5/13 MILB Thread
by rdf8585 on May 13, 2009 12:56 PM EDT
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PrintNo shortage of early games today.
Some highlights -
Buchholz 8 IP 0 ER 11 K
T Patton 6-5-2-2-2
Reese Havens grand slam (7th HR)
Jennry Mejia 4 IP, 0 ER +
Jesus Montero 3-3 (singles)
DJ Mitchell 4.1-6-6-1-8
Andrew Cashner 2.2-5-2-1-4
Starting pitchers later today include -
Charlie Morton, Wade Davis vs Homer Bailey, Dana Eveland, Ricky Romero AA rehab, Sean West, Scott Elbert, Jhoulys Chacin, Cesar Carrillo, Blake Beavan, Trevor Harden High A debut, David Bromberg, Casey Crosby
Post away.
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Jay Jackson
Three straight solid outings from him after some early season struggles. Went 6, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks, getting 5 K’s. He had struggled against WTN last time out. Here’s hoping he’s settling in.
Are you all for calling him up?
Browing SOSH/Soxprospects you’ll find a lot of people clamoring for a call up. I for one am content with Buch sitting in AAA until needed, not just wanted.
Who loves orange soda?
by Kenan and Kel on May 13, 2009 4:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Doesnt bother me
Keeping Buchholz at AAA has a few benefits:
1) It delays free agency and arb – we end up controlling more of the prime of his career.
2) It allows us to control as many pitchers as possible. We dont lose Penny, Wake, etc…
3) It allows Buchholz to work on his secondary stuff, approach, etc…
4) It allows Buchholz to rebuild his confidence – which was shaken when his mechanics fell apart last season.
The downside is basically that he gets frustrated or stagnates… but hey, there are at least 1,000 guys who are harmed by being promoted to fast for each one guy who was hurt by staying the minors too long. Extra time in the minors is unlikely to hurt someone the way that team control and salaries are currently set up.
OTOH, if he keep just flat out dominating for the next few weeks… he really has to come up. You could make the argument he’s the best pitcher in the Sox organization right now. We’re winning anyway… so its not pressing, but jeez… I think he may get the call soon.
For that matter...
Consider the case of poor Mr. Bowden. Top pitching prospect. Great numbers. He’s 2-1 with a 1.06 ERA.
He has basically no shot of sticking in the majors this year. Dice K is already out on rehab, Smoltz isnt far behind and Clay is knocking on the door.
Buchholz...
Now has a 1.03 ERA in his six starts. 35 IP, 16 H, 4 ER, 37 K.
Over the last 20.1 IP, he has 25 Ks and 0 R.
The flipside...
is that if Buchholz is throwing as well as ever, delaying service time means risking shutting the door on the window of time he might be valuable to the franchise, given the high rate of pitcher injury.
For a big market team like the Red Sox looking to compete, the beginning and the end of potential personnel decisions should be whether or not they optimize the roster. If the team’s relatively certain Buchholz will be an upgrade over current options, they should call him up.
Flipside
Luke Hochever
AAA is one thing, the bigs another….
by Rupert Pupkin on May 13, 2009 8:49 PM EDT up reply actions
Eh...
Not sure if you’re referencing Hoch’s start or Buccholz last start, but can’t say this is over reacting to one start if it’s Buccholz. His numbers this year to date are fantastic and we’ve already seen he can do it in the bigs. Brad Penny has 6.90 ERA. In the best division in baseball – you have put you best players out there. Buccholz is already on the 40 man and looks to be better than at least 2 of the Sox other options at this point.
Was talking about Hochevar
Seemed a teeny bit premature to be implying his stuff cant translate to MLB.
Just to add — Rondon’s move to the pen isn’t permanent. He’ll likely go back to starting again, but they want to see if he can help the major league bullpen out before the Indians are completely out of it.
Rondon
Not a huge fan of the move…though I can see the Tribes thinking..get this guy to the majors to help us win now. They must 100% blame the teams record on the pen. Bring him up now and limit his innings and all that. The same idea the Yanks had with Joba a few years back. I guess if Rondon comes up and pitches well and helps the Tribes pen out and the Indians get back in the race its worth it
a few hitters in early games
Carlos Gonzalez: 2-5 w/ a double – keeps hitting .336avg
Desmond Jennings: 1-3 w/ 2bb & sb – getting a bit ridiculous and is walking now (5bb in last 5g) however it lowers his avg to .393…
Jesus Montero: 4-5, though all were singles – .336avg
JP
Jarrod Parker is dealing at AA.
5 ip, 1 er, 4 singles, 3bb 9k
The Dodgers won't win a playoff series until the Cool-a-Coo returns.
Lots of hits
20 in 15.1 IP. However, his BABIP against is an insane .476
If those numbers regress, and they should, he could put pressure on folks for the top pitching prospect next October.
Not only is he SO 28.% in AA, but he is also getting a ton of GB at 60%..
Just a comparison (SMALL SAMPLE SIZE ALERT but its all we got) of the big three prospects in AA now. Alderson, Bumgarner, and Parker.
Alderson
Bumgarner
2009 A+ San Jose 5 3 1 24.1 100 20 4 0 0 10 4 4 23 1.48 3.70
2009 AA Connecticut 1 1 0 6.0 22 7 3 1 0 1 1 0 2 1.50 1.50
Remember: baseball guys... baseball...
shit lol
Parker
2009 20 A+ Visalia 4 1 0 19.0 72 12 3 0 0 2 2 4 21 0.95 0.95
2009 20 AA Mobile 3 1 2 15.1 71 20 3 0 0 7 6 4 20 3.52 4.11
Alderson
2009 A+ San Jose 5 1 1 26.0 111 31 6 0 4 12 12 3 20 4.15 4.15
2009 AA Connecticut 1 1 0 6.2 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 10 0.00 0.00
These three could be exciting for a long time.
Remember: baseball guys... baseball...
Gamel to MIL
Gamel to MIL
+1
throw Hart a basketball. dude is tall.
by Rupert Pupkin on May 14, 2009 2:14 AM EDT up reply actions
Michael Stanton
He ran into the first thing that could stop him from hitting a home run….rain.
Junichi Tazawa
From last night: 6 ip, 3h, 0 er, 1 bb, 7k
Season: 38.1 innings, 2.82 ERA, 35/12 K/BB
Had one bad start (6 er in 5.2 innings). Every other time out he’s given up 2 earned runs or fewer and walked no more than 2 batters.
Coming into the season there were questions about how advanced he was and the level of competition he’d dominated in Japan. I guess I’m surprised to see he’s been this good this soon, but it seems it’s time to start taking him pretty seriously. Of course Boston isn’t the ideal place for a young starting pitcher trying to break in to the majors, but, that aside, what are some people’s thoughts on him?
"Of course Boston isn’t the ideal place for a young starting pitcher trying to break in to the majors"
Not that I’m mimicking you . . .I just found this to be an interesting point. You’re totally right, but it isn’t due to the environment or the competition. It’s just that Boston has WAY too many pitchers at the moment. One wonders how Michael Bowden and Clay Buchholz are feeling right now . . .for most teams in baseball they’d be in the majors, making a major league salary and accumulating service time. As it is, they’re options #6 and #7 at best. For a guy like Tazawa, it’s even worse.
Random question of the night. True or False: The Red Sox’ glut of prospects will eventually backfire on them.
For example, Scott Boras is well known for wanting to steer his clients to teams that will give the biggest payout. The Red Sox certainly have the resources to offer huge signing bonuses, but for Boras clients who are interested in the fastest path to the majors, getting stuck in AAA for years isn’t so appealing. Will prospects eventually shy away from signing with the Red Sox, preferring the end outcome of a major league paycheck and a sub-.500 record to Triple A charter buses and the hopes of a roster spot eventually opening?
False.
The Red Sox make sure guys arent forgotten and they give their minor leaguers updates on where they are, what they want them to work on, etc… regularly.
In fact, they make it a point to give guys time in the majors when they perform well. Chris Carter and Jeff Bailey are good examples. Gil Velazquez has got some time. Bowden has already been up this year, in fact. Charlie Zink. Theyve made it a point under Theo to reward guys and let them know that good performance in the minors will be rewarded. They havent been shy to call up guys from AA even. They did it with Lester and Papelbon.
They have a ton of money to throw at draftees and arent afraid to do it. They have a spectacular record of minor league success under Theo – in terms of developing players. Their minor league facilities are top quality and their support and player development staff is top notch as well. Pawtucket is one of the nicest minor league stops around. They also provide the chance to play for a consistent winning organization.
When Theo took the job as GM he stated his goal was to build a 100 million dollar player development machine that would regularly pump out useful major league players. He said this was the only way to regularly beat the Yankees. He’s made it happen.
I think the effect you’ll see is more of Tazawa… guys want to play for Boston because they do such a good job developing players. Tazawa had many easier paths to the majors available and left more money on the table.
Yeah well
You can only take so many atta boys before you start to get frustrated and want to be in the majors full time – not just for a cup of coffee here and there. I think mrkupe is absolutely correct – some of these players are going to get tired of being in the minors when they have nothing left to prove – who wouldn’t after a while, especially pitchers who are essentially ticking time bombs. They have to get what they can when they can. Pitching for a certain team only goes so far.
Where I do disagree with mrkupe is that Buccholz is a 6th or 7th option. He’s the 4th best pitcher in the entire organization IMO.
McCutchen
3-4, 2 2B, BB, SB – now at 276/346/488. For the season 13/10 BB/K ratio with 16 XBH in 123 AB. Still struggling vs. RHP (238/315/400), but has a 9/6 BB/K ratio in those AB, so possibly bad luck?
Pedro Baez breakout?
Perhaps it’s just the Cal league influencing his numbers, but one of Logan White’s favorites looks to be putting it together.
Last night 4-4 with a hr and 2b.
On the season .289/.341/.526 at hi-A compared to .178/.238/.259 at lo-A last year.
The Dodgers won't win a playoff series until the Cool-a-Coo returns.
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