5/10/09

Minor Stuff - Sunday Edition




The Herd:

6-8 RP Kyle Snyder became the starting pitcher Saturday, mainly due to the fact that the team is currently operation with only 4 SPs (expecting Fernando Nieve to come up from the B-Mets later on today). Snyder had appeared in seven games this year, one of which he started on May 2. Another of Omar’s signed ex-first rounders, he went in 1999 to the Royals. 31-years old. Just never made it.

Ex-Herd RP Ken Takahashi pitched three great innings for the Mets this week and it seems he too (like Niese) will stick with the Mets for at least one more week.

CF Fernando Martinez has hit .394 in the last ten games, including four doubles, one triple, and two home runs. He’s .481 in May vs. .233 in April.

Don’t know what to say about 1B Nick Evans’ year so far. He’s 7-72, batting .097, .065 in his last ten games, .102 in April, and .077 in May. You can’t send him down to AA, because Lucas Duda is doing well there, and you surely can’t switch the two around, which would totally screw up Nick’s head. No, play him and pray he gets better.

RP/CL Elmer Dessens is quietly impressing everyone in B-Lo… so far: 1-1, 1,20, in 10 appearances, 2 saves… 38-years old… was 10-2 in the Mexican League in 2008.


B-Mets:

C Josh Thole has calmed down… a little. Hitting “only” .343 in the last ten games, which raised his May average to .273. What I like to see in no errors throughout the season.

As mentioned above, sometimes considered prospect 1B Lucas Duda is on a mini-hitting spree, going .342 in the last ten games, making his yearly BA to be .316. Slugging percentage (.443) still way lower than projected.

We’re getting to that point in the year where 3B Shawn Bowman goes over .300 (currently .283) and everyone starts wondering what the Mets are going to do with him. Two previous broken backs have made him untradeable and King David makes him unplayable.

RP Adam Bostick hasn’t pitched much this year (6 appearances, 12.0 IP), but when he has, he’s pitched well (1.17 WHIP). I would say he has a good chance to wind up in CitiField in September.

19-yr old SS Ruben Tejada has never had the luxury of playing minor league ball at the right level for his age. He has hit .323 in May, raising his yearly BA to .268, and causing the scouts to drool again. Tejada will never replace Jose Reyes in Queens, so one wonders where this kid is going to go in what trade for which starting pitcher.


Lucy:

It looks to me that the C Francesco Pena experiment may be coming to an end. Both C Ralph Henriquez (5-9, .556) and Dock Doyle have been promoted to the team in the past two weeks, and frankly, Pena has failed to impress for the third straight year. With Josh Thole in Binghamton and two good catchers in Savannah, there really is no place for this kid to turn it around. Brooklyn? Stage left?

No one is questioning SS Reese Havens’ ability to long ball. Havens leads the team in home runs (6), slugging (.889), and runs batted in (15). There is no place for this kid to go in the infield, so there is no reason to rush him along. Look for him to play the entire season in Florida.

2B Greg Veloz seems to be this year’s version of a young international signee that was tagged a prospect and became mired down once they left the safety of A-level and rookie-level ball. Recent examples would be Juan Legares, and Hector Pellot. I have Veloz as the top second baseman in the system, which I will have to re-evaluate at the end of this month. (update: IF Jacob Egsti was sent from Savannah to Lucy on Saturday afternoon… watch out, Greg).

The top producing SP at Lucy continues to be Angel Calero, who is 1-1, 2.00, in his first five starts. Calero turns 23 this fall, so look for him to be one of the first Lucy starters to bump up during the season, especially if he keeps pitching this way.

A candidate for reassignment right now would be RP Mathias Carillo (1-1, 4.50, in 5 appearances). Carillo did well at Brookly last year but didn’t turn any heads the two times he was in Savannah.


Gnats:

Everybody is still mums the word on league leading OBS IF Jordany Valdespin’s demotion to extended camp. Those who know why ain’t talking and those that don’t know, don’t care. My guess continues to just be something stupid done on a road trip that warranted sending the right signs to a younger on a team with too many infielders. (update: Valpesin came out of time out and returned to the Gnats on Saturday afternoon).

SP Eric Beaulac’s ‘go-to’ pitch continues to be his curve. He struck out three batters looking earlier this week on this pitch and, in my opinion, if set up well, is simply unhittable.

Savannah continues to operate with seven starters, including Christopher Schwinden (0.82… on 15-day DL with elbow soreness), Jeurys Familia (1.21), Jeffrey Kaplan (1.00), and Robert Carson (2.70). In fact, of the seven pitchers that have started, the hightest ERA is Beaulac’s 3.48, and he leads the team in strikeouts (31 in 21.1 IP).

Candidate for reassignment continues to be RP Wendy Rosa (0-1, 9.68 in 8 appearances). Rosa is another pitcher that did well at the Brooklyn level, and impressed very few since arriving in Savannah last season. (update: Rosa was released Saturday afternoon)

Another possible demotion will be 1B Jose Jimenez (.080) who just isn’t hacking it once again at the A-level. 3B Eric Campbell (.273) is doing just fine there lately, and Stefan Welsh was recently activated. There is also an outside chance that prospect Giovanni Ortiz is promoted here this season, but I look for him to be the Clones’ first baseman this season.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Just never made it."

Doesn't tell the whole story.

Snyder had four different arm/shoulder surgeries while he was with the Royals. They DFA'd him in 2006 and the Red Sox picked him up to help their struggling bullpen/rotation.

His career year was in 2007, which he ended with a World Series championship.

He still has his struggles, but more because of injuries than "not making it".

Mack Ade said...

you're right... injuries played a lot into his problems... as many players... didn't mean to piss you off with a general statement, but, injuries or not... he just didn't make it...

Mack