month.
Palm Beach was postponed.
Pete Kozma 0-for-4.
Francisco Rivera 2-for-4, 2 2B.
Domnit Bolivar 2-for-4.
Charlie Kingrey 1-for-4, 2B.
Oliver Marmol 0-for-2, 1 BB, HBP, 2 SB.
Josh Wilson 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K.
Jared Bradford 0.2, 3 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.
I actually caught this game from the 5th inning on Cable Access. It kept cutting in and out, so it wasn’t a lot of fun watching black screen while waiting for the game to come back on. I’ll use this as another opportunity to say Mediacom is garbage. D’Marcus Ingram made an amazing running catch in CF that saved a double, possibly a triple. If you saw Rick Ankiel’s catch on Monday night’s game, it was very much akin to that play. Wilson didn’t wow me really, but I only saw half an inning. Bradford’s line was pretty ugly obviously, but he was the victim of some tough luck. The lead off walk was of course a killer. The single was just a groundball up the middle. The double was a groundball down the 3B line that went by Bolivar. I’m not saying Bolivar should’ve made the play, but it just wasn’t hit all that hard. The Kernels added a run on a suicide squeeze. And Oliver Marmol made a terribly boneheaded error on a rushed throw that sailed way left of the 1B. I was pretty sad to miss my pet prospect Rivera’s two doubles. Pete Parise has a pretty sharp slider. Kozma’s swing looked a lot handsy and less rotational by the two at bats I saw him in. He doesn’t seem all that comfortable right now. .269/.359/.365 is his current line; it seems the critics are being proven correct at the moment. Ugh.
Batavia 1, Jamestown 9 Game 1
Shane Peterson 3-for-3.
Jose Garcia 2-for-3.
Thomas Eager 4 IP, 5, 3 ER, 4 BB, 3 K.
Rigoberto Lugo 1 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.
Eager to walk that guy. Eager to throw a meatball down the plate. Eager to blow up. Eager to get pulled early. Eager to move to a one inning relief role. Eager to get released. Eager to start a career in insurance. I’ll stop there. Shane Peterson is now hitting .333.
Batavia 2, Jamestown 3 Game 2
Jermaine Curtis 3-for-4, 1 2B.
Jonathan Edwards 1-for-3, 2B, 2 K, 1 BB.
Three relievers threw 2 innings apiece, all latter round guys whom I won’t waste your time with. I do like Jason Buursma, his line was 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 K.
Jermaine Curtis brought his average up to .314. Pretty rough doubleheader for the Muckdogs, not much else really to say here.
Nico Vasquez 2-for-3, 2B, BB.
Curt Smith 1-for-4, 2B, 2 K.
Adam Veres 4 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 2 HR.
Randy Santos 3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K.
Matt Frevert 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K.
It’s very early, but consider me to be on the Official Nico Vasquez bandwagon, if you didn’t already. I’m resisting the urge to put up a “Nico watch”; I don’t wanna doom the kid. I don’t believe in jinxes, but I don’t want any of you hunting me down should he go in a slump once I put it up.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
Buursma seems like he could be the type of guy that moves fairly quickly through the system. I’ve never seen him pitch or anything, but because of his delivery and role in the bullpen, that’s the impression I get.
It is so hard to know if any of these kids will turn out, they are just 16, some maybe even lying and are older.
I know from a fan stand point its nice to see the team investing, being aggressive and going out and getting one of the top kids.
I would love to see the 1M mark reached for 1 kid…its not like its big market teams doing this.
Its the Reds, A’s, Giants and Brewers…so its not about being cheap, its about allocating the funds.
But in the end, what do you really know? Some of these kids, Jose Reyes, J.Cueto were not top Latin signings, so its unfair to really take a stance on whether the Cards are doing it right or not.
Its just nice to see them actually active…prior to 2005…they didnt even participate in this for almost a decade.
So I guess you take what you can get?
Sorry, I hate to double post but I didnt see the Kozma comment.
I might be alone, but I dont worry about him at all. You look around at comparable talents and what they are doing, Pete is holding his own and in most cases further along then the other guys.
His stats show he struggles, but he isnt overmatched. To me its more important to hear what the coaches and scouts are saying about him, not his end results b/c its about learning, getting better and preparing for the MLB’s..not compiling A ball stats.
But we all know that, sometimes we follow these kids to closely and live too much off the ebb and flow of young kids who by definition inconsistent, that is why they are in the minors.
Ok enough ranting…I tend to think once Wallace shows up, takes away some of the spotlight, sparks the competitive juices that we will see some life breathed into Pete.
We all know…you can be content if your always the #1 guy on a team…having some friendly competition can always help.
I hope that is what happens…fingers crossed, Erik!
Less than 50 AB is a *very* small sample size, but I get what you mean about Niko Vasquez. He has the look of a major league player and has had great results so far. His swing reminds me of Derek Jeter in a way, but that’s a big comparison to live up to. Just please, no more player watches. Please, I beg of you.
I was surprised when Josh Wilson got named the King of the Hill last night on FSMW…which I thought was pretty cool and they should make that a feature every night…a minors spot light or something. Jess Todd has to be going WTF…lights out for over a month and this Wilson kid pitches one decent game and gets a national media plug.
I telling you we really need to test the “Watch Curse” out–kick the tires a little bit. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a former Cardinal minor leaguer that we want to issue a little hex on. How about a little “Chris Lambert Watch” he seems to be pitching well for no reason. Maybe some Cubs minor leaguers…I guess I am just vindictive by nature.
I agree with Pickle…No need to worry about Kozma. He hit a bit of a wall and I think it is primarily due to the grind of playing day in day out. Nico will probably have the same problem, as will Wallace…
“Ok enough ranting…I tend to think once Wallace shows up, takes away some of the spotlight, sparks the competitive juices that we will see some life breathed into Pete.”
Great thought Pickle. Here’s for hoping are indeed correct. Kozma is very young and it does seem that he started to wilt about the time his name hit a national hot sheet.
Reyes is scheduled to pitch for Memphis tonight on a rehab start.
Why is Tyler Henley back playing in the Gulf Coast league?
The Cards VSL team had 10 errors yesterday
PB rehab players do their rehab innings in the GLC.
well only because i am family but… Marmol has played SS for a good 10 years of his life… and he is trying to settle in at 2nd so please lets try and cut him some slack =)
About Ottavino’s start last night: He was averaging in the the 93 - 96 mph range and even touched 98 on the gun (it should be noted that the radar gun here in Springfield has never been completely accurate but this year it does seem to be a lot better than before). He looked down right dominate at times blowing his fastball past hitters and fooling them with his curveball that he never really seemed to have much control on before these last couple of starts. Other times he had some control problems and left a few pitches up in the zone, namely his flat fastball. To be honest, it was kind of encouraging compared to some of his other starts he’s had this year.
jp-
Thanks. That review make a lot of sense. When I saw the Ks to HRs, I figured his stuff was on but he hung a couple of curves…
It looks like Adam has been doing better his last three starts but he is still giving up a lot of hits. Any clue why he has been so hittable?
Based soley on what I’ve seen, and I’m not no pro at scouting or evaluating, it seems like he suffers from Nuke Laloosh disease; he has a million dollar arm but a 2 cent head. He can cruise through a lineup for a while but if he makes a mistake then he lets it get to him and he doesn’t know how to rebound. That’s just from reading his body language and watching how he has performed since he’s been down here. But it could also be that his shoulder is all sorts of screwed and he’s not wanting to show it.
A 50 ab sample size is large enough to get excited about if it’s 100% of your observations. Sure, you get a Ted Cox and Tuffy Rhodes in there sometimes, but it’s good enough to be legitimately optimistic about Niko Vasquez.
Re: the Futures Game. The Phillies had five (!) selections last time I looked.
Ott’s shoulder doesn’t sound like a concern to me at the moment. It is really difiicult to throw mid-90’s for an extended period with a bum shoulder. He probably has lost a bit of development time with the mechanical tinkering that the team encouraged. Hopefully this all pays off for him near the end of the season. He is becoming the most interesting prospect to watch in a shakesperian sense, because he is on the edge of either putting it all together or total collapse. I think if he gets it together we will see him in St. Louis early next year.
Nuke Laloosh syndrome a great description of ottavino problems. He has MLB stuff, but he needs to get much tougher mentally.
I meant disease, great post Jp
i think that ottavino might be better suited in the pen, his fastball/slider combo that i’ve heard of is perfect for 1 inning stints. just imagine having ottavino/perez for the 8th/9th. that’s nasty!
I’m not worried about Kozma. I remember reading a post where he had a .17/.17 stat. Less than 17% strikeouts and more than 17% of AB were walks. It compared him to a lot of current big leaguers. If anyone knows the article I’m talking about, would they post the URL in this post. I’m glad to hear that Brett Wallace signed and not break the bank. It will be interesting to see if Allen Craig keeps hitting and Wallace hits like they project him to and play adequate defense, as to who is the future at 3B. One thought is to move Wallace to LF, but he may be even worse there defensively, i.e. Miguel Cabrera.