Yarbrough spent a lot of time on the Memphis DL and got a break when Bryan Anderson was injured. Yarbrough has an OPS about 100 points higher. Catchers are valuable, such that use of the DL has enabled the Cards to keep 3 catchers at the AAA level.

OF Amaury Cazana Marti played in Mexico. This enables us to retain him, though there is not capacity for him on our AAA roster.

OF Mark Shorey has done ok as a AAA rookie. But because we are tight for slots at AAA, he is now on the DL.

Being a part-time AAA player should enable a guy to collect steady AAA pay, so it offers advantages to the player. He does not have to scramble to find a slot with another organization, often long odds. A guy like Yarbrough could conceivably catch a lucky break and find himself on a 40 man ML roster.

Just because they are the “official” site, it doesn’t mean they are always right!

The Cardinals Web site and affiliated mlb.com both show Hoffpauir as being off the 40-man. Was he quietly outrighted at some point or is that an error? Error is possible, since the sites also show Boggs off the 40-man.

It used to be that the college players would generally start at Batavia and the high schoolers would go to Johnson City. The Cards were often at a disadvantage by definition with a very young JC team, not having an entry-level US team in either the Arizona or Gulf Coast Leagues like most other organizations. They fixed that several years ago, adding a team in the GCL. In addition to draftees, the GCL club is most often the first US stopping off point for players that have graduated from the academies in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

From lower to higher, you have GCL -> JC -> Batavia, so Adams’ move should be considered a promotion.

One other thought. Because the GCL team is located in the Cardinals complex in Jupiter, Florida, same place as Palm Beach, more and more injured players are doing rehab time in the GCL. A simple matter of convenience.

Hope that helps…

Big Matt Adams is hitting .400 for Johnson City. He is the 4th player drafted by the Cards from Rock, three others being selected back in 1982 and 1983.
Slippery Rock is a Division II NCAA school. In 2009, Adams led all Division II colleges in batting average. I guess the provides perspective about Division II baseball. Just because you play well there, does not make you a high draft choice.

Another guy like this was 1B Curt Smith. Smith hit a ton for the University of Maine-Orono, but this only got him drafted in the 40th round, because an undersized 1B. Smith hit well at Johnson City last summer and has shown he can handle the stick at Palm Beach and Springfield this year. (Because a bigger guy, Big Matt projects better at 1B.)

Another Div II wonder is 3B Racobaldo. He is a senior from a college that was the national Division II champion in 2008. He is hitting .400 at Johnson City as well.

Some folks are dismissive about small college guys. But the Cards are getting good production out of some of them.

Its uncommon for a contract to be disinvented, as with Folino (27). The Cards wanted to add lots of pitchers, but apparently changed their mind in his case, though he was in Batavia and on the team, interviewed by his hometown newspaper. Maybe the medical review. Since he had not pitched yet, the contract could be disinvented with minimal publicity.

In past seasons, Mike Lindskog of Springfield maintained the team’s roster, which was on their official website. It was separate from MiLB’s. MiLB has been busy assimilating individual team and league sites, bringing (forcing) them into the MiLB template, which happened to Spr this season.

Are team sites at Milb.com the team sites in a consistent format (a la scout.com) or are they Milb.com sites with info on each team? I assumed that the Springfield site was the Springfield official site in a Milb.com format but maybe not.

Arrendondo is no longer on the JC DL but active at GCL. He’s a guy I was high on but who knows after the injury.

The media guide is an annual publication.

Good news on Bittle’s signing.
Hope they go easy on his arm the rest of this year.
He’s got an out pitch that good SEC hitters had trouble picking up and getting good “wood” on.