Well, I had the 2009 Palm Beach opening roster pretty close to accurate in my projection this morning. Now, sooner than expected, I have the real thing.
All 12 position players are the same as forecast previously. The final 13 pitchers come from the group of 16 candidates from earlier minus Eddie Degerman, put on the disabled list, Mark McCormick, likely returning to Springfield when ready and Jared Bradford.
| NO. | PITCHERS (13 + 1 DL*) | YRS. | B/T | HT | WT | D.O.B. | 2008 CLUB | ACQUIRED |
| 10 | ADDITON, Nick | 2 | L/L | 6-3 | 170 | 12/16/87 | Quad Cities/Palm Beach | 47th/2006 |
| BRODERICK, Brian | 2 | R/R | 6-6 | 205 | 9/01/86 | Quad Cities | 21st/2007 | |
| CASTILLO, Richard | 2 | R/R | 5-10 | 180 | 10/11/89 | Palm Beach/Quad Cities | ND/2007 | |
| *DEGERMAN, Eddie | 3 | R/R | 6-4 | 205 | 09/14/83 | Quad Cities/Palm Beach | 4th/2006 | |
| 15 | DIAPOULES, Mark | 2 | R/R | 6-2 | 200 | 05/31/88 | Quad Cities/Palm Beach | 21st/2006 |
| EAGER, Thomas | 2 | R/R | 6-2 | 200 | 8/12/85 | Quad Cities/Batavia | 5th/2007 | |
| FREEMAN, Samuel | 1 | R/L | 5-11 | 170 | 6/24/07 | Johnson City/Palm Beach | 32nd/2008 | |
| 23 | GARCEAU, Shaun | 3 | R/R | 6-1 | 185 | 08/28/87 | Quad Cities/Palm Beach | 20th/2005 |
| 36 | KING, Blake | 3 | R/R | 6-1 | 195 | 4/11/87 | Quad Cities/Palm Beach | 44th/2005 |
| 47 | KOPP, David | 2 | R/R | 6-3 | 190 | 10/22/85 | Palm Beach/GCL Cardinals | 2nd/2007 |
| KUILK, Ryan | 1 | L/L | 5-11 | 200 | 12/03/85 | Batavia/Quad Cities | 8th/2008 | |
| LYNN, Lance | 1 | R/R | 6-5 | 250 | 5/12/87 | Batavia/Quad Cities | 1st/2008 | |
| REIFER, Adam | 1 | R/R | 6-2 | 195 | 6/03/86 | Batavia | 11th/2007 | |
| SANCHEZ, Eduardo | 3 | R/R | 5-11 | 155 | 2/16/89 | Quad Cities | ND/2005 | |
| NO. | CATCHERS (2) | B/T | HT | WT | D.O.B. | 2008 CLUB | ACQUIRED | |
| 18 | DERBA, Nick | 2 | R/R | 5-10 | 190 | 09/09/85 | Palm Beach | 30th/2007 |
| 3 | VASQUEZ, Paul | 2 | R/R | 5-10 | 160 | 03/07/85 | Quad Cities/Palm Beach | ND/2007 |
| NO. | INFIELDERS (6) | B/T | HT | WT | D.O.B. | 2008 CLUB | ACQUIRED | |
| CURTIS, Jermaine | 1 | R/R | 5-11 | 190 | 7/10/87 | Batavia | 5th/2008 | |
| 7 | KOZMA, Peter | 2 | R/R | 6-0 | 170 | 04/11/88 | Quad Cities/Palm Beach | 1st/2007 |
| 4 | MARMOL, Oliver | 2 | R/R | 5-10 | 165 | 07/02/86 | Palm Beach/Quad Cities | 6th/2007 |
| RIVERA, Francisco | 1 | L/L | 5-11 | 170 | 12/03/88 | Batavia | ND/2007 | |
| SEDBROOK, Colt | 1 | R/R | 5-11 | 180 | 7/28/85 | Batavia | 22nd/2008 | |
| SMITH, CURT | 1 | R/R | 5-10 | 205 | 9/09/86 | Johnson City/Quad Cities | 39th/2008 | |
| NO. | OUTFIELDERS (4) | B/T | HT | WT | D.O.B. | 2008 CLUB | ACQUIRED | |
| CHAMBERS, Adron | 2 | L/L | 5-10 | 185 | 10/08/09 | Quad Cities | 38th/2007 | |
| 25 | KINGREY, Charles | 2 | L/L | 6-2 | 210 | 01/19/85 | Quad Cities/Palm Beach | 22nd/2007 |
| PETERSON, Shane | 1 | L/L | 6-0 | 195 | 2/11/88 | Batavia | 2nd/2008 | |
| PHAM, Thomas | 3 | R/R | 6-1 | 175 | 3/08/88 | Palm Beach/Quad Cities | 16th/2006 |
Once the speculation begins, the Cards have incentive to clarify misunderstandings.
Flattering, Jumbo, but quite likely off the mark.
I’m watching Gregerson pitch the ninth for SD two strikeouts. Kids got a few good pitches. Clean inning.
A lot of interesting prospects to follow:
1. no less than 5-6 starters in tandem rotation that could earn a quick AA promotion with the right performance and a needed at AA.
2. big arm in the pen as a closer – Riefer
3. the most interesting new left handed reliever on the scene – Freeman
4. fprmer #1 pick in the infield in Kozma
5. 3 very athletic OF – all with a chance for a big upside: Chambers, Peterson, Pham
6. 2 guys at 1b – Smith big numbers from a not as highly regarded draftee and a 20 year old Rivera who hit well last year in QC.
In 2005, the Cards signed a southpaw out of Rowan, a Division III college in south Jersey, used to be known as Glassboro State. Josh Schwartz had won 37 or so games in a row. He lasted to the bottom of the draft because a soft-tosser and the competition was not strong. The Cards east coast cross-checker was based in New Jersey and so in the 2008 draft the Cards ended up back to Rowan for another southpaw, Kulik. This one has good velocity, 92-94, why he had to be selected as high as the 8th round. Kulik started in college and will start for Palm Beach, but he is like Freeman. Both are sub-6″ lefties with velocity, from out of the way places, who the Cards hope can develop into loogies.
College seniors can rack up strong numbers at Johnson City hitting against younger pitchers. If there is not an open roster spot at Batavia, they stay at JC and keep on hitting. Mark Shorey did so and has now risen to Memphis. Isa Garcia did and reached Springfield. Curt Smith will find tougher pitching in Florida, but should hit ok.
Isa Garcia, who played at Springfield last season, recently signed on with an independent league team in Fort Worth, TX. Keep swinging, Isa!!
Xavier Scruggs is another guy who seems to have fallen through the cracks, Released? EST?
Scruggs was competing for a job at QC. I think PB would have been unrealistic. I presume he stayed behind for EST.
If the X-man had spent another year in college, then enjoyed the added benefit of lower assignment at Johnson City, he might have seemed exciting last year. Overall, the Cards have a lot of folks within EST.
In terms of EST, my current unconfirmed count is 81 players participating, including 43 pitchers. Even without the 2009 draft and free agent signings, there are already enough players in camp to fill all three short-season US-based teams. Same with the players remaining behind in the Dominican and Venezuela.
If there are 3 short season teams, they have large rosters, lets say 95 altogether.
Of the 81 unofficially in EST now, let us guess that by mid-June, 15 will have been fed into the full season teams; 6 are injured; and 5 quit. This would yield 55 for the 3 short season teams.
To which we add 30 signees in June. We then have 85 for 95 slots. It seems in the ballpark of the manpower needed.
Pitcher Rigoberto Lugo left EST and decided to do something other than baseball. He was probably way down the depth chart. IIRC, he passed up a college offer to turn pro after high school. There can be disadvantages to turning pro at an early age. A kid can be much less polished than college trained pitchers so its hard to get minor league playing time, but he has now given up the juco and college alternative.
In fall 2006, Lugo signed a letter of intent to play at East Carolina University in 2008, announced by its baseball program. This would have been contingent on him playing college ball, not turning pro, as he later chose. This kind of announcement likely does not imply Mr. Lugo would have received abundant financial support to attend this school, since a lot of baseball programs can offer only modest scholarship help. So he would likely have had a choice between shouldering the costs of college and pursuing additional education, versus trying pro ball out of high school. This has to be a not-easy choice for many and getting tougher in today’s economy.
Beau, 15 feeding into the full time teams seems high. I remember about 4-5 last year and some of those were only temporary until a guy came back from injury. While we may have a few more than 4-5 injuries we also have a few guys that will be coming off the DL as well.
The Cards seem pretty adept, nowadays, at moving guys around the system. If they only can move 5 up out of EST by mid-June, then according to my other assumptions, we would have 95 men for 95 slots. Nifty how that would work out.