Highlights from Thursday’s St. Louis Cardinals minor league spring training games in Florida.
On Thursday, the Cardinals’ five squads remained home as the Marlins walked across from their side of the complex. As always, Cardinals director of minor league operations John Vuch shares game highlights. The raw data is his, with the comments mine.
Team summary: With camp nearing its end, the Cardinals had by far their best day of the spring as all five clubs won, from top to bottom. Prior to Thursday, their best afternoon was 3-1-1 on the 27th, also against the Marlins. Palm Beach pulled over .500, the only one of the five to accomplish that.
Combined records: The Cardinals records on the day were 5-0. Spring totals are now 25-31-8 overall and 18-24-4 versus external competition.
My Pitcher of the Day: Matt Frevert of Columbia, MO did not allow a baserunner and fanned three in two scoreless innings of work for Springfield. I bet the family will be traveling to see him this summer.
My Hitter of the Day: Springfield outfielder Adron Chambers (pictured) hit a home run, tripled, scored twice and collected two RBI. Batted .365, third in the Colombian League this past winter – the country, not the city mentioned just above!
Friday’s schedule: Another camp day in Jupiter is planned during which intersquad games will be held. Saturday will be the final day of formal competition as the three northern clubs get ready to head out. Bus rides are done – for the spring, anyway!
Memphis (4-7-3) defeated New Orleans, 7-5
Memphis Pitching
Trey Hearne – 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 K
Kevin Thomas – 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K’s – Tossed three scoreless for Palm Beach last time out, but far fewer baserunners this time.
Josh Kinney – perfect inning with 2 K’s – Much better this time out after having a rough spring.
Matt Scherer – perfect inning with 1 K – Improvement here, too.
Tyler Norrick – 1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Memphis Hitting
Tyler Greene – 3-for-5 with a run scored and RBI – I wonder if he heard about the Lugo trade? (grin)
Jon Jay – doubled twice, walked and scored a run – Needs to create a need for his services in St. Louis.
Amaury Cazana – doubled in his only AB
Daniel Descalso – walked and scored a run in his only PA
Kevin Howard – singled, walked, scored a run and had an RBI – The minor league vet brings his bat every day.
Mark Shorey – double, walked and scored twice – A semi-regular in these highlights.
Charles Cutler – doubled, scored a run and had 2 RBIs – Has always hit regardless of the level. Career .317 batter in two professional seasons.
Shane Robinson – tripled
Springfield (5-6-3) defeated Jacksonville, 8-4
Springfield Pitching
Gary Daley – 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K – A couple of runs, but just one walk.
Blake King – 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K’s – A very strong outing. Maybe this is the year…
Thomas Eager – 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K’s
Adam Reifer – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Eduardo Sanchez – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K – Finished them off. Had ten saves for Springfield last season. Yielded three runs in 3 1/3 innings with St. Louis earlier in the spring.
Springfield Hitting
Adron Chambers – tripled, homered, scored twice and had two RBIs – The Player of the Day
Steven Hill – 2-for-4 with a double, homer, 3 RBIs and two runs scored – Has a very strong case, too.
Curt Smith – 3-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored – How many first basemen get triples? Smith had four last season between Palm Beach and Springfield. His .286 average ranked eighth in the Florida State League in 2009. How is that for a pitcher’s league? His 65 RBI last season was fourth-highest total in the Cardinals system.
Andrew Brown – single and triple – Well, no triples for first basemen besides these two, that is! Brown has three triples in the last two seasons combined after collecting seven in his 2007 debut with Batavia.
Pete Kozma – two hits and a walk, scored a run – Greater expectations for the former first-rounder in his expected return to Springfield.
Aaron Luna – two-run double
Palm Beach (7-6-1) defeated Jupiter, 3-2
Palm Beach Pitching
Arquimedes Nieto – 3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB
Ramon Delgado – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 K
Matt Frevert – two perfect innings with 3 K’s – The Pitcher of the Day
Joel Pichardo – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 K’s
David Carpenter – 1 IP, 2 K’s – Same exact line as Tuesday and third consecutive scoreless stint. What more could one ask?
Palm Beach Hitting
Chris Swauger – 2-for-4 with a double and run scored – Was our TCN Player of the Month last August based on his play with Palm Beach. Finished in the top ten in the system last year in many offensive categories (runs, hits doubles, triples, RBI, slugging).
Matt Carpenter – doubled, walked and had an RBI
Rich Racobaldo – double and a run scored – Had an 11-game hitting streak with Johnson City last summer.
Francisco Rivera – game-winning RBI single vs. a lefty
Jose Garcia – single, walk and run scored – Does the little things well as his 14 sacrifice bunts last year lead the system. His 27 stolen bases between Palm Beach and Quad Cities was second-most in the organization in 2009.
Luis DeLaCruz – RBI single
Quad Cities 1 (5-8) defeated Greensboro, 7-3
Quad Cities 1 Pitching
Jorge Rondon – 3 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s – Kept a lot of baserunners from scoring at least.
Mike Blazek – 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 K’s – A serious contender for Pitcher of the Day.
Jesse Simpson – 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R
Jason Novak – 1 IP, 1 K – By my count, this is Novak’s fifth consecutive scoreless outing. Need to show love to single-inning guys, too!
Quad Cities 1 Hitting
Niko Vasquez – 3-for-4 with a double, 2 RBIs and a run scored – Also doubled Wednesday. Hitting more like a third baseman.
Frederick Parejo – 3-for-4 with a run scored and RBI – Back in the highlights after a big weekend past.
Matt Adams – RBI double – Some readers were worried about you, Matt. Welcome!
Jason Stidham – singled, scored a run and had a sac fly – Like Parejo, had a good weekend.
Devin Shepherd – walked and singled
Luis Mateo – RBI single, good baserunning to advance on throw and scored a run
Ryan Jackson – singled and walked – Shortstop needs to grow offensively this year.
Ivan Castro – walked and scored a run
Extended Spring Training (formerly Quad Cities 2) (3-4-1) defeated Marlins 5th club, 3-2
EST Pitching
Anthony Ferrara – 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K’s – A good day at the office for the 2008 seventh rounder.
Cale Johnson – 2 IP, 1 H, 1 K – 5.2 strikeout to walk ratio last year was fourth-best among all Cardinals minor leaguers.
Travis Lawler – 2 IP, 2 H, 1 unearned run, 1 BB, 3 K’s
Kyle Heim – one perfect inning – Was scored on last two times out, so this is good to see.
Andrew Moss – 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K’s
LaCurtis Mayes – 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K’s
EST Hitting
Ross Smith – 2-for-3, double and 2 RBIs – Haven’t seen a lot of Smith this spring. Maybe this is the start.
Yunier Castillo, Jon Edwards and Rainel Rosario – each doubled
Roberto DeLaCruz and Devin Goodwin – singled and scored a run
Michael Swinson – singled in his only AB
Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.
One reason they may have gone 5-0 is promotions may slow. If Swauger and Pham stay with Palm Beach, they will be holdovers. Its getting crowded up at AAA and AA, so this may keep guys at the A+ level longer.
Luis Delacruz was an all-star catcher at Batavia last summer. He is on the PB roster and could stick there.
Chambers, Hill, Smith, Brown, and Luna should give Springfield some offense.
Blazek is having nice Spring.
If Edwards opens below QC they might as well give up on him. ( i hear you now Jumbo, blah blah blah)
It looks like Mateo may open as the 2B at QC. That’s a big jump for a 19 y.o. but he’s shown he has the bat for it.
In 2009, the Cards signed more US amateurs than any other team. The average team signs about 32, while the Cards inked 43 draftees.
The more input into the system, the more who will be released to make room. We like to give chances to a lot of guys. Also, we have more short-season teams than many other systems, with three versus two; to staff both Johnson City and Batavia, we sign more guys.
Over two years, 2008-9, the Cards shelled out about $10.9MM in signing bonuses.
For comparison, the Red Sox spent $17.5MM on signing bonuses for US amateurs, about 30 percent more per year inside the US. This shows an advantage for an aggressive team with a lot of money. It can make up for lower draft picks by shelling out bonuses and buying some extra talent.
The Red Sox also dropped $7MM on a Cuban refugee SS, more than the Cards spent on 43 players in the 09 June draft. Advanced international free agents are very costly because its a free market. The Reds shelled out an amazing $30MM to land Cuban refugee fireballer LHP Chapman, while the Red Sox invested $104MM to get D-Mat out of Japan a few years ago.
For another comparison, Allen Craig and Nick Stavinoha each cost just $15,000 to sign. They were college seniors from good baseball programs, good hitters, yet not nifty fielders.
The amateur talent wars are important. The Cards went an extra $1MM over slot guidance to sign Shelby Miller. They need to do some more of that, in future.
Oops, I forgot the Padres gave Freese a generous $6,000 bucks to turn pro. Thus signing Craig, Stavinoha, and Freese added up to a grand total of $36,000 in bonuses.
Its good to move out $11MM salary men, rich guys like Lugo and Glaus, and let some hungry lads have a chance to earn $400,000 minimum MLB wages.
Jaime Garcia was probably an unhigh bonus, since unable to get a college scholarship and having little leverage. Its possible to unearth seriously undervalued talent, with Pujols being a classic example.
Now Wainwright, Rasmus, and Jaime Garcia are graduated in the majors, the Cards do not have a lot of impact prospects who have developed far enough to seem exciting. Its Shelby Miller, maybe a step down to Lynn, and then a lot of undeveloped possibilities or prospective role players.
Ottavino and Greene are knocking at the door. Its hard to foresee if they will get a chance. Ottavino has the stuff to become a ML pitcher. If Ryan were hurt, Greene might get an opportunity to establish himself, but this depends on luck.
O and G were first round picks. The Cards do a pretty good job scouting. Chris Perez could become a closer with the Indians, if so another indication of reasonable decisions with most high draft choices.
Jumbo’s got the rose tint on full force today
Carioca, there are plenty of cup half-empty opinions at this web site.
That doesn’t mean it is 7/8 ths full!
CC, you seem a big backer of DeJesus and used to wonder about the status of Mark McCormick, after he had not pitched for years. Those are rosy views I beyond my imagination.
OTOH, you do not like TLR, while Brian faults TLR for not having placed coaches as managers of other teams or detests Tony’s choice of hitting coach.
I tend to stay away from extreme views, rosy or negative.
Jumbo, please keep me out your discussion with your baiting misrepresentations of my views unrelated to the subject at hand. Thank you.
What does wanting to know about a player’s status have to do with rosy views?
You seem to have a problem discerning between talking about a player and touting him. You seem to think I like Dejesus when all I did was point out that him and Rapoport were similar players. You then tried to make the case that the Cards were higher on Rapoport which I challenged due to lack of evidence. I never even said that Dejesus was better than Rapoport let alone that I was high on him..
Yes, there are actions Tony takes that I do not care for, and your point is?
Caroioca, McCormick’s shoulder much have been shot. To ask about him for years might have been kind, but seemed over-optimistic. Mulder will be on the mound sooner.
The Cards started Rapoport over DeJesus, same team. Pretty clearcut. You claimed Dejesus was better, but provided no rationale other than a recollection he had a higher OPS; this turned out not to be the case. You wondered if DeJesus may have been injured to explain lack of play; my hypothesis is someone has to be a bench player.
My point is some people complain more than others. The latter can be branded rosy. Fine. Others can seem negative, equally fine.
I wont hold my breath waiting for you to show me where I said Dejesus was better because I dont want to die from lack of oxygen. Didn’t say it.
To think that curiosity is kind or rosy is a really strange view of the world. I’ll bet you dont even know when McCormack last pitched or how he did do you?
Shu first pitch………Ryan goes 0/2……… wow.
Lohse is pitching well to a tough line up…………. lots of off speed and breaking stuff early. Span hit a prayer down and in. Ryan is playing with fire.
I’m looking for Kubel to get to lohse………just a hunch……………..how about those Cards at the plate.
2nd inning got Lohse pitch count back within reason. I’m curious to see how long he stays out there. I don’t look for more than 4……5 at the most.
Hitters look overanxious. Skip saw two pitches and made three outs, both hit to right side.
Lohse is through 5 with the lead……….he’s done. I’m curious to see with they play for the win here.
Lohse used all pitches from the get-go. The weakness is he never established a fastball.
Another X twin in Reyes. Tony is serious. Now who? Boggs? We need two more runs.
Money
I liked Colby in the middle of the lineup, breaking up the RH sluggers. Didn’t mind seeing the guy take second on him, lesson learned I hope.
Skip is messed up at the plate. But .300 hitters don’t stay messed up.
I agree with Westy, nice game, impressive.
I think it was WC who observed Skip isn’t going the other way. Since it was noted, it seems like every time I look, it is a grounder to second base.
It might be he’s working on some things with MM. I’m more concerned with the lack of working into the count like a lead-off guy. Make ‘em prove they can throw strikes, foul off a couple. He started to look like he was making progress in that area last year.
Twins pitched to Shu too easily. Pavano just showed him the ball and he hit it into their coverage. First pitch both times. I hope everyone realizes the silliness of the Lugo give away. I knew it was coming, but that doesn’t change the vulnerability of a struggling Skip and a now un-pressured Lopez. That’s a going to be a problem. The trade accommodation story is really kind of a joke.
Colby was outstanding except for his poor positioning play. He is hitting singles when singles are given. He will beat Ludwick out of that money spot against Right handers.. Albert seemed more focused. Holiday is piking up nicely. His willingness to just take the single away is why he is so good. The rest is just cream.
Overcoming Ryan’s error in the first was huge for Lohse. He was in deep concentration for this early in the season. The discovered change-up was a good pickup by Span…………… They will likely get to Garcia tomorrow unless we can front run them. That’s not putting him down. These guys are very good at the plate. Lohse didn’t give in with the fastball. If he had, it would have been ugly.
I’ll give you partial credit for calling the Lugo trade Westie. Consider that a gift though as in your scenario the Cards were supposed to have the other team pick up much of his salary as we spent all the money Boston gave us last year to pick up Holliday and Derosa so we supposedly don’t have that money any longer to send to Baltimore to pay his salary. Damn those details!
Returning to my post #3 high in this thread and a contrast between the Sox and Cards in their US amateur signings. The Cards invested more than half of bonuses on Shelby Miller. Miller got $2.8MM out of a total bonus investment of $5.4MM. Excluding Miller, the Cards signed 42 other players at an average of $60,000 each.
Excluding their top pick, the Sox invested $6MM in 25 other signees, $240,000 each on average. The Sox spent 4 times more per capita, on average.
Averaging is a little misleading, since the difference is based on 6 guys to whom the Sox went well over a normal bonus. The Sox obviously have the money to sign more US amateurs, but concentrate bonus money toward a select few who they must see as having high potential.
That above your pay grade. You would need to know someones off shore cash-flow problems.
Oh, and your such a dope for not seeing the obvious. Deal with it. This whole mess is right out of the commissioners office. Probably……….no rules were broken…….. even though time restriction and public accountability were stretched to the limit. The player to be named rules and restrictions pertaining to inner league trading are there for a reason. They were stretched to the max here. Lugo was 3 days from being a free agent. Big three days huh.
My military experience tells me that “that’s above your paygrade” is code talk for “there isn’t a good, logical answer for your question”.
“Dope” I think I was called that once in the 3rd grade.