I don’t want to be John Mozeliak right now either [/lying] but if Rasmus is traded, I’ll be collecting donations for bail.
Meet the future catchers — Bryan Anderson is first up.
Slow news day — let’s get right to it. Palm Beach was postponed & Johnson City had the day off so it’s an abbreviated DFR today.
- Brian Barden was 2-for-5 with a walk.
- Nick Stavinoha was 4-for-6 with a double. The issue I have with Stavinoha is that he’s essentially Aaron Miles in the outfield. Hits for average, no power, no secondary skills, average to bad defense. I can’t see any team being interested in him unless he shows something more than hitting for average.
- Josh Phelps goes 3-for-5.
- David Freese was 1-for-4 with a HR.
- Jarrett Hoffpauir had a great night at the plate going 3-for-3 with a pair of walks.
- Reyes got the start and they continue to baby him back into the rotation. He went 3.2 innings allowing 1 hit, 2 walks and striking out 2. He also hit a batter and threw a WP.
- After stranding Reyes’ two bequeathed runners, Matthew Scherer allowed 3 runs all his own on 5 hits and 1K.
- Matt Clement was bad. Anyone have a fork they’re not using . . . need to label this pitcher as done.
- Mark Worrell had a shaky 9th allowing 1 hit, walking 2 and striking out 2.
Springfield 5, Midland 4 (12 innings)
- Jose Martinez was 3-for-6 with a double.
- Allen Craig was 2-for-4 with a pair of walks.
- Andrew Brown continues to show the power going 2-for-4 with a HR.
- Mark Shorey also went yard.
- Isaias Garcia was 2-for-5 with a walk.
- The story of the night has to be Adam Ottavino. Ott threw 6 innings allowing 8 baserunners (5 hits, 3 walks) but most encouraging struck out 8 batters. He was getting groundouts to boot (something he’s not known for) with a 6:2 count.
- Luke Gregerson had a great June but he’s struggling again in July. He got tagged for 3 runs recording 5 outs while allowing 3 hits, 2 walks and striking out 3.
- Fernando Salas blew a rare save in th 10th allowing a run to score on 2 hits and a HBP. He did pitch a scoreless 11th, which was followed up by. . .
- . . . a scoreless 12th from Marco Gonzalez who struck out 1.
- Adron Chambers was 2-for-4 with a triple.
- Pete Kozma was 0-for-3 with a walk. That bat has looked pretty bad after April.
- Brett Wallace lived up to scouting reports going 3-for-3 with 2 doubles and committing his second error. He was also HBP.
- Paul Vasquez, owner of a .850+ OPS as a catcher, was 2-for-4 with a HR.
- Aaron Luna was 1-for-3 with a HR and a walk.
- Ryan Kulik went 5 strong innings striking out 3 and allowing just 3 hits.
- Jared Bradford threw 2 scoreless innings allowing 3 hits and 2 Ks.
- Xavier Scruggs was 2-for-4 with a double.
- Beau Riportella was 2-for-4.
- A nice outing for 1st round draftee Lance Lynn who went 4 strong. He allowed 3 hits and 1 ER while striking out 5.
- Rigoberto Lugo was the unfortunate goat allowing a walk off HR to the first batter he faced in the 9th.
Filed under: Daily Farm Reports
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
Great DFR 2nite.
couple questions…..
Where’s Rasmus, i heard hes hurt but what? how long?
and will Wallace improve defensively? i want him to suceed at 3B, but he needs to improve…. can he?
I keep hearing Rasmus is day-to-day, but this has lasted longer than I thought it would. Hopefully we’ll see him tomorrow.
In regards to that article about Rasmus, I would be furious if they gave him up for Bedard. The Cardinals don’t need another injury prone starter, despite his talent. I wouldn’t have given up Rasmus for Sabathia, either.
Nice to see Wallace have a very solid night at the plate. I wonder if he’ll be promoted to PB before the end of the year.
Pitcher of the Night honors go to Moises Colorado of the VSL team. His line: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 K, including a rare 4 K inning in the 1st. That’s about as dominant as it gets.
Love seeing those HBP by Wallace. Of course, you always worry about a guy getting hurt, but I really like those hitters who just hang out over the plate the way he does, daring the pitcher to try and either beat him inside or move him off. Certainly doesn’t hurt the OBP.
Glad to see Ottavino have a strong outing. If anybody needs it, he does.
Az- I would help you out on bail money, expect I would probably be stuck trying to come up with my own for inciting a riot. Hopefully, any thought of moving Rasmus is just all idle speculation, cause I don’t want to go to jail. I’m much too pretty.
yeah, that’s some of that college mindset we are seeing from Wallace. They’ll step in front of a ball if they could get away with it in the NCAA.
wonder how long luna stays in the OF. i thought he profiled to be an average hitter out ther, but an abover average hitting 2B
Re: Stavinoha. Ten home runs and 53 rbi’s in half a season doesn’t translate into an outfield version of Aaron Miles in my book. At any rate, the Miles snark is getting old and tired. Miles contributes in ways that statheads apparently can neither appreciate nor comprehend. Let’s leave it at that and return to our contemplation of the “untouchable” Colby. He’ll be returning to his struggle to stay over .250 soon! (At least I have a different line of snark.)
Oh, Miles contributes in ways that we can’t comprehend? Golly, you’re right! Let’s talk about the time that he gave Pujols hitting tips and AP hit 14 home runs in the month of April. Or the time that he fetched Tone’s bone-dry cappucino. Aaron Miles contributes nothing but slap-hitting offense and poor defense. The Miles snark is not getting old, it’s only beginning.
Your line of snark regarding Rasmus falls flat because he’s an uber-talented 21-year-old who didn’t need three years of low A-ball. And you’re damn right he’s untouchable.
As for Stavinoha, he has an Iso this season of .166. That doesn’t cut it for a corner OF unless you have the OBP skills to match it. If Stavinoha is a .350 or .330 hitter at the major league level AND maintained a .160 Iso, sure, he’s worth something. But who really believes Stavinoha is a .330/.365/.490 hitter?? I’m guessing he would be projected for about a .280/.310/.350 line. Looks pretty Lawn Gnome-ish to me.
The Miles comment wasn’t snark. What he’s done as a middle infielder has been above replacement level this year. Put that kind of production in a corner outfield and you’re back to below replacement level. It was a comparison not a slam.
And I categorically disagree that Miles has these weighty intangibles that people are so enamored of. That argument doesn’t even really need to be made when he’s playing as well as he is this season.
Guys, can’t we can talk about young ballplayers without the insults?
These are guys working their butts off to get the chance to play for our favorite team. A lot of them probably read this site. Every single one of them is 100 times better at baseball than I ever was, or could’ve hoped to be.
Only a handful will ever be major-league regulars, which means more than 95 percent of them are playing to avoid the day when they get called into the manager’s office and told they’re no longer part of the org.
Please, let’s have some perspective here.
The suggestion that we trade Rasmus in a package for Bedard makes me physically ill. I’m not a big fan of the idea of trading Rasmus at all, but especially not for Bedard. I would be upset if we traded any of our top prospects for Bedard - I’m just not a fan of his.
MO has to play a game of chicken with trades right now. By the default of the Cubs being on the market he has to insert himself into every trade rumor to drive up the prices for the small bears.
As it I think the only course of action that I would endorse MO taking is trading the extra pitchers (Parisi, Boggs, Reyes) and outfielders (Stavinoha) for relief arms…
I think Memphis is still undefeated in games that Sugar Shane Robinson starts (either 10 or 11 now).
RE: Lou—You are right, and I’ve received some angry emails from friends and family of players for some of the insults. It’s one thing to assess and it’s another to insult the way the person looks. I admit I can laugh at some of that stuff sometimes, but we really need to cool it.
I think the Miles/Stavy comparison is apt. Not because of their skill sets (although that part may be true), but because of their appearance.
I swear, the first time I saw Stavinoha with the big club, I thought someone must have given Miles some Mr. Hyde serum. In fact, I’m not sure Miles doesn’t change into Stavy ala Bruce Banner in between at bats.
Azru: I’m happy to learn that your Miles comment wasn’t the usual Miles snark and that you have noticed he’s been playing well. That fact seems to have escaped Ryan. Thanks, Ryan, for revealing yourself as my true target all along, the sort who is apparently so enamored of peripherals that he fails to notice how many of those slap hits he scorns have helped produce Cardinal wins this year. As for the “uber-talented” Rasmus, he’s a fine prospect who may have dazzled many of my fellow prospect-starved Cardinal fans into overrating him. He continues to remind me of an Andy Van Slyke who has yet to demonstrate that he can also play the corner infield positions. Van Slyke was also a first-round draft choice who had a lot of talent and had a nice career that fell well short of the super-stardom many predicted for him. He was no untouchable but did fetch in trade a slightly over-the-hill Tony Pena, who was nevertheless a key player in the 1987 pennant race. Perhaps Rasmus will turn out to be better than Van Slyke and turn out to be a star for the Cardinals, but he is not a proven commodity and may yet turn out to be a nice trading chip for someone who is. It remains to be seen.
if we trade rasmus we better be getting matt holliday
That’s the sort of player I would be looking for and hoping to keep!
With the emergence of not one, not two, but three, three! outfielders at the majors this year, I don’t have a huge problem with trading Rasmus for a very good starting pitcher like Bedard. I don’t think they can trade Ankiel, and they’re not getting anything for Schumaker or Duncan. Maybe Ludwick fetches something, but I doubt it’s anything close to Bedard. Putting it into inequality form:
Bedard + Skip, Ludwick, Ankiel > $Mediocre_Pitcher + Rasmus and any two of S, L, A.
hmm…maybe i just don’t see it…but bedard is not worth a top prospect to me…i didn’t think he was worth one when seattle traded for him…he had one really great year, but he doesn’t go deep into games, he is injury prone, and reports say he is not a fighter…if i’m trading stud prospects(and yes mike g., rasmus is a stud prospect) then i want an ace in return…bedard is not an ace in my opinion
I would much rather get 6-7 cheap years from Rasmus and hope he becomes the .280-.290, 25-35 HR hitter he possibly could become. If he busts, then use the extra money you would have paid Bedard after trading for him to sign him in free agency(or a different pitcher).
Getting that kind of production from CF for cheap is really going to help the Cardinals out in the future when they try to sign some free agents.
The Cardinals are not going to sign a high-profile Bedard-caliber pitcher in free agency. “Payroll space” doesn’t work like that. The kind of money that gets thrown at guys like that is too rich and too stupid for this front office’s blood, regardless of available resources. The only way the Cardinals are getting somebody that good is by trade or by draft or by finding another Carpenter. If it’s one of the latter two, then payroll space is irrelevant and if it’s a trade, you’re going to have to give some value back.
I’m not enamored with the idea of trading Rasmus for Bedard for the obvious reasons. With the Cardinals outfield minus Rasmus being what it is and the #1 starter being, er, Kyle Lohse, I don’t think the idea can be easily dismissed either.
>>have dazzled many of my fellow prospect-starved Cardinal fans into overrating him.<<
Really Mike G? So is Baseball America prospect-starved Cardinal fans? How about Keith Law? How about every other national publication that has him in top-5/10 of all prospects in baseball?
I’m of the belief that no one should ever be untouchable. If the Marlins call wanting Rasmus and you hang up, you may miss out an opportunity to pick up Hanley Rameriz. It’s also just a fact that anytime you hear a trade rumor involving the Cardinals the name most brought up is going to be Rasmus because out of the Cardinal prospects he is the guy other team will ALWAYS ask for so better get used to rumors flying around about him. I’m confident Mo wouldn’t involve Colby in a trade unless an elite proven MLB player that would be under control for multiple players would be included.
The Cardinals do have a glut in the OF. It is an organizational strength that I think the Cardinals could work out something for help in the bullpen. I personally think a John Jay and a PJ Walters type pitcher should be able to get the Cardinals an useful lesser known bullpen arm.
Aaron Miles is without question having a great season and by all accounts is an amazing clubhouse guy. He can play 2B all year long and I wouldn’t gripe, but defensively he has no business playing 3B or SS. He doesn’t deserve a lot of the criticism he receives, but he’s no Bo Hart.
I went to the Batavia game last night hoping to see a good game. I got it.
I really enjoyed getting to see some young Cardinal farmhands. As azru pointed out, Lynn had a nice game. His control was great, and his off speed stuff was above average it seemed. It was at least good enough to keep the hitters from sitting on his fastball.
I wasn’t all that excited about the Lynn pick when it happened, but after what I saw in person, he looks like he may have been worth it.
I was also looking forward to seeing Jon Edwards after reading so much about him on this site and seeing his awesome numbers. He disappointed (obviously it was only one game). In his first at bat he struck out on what looked like a changeup that fooled him badly. He popped out in his next AB and then got overpowered by a fastball for his second SO.
They lost the game (Lugo was extremely wild even in warmups), but it was a great experience and a fun team to watch.
If the Cardinals are trading Rasmus for the best LF playing SS, Mozeliak should be dismissed.
And Mike G, why in the world would Rasmus be learning how to play the corner IF positions? He throws LH, so he cannot play 3B. Perhaps you meant corner OF? It’s not really his fault where his managers and the higher-ups in the organization place him on the field. Also, Rasmus has done absolutely nothing to warrant a Van Slyke comparison. I’m not even sure where that comes into play.
In response to Chris, I don’t disagree with the ratings, but being one of the top 10 prospects in baseball doesn’t make you a guaranteed super star and it doesn’t make you untouchable. I said Cardinal fans may be overrating Rasmus, and I think those who are so convinced of his greatness that they won’t even consider trading him in the right deal probably are. I agree that he is an outstanding prospect–a “stud” as someone said– but that only means he’s presently very valuable, not that he’s priceless.
My previous response was, of course , meant for Mike, not Chris, with whom I completely agree. As for Ryan, the infield references were facetious. I wasn’t really advocating a shift to third for Rasmus or thinking about the arm with which he throws. Otherwise, the Van Slyke comparison should be pretty evident, at least to those of us who were around in 1983–a first-round draft choice out of high school with speed, power, and defensive skills, a fast riser in the system at an early age. I can assure Ryan that people were as excited then about Van Slyke as they are now about Rasmus, and for similar reasons. Rasmus may turn out better or worse, but the comparison is hardly far fetched.
I see what you’re saying Mike G. I agree he shouldn’t be untouchable, but at the same time, there are very few players i’d trade him for. Players like Hanley Ramirez, Tim Lincecum, etc… are the only types of players i’d consider moving him for. Not the Erik Bedard/Matt Hollidays.
Anybody else excited that Craig’s BB % has gone from 7.6 in April to 2.5% (!) in May to 13.6% in June and has stayed in the double digits (10.3) so far in July?
Badard and Holliday are perhaps the 2 most overrated players in the majors–and they will soon be compensated at the level of Albert Pujols.
Given their salaries-to-be, I wouldn’t take Holliday (career road OPS in the high .700’s) or Bedard (never thrown 200 innings, and never will) straight-up for Tyler Greene.
Colby Rasmus has exceptional power; he led ALL of AA in homers last year–at age 20, for God’s sake. He plays above-average defense in CF. He steals bases at a high%. He has a superior work ethic. Given all those positives, and given how little $$ he’ll cost over the next several years, Colby Rasmus is absolutely untouchable in my book.
Saying that you wouldn’t trade Tyler Greene for Holliday or Bedard is insanity. The reality of Tyler Green is that he couldn’t fetch a Freddy Bynum, much less All Star caliber talent. However, I do agree that I wouldn’t trade Rasmus for Holliday straight up.
Nick “no power” Stavinoha has 2 home runs for Memphis tonight.
That will probably place him among the top 15 PCL hitters in terms of slugging percentage.
Birdo — slugging percentage is not an accurate representation of power when you are hitting .350. He doesn’t even crack the top 30 in ISO — he might be up there once you consider park factors. . . maybe.
What’s with the snippiness here lately? If a writer or someone else tells the truth about a prospect—using stats and just plain logic to back themselves up–why is it some of you are so up in arms? Sheesh.
Seems like everyone is grouchy lately….I know the Cubs won 2 of 3 but it isn’t the end of the world. I will agree the Brew Crew and Baby Bears have put me in a sour mood this week, but I don’t plan on jumping out any windows or playing in traffic.
Give me a few days to hear Rasmus rumors and then we’ll see