2010 Opening Minor League Rosters

[craig]

With Marques Smith having gotten traded up to Iowa with Thomas returning to Tennessee, I'm afraid that might unfortunately mean that Flaherty will play mostly 3B, with journeyman roster-fillers Samson, Thomas, and Opitz sharing 2b. I'd have preferred for Flaherty to spend all his time at 2b, in hopes that he can eventually play acceptable 2B defense. His bat is a lot more likely to be a big-league asset as a regular 2B than regular 3B.

[craig]

OK, rotation guesses (pending the Raley decision):

 

Iowa: Diamond, Coleman, Jackson, Mathes (token lefty), and either Atkins or Parisi.

 

Tenn: Cashner, Muschko, Bibens, Chen, and Papelbon (token lefty).

 

Daytona: Archer, Cabrera, Dolis, Rusin (lefty), Rhee and Searle. I'll guess Raley gets bumped. I'll guess that some kind of piggy-back is used (or two if they end up keeping Raley, or perhaps even three or four if they still think Shafer or Martinez or Leverton would benefit!) They may have plenty of piggy-back candidates. Archer and Dolis are too wild to average more than 8 innings between them per piggy-back start. Rhee is young, is coming off surgery, and has never pitched a full summer. He might benefit from a controlled number of pitches/innings.Raley hasn't pitched a full spring-and-summer before either; perhaps he'd be on a controlled pitches/innings count as well?

 

Peoria: Without Raley, Antigua (lefty), McNutt, Struck, Jung, Morla, Whitenack, Nagel. That's seven, Raley would add an 8th. One or more may not be in the rotation/piggy-back schedule. Struck? Morla?

[craig]

Even if Raley does stick at Daytona, that's not much of a surprise for a big-college control pitcher.

 

Flaherty skipped, but he's old, fairly mature personally, and with Vitters and Lemahieau playing 3B/2B at Daytona, that was a glut anyway. Not much of a surprise if any.

 

My biggest surprise is Rhee. I wonder if that's just to keep him in a warm weather climate to avoid freezing his arm in Peoria; or if it reflects that he's been impressive in Mesa and has actually earned that surprisingly high start? He's hardly pitched at all as a pro; his full-season pitching was not only brief but it was two years ago; and his actual effectiveness in short-season last summer and in instrux last fall was not very good (even if there were some instrux reports that he was looking closer to his former promise.) Would be really exciting if he's 100% back physically, and if he's pitching well already besides.

[Outshined_One]

I wouldn't be surprised if we see Rhee piggybacking with someone down in Daytona. When he pitched last season, his outings were incredibly brief. He might even be in the bullpen to start the season in Daytona.

[Guest]

AZ Phil said Larry Suarez and Jae-Hoon Ha were the last two cuts from Peoria's roster.

 

1B Matt Spencer will likely start the Tennessee season on the DL with a broken toe.

 

It seems like Daytona's roster is set on their web site (outside of Smaily Borges being a coach, guh?): http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=450&stn=true&sid=t450 Raley is on their roster.

[Guest]

Preseason exhibition games:

 

Iowa vs Iowa Hawkeyes on Wednesday (public workout at 4 pm on Tuesday).

Tennessee vs Walters State on Tuesday

Daytona vs Embry-Riddle on Wednesday.

Peoria vs Bradley on Wednesday.

[craig]

Tenn pitching: with Siegfried and Sommer down to Daytona, by my count that leaves 13 pitchers, assuming that Leverton wasn't promoted up. So probably one more cut or DL to make. I'll guess one of Carillo, Blackford, or Muyco.

[craig]

Tennessee Roster:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=553&stn=true&sid=t553

24 players listed (12 pitchers)

DL: Lambert, carpenter, Spencer. Patton not listed, but he's also DL.

Cut: Blackford

 

Daytona Roster:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=450&stn=true&sid=t450

25 players listed (13 pitchers)

Gone: Leverton, McDaniel, James

 

Peoria Roster:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=443&sid=milb

24 players listed (12 pitchers)

 

Other than the lefty reliever added to get Peoria to the standard 13 relievers, these seem like the real rosters.

 

Very few DL listings, that's good. I can recall spring rosters 6 or 10 years ago where they would be littered with name pitchers who were hurt. (Justin Jones, Ryu, Petrick, Blasko, Clanton....)

[Guest]

Iowa roster: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=451&stn=true&sid=t451

 

Write up: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100405&content_id=9083910&vkey=news_t451&fext=.jsp&sid=t451

 

Tennessee lineup card:

 

Knoxville News Sentinel[/url]"]His lineup card: Tony Campana, center field; Starlin Castro, shortstop; Ty Wright, left field; Blake Lalli, first base; Robinson Chirinos, catcher; Russ Canzler, third base; Brandon Guyer, right field; Ryan Flaherty, second base, and the pitcher.

 

...

 

Twenty of the 27 players on the 24-man roster - pitchers Chris Carpenter (shoulder) and Casey Lambert (Tommy John surgery) and outfielder Matt Spencer (broken toe) start the season on the disabled list - have worn a Smokies uniform in the past.

 

Tennessee's official rotation: RHP Andrew Cashner, LHP Jeremy Papelbon, RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx, RHP Hung-Wen Chen and RHP Craig Muschko.

[craig]

That Tenn report is good, Flaherty is still at 2nd after all, which is a big relief to me. (I'd thought a move to 3rd might reflect that they were disappointed with his 2B defensive progress. And obviously his bat is more likely to be an asset as a 2B than a 3B.)

 

Surprised that Canzler is opening day 3B! We'll see, Darcy also talking Samson/Opitz/Chirinos for 3B, so obviously that's kind of a committee spot. I'd think Tony Thomas might maybe get into that mix too.

 

Nice to see Muschko confirmed for rotation. I have no idea what his stuff is, how he got so many guys out so consistently 2nd half last year, whether his stuff has any chance to play in the majors, and whether his Daytona success has any chance to sustain. But I'm glad it apparently carried over well enough to sustain a rotation spot this spring, and I'll hope that he does sustain his success in AA.

[toonsterwu]

Per Peoriachiefs.com

 

Pitchers: Jeffry Antigua, Jeff Beliveau, Steve Grife, Su-Min Jung, Jordan Latham, Corey Martin, Trey Martin, Ronny Morla, Jon Nagel, Andres Quesada, Nicolas Struck, and Robert Whitenack.

 

Catchers: Jovan Rosa, Mario Mercedes

 

Infielders: Justin Bour, Hak-Ju Lee, Matt cerdan, Logan Watkins, George Matheus, and Greg Rohan,

 

Outfielders: Richard Jones, Jesus Morelli, Alvaro ramirez, and Jose valdez.

 

I'm fascinated and excited about the roster. There certainly are bigger names on other rosters, but I'm very happy with this roster.

 

I was a big fan of Rosa, hoping that he would tap into that power potential as he developed. He clearly had issues last year with finding that, but if he can stick behind the plate, and there were those positive reports from AzPhil, then as long as he maintains his current power, he becomes very intriguing.

 

Watkins/Lee is certainly an intriguing up-the-middle combination, and along with Jose Valdez, the Chiefs certainly have boatloads of speed. Will be curious if any show power development of any sort. Will be curious if any of the big bats mature enough to ponder as a serious threat (Bour/Rohan/Jones) to move up the system as a guy to watch.

 

I've been intrigued with Jesus Morelli for quite awhile now. Easy to forget he's only 20 this year. By all accounts, decent approach at the plate, and there's some power potential in that frame. Nate, could you tell us what his weight is? He was a skinny kid, IIRC, the reports from 2 years ago and last year. But his frame was supposed to be able to carry some more.

 

The pitching intrigues me. AzPhil gave McNutt some mighty high praise a few days back, saying he'd be the 4th best pitching prospect in our system right now (after the big 3). Considering he was working with Daytona, if he's that good, he could move up sooner than later. Antigua obviously holds a lot of intrigue, due to his age, performance upside, and our dearth of lefty starters.

 

I was fascinated with Latham 2 years ago. Leaving aside his personal issue from last year, if he shows the low-mid 90's fb and slider he had 2 years ago, I could see him move fast. I remember thinking 2 seasons ago that the difference between Latham and Blake Parker wasn't much.

 

I was excited about the Jake Fox trade partly due to the Ronny Morla addition. 3 pitch arsenal, can work in the low-mid 90's. Looks like he made some improvements last year, but the A's didn't move him up. Certainly, he needs a big year, because IIRC, he's Rule 5 eligible after 2010. Corey Martin has a big fastball, IIRC (93/94).

 

Beliveau holds fancy since, if he can't stick as a starter, he could move fast as a LOOGY. I gotta think part of the reason he's in Peoria is because the chances of him getting enough pitching time in Daytona might've been limited. I sort of think Nagel is getting overlooked a bit, but certainly, he has to show more. Hard not to be intrigued with a big hoss like that who has a good, hard sinker. Whitenack/Grife/Jung all intrigue. Does anyone know if Grife is starting or in the pen? Good fb/cb iirc.

 

Struck might be the one that fascinates me the most. Good athlete (played up the middle). 4 pitch arsenal that gets into the low 90's. Feels like some of the arms from the 2008 draft.

 

I'm quite excited about this club. In terms of how it's put together, it feels like a good club with top of the order capability, some guys who should be good minor league middle of the order guys at least. Should be fairly sound defensively, and there's a good collection of arms to rotate in different roles until we figure out what guys do well.

[toonsterwu]

That Tenn report is good, Flaherty is still at 2nd after all, which is a big relief to me. (I'd thought a move to 3rd might reflect that they were disappointed with his 2B defensive progress. And obviously his bat is more likely to be an asset as a 2B than a 3B.)

 

Surprised that Canzler is opening day 3B! We'll see, Darcy also talking Samson/Opitz/Chirinos for 3B, so obviously that's kind of a committee spot. I'd think Tony Thomas might maybe get into that mix too.

 

Nice to see Muschko confirmed for rotation. I have no idea what his stuff is, how he got so many guys out so consistently 2nd half last year, whether his stuff has any chance to play in the majors, and whether his Daytona success has any chance to sustain. But I'm glad it apparently carried over well enough to sustain a rotation spot this spring, and I'll hope that he does sustain his success in AA.

 

I believe Muschko is low 90's, decent slider, decent change. He works fast, and attacks hitters, and obviously has control Will be interesting to see how his stuff plays at Tenn.

Edited April 6, 2010 by toonsterwu

[toonsterwu]

Iowa roster: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=451&stn=true&sid=t451

 

Write up: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100405&content_id=9083910&vkey=news_t451&fext=.jsp&sid=t451

 

Tennessee lineup card:

 

Knoxville News Sentinel[/url]"]His lineup card: Tony Campana, center field; Starlin Castro, shortstop; Ty Wright, left field; Blake Lalli, first base; Robinson Chirinos, catcher; Russ Canzler, third base; Brandon Guyer, right field; Ryan Flaherty, second base, and the pitcher.

 

...

 

Twenty of the 27 players on the 24-man roster - pitchers Chris Carpenter (shoulder) and Casey Lambert (Tommy John surgery) and outfielder Matt Spencer (broken toe) start the season on the disabled list - have worn a Smokies uniform in the past.

 

Tennessee's official rotation: RHP Andrew Cashner, LHP Jeremy Papelbon, RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx, RHP Hung-Wen Chen and RHP Craig Muschko.

 

Very happy Flaherty is getting 2nd base time, but a bit curious why he's batting 8th.

 

Tennessee sure looks relatively ... pedestrian. That said, with Castro there, they'll have a lot of eyes on them.

 

I still think the Cubs should just put Jeremy Papelbon in the pen. I know he takes time to warm up and isn't really suited to fill a short role out of the pen, but that's his likely future, IMO.

[toonsterwu]

I wouldn't be surprised if we see Rhee piggybacking with someone down in Daytona. When he pitched last season, his outings were incredibly brief. He might even be in the bullpen to start the season in Daytona.

 

That's my big concern with Rhee - does he actually have the frame to hold up as a starter? I know AzPhil questioned this several years ago when he first saw him stateside.

[Guest]

Looking at how weak Tennessee's rotation is (admittedly with Carpenter hurt), it's disappointing a few Daytona guys like Dolis didn't get bumped up.

[craig]

I believe Muschko is low 90's, decent slider, decent change. He works fast, and attacks hitters, and obviously has control Will be interesting to see how his stuff plays at Tenn. Is this somewhat of a Randy Wells case, where his stuff might play better than people think, or will he get exposed?

 

Thanks much, toon. If Muschko actually can **routinely** throw in the low 90's (as opposed to touching 91 once every other game...), then I'd think he's in play. As with most guys, the command, movement, deception, and consistency mean a lot more than one or two mph on the fastball.

Edited April 6, 2010 by craig

[craig]

Knoxville News Sentinel[/url]"]His lineup card: Tony Campana, center field; Starlin Castro, shortstop; Ty Wright, left field; Blake Lalli, first base; Robinson Chirinos, catcher; Russ Canzler, third base; Brandon Guyer, right field; Ryan Flaherty, second base, and the pitcher.

 

......- pitchers Chris Carpenter (shoulder) ...

 

Very happy Flaherty is getting 2nd base time, but a bit curious why he's batting 8th.

 

.....

 

I still think the Cubs should just put Jeremy Papelbon in the pen. I know he takes time to warm up and isn't really suited to fill a short role out of the pen, but that's his likely future, IMO.

 

1. Carpenter with shoulder, yuck. OK, remove him from my top ten. Hey, did anybody ever mention that it wasn't so smart to bring him back to the mound after a 45-minute rain delay last summer? Aachh.

 

2. Flaherty 8th: he's stepped up two levels, and he didn't hit for especially high average last year (.276 average, .814 OPS). Wright, Lalli, Chirinos, Canzler, Guyer, they have all played extensively in AA and shown some production in AA or A+ already. Hopefully it doesn't reflect that Flaherty has looked blah this spring. I do recall last spring being surprised when he not only failed to make Daytona, but started out batting 6th or 7th, behind such Peoria luminaries as N Perez and scrubs like that. Maybe he's a slow starter?

 

3. Papelbon: hadn't heard the slow warmup thing, that's not good for a fringer whose only decent big-league hope is as a reliever. I think he fills the token lefty role that they want in every rotation (Mathes at Iowa). He was effective in rotation, so a manager who wants to win, I can see that. Frankly, his present in rotation I think may reflect the poverty of alternatives. On the Tenn staff, Carillo is the only alternative, and he's not too exciting, nor LH. With Cal, I wish Dolis had been great in camp and earned an AA spot; evidently not. Actually for Papelbon, he's probably lucky to have the rotation spot; he certainly wouldn't beat out Sasser or Buchter for either of the LH relief spots. I'd definitely keep many the Tenn relievers (Buckter, Sasser, Cales, Maestri, Mateo) over Papelbon. He'd need to beat out either Carrillo or Muyco to make it in relief, I'd think.

[craig]

...

Struck might be the one that fascinates me the most. Good athlete (played up the middle). 4 pitch arsenal that gets into the low 90's. Feels like some of the arms from the 2008 draft....

 

Thanks for the note on that. I was out of the loop I think when Struck signed, I knew little about him other than that he's short and 39th round. So today is fun to dig up some of the info on him.

 

An unusually thorough hometown article after he was signed, including comments from both the kid and the scout. Scout (Al Geddes) makes reference to “He throws four pitches for strikes and they’re all good pitches…

He’s got a quick arm and a good move to first base.... He’s a good kid, and the family’s very nice too.” Struck "says his fastball was clocked consistently at 89 to 92 miles per hour" during the summer league, and that “...they have one or two minor things they want to change in my delivery — add a couple of miles an hour to my fastball.” If he's actually 89-92 with potential to add a couple more, that could certainly put him into "real prospect" territory. Of course, every kid signed they think might add some mph; and sometimes self-reports on velocity are a bit deceptive, too! Still, for a strike-thrower, that could be fun.

 

This part was funny too: “The final signing day they made me an offer and I said, ‘Could you go a little higher?’ They called me back and said they could, and I asked, ‘Can you go higher?’ And they said they could go considerably higher.” “I’m not allowed to reveal the amount, but — including school — it’s six figures,” Struck said. Did we ever get any info on how much it actually was? I don't think any HS/JC picks ever sign for less than 6-figures unless they are academically ineligible for college. So I wonder whether perhaps he was starting at 6 figures, and it's not just the standard $100K but is $150K or more by the end? Anybody ever find out?

http://www.clackamasreview.com/sports/story.php?story_id=125131681593128000

 

Nathan has some struck info in his blog:

http://peoriachiefs.mlblogs.com/

[karenmac]

here's a thing I did for my new blog tracking where past Chiefs have gone...thought it might be of interest to some of you...

http://karenmacinpeoria.blogspot.com/2010/04/former-chiefs-in-2010.html

[NCCubFan]

I didn't realize Ryan Harvey is now in the Rockies' system.

 

And it's kind of interesting to think of Lilly and Ramirez as former Chiefs.

[karenmac]

as far as the Chiefs are concerned, anyone who's done rehab with them "counts" - and I'm good with that :D

[Guest]

Mike Parisi will be the opening day starter for Iowa, Andrew Cashner for Tennessee and Robert Whitenack for Peoria.

 

Ted Lilly will start on Friday for Iowa and is slated through 75 pitches.

[toonsterwu]

Had a quick q for folks - where is this stuff that Valdez is the fastest guy in the system coming from? I know he's fast, but if he's the fastest guy in the system, we're talking ... hell, we're talking olympic speed almost considering some of the speed we have in the system (exaggerating a tiny bit).

 

Tbh, I thought Valdez was fast overall, but that his baseball speed was better than his straight line speed (relative to what is considered good for each type) and hence why he got the fastest baserunner nod from BA's Top 10 list.

 

Maybe I missed something, though. If so, I'm very curious to know.

 

Granted, fastest overall straight line guy doesn't matter THAT much in baseball, but it's just something that catches my eye this time of year, considering the NFL draft is coming up. Furthermore, it may be an issue of semantics, as I read "fastest guy" and think straight line speed (partly due to NFL draft).

[craig]

Had a quick q for folks - where is this stuff that Valdez is the fastest guy in the system coming from? I know he's fast, but if he's the fastest guy in the system, we're talking ... hell, we're talking olympic speed almost considering some of the speed we have in the system (exaggerating a tiny bit).

 

Tbh, I thought Valdez was fast overall, but that his baseball speed was better than his straight line speed (relative to what is considered good for each type) and hence why he got the fastest baserunner nod from BA's Top 10 list...

 

My perception is that we don't actually have much speed in the system. Am I missing somebody? I see five players in the system with notable speed:

 

1. Valdez

2. Lee

3. Campana

4. One of the new Koreans, the short one. I doubt BA considered him, since he hadn't appeared in the US.

5. Watkins

 

I know Watkins is fast, but he successfully stole only 14 bases last year, despite having 91 walks/singles. I'd expect a super speedster would be both more successful and more daring in short-season. So he's not really in the mix for "fastest".

 

So I'd guess that it's really Valdez, Lee, and Campana at this point. Peoria watchers should have a better idea of how Lee and Valdez compare.

[toonsterwu]

Is Francisco Guzman still around? I know he was supposed to have good speed.

 

When all the rankings were going around this offseason, I took a look at other systems, and I thought that the Cubs had more than enough speed, ranging from some fast guys, to a lot of above average guys. Maybe I'm off.