Prospect and Minor League Discussion

Post #121 » by **Chach** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 7:37 am

I was at work all day so I'm psyched to hear that we got Lin.

Chiang is a very interesting prospect that I am following personally. I would like to see him more patient as well but he may be a Howie Kendrick guy who simply makes so much contact that he will never draw a lot of walks. Walks, for me, are somewhat useless on their own. Sure you get on base and don't make an out but for me, especially in the minors, it's the process of drawing a walk that is more important to me. Being selective at the plate, waiting for a pitch that you can drive, fouling off strikes that you can't do much with, taking close balls that you can't do jack with. This process is what is valuable to me and if a guy can be somewhat selective at the plate and not draw walks simply because he is so talented at making contact, I am cool with that. mahalo
~Chach~

Post #122 » by **Bleeding Green** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:38 am

I can't wait to see Brandon Moss tear up the NL Central next year as a National.

Monkeyfeng06 · Post #123 » by **Monkeyfeng06** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:53 am

hooray! another taiwanese player going to the major league! good news! finally i don't have to cheer for the yankees.. i heard lin is a great prospect. in taiwan, he's the the "taiwanese ichiro". so i guess, good job! maybe i can help you guys find some info on lin and translate them for you guys.

The Rondo Show · Post #124 » by **The Rondo Show** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 3:20 am

Daniel Bard threw a no hitter. And he still wasn't even that good.
5 IP, 0 hits, 6 walks, 4 strikeouts, 0 runs.

Ellsbury, 2-4. Kottaras hit a 3 run walkoff.

Lars, 1-2 with 2 walks.

Post #125 » by **Chach** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 3:23 am

So we have the Ichiro and the Lebron of Taiwan in our system.

It's certainly an improvement over the past. I like the four strikeouts, part of his problem in college was not missing bats (although the 6 walks could have helped). So we'll see what happens, I think he'll end up alright. mahalo
~Chach~

BS007 · Post #126 » by **BS007** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:37 pm

How's that George Kattaras guy doing? I saw him hit a homerun for the PawSox the other night, only his 2nd of the year. Will he be our backup for Tek next year? Is his the replacement for Varitek in the future when the time calls for it?

Post #127 » by **Chach** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 4:16 pm

Hopefully it is just a poor start but I'm starting to have my doubts. His line is .205/.284/.318 and reports are coming out that his defense is pretty below average still; he's having real trouble throwing runners out. If he gets hot, he may get a look as the back-up next year but I think we'll have Maf for one more year. Kottaras will need the actual development time in the minors if he wants to make it.

Mark Wagner might stand a decent shot of being a starting catcher in a year or two. He's got a good defensive reputation and he's starting to develop offensively. His offensive numbers are certainly inflated playing in Lancaster, his slugging on the road is only .365. But he is still drawing walks and is having some bad luck on the road. His BABIP is something like .256 because he's only have 74 ABs so SSS Warning. His line drive rate drops and his groundball rate goes up on the road so there may be something there. I think the kid could get promoted before the season is over and get some time in at Portland. He'd likely begin next year in Portland and get promoted to Pawtucket if all goes well and that might set him up to take over for Tek or, at worst, have a one year stop gap before him. We'll see. mahalo
~Chach~

Post #128 » by **CFan21** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 3:42 am

A question for all you prospect gurus out there --- will there be an odd man out among our young outfielders?

I don't think a single one of us questions that, if all goes according to plan, Jacoby Ellsbury is our starting CF next season.

I also wouldn't doubt a scenario in which Wily Mo is traded and David Murphy gets called up as a 4th outfielder.

Murphy certainly profiles as a top backup or possibly even a starter, but then you add Moss to the mix. Who's going to get the short end of the stick. We'll be saying so long to Manuel in another year and I don't think for a second that Theo and company plan on just having one power bat in the lineup.

Would Moss, Ellsbury and Murphy all fit into one outfield? Would Moss in LF, Ellsbury in center, Drew in RF and Murphy at backup be a good outfield, a serviceable one, or a below-average one considering our expectations?

Post #129 » by **Chach** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 7:30 am

Murphy gets the shaft because he's not terribly good. He may pull of the 4th OF thing but I see Moss as the 4th OF next year with Drew the back-up in CF. Moss could conceivable become Manny's replacement when his contract is done. mahalo
~Chach~

Post #130 » by **CFan21** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 4:50 pm

If so then we'd need to bring in a power bat. A-Rod?

Post #131 » by **Chach** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:46 pm

Moss could possibly deliver as a power bat. At his current pace, if he were to get 600 ABs, he'd hit 31 HRs. Tremendous, hardly. But he would be a bit shy of Manny's pace. If you get 25 HRs out of your corner OFs and 40 plus out of Papi, you're in pretty good shape. If you remember the Yankees dominant teams, they were not considered a "slugging" team, they have line-ups stacked with guys who hit for moderate power. I think their last championship year, they had like 10 guys in double digit HRs and several over 20. They didn't have a 50 HR threat, they just had a lot of guys that got on base and guys with good power. Moss currently has a IsoP of .250 and he is walking at a 40% clip. I think, if he's legit (and that is a concern), then he would be a adequate replacement when Manny walks without the need to splurge on another power bat. mahalo
~Chach~

Post #132 » by **CFan21** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 3:34 am

Yeah but I seriously doubt Papi is going to be pleased that his protection will be Kevin Youkilis instead of Manny Ramirez or Alex Rodriguez or another elite bat.

Post #133 » by **Chach** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 4:04 am

Well Papi isn't going to hit like this forever so tough nuggets. We can't build our future around the needs of an aging DH. Will it mean an end to most of our Papi Clutch moments, probably. But is it really worth it financially to go out and overspend on protection? I mean, who is a viable candidate that we have a hole for? Aside from A-Rod, I don't see many openings. I envision a line-up in 2009 of
Ellsbury
Pedroia
Papi
Youk
Drew
Lugo (or replacement SS)
Moss

with a third baseman and catcher thrown in there. Does that line-up strike fear into the hearts of men? It's not Murder's Row but with a pitching staff of
Beckett
Matsuzaka
Lester
Buchholz
Bowden
and Paps closing, that's is 1)an extremely young but, by 2009, a relatively battle tested team and 2)extremely cheap, which has two benefits. More money can be invested in foreign markets and the draft and we can have tremendous flexability in terms of trades because our team will be so cost effective. I don't expect to win a WS in 2009 but 2010 and on could be a Yankees type Dynasty set-up with even more help coming along the way in the system. mahalo
~Chach~

Post #134 » by **Bleeding Green** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 4:12 am

That lineup is top-3 in baseball depending on the quality of the 3B and C. Plus it is tremendous defensively.

Also, I prefer it when Papi isn't "protected". It leads to more intentional walks and he's on base more, which is always good. Protection is nonsense.

Post #135 » by **Chach** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:38 am

Bleeding Green wrote:That lineup is top-3 in baseball depending on the quality of the 3B and C. Plus it is tremendous defensively.

Also, I prefer it when Papi isn't "protected". It leads to more intentional walks and he's on base more, which is always good. Protection is nonsense.

Thank you. Even though BBJ isn't around as much anymore, I can always rely on you to show up and explain what I tried to say.
<-e-homo
mahalo
~Chach~

Post #136 » by **Bleeding Green** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:49 am

You gotta keep it short and sweet. Like a kiss from Christopher Lowell.

JCizzle · Post #137 » by **JCizzle** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 7:45 am

Who's going to drive Papi home? Are we going to have a revolving door at the 4 hole for whoever is hot? The IBB's are great, but only if you have someone that can get him around the bases (and remember, Papi isn't really Coco out there rounding the bases).

As much as I absolutely despise ARod, I'd make a push for him if he opts out. From what I've read he's good friends with Papi, so maybe a looser atmosphere surrounding him would be the ticket. Obviously a wild pipe dream at this point with the money the Chicagos and Anaheim will throw at him.

alwayslovetheceltics · Post #138 » by **alwayslovetheceltics** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 12:42 pm

curious... given bubba bell's numbers- why hasn't he been promoted?

The Rondo Show · Post #139 » by **The Rondo Show** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 12:51 pm

Chiang may have just had his best game as a pro yesterday. 3-3 with a double and 2 (!!!) walks. His power is excellent for a teenage 2B (and teenage any position, actually), if he can just develop SOME plate patience- look out.

Jason Place finally starting to hit as well. 2-4 with a double and improved his June OPS to .880.

Clay is on the mound later tonight.

Post #140 » by **Chach** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 4:13 pm

JCizzle wrote:Who's going to drive Papi home? Are we going to have a revolving door at the 4 hole for whoever is hot? The IBB's are great, but only if you have someone that can get him around the bases (and remember, Papi isn't really Coco out there rounding the bases).

As much as I absolutely despise ARod, I'd make a push for him if he opts out. From what I've read he's good friends with Papi, so maybe a looser atmosphere surrounding him would be the ticket. Obviously a wild pipe dream at this point with the money the Chicagos and Anaheim will throw at him.

If you have a good 4-5-6 hitters then you don't need one big bopper behind A-Rod. Also, with our dynamite pitching staff, we won't be in the position of needing to score two runs in the 9th all that often.

I have yet to figure out why Bell is still in Lancaster. He is hitting at a tremendous clip, he's walking 1)at a very good rate and 2)has walked CONSIDERABLY more than he has struck out. He is hitting for great power, hitting both lefties and righties. He's crushing the ball on the road and his BABIP, while high, is pretty in line with his average, both at home and on the road. That will regress a bit when he gets to Portland but if he's still in Portland on July 1st, there has to be something up. I mean he is 24 tearing up the Cal League so that has something to do with it but I want to see if this kid actually has the goods and time in Portland will show us that. mahalo
~Chach~