Minor League Ball

Jeff Francoeur sent down to AA

Bravesin07 — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:30:35 -0000

Quite shocking isn't it, not really to me it isn't. He sure needs a lot of work on his swing. Apparently going by the numbers(metrics) he was considered to be the worst player in baseball. If he can't get his swing back in AA, I fear we may have another Kevin Maas or Phil Plantier on our hands. What do you guys think here, can Francoeur rediscover his swing or his days of being on SI are over for good. I always like McCann better than Francoeur and though Francoeur was the most overrated player in a long time.

International Signing Thread

FishHead — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:28:47 -0000

I was hoping we could use this thread to keep updates of all the international signings going on. Everyone can post any updates or any sources they find on theyre teams website or something. I have this so far:

http://www.saberscouting.com/2008/07/02/july2update/

July 2nd Morning Update

July 2nd, 2008 · 29 Comments

By Kiley McDaniel

There has been intrigue, rumors, and large amounts of money flying around with the opening of the signing period for nearly all of the top 16 year olds in Latin America beginning this morning.

Some scouts and agents started posting in the comments of the scouting reports article and 100 comments later, it turned into a liveblog of sorts of international rumors and facts. It’s still a comments section, so take it with a grain of salt, but there’s some good stuff in there.

ESPN Deportes broke the story that both the Rangers and Reds offered $5 million to Michel Inoa, but he stuck with the A’s offer of $4.25 million because of his comfort with their organization and confidence in their pitcher development system.

The Reds offered a $5 million big league deal and the Rangers went to $5.2 million in a standard minor league deal.

I had heard a few other teams involved on the high end of the Inoa sweepstakes, but the Reds and Rangers had the most buzz all along and now it’s clear why. This is proof that these teams are serious about Latin America, and also underlines a common July 2nd occurrence that I’ll touch on after the jump.

Read on for much more on these developments, and an early list of July 2nd signings after the jump…

EDIT: I’ve added some updated signings and bonus information.

(Michel Inoa photo credit: Victor Perez/ESPNDeportes.com)

Some notes on done deals, or at least the ones that have leaked out so far, beyond Inoa’s $4.25 million to Oakland:

ESPN Deportes tags a few signings on the end of the Inoa story:

- LHP Carlos Perez to Atlanta for $600,000
- SS Anderson Felix to the Yankees for $500,000
- RHP Pedro Martinez to San Diego for $150,000
- SS Jimmy De Los Santos to Atlanta for $100,000

Mentioned in the comments and later confirmed:

- 3B Gustavo Pierre to Toronto
- SS Jose Osoria to Cleveland for $575,000

Padres.com has a press release on the elite talent San Diego has locked up:

- RHP Adis Portillo, $2.2 million
- SS Alvaro Aristy
- RF Luis Domoromo, $1.2 million
- RHP Elvin Tavarez
- UT Corey Adamson

The Padres aren’t messing around, with a spanking new $8.5 million academy in the Dominican and getting some top talent on the first day of the open period. You can check the release for info on the players, like Adamson, who is from Australia and I have little information on.

Aristy, Domoromo, and Portillo were long rumored to be headed to the Padres and are covered in the international scouting reports article. Tavarez, and many of these other players, have bios in Enrique Rojas’ international preview for ESPN Deportes.

Hat tip to commenter Paul, who led me to the link and mentioned some numbers that have been rumored for the last few weeks, and I was able to confirm Portillo’s and Domoromo’s bonuses, while Aristy is strongly rumored to have signed for $1 million and Adamson is said to have been paid in the $500,000 range, but I wasn’t able to get a solid number for Tavarez.

Padres exec Paul DePodesta has his own thoughts on the Padres July 2nd signees at his blog.

The Yankees have also made their signees official:

- INF Giancarlo Arias
- C/3B Jackson Valera
- OF Ramon Flores
- SS Anderson Felix
- RF Yeico Calderon

As mentioned above, Felix was for $500,000, and all of these players were fringe seven figure talents that the Yankees locked up early in the process. While the bonuses aren’t clear yet for all of these players, it appears all five were for below-market, value-type deals between $500,000 and $900,000.

Calderon, Flores, and Arias have reports in the scouting reports article, but, in short, all are excellent hitters with corner player type skills, though Arias may stick at second base. Felix is a hitability shortstop with gap-to-gap power likely moving to second base, and Valera keeps with the theme as a very good bat with plus power but no clear position.

The Yankees focused on guys with high-probability bats that they were able to get at below-market prices, all in an exploding market. This is a dynamic I’ll touch in the next article as the teams that were ahead of the curve and spending a lot of money in Latin America for many years are now trying to find ways to get solid values in a crowded market.

The big market, established teams are the ones with the infrastructure in place to pull off something like the Yankees did; the experienced scouts, relationships, reputation, know-how, etc. Notice how none of the traditional Latin powers are on these big, seven-figure talents, that it’s all relatively new teams trying to make a name for themselves. I’m sure the Mariners, Braves, Red Sox, and Mets list of signees will look pretty similar to that Yankees list.

The Rangers would be considered by some to be a traditional power (others would say it’s the group listed aboce), but it’s not uncommon for players to take less money on July 2nd from a scout/team they are comfortable with, that have a track record with the player, reputation, and tradition. Every year, a team wanting to make a splash makes a late play for top players and gets rebuffed, it just doesn’t always make the papers. While sometimes the player/agent take the money, taking less money is more common than many fans may assume. This open market doesn’t necessarily work like the MLB free agent market, and that’s part of the intrigue.

In the same vein, some good players never get seen by these other teams and some big market teams will get a player for $100,000 that they would’ve paid up to $500,000 for. Obviously, that becomes less and less common by the day. The days seem to be over where teams get a discount because a player grew up wanting to play for them; the scout that knew them when they were 12 is the new best way to get a player for a good value, hence the rush by many teams in the last few years to get the infrastructure of the big market teams in place.

The Braves made two signings in Taiwan, hat tip to reader George L.:

- RHP Wei-Chen Huang for $125,000.
- C Meng-Hsiu Tsai for $100,000

Reported by the Taiwan Baseball Blog, Huang is an 18 year old righty at 6′0, 185 lbs with a fastball that tops out at 90, with a curve and change. Here are some pictures on his agent’s web site of his press conference

Also from the Taiwan Baseball Blog, Tsai is a 5′11, 190 pound that shows an above-average arm and reportedly had interest from the Red Sox, Twins, and Mariners, as well.

While I finish up the next article about the Latin market and bonuses, along with gathering more confirmed signings, take a look at the notes article I wrote to introduce the July 2nd signing period with some numbers and a general feel for the process.

We also have a number of Latin sources posting confirmed numbers in the comments for this article and the ones before it. I can’t confirm all of these, but the commenters haven’t been proven wrong yet, so if you’re looking for news on your team, take a look.

Dodgers Catching Prospect: Carlos Santana

npurcell — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:09:50 -0000

He is breaking out At Inland Empire this year.

Some info on him.

age 22

Switch Hitter

listed at 5'11 170lbs from Santo Domingo in the DR.

Season numbers: 273 ABS 42 XBHs 53bb 44k 319/426/564

He is obliterating the California League in every way possible offensively. He is new to catching, a converted 3b (dodgers like doing this with athletic infielders). He has always shown very good plate discipline in his minor league career but this is the year he is putting everything together.

What are the thoughts of the community? Elite catching prospect? Potential offensive force? California League facade?

Kershaw sent down

DrunkIrish — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:10:48 -0000

...to AA Jacksonville. According to Joe Torre, the move was made because guys coming back from injury crowded him out of the rotation. Because, you know, you can't possibly move Eric Stults out of a starting role.

Kershaw seems pretty upset about the move, or at least the Dodgers not being straight with him about it: "Any way you spin it, I'm getting sent down," Kershaw said. "They can say they don't have enough room. But they sent me up when they didn't have enough room. All those guys were healthy then."

Is it just me, or does it seem like Joe Torre doesn't know his ass from his elbow when it comes to managing young players?

Reid Brignac has been called up.

Cory Alexander — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:57:56 -0000

Jason Bartlett injured himself sliding into 3rd yesterday, and since there are no pure SS's on the Rays roster, The Rays sent down Talbot to bring up Zobrist, and the Cajun God of Baseball, Reid Brignac. Very interesting that they called him up, I'm interested in seeing if Reid gets the significant amount of playing time.

I'm sad to see Talbot was only in the Major Leagues for a day without even getting to throw a pitch. I'd be very disappointed if I were him.

We'll see if Brignac starts on friday.

Brandon Morrow

Sea Diamond — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:46:19 -0000

So, anyone been impressed by Brandon Morrow's dominance in the closer role since J.J. went down? I've gone out of my way to watch every one of his outings, and it's been a pleasure. It's no secret that I've always loved the guy and want to see him be a huge success at the major league level. Considering he saw virtually no time in the minors, I think his development this year has been extremely impressive, slashing his walk rate severely from what it was last year (66:50 K:BB in 2007, 35:8 in 2008). He's throwing just as hard last year, as I've seen him hit 99 on the gun numerous times, but the major difference is in him locating his slider for strikes. When hitters have been sitting back on his fastball (which they aren't doing anything with anyway), that slider is just a nightmare. The changeup is still a bit of a work in progress, and is no more than a show pitch at this point.

I wonder what they will do with him now that management has turned over a bit. I can see the temptation of leaving him as a dominant reliever taking hold, but is the long-term goal still for him to be a starter? I doubt Putz is very comfortable right now. The Mariners have a decision to make - Go the Papelbon route and leave him in the pen, or go the Joba/Wainwright route and have him start. What do you guys think?

Mitch Talbot called up.

Cory Alexander — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:34:52 -0000

The Rays put Percival on the DL, and decide to go with Talbot to take his roster spot. This move is very interesting, as they plan on using him as a reliever, when he has only started in the minors. I believe they are just showcasing him for a trade, but who knows, maybe the Rays get another stud reliever converted from a started like the few there already. (Howell, Wheeler)

In other Ray news, Niemann pitched a hell of a game tonight. 9 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 12 K, 1 BB. Looks like he was pissed that Talbot got the call and he didnt.

wes bankston called up

Asfan4ever723 — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:19:15 -0000

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080702&content_id=3049810&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak

i remember just a couple yrs ago he was on of the rays top prospects. a botched position change and injuries stalled him. he does have good power which A's need so maybe he takes advantage

ANAHEIM -- The A's on Wednesday will place third baseman Eric Chavez, who has been battling a sore right shoulder for the past two weeks, on the 15-day disabled list, MLB.com has learned.

Chavez, who underwent surgery on the shoulder late last year, told MLB.com on Wednesday morning that he saw shoulder specialist Dr. Lewis Yocum on Tuesday and would have an MRI on the shoulder later Wednesday.

AL-only real sleepers and faux sleepers: revisited

The Congo Hammer — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:20:23 -0000

With the season halfway over, let's take another look at the list i compiled in early march:

Real Sleepers -

Ervin Santana - Has been pitching like the borderline ace he has potential to be, remains composed in most outings with better stuff and higher K/BB

Scott Baker - Has been very solid, with 5 consecutive quality outings, pitching just about as well as I had expected with the same strong K/BB

Zach Greinke - Exploded onto the scene as one of best pitchers, has cooled off since but overall has still been quite good

Boof Bonser - started ok, but collapsed in rotation, has sucked in bullpen as well, he might be traded or in minors soon

Andy Sonnanstine - BABIP indicates he should be better, but has been merely average despite good record, not King as many this season.

Daniel Cabrera- just like I predicted, no ace but has made strides in GB% and BB, certainly becoming better pitcher but Ks decreasing with it

Casey Janssen - injured - out for year

Aaron Laffey - started on fire, has been shakier since but overall stats are still very good with low Ks but great GB numbers

John Danks - Has been one of best pitchers in majors this year, a real find for those who took the risk, strong all-around

Brandon McCarthy - injured, expect him to struggle upon initial return

Jeremy Sowers - Guess I was wrong here, stuff if just too week. Needs to improve control, I still have hope he can have a Litsch season

Kason Gabbard - started good, gradually declined, still ok for a texas pitcher, but on DL now

Faux Sleepers:

Brandon Morrow - Great in bullpen, lack of development may not hurt him if he sticks in set-up man or closer role.

Jon Lester - Despite weak periphs, K/BB indicating soon regression, has been very good thus far + no-no

Adam Loewen - had terrible control, now injured

Gavin Floyd - BABIP anomaly but has also improved as a pitcher somewhat, so overrated but still quite good

Troy Patton - injured, out for year

Jesse Litsch - pinpoint control has allowed for good W-L and ERA despite many hits allowed, how long can he last?

JP Howell - sure enough, ended up in bullpen, but has done quite well there and could soon be set-up man

Edwin Jackson - started strong, now showing old inconsistencies, still better than 07 though

Kevin Slowey - better than Sowers, roughly as good as baker though still more hype, has been especially dominant recently

Dallas Braden - hasn't really gotten much of a chance, meh as mid reliever, doubt he'll get to do much more than that

Joe Saunders - another candidate for big second half decline, BABIP etc, but still very good, I erred in underrating grounballer

Brian Bannister - hot start but came back to earth, overall as average as I had expected him to be

So what's the lesson in this? Essentially, when it comes to starting pitching, it really is a crapshoot. Other than that, i guess the only others are appreciate the groundball at least as much as the K (D-Cab, Laffey, Saunders), look for pitchers with great control and good stuff (Baker, Slowey), and hope to just get lucky sometimes (Floyd). Any other ideas based on this list that can help predict who is overrated and underrated?

our mid-season minor league draft

journeymen — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:10:28 -0000

In my fantasy league, to help pass the down-time during the all-star break, we have a supplemental minor league draft. We start the year with six minor leaguers (which could also include players from Japan, college/HS players, etc - anyone not signed to an NL-organization, since we are AL-only), then at the break, we can drop up to two of them (unless you already had some called up to the majors, in which case you wouldn't have to drop them) and get new ones. My current "minor leaguers" are Wieters, Price, Moustakas, Smoak, Tabata, and Japanese player Yu Darvish. (I don't want this to be a discussion on Darvish or Japanese players as a whole - let's just assume I'm holding on to him.) Tim Beckham's not available, and remember we're AL-only, so which players from the draft would you take over any of the players on my list? I'll probably drop Tabata for one of the top players in this year's draft (Hosmer, Matusz, GBeckham), but would you drop anyone else? And would you drop Tabata for anyone other than those three? And of course, whether or not a draftee signs with that team is also a consideration...

P.S. There are a couple other actual minor leaguers who are still available that I'm considering, but since there are a couple guys in my league who read this, I'll not mention them :)

Collin Balester called up to face FLA today

cool hand Charlie — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:39:11 -0000

Collin Balester is getting the call today to face the Florida Marlins in Florida. It will be his MLB debut. He has been solid enough in AAA this year going 9-3 with a 1.30 WHIP. He has a 3/1 K/BB ratio and has 64 K's in 78 IP. He has given up 14 HR in 15 starts, so it might be a problem in the majors too. So what do you guys think about him short term and long term? From what i read, he is a #3 long term. Right? How is his stuff? I haven't ever seen him pitch. And there is only so much you can tell by looking at numbers.

Can't we all get along?

joltinjoe — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:23:33 -0000

I've been surfing this website for the last few months and have very much enjoyed both John's analysis, as well as the comments made by many members of this community. You guys have helped me gain a much better understanding of the minor leagues, as well as helped improve my minor league system in a keeper league.

However, one thing that I've noticed quite a bit in comments, typically in the fan posts, is people will have disagreements on a certain topic and will soon digress into calling each other names and generally questioning each others intelligence.

My question to everyone is: why can't we have a civil discourse without getting into personal attacks?

If everyone agreed on every topic, this site would be boring. At least I know I would be extremely bored with it. Part of what makes this site so interesting is that people have diverging opinions and are willing to share their thoughts with others.

While I realize that some people tend to overrate prospects and others tend to underrate them, I don't understand why people have to get so nasty with what they're writing.

It seems like whenever a long post is made, other members will find one sentence of the post that they find "stupid" and attack it mercilesly while completely ignoring the origional point of the post.

Is it so hard to respect another person's opinion, even if it runs counter to your own? I think a lot of us forget that we're talking about what MIGHT happen with players and that the TRUE OUTCOME isn't known by anyone, even John, who obviously is very informed and intelligent.

Lets not forget that this is a discussion board about a game, which is supposed to be fun. Discussing prospects should be fun, not something that should turn into a nasty attack on a person's intelligence.

As I said at the start of this post, I think this website is pretty cool and informative and entertaining. And I think that if everyone could take a step back and respect each others opinions, the community as a whole would benefit.

Sorry if this post ran a little long and rambled a bit, but I've been thinking about this for a while and thought it should be said/written.

2005 Hypothetical Atlanta Braves

Grudyfan — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:19:34 -0000

This following roster for the 2005 Atlanta Braves assumes what the roster could've looked like if no players departed via free agency or trades. In order to qualify, players must have originally signed with Atlanta as an international signing or through the amateur draft.

Please note that this post is meant to generate discussion on each teams' ability to develop and/or sign homegrown talent. This team is fictional, and details like its economic feasability should be ignored.

Everyday Lineup:
SS Rafael Furcal
C Javy Lopez
3B Chipper Jones
LF Jermaine Dye
CF Andruw Jones
1B Adam LaRoche
2B Marcus Giles
RF Jeff Francoeur
P Slot

Bench:
C Brian McCann
Util Mark DeRosa
1B/OF Ryan Klesko
1B/3B Wes Helms
SS Kelly Johnson

Rotation:
Tom Glavine
Jason Schmidt
Kevin Millwood
Odalis Perez
Jason Marquis/Adam Wainwright

Bullpen:
LR Bruce Chen
LR Chuck James
MR Kent Mercker
MR Matt Belisle
SU Blaine Boyer
SU Mike Stanton
CL Esteban Yan

Excluded players: C Eddie Perez, 1B Randall Simon, 2B Mike Mordecai, 2B Tony Graffanino, 2B Nick Green, SS Wilson Betemit, 3B Andy Marte, OF Ryan Langerhans, SP Kyle Davies, SP Horacio Ramirez, P Darrell May, P Rob Bell, RP Jose Capellan, RP Macay McBride

Rangers Catching Dilemma

sggut95 — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:56:57 -0000

The Texas Rangers have three top-notch catching prospects in their organization, plus one 28-year-old current starter in Gerald Laird, who was hitting .306/.360/.437 before going on the 15-day DL.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Laird's backup most of the season, is hitting a dismal .214/.338/.333 with 3 HR in 117 AB this season, and boasts a career .252/.318/.398 career mark in 425 AB.

Max Ramirez, recently called up from AA Frisco, caught last night's game, was hitting .363/.457/.662 with 17 HR in 237 AB before joining the Arlington club. He hit a homer in his second game, and has also started at 1B.

Taylor Teagarden is hitting .240/.368/.426 with 5 HR in 129 AB at AAA Oklahoma City, after hitting .310/.426/.586 with 27 HR in 394 AB between high A Bakersfield and AA Frisco in 2007.

So what do the Rangers do here, with this apparent logjam? They seem to have a glut of riches, in that they've also recently called up 1B Chris Davis, who promptly hit two homers in his first 8 at bats, after hitting .333 with 23 HR between AA Frisco and OK City.

I see the potential for a trade for a young starting pitcher, possibly a deal with the Red Sox for a Masterson or Bowden. What are your thoughts?

Felix Pie in the Rookie League?

ajw — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:00:30 -0000

I picked up Felix Pie as a throw-in in a Strat-O-Matic trade, and he disappeared from the box scores for the last week or so. Now, he appears to have landed in the Rookie League. Is that true?

www.milb.com says he went 2-3 with a homer, walk and five ribbies on June 29.

Really? That seems like a pretty big sign the Cubs are fed up with him. What are the odds he's in the Cleveland system sometime in the next couple weeks?

Brett Gardner called up

sabernar — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:37:34 -0000

It looks like Brett Gardner was called up to the Yankees today. Hopefully he'll get a chance to replace Melky in CF. With Damon and Matsui hurting (and Melky sucking), he should get a start or two. Good luck to him - he's really improved a lot this season. His power has definitely gotten a nice bump.

http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2008/06/29/sports/doc486838a519540498394678.txt

Gardner was batting .287 with three home runs, 29 RBIs, 34 stolen bases and had a .412 on-base percentage.

2005 Hypothetical New York Yankees

Grudyfan — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:36:10 -0000

This following roster for the 2005 New York Yankees assumes what the roster could've looked like if no players departed via free agency or trades. In order to qualify, players must have originally signed with New York as an international signing or through the amateur draft.

Everyday Lineup:
SS Derek Jeter
CF Bernie Williams
LF Alfonso Soriano
RF Hideki Matsui
3B Mike Lowell
1B Nick Johnson
C Jorge Posada
DH Carl Everett
2B Robinson Cano

Bench:
C Dioner Navarro
2B/SS D'Angelo Jimenez
OF Marcus Thames
SS Cristian Guzman

Rotation:
Andy Pettitte
Orlando Hernandez
Jose Contreras
Eric Milton
Victor Zambrano

Bullpen:
LR Chien-Ming Wang
LR Zach day
MR Ramiro Mendoza
MR Russ Springer
SU Randy Choate
SU Yhency Brazoban
CL Mariano Rivera

Excluded players: 1B J.T. Snow, 3B Andy Phillips, OF Gerald Williams, OF Ricky Ledee, OF Melky Cabrera, OF Juan Rivera, SP Al Leiter, SP Tony Armas, Jr., SP Brad Halsey, SP Brandon Claussen, RP Mike DeJean, RP Randy Flores, RP Sean Henn

A's reach deal for Michel Inoa for 4.25 Million

Bud Light — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:13:05 -0000

According to Baseball America the agent for the Dominican pitcher has told teams deal is place and no need to contact him anymore as signing will be announced this week.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/international-affairs/2008/266411.html

Definetely a BIG signing for the "rebuilding" of the farm system and puts the A's as major players in the international market.

Will this kid duplicate the success of King Felix or fall like many other young players? Only time will tell

James Skelton's Defense

toonsterwu — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:45:03 -0000

I'm just curious if anyone could provide me any more information on James Skelton's defense. I've long thought he was fairly underrated, as his bat definitely plays well for the position, but if his defense can't improve, then his bat really doesn't play all that well elsewhere. What's the flaws in his ability as a receiver? Are they correctable? What are people's general thoughts on Skelton? Kid can hit.

How was Delmon Young ever considered one of the best prospects in baseball?

strums — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:58:37 -0000

For starters he is a brutal fielder, he has a good arm but unfortunately you need to get the ball first to show off arm strength. He's semi-bobbled every other ball this year, not counting when he completely missed it. So as far as fielding I can't see how anyone rated him high on those skills.

As far as hitting - he can make some occasional contact with the ball but his approach is not MLB material. He has had quite a few games where he has gone something like 1-4 facing a total 5 or 6 pitches for the game. His swing is somewhat feeble, loaded on his front side too early and swinging all wrists. Hence the zero home runs.

So my question is, what did all the so-called experts see in this guy?