I am in Palm Beach-ish, but in no position to try to keep up with a young lady. Sorry, bb!

One question I have–would the Cardinals consider founding a baseball academy in the USA?
There is a tremendous amount of untapped baseball talent in the homeland.

Luke Gregerson was a relief pitcher for an NAIA team. He had great stats and they were legit, because he has a strong slider. He was a good find.
Pete Parise is another converted position player, one with a sinker; fine UDFA.
OF Derrick Shepperd had the body, so why not take a gamble? He did not pan out, but its still worth a roll of the dice, because you never know how much a guy can surprise. Every 7th Shepperd or Jon Edwards might develop into a good hitter, so the more you sign, the better.
Boggs and Sam Freeman had crummy ERAs in college, but have the arm strength to break wood bats. Degerman might have worked out, if he could have controlled his curve.

A plus, go to, unhittable pitch seems important. Wainwright’s excellence seems built on a plus curve, supplemented by other pitches. This is why Rich Hill could surprise, if he can control that thing. Luhnow may understand this, since he keeps an eye open for knuckeballers, this spring Zink.

Where does he rank the Cards system?

If higher than the consensus (I’m sure it is), what are the others missing? What specific players does he think are not being given their due by the ranksters (I love inventing words)?

Ask him to rank the system’s SS’s (Solano, Kozma, Jackson, Castillo, Valera, Hernandez, others) in terms of potential (probably wont due it).

What minor leaguers seem to have made the most progress this off season (getting in shape, seem sharper this Spring (not looking for a rehash of players that did well in Winter ball))?

Position switches for minor leaguers this year? Is Scruggs only a 1B? The same question abut Adams and Rodriguez. Will Curtis be moved to 2B? Can Brown, Smith, Hill, and/or Rivera play OF at the major league level (defensive wise). Will Hamilton see significant OF time this year? Can Conley definitely stay as an OF?

Any minor league relievers who will be tried as starters this year? Is Daley going to stay in the pen even if he has refound (love those invented words!) his control? How many walks does he think we’ll see out of the Springfield pen between Samuel, Daley, Riefer, and King (just kidding).

What is the major reason guys such as Reifer and Kelly who seem to have great stuff seem very hittable at times?

Blazek, Hooker, Zawacki, and Ferrara – who seems most poised for a breakout this year?

Are there any ground ball specialists in the system who dont have great K rates but who’s sinker is so good that is could carry them to the majors?

Who are the best Parise candidates – pitchers who have no hype, good but not great stats, yet could advance quickly?

Do soft tossers such as Addition, Hearne, Castillo and Gorgon have a greater need for an “out” pitch or is it more about mixing the pitches up?

Do they expect Castillo to still add velocity at this point?

Who would he pick as the most likely to pull a Craig or a Walters from last year’s draft class (lower round picks who were unimpressive is short season ball but took off their first full season)?

Who does he see at 3B in Springfield (no true 3B candidates that seem ready unless they think Carpenter has progressed that far) ? Is it pretty certain De La Cruz can stay at 3B defensively?

Schnieder and Mortenson had nearly identical 1st year stats – is there much chance of Schneider advancing as rapidly as Mortenson?

Does Cutler have the skills to stay at catcher? Audry Perez’s catching skills? Hill will continue catching? – would they keep him at AA to get more catching development even if they thought his bat was ready to move up? Cruz seems to have mastered throwing out runners, what parts of catching does he still need to work on most? Are there any catchers in the system who have yet to show a bat but their catching skills could carry them a long way ( a la a Pagnozzi type)? Was De La Cruz (the catcher) overhyped or is there a hidden reason he hasn’t seemed to have progressed much?

Why hasn’t Ryde Rodriguez shown much power – is it a swing issue? Do you expect that to change in the near future?

Who are the true CF’s in the system (range, speed, arm are no question for the position)

Does he think Jones has the arm to play RF?

Pham and Edwards – are their K issues related more to their swing or to pitch recognition?

Oscar Taveras – how come he gets no hype? true CF?

Are there any players from the DSL/VSL who he thinks have a legitimate shot at starting this year at JC or higher?

What is the key to Parejo advancing? He seems to have stalled.

Is there a next Fransisco Samuel in the system? (great stuff but not harnessed).

Health status of Kopp, Diapoules?

If you think the interview will be too short I have some more

Why do we spurn an underachieving Stanford OF in Taylor, who has upside tools and was recently traded one for one for Wallace, and instead sign a mediocrity like Eager, who now cant rise above A level?

In 2009, we selected Scott Bittle in the 4th round. Bittle had a sore arm, off and on, for years. Was this a calculated medical gamble he could gain from a cleanup shoulder operation?

How are the experiments of converting Tony Cruz and Stephen Hill to catchers going?

More questions:
–with benefit of hindsight, what’s Luhnow’s biggest regret so far on draft day? (Maybe he will not want to answer, but one good answer would be passing OF Taylor for RHP Tom Eager.)
–do the Cards value determination and good attitude too much on draft day versus innate athleticism?
–do the Cards have more permissive size requirements than some other teams?
–what’s more important in scouting: an uncommonly good evaluation on one player or consistently accurate evaluations for many players?

The above piece notes McIlvaine works for the Twins and the Globe-Democrat article gives Rigoli credit for discovering Morris. You seemed to have missed those the first time through.

I will include your questions in the mix. Thanks for them.

how much time is devoted to having to recruit new scouts (to back-fill departures)? is there more scouting turn-over outside the US?

do the Cards, as a routine business practice, aim to learn from past drafts and factor lessons into future ones?

given monster bonuses commanded outside the US, illustrated with Chapman, does this give the Cards new incentive to offer above slot bonuses within the US?

Re 2009, Joe McIllvaine has been a strong talent guy for many years, ultimately becoming GM of the Mets. He probably drafted Dwight Gooden, among others. Hes with the Twins now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_McIlvaine Terry Ryan with the Twins has been saluted in 2010.

Rigoli would have signed Jason Motte, 19th round catcher from a low profile New York college. He could have been involved in picking Matt Morris, who played collegiately for Seton Hall in north Jersey, near where Rigoli has been based.

Al Goldis helped the White Sox select Auburn 1Bman Frank Thomas, after the Cards picked a lemon back in 1989. He claims credit for outstanding defensive CF Devon White. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/28/sports/baseball-pair-of-scouts-are-using-history-to-help-shape-the-mets-future.html?pagewanted=1