The Hunter is being hunted
Memphis outfielder Amaury Cazana Marti, labeled “The Hunter” during his successful summer campaign in Mexico, is competing against the country in the Caribbean Series. The 34- (or 30) year-old played winter ball for Licey in the Dominican Republic and his club is representing the nation in the Series.
Through his first four games, Marti has struggled badly, looking very anxious at the plate, often overswinging. After starting the series batting #5, he has been dropped down to the #7 spot and has just one single, one walk and six strikeouts in 16 plate appearances. His 1-for-15 mark translates to an .067 average. Defensively, the Cuban émigré has seen time at both corners.
The regular winter season was a different story. Against Dominican League pitching, the right-handed hitter posted a .314/.390/.535 line for Licey. He hit seven home runs and drove in 34 over 172 at-bats. However, Marti fanned 42 times.
While the 2006 draftee remains under Cardinals organizational control for 2009, he was not invited to major league spring camp as he was in 2008. Unless he is added to the 40-man roster by next winter, Marti will be eligible for the December 2009 Rule 5 Draft.
(Scout.com subscribers, be sure to check the site on Friday for my view of some potential starting pitching targets coming out of the Caribbean Series. “Playing a Hunch: Edgar Gonzalez to St. Louis?“)
How Larry Bigbie Became the Most Important Man in Baseball
A very, very interesting read about how a reserve Cardinals outfielder inadvertently opened up the government’s steroid investigation.
Skip at second a serious matter
MLB.com’s Matthew Leach is turning up the heat on the Skip Schumaker to second base story. He does not mention that this move does not address the left-handed splits problem, however. Neither Adam Kennedy (bad – .596 OPS last year) nor Schumaker (really terrible – .423 OPS in 2008) can hit lefties. So a platoon makes no sense.
They would never say it this way, instead pointing to 2010 potential, but the immediate benefit is all about making roster room for Colby Rasmus, while quietly exiting Skip from the starting outfield picture. I think it is incredibly optimistic to think Schumaker could become a major league starting-quality second sacker, but maybe a credible reserve level of play can be achieved.
If the experiment works, the five bench guys would seem to line up as Jason LaRue, Chris Duncan, Skip, Joe Mather and Brendan Ryan, with Rick Ankiel, Ryan Ludwick and Rasmus starting in the outfield.
That seems to be the plan as I interpret it.
Lefty to the left coast
The Seattle Mariners announced on Thursday that they have signed left-handed reliever Tyler Johnson to a minor league contract with an invitation to major league spring training camp.
The 27-year-old had been non-tendered by the Cardinals after missing all of 2008 and part of 2007 due to shoulder problems. Overall, Johnson pitched in 116 games for the Cardinals with a 3-5 record with a 4.32 ERA. He allowed 67 hits, struck out 65 and walked 42 in 77 career innings.
Johnson’s primary claim to fame was playing a major supporting role in the 2006 post-season. He fanned a dozen in just 7 1/3 playoff innings on just one earned run for a 1.23 ERA with the eventual world champs.
The Bigbie story hints at how pervasive steroid use was throughout the sport, for decades. Bigbie, Ryan Franklin, Troy Glaus, Troy Cate, Tony Rasmus, on and on.
How wonderful steroids must be to make everyone such a superstar, like Bigbie, Cate, and Tony Rasmus. Save one little problem: they did not become stars. Did they get cheated and get placebos? The wonder shots did not help them?
The very few who have been singled out for persecution and dragged through the mud to titillate fans are just headliners. It was useful that they were truly great baseball players, so their greatness could be torn down, attributed to shots.
Chemical helpers have pervaded the game for ages. During the 1960s, Jim Bouton’s team-mates partook of amphetamines and greenies. Its a very long season and the Show must go on.
Does it look like someone upstairs is trying to do a little coaching by narrowing Tony’s options?
This may get interesting. I agree he is trying to force Tony into using Colby, like I’ve been saying, but I don’t think that quite does it. Ankiel is gone. Mo knows Tony will be forcing Chris D into left field, pushing Ludwick to right. Mo isn’t stupid. This is BD saying what he wants and the elves trying to make it happen. This could get ugly, and who would guess whats really going on. Everyone will be scratching there heads trying to see a rational pattern. There isn’t. Tony will make Skip his lead off because we never really go him one. Tony is history, but who is he supposed to get pissed off at, Mo?
– Between that good regular season line in the Dominican, and the bad Caribbean Series line, Marti also had a spectacular DWL postseason: putting up a .378/.422/.627/1.048 line in 21 playoff games that aren’t included in the Dominican regular season numbers.
– What are the chances that Barden might bump Ryan from that projected bench roster? Barden seems more versatile afield and wasn’t bad on offense last year.
sf, good point on the playoffs. Marti was as hot then as he is ice cold now. He seems lost in the crowd with the Cardinals.
My ongoing pessimism about Barden is based on how little of a look he has been given when with St. Louis. Most recently, he was up with the Cardinals for the entire month of September and got a grand total of nine at-bats, for pete’s sake. Don’t you think if he was seriously being considered for an MLB role the next year that he would have received more than two at-bats per week? Makes me wonder why he was even called up.
because they need to see if lopez was worth signing??? Don’t know what more they wanted out of him. Marti still confuses me, Is the competition level not that good in the latin leagues, or does he just not look like his skills will cut it in MLB? Or is it that we have way too many young OFs that we can’t mess around with a 34ish year old. If this is case why don’t we trade him?
A 34-year-old career minor leaguer probably wouldn’t bring much in trade.
Freese did not get a call-up in September, but thanks to the Glaus injury, is well-positioned to get play in 09. September play may not count for much with TLR.
In Sept 08, TLR played impending free agents (Izturis, F. Lopez) and another vet (Kennedy) rather than rookies. He wanted to keep his best team on the field; help free agents to be land good money in other towns; and send a message to rookies that they will have to fight to earn a roster niche. I like such messages. Barden knows nothing will be handed to him and he will have to produce from the get go. The injury to Glaus probably helps him a little bit. Barden swings a better bat than Ryan, while Ryan is not a great defensive SS, so Barden could earn the slot.
Freese did not get a call up because they didn’t want to put him on the 40-man roster and because they wasted two call ups on going-nowhere veterans Josh Phelps and Mark Johnson. If they were serious about using September callups to further prospects, Phelps and Johnson would have been sent packing a month early. Barden couldn’t “show any fight” by being nailed to the bench all month.
Interpreting September callups can be difficult and frustrating, and there is room for over-interpreting too.
I agree Freese did not get a September callup, because an 06 draftee and the Cards did not want to be obliged to add him to the 40 man roster, thereby reducing their roster flexibility for the Rule 5 draft.
The Cards displayed loyalty to Phelps and Johnson. Phelps has years of ML service; he was a free agent at the end of 2007 who the Cards persuaded to join them, for depth behind Albert, given his elbow. Albert played the season, so Phelps spent it in Memphis, where he did a good job for the Redbirds in a must win situation, since the Memphis owners were fed-up with years of losing. Phelps rendered loyal service, he got a promotion. He parlayed a strong 2008 at Memphis into a contract with the Giants for 2009. Similarly, Mark Johnson was a fringy ML backup catcher who was a free agent after 07 and we persuaded him to sign on with us, so as to bolster Memphis and to tutor Anderson. We probably promised both Johnson and Phelps a September callup if they were healthy when we signed them. We delivered on our pledge. Treating players fairly and honestly, and rewarding loyalty, these are important business considerations.
Overall, it seems to me TLR and the Cards do not necessarily put a lot of weight on September. They instead seem to put weight on 1) spring training play; and 2) the totality of what a player did the preceding year. Barden is on fine shape on (2), and we shall see how he performs this spring.
“If they were serious about using September callups to further prospects….”
I am not sure what this implies. The Cards will say a lot of things. Maybe they have said that September callups enable them to look at some prospects. Nothing wrong with saying this. But I would imagine a variety of factors go into who gets called up in September, not just one factor. September is not only about prospects, but also about being faithful to past promises as may have been made to Johnson and Phelps, as incentives for their signing on with the Cardinals AAA squad.
We do agree on one point – possible over-interpretation. Your theories on the always-noble motivation behind these various actions are interesting, but are clearly just personal views.
i really hope no matter what Marti gets his shot at AAA this year. He is older than the others and has done EVERYTHING we have asked of him to better himself and help our team structure in the minor league outfield. IMO he should get a starting LF/RF spot at AAA and stay there until he sinks or swims. this offseason was not the first time he has flashed his bat. What are his splits against lefties this offseason and in the minors?
I really also hope this Skip thing only happens for emergency situations…or as a means of posturing to agents that we would rather keep him than trade him for nothing (since they know we need to a move an OFer) Skip has worth to a lot of teams out there including us. I still would like him as our “Taguchi like guy” for a while. I would prefer moving Duncan or Mather, and while i woudl prefer to move Duncan it isnt because of his injury status or unfulfilled dreams of power, it is mostly because we have so many left handed bats already, as well as his limited defensive capabilties…and to be honest if he is healthy in ST he could be a nice trading chip, young, cheap, power..i think there are teams that would rant him..(Toronto,Seattle anyone?)
I really do not want the only “proven” backup in the middle of the infield to be Brendan Ryan, i woudl like to have Barden/Tyler/Thurston in there…i mean, there is no guarantee Kennedy will hit well and Ryan stalled his growth too…i’d hate to have a a lineup that NEEDS the pitcher to bat 9th, not because Tony has given up on the pitcher 8 spot thing, but because the pitcher has the better chance of getting on (over dramatic i know..but against lefties i think you could argue for Waino).
It would seem fair to say Phelps was not in the plans for the Cards for 09, so he was going nowhere with the Cards, yes. The Cards must have known this when they chose to promote Phelps in September. They must make promotions for reasons and these may be diverse. I offered a reason the Cards may have promoted Phelps and Johnson. Other explanations are possible as well.
A reputation for treating employees fairly is an advantage in most industries. While money must be a large factor for free agents deciding a new employer, there can be supplemental factors. If the Cards want to recruit future free agents, it should behoove them to fulfill recruiting promises and maintain an honorable reputation within the fraternity of players and agents.
In September, 2005, Adam Wainwright had his first callup. He only tossed two innings. He had already thrown 182 at Memphis, so maybe the Cards just wanted to have him soak up some atmosphere, but did not want to work him more. IIRC, Adam was planning a marriage, so may have bailed a little before the end of the season for this purpose. Perhaps it is an example of how September play does not necessarily prefigure the next season, when Adam made the ML roster out of spring training.
Skip would be an okay backup at second, but it isn’t like you can stash him there when a lefty is throwing. His splits are simply horrendous against lefties. What’s the point, really? To bench Kennedy and play Skip in his place? Why don’t they give Skip a shot at third if they want to find another role for him?
Watching this dialog is interesting. There seem to be a number of issues that are hard to categorize or understand. Any chance there might be some tension between Tony and Mo/BD about what they are offering him to work with. Last September, the Kennedy in Right or Miles in Left was a protest by Tony. How not.
Westcoast, who was TLR supposed to play in the outfield last September? Ankiel? hernia. Duncan? neck surgery. Mather? hamate injury. Barton? hamstring, IIRC
I see Dizzy. Cardinal Org. has no outfielders. Or we lose important leverage on what? How about a AA, single A. The Rasmus non-call is plausible, may be one other. It must cost money to bring up a player. Why not leave Lopez out there. Trying to say you want him at second base maybe? For defense, right. Wasn’t Stavanova sitting there?
Westcoast, I’m sorry but I don’t follow your rambling here. Are you asking me questions or are you simply wondering with your keyboard?
If a team normally carries five or six outfielders and four of your guys are hurt and unable to play, somebody has to fill in. Stavinoha put up an OPS of .428, an OPS+ of 14. Fourteen! Corner outfielders are supposed to provide some pop and he didn’t earn any playing time. I don’t see it as a protest.
there were several moves by tony last season that i failed to understand, like letting izzy hit and not pitch the next inning. But seeing tony do weird things is nothing new, i’ve been following him since his first year with oakland. i have quit trying to interpret the front office’s motivation for the moves or non-moves they make. talk about puzzling! at this point, i wouldn’t be surprised by much. been following this team for forty eight years and for the first time i am at a complete loss to find logic in much of anything. not living in st. louis, i don’t get any of the other sports exposure except on line. but something strange is going on in cardinal nation. never seen so much fan unrest. and mo’s chat on stl today was mind boggling in so many ways. i just hope the team performs to the level they did last year. what an amazing effort by our players, way over expectations. in some ways that is more fun than a championship team. i’m really looking forward to seeing what these kids can do.
A long, strange winter, indeed.
I think I’ve made my point Dizzy. I think it is pretty natural to try to make baseball sense out of the situation. A natural response. We were playing to win right.
The team avoided doing anything that might have suggested there wasn’t all that much in the minors. After not making a move using prospects and or taking on salary at the deadline, because we had untouchable prospect made of pure gold, they were merely avoiding the obvious risks surrounding exposing them selfs to any more negative PR. The game had nothing to do with it.
Diz: Welcome back from Abilene. Westcoast used to bring out the spell checker in me, while Brian can sometimes help me keep in touch with my positive side.
I’m just hoping the outfield situation gets sorted out during spring training and a couple left handed hitting outfielders can be traded then.
All this talk of converting Skippy to second base? Kind of tiresome, what is wrong with having a real
second baseman ? Seriously it seems the Redbirds could come up a pretty good prospect package for Brian Roberts–but maybe the O’s don’t need outfielders.
Marti is an enigma in the Cardinals organization but I enjoy his hitting exploits. He must be considered too old at 48 to contribute much on the farm , hence his repeated appearances in the Mexican League.
Agreed on all points, montana. I’ve liked Roberts for a long time, but so have the Cubs and other clubs, too. The O’s are rumored to be notoriously difficult to swap with though. I hope the lefties come out strongly in the spring so a trade market can open up.
Courtesy of Strauss, we have another Skip at 2B story. No more hard-hitting than the others. Nothing but happy talk with no discussion of the negatives. Guess it is the time of year for optimism…