Friday, March 28, 2008

Lets send our best talent to the minors!!

I don't understand the deal with some teams this season, or any season really because this has happened for years. Why do teams with little or no chance to win a division title this season insist on sending the best talent on their teams to triple A? There seems to be a heavy list of guys that should be playing in the big leagues that instead will toil on some small town team with a weird name like Mud Hens, Iron Pigs, Sea Dogs, or Isotopes.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia - This kid can hit and everyone knows it. Its not a secret anymore. Yet Jarrod will spend at least the start of his season as a Red Hawk, rather then a Ranger. Now this is a guy who can catch, play first base, and since they are in the AL he can DH. Well you say there must be good veterans blocking his positions, I guess if you consider Gerald Laird, Ben Broussard, and Jason Botts good veterans. I don't, and you shouldn't either.

Broussard is the only guy with any significant MLB experience, but as Cleveland, and Seattle know he is not a guy you want anchoring first base for your team all season. This is what he did last year:

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
99 240 27 66 10 0 7 29 17 50 2 .275 .330 .404 .734


Not all to impressive.

Then we have the two guys who really have almost no real time in the majors, career stats:

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
Laird 120 407 48 91 18 3 9 47 30 103 6 .224 .278 .349 .627
Botts 48 167 19 40 8 1 2 14 19 59 1 .240 .326 .335 .662


Notice the sub .250 batting averages on both these guys, the horrible K/BB ratio, and overall poor numbers.

Finally we have Salty who did the following during his time in Atlanta and Texas last season:

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
93 308 39 82 13 1 11 33 19 75 0 .266 .310 .422 .732


Great numbers? No not really, but clearly better then the other 3 guys listed above him. Oh did I mention he is also five years YOUNGER then the youngest(Botts) of Botts, Laird, and Broussard? Its moves like this that make everyone realize why Texas hasn't won a division title since 1999.

Luke Hochevar - Anyone know where the Royals are going to end the season? Oh last place you say? Horrible team you say? Yea thats about 100% right. So what do they do? Oh send the 2006 #1 draft pick down to the Omaha Royals (who could probably beat the real Royals). Granted he is young and only has 12 innings pitched in the majors(with an ERA of 2.13 I might add), but what do the royals have to lose? Instead they are going to run out bums like Brett Tomko(career: 93-92, 4.62, 1.37), and John Bale(career: 3-3, 4.47, 1.44) rather then the guy the spent the first pick in of the 2006 draft on. Granted I can hear some of you now, "But oh great Bean Head Hater aren't you worried he could get hit hard in the bigs and be ruined?!" Um NO I AM NOT!!! Doesn't matter when he comes up, if it is now or in 5 years, if he is a weak minded guy and he gets smoked then he will be ruined. Doesn't matter if it is now or when I have kids(which is a long time away). I see the Royals being in last place, AGAIN.


Evan Longoria - Yea so here we have another very good Tampa Bay prospect who has shown great skills in the minors. Its amazing how much good hitting they have, but I guess 1000 years in last place and top draft picks will do that to you. Mr. Longoria has nothing to prove, at all, in the minors. Since 2006 he has steadily dominated the minor league levels as he moved up, and scouts love him. In 2007 his minor league stats:

AB R H 2B HR RBI BB K AVG OBP SLG OPS
AA 381 78 117 21 21 76 51 81 .307 .403 .528 .931
AAA 104 19 28 8 5 19 22 29 .269 .398 .490 .888


The greatest stat on this line is his almost 1 to 1 walk to strike out ratio in triple A. That means he had no problem handling the pitching there, and any drop seen in those stats is mostly due to bad luck. This kid is ready for the big time, but who is stopping him? Oh the super star Willy Aybar(that rhymes). The Rays moved incumbent natural 3B Iwamura to second to make room for Longoria, so I am sure sometime this season we will see him him, but why wait. Willy is not a good option, I don't care how good his stats look.

Cameron Maybin - Who in Luke Skywalkers name is Alejandro De Aza?!? Oh hes the guy standing in center field for the Florida Marlins. the same guy who has a career .229 average, with 0 home runs, 8 RBI, and 2 stolen bases, in 144 AB of work. Wait, go back and read that impressive stat line. Yes this guy is blocking Maybin, a legit 20/20 threat in his rookie season, 30/30 after that. I guess the Marlins are thinking they have a chance(I don't) and De Aza is the better choice(I don't). I really do think Cameron can hit better then .229 in 144 AB, seems inevitable. Either way Cameron will start his season as a Mudcat, not a big fish.

Honorable mentions:
  • Homer Baily, Reds - He is probably better off as far away from Dusty Baker as he can get.
  • Jay Bruce, Reds - My main man dominated the minors more so then the above listed Evan Longoria, but has a HOF, and a guy who hits 40 HRs in his way. Its a wait to see how long it is until Griffey gets hurt.
  • Steve Pearce, Pirates - Can only play the corner OF spots and he isn't moving Jason Bay or Nady anytime soon.
  • Josh Fields - He should probably be listed above.
  • Chase Headly - Kouzmanoff isn't great by any stretch, but he isn't bad by any stretch either. Chase better learn how to play RF before Brian Giles falls over dead in the 7th inning of some game in June.

I must say thank you to Mr. JP for getting me started with my anger of the stupidity of some of these moves, with out his bantering I might not have decided to write this.

4 comments:

JP said...

As much as the Rays wanna deny that keeping Longoria in AAA is a financial move, it clearly is. They have one of the longer possible "championship windows" in the bigs right now and by starting Evan in AAA they extend their rights to him by one more year. This is a small budget team and is probably the right business move. However, Willy Aybar won't be selling tickets anytime soon.

Mr H said...

Agree with JP - Longoria is strictly a financial move. Nothing more to say about that.

Salty is a catcher - he can play 1B in a pinch, but with 11 errors in his 38 games there, do you really want that? Also, his offensive numbers were skewed last year by the .284 he hit in AAAA. He dropped to .251 during his time in Texas. Botts shouldn't be part of the discussion, because he's the backup 1b/dh (source). Laird gets the nod at catcher - he's a career .246 hitter who was as high as .294 two years ago, throws out attempted stealers like it's his job, and isn't costing the rangers much. Broussard isn't a stud, but he's servicable. Assuming Texas wants Salty to be their Catcher of the Future (TM), it doesn't make any sense to keep him on the MLB bench, or at first, when he could be playing every day in AAA. Decent (not even good...just decent) catching is hard to come by, so the Rangers should have no problem moving Laird in the season if Salty tears up AAA.

As for Hochevar, he may be a #1 pick, but he didn't exactly light up AAA last year (5.12 ERA in 10 starts, roughly 2-1 K/BB ratio, 11 HRs in 58 innings). As for the "Doesn't matter when he comes up, if it is now or in 5 years, if he is a weak minded guy and he gets smoked then he will be ruined", I present to you Cla Meredith. A reliever drafted by the Sox in 04, he raced through the minors, made his MLB debut in early 05 in a tight game against Seattle. Walked 2 guys, gave up a slam to Sexon, got yanked, and was never the same in the Boston organization (gave up 7 ER in 2.3 innings of MLB experience that year). Gets traded to San Diego in the offseason, and in a new lower stress environment drops a 1.07 ERA over 45 appearances. The counter of the "they're not going anywhere this year anyways, so why not?" argument is "they're not going anywhere this year anyways, so why rush him?"

Running out of time here, but Maybin has virtually no experience over AA, and hit .143 in 24 games with DET last year (although he did hit his first and only homer off of Clemens, which amuses me to no end). He's still a pup, and will have plenty of 30/30 seasons in him.

Boston Baked Bums said...

Yea JP hit the nail on the head there. He's alright that guy.

Like you said, Cla Meredith blew it in a pressure situation and lost his cool. The royals aren't exactly a pressure situation. Also Petco park would help anyones ERA, and if you look at Meredith spits there is a 2.68 point difference home and away. I think its safe to say Cla never had the stuff to start with.

As for Salty I don't care if he is not catching, he should be DH'ing at least. Yahoo has a different depth chart then ESPN seems to Source

Either way if its Botts or Catalanotto DH'ing Salty is a better choice. And if you leave him up you can split time between him and Laird. That way he improves as a catcher, and gets big league at bats.

Your right Maybin has just a sip of tea in the majors. But I think if I have the choice of a guy who might be 20/20 or even 10/10 and the future of my franchise, or the paper weight know as Alejandro De Aza, I take the maybe 10/10 guy. Maybe it is just me.

JP said...

The Salty argument is the one that falls through due to his position. The defensive aspect of catching is for most teams more important than the offense; hence why it is a shallow fantasy position. It is better for Salty to receive 200 live pitches a day 5-6 days a week with a catcher's coach overseeing his progression than to give him sporadic starts in the bigs. He will get less time to work on his skills set (which are far more complex for a catcher than a corner outfielder)in the majors and this will stunt his growth as a major league back stop. There is no doubt he can crush baseballs, but the Rangers are hoping they can get some value for Laird and that Botts can develop into the power DH they need. If the Rangers do indeed have a championship window, it wont be open for a couple of years anyway. Until that time they would rather showcase a couple of vets to possibly get some value for them. Prediction: expect Laird to be moved within a year and for Salty to be the starting everyday catcher before age 25.