SB Nation - Angel Sanchez

Minor League Update -- 12/14/09

Ben Buchanan — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:52:25 -0000

Columbian Winter League

Reynaldo Rodriguez: .296/.375/.467

-Numbers are on the rise again.

Dominican Winter League

Fabio Castro is the first in a string of recent acquisitions playing in the Winter Leagues. It's been a while since he's pitched, so he may be done. Managed a 2.47 ERA in 44 innings, striking out 36 and allowing 16 walks. Certainly not a bad resume.

Jose Capellan: .2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K – 3.75 ERA, 10:24 K:BB, 1.83 WHIP

-It's amazing how low his ERA is giving up a walk per inning...

Mexican Pacific League

Another newbie in Minor League FA Darnell McDonald, but he hasn't played since November 1^st. .854 OPS on the season, which is pretty much in line with his AAA-lifer status at age 31. Entirely a depth move.

Robert Coello: 2.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 HR, 3 BB, 3 K – 3.29 ERA, 46:24 K:BB, 1.28 WHIP

Puerto Rican Winter League

The new guy here is Angel Sanchez, a 26-year-old defensive specialist SS with no bat.

Aaron Bates: 5-14, 2B, 3B, 5 K – .315/.373/.481

Reymond Fuentes: 1-3, K – .182/.250/.227

-I'm honestly sort of surprised the Sox are playing him here. It seems like it's just a good opportunity to ruin confidence.

Angel Sanchez: 7-15, 2B, K, SB, CS – .324/.385/.412

-Based on his lifetime numbers, this is the best you're gonna see him at.

Sydney Winter League

Boss Moanaroa: 3-5, 3B – .417/.500/.611

Moko Moanaroa: 1-3, 2 BB, 2B – .294/.429/.382

Venezuelan Winter League

More new faces here in free agent signing Edwin Moreno and waiver acquisition Ramon Ramirez. Moreno hasn't pitched in 3 weeks or so. 3.12 ERA, 16:6 K:BB, 1.27 WHIP in 17.1 innings.

Yeiper Castillo: .1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K – 3.86 ERA, 7:10 K:BB, 1.63 WHIP

Ramon Ramirez: 5 IP, 11 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 7 K – 7.02 ERA, 15:5 K:BB, 1.74 WHIP

-A less-than-stellar introduction.

Plenty of Movement in the Minors

While the Red Sox' front office has been largely quiet as far as major league moves are concerned, Baseball America says they've been plenty active on the minor league front. Over the last few weeks, the Sox have re-signed reliever Fernando Cabrera and shortstop Gil Velazquez, and added relievers Bob McCrory and Edwin Moreno, shortstop Angel Sanchez, and outfielder Darnell McDonald. As is usually the case with free-agent signings, these all appear to be depth moves with only a few guys having any chance to impact the big league club at all.

To counter the additions, the Red Sox released reliever Jason Blackey, outfielders Jered Stanley and Sean Danielson, and catcher John Otness.

Rookie Program Invitees Anounced

WEEI has the Red Sox' list of players attending this year's rookie program. The program is half-baseball, half-life, with players learning how to cope with the various issues that come up with working in the MLB. The program is typically reserved for those players the Red Sox expect to see in the majors within the next year or two.

A few things of note. Ryne Miller sneaks in as sort of an organizational sleeper pick after throwing around 100 good innings between Salem and Portland last year, posting a 2.76 ERA with a 97:31 K:BB ratio. Not bad for an undrafted free agent who had an ERA over 5 in '08. The invitation of Casey Kelly speaks to Theo's prediction of his getting on the major league radar fairly soon. Jose Iglesias is attending (along with best bud Luis Exposito), probably as much to help with his cultural transition as professional.

Red Sox Lose Jimenez, Zerpa to Rule 5 Draft

Chris Province Traded for Boof Bonser

September Call-Ups: Inglett, Wolfe, Hayhurst -- Or, Are the Jays Even Trying?

hugo — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:50:41 -0000

More photos » by Darren Calabrese - AP

Glad to see you back, Dirk, but couldn't you have brought more friends? (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese)

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Well, the Jays have apparently underwhelmed everyone by calling up three players: Joe Inglett, Brian Wolfe, and Dirk Hayhurst.

Now, I bow to no one in my Hayhurst man-crush and I am very happy to see him back on the Jays. But a team completely out of the playoff picture like the Jays should be using September callups as an opportunity to give players who progressed this season a taste of the big leagues, not just recalling AAAA types unlikely to be of more than marginal use to the team going forward.

Brian Dopirak was a perfect example of someone who the Jays should be calling up. Dopriak is 25 already, but his career has been held back by injuries as much as (more than, really) development problems. He torched double A this season to the tune of .308/.374/.576 with 19 home runs in and 29 doubles in 87 games. Then, after the all-star break, he similarly smashed up AAA with 21 extra base hits in 45 games and a .344 batting average. He's right at the age where you want to see your minor-league hitter getting a shot at the bigs, and he has certainly earned a promotion with a fantastic season. Perhaps craziest of all, the Jays have Kevin Millar in the lineup on an all-too-regular basis. And yet Dopirak doesn't get promoted.

How about Angel Sanchez? Yeah, it's the PCL but he's hit .305/.363/.428 and his arm has apparently healed enough from ligament replacement surgery for him to reclaim his place as a plus defender at shortstop. With Edwin Encarnacion still hurt, Marco Scutaro could move over to third base on days when Sanchez plays SS, thereby not hurting his stats for his impending free agency. With Scutaro set to leave unless the Jays pony up, shouldn't the Jays at least take a look at what they may have in Sanchez?

Fabio Castro or David Purcey? Neither has been fantastic, but both have had credible seasons considering how tough the PCL can be on pitchers. Purcey threw a complete game, no walk, 3-hit shutout his last time out on Sunday. I'd say the Jays could take another look at him, with two young pitchers set to sit out the rest of the season, instead of giving starts to Brian Tallet. Castro could get a look as well.

And what to say about Jeremy Accardo, who has 26 Ks and 7 walks in 29 innings for Las Vegas, with a 3.10 ERA and lots of groundouts. If they were going to recall someone, why not Accardo, and not Wolfe, considering Accardo has superior both major- and minor-league numbers this season and a much better chance of being a high-leverage reliever for a major-league team.

That doesn't even get into the marginal cases like J.P. Arencibia and Scott Campbell - neither of which has had a great season - but Arencibia has 19 home runs and 31 doubles and has improved his walk rate a little, and Campbell did post a .371 OBP between AA and AAA.

What do you all think? Who would you have called up?

Cubs Lose 11-5, Fall Two Games Out - But Cubs Win, Too! (Iowa Cubs, That Is)

Al — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:46:14 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Sorry, Randy. It just wasn't your day.

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Most of what I'm going to write about today's game is going to be from the boxscore and a bit of following along by cellphone while I was at Wrigley Field watching the Iowa Cubs defeat the Las Vegas 51's 5-4.

Let me first praise Milton Bradley for having perhaps the best day he's had in a Cubs uniform -- 4-for-5 with a double and an RBI, raising his average to .266 and his OBA to .401. In seven August games he's now hitting .450/.571/.550 -- and I think he's now in the perfect spot in the batting order for him, second. Clearly, he puts too much pressure on himself to produce when he's hitting in a RBI spot (fifth, much of the year), and batting him second gives him a real chance to be on base, as we have seen, more than half the time this month (after posting a .457 OBA in July). He's playing good defense and running the bases well.

It's not exactly what Jim Hendry had hoped for when he signed Bradley last offseason, but this type of production is something we haven't seen from many -- or really, any -- Cubs players over the last ten years or so.

I won't pin today's loss on Randy Wells, either, though he struggled and allowed seven runs (five earned) in 5.1 innings. His defense deserted him and the Cubs made three errors in all, and Jeff Stevens got hit pretty hard in his inning-plus of work, putting the game, which resulted in an 11-5 Cubs loss, out of reach. Combined with the Cardinals' come-from-behind win over a really bad Pirates team (thankfully, the Cubs get to play them next weekend), the Cubs now sit two games behind St. Louis.

Mostly, I'm going to pin this loss on the offense, which generated 17 hits, including six extra-base hits, but couldn't get many of them home. The Cubs left RISP in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th and 9th innings -- ridiculous, in my opinion, and left 13 on base all told. It was clear that Lou Piniella had no interest in watching this mess -- he got himself tossed in the second inning.

There's still a chance for the Cubs to split the series (and road trip) against a very good Rockies team tomorrow night... so, look forward to that, and below the fold is my recap of the Iowa/Las Vegas game.

Travis Snider is the guy I was hoping the Cubs would select in the first round of the 2006 draft. Instead, they selected Tyler Colvin; he's been dissected many times on this site, and after seeing Snider pound out a pair of homers at Wrigley today, I'm holding to my position that passing on Snider (who was picked by the Blue Jays with the pick right after the Cubs) was a mistake. Snider, who is only 21 (three years younger than Colvin), has already had a couple of cups o' coffee in the major leagues (posting a .736 OPS with 5 HR in 172 AB) and will likely be in the Blue Jays' starting outfield by 2011 at the latest, perhaps even next year.

That was the parlor game to play today, given that this, unlike last year's "Road To Wrigley" game, was a Triple-A game: "How many players in today's game have played at Wrigley before?" Snider wasn't one of them, but I counted no fewer than six (Buck Coats, Marty McLeary, So Taguchi, Luis Rivas, Bobby Scales, and Micah Hoffpauir), seven if you want to count Justin Berg, who was on the Cubs' 25-man roster briefly last month, warmed up a couple of times, but didn't get into a game. Howie Clark, a 35-year-old veteran of six major league seasons, has also played against the Cubs and former Cub minor leaguer Brian Dopirak has surfaced again in the Blue Jays organization.

How weird must it have been for Micah Hoffpauir, who was in the major leagues with the Cubs all year till Friday, to return to Wrigley as an Iowa Cub? (He got loud ovations every time his name was announced.) His average shown on the scoreboard was blank, which means today was his first minor league game of the year (if he had any AB without hits, it would have shown as .000). I suspect when the Cubs sent him down, they probably told him simply to go to Chicago and wait for the Iowa team to meet him there. Hoffpauir had a bloop double in four at-bats and played both first base and right field. Iowa hitting stars were John-Ford Griffin, who homered onto Sheffield (I was surprised there weren't more homers, with the temperature a stifling, humid 87 degrees and the wind howling out to CF at what was reported at 11 MPH, but it had to be at least twice that), and Darwin Barney, who had a pair of hits.

John Gaub, who has put up gaudy numbers since being promoted, was called on in the seventh, issued a walk and struck out Howie Clark, and then was yanked -- couldn't possibly let him face a right-handed hitter, right? (Granted, it was Randy Ruiz, who has 106 RBI in 113 Triple-A games this year.) Vince Perkins came on and retired Ruiz on a fly to center.

The game is played at just a slightly slower pace than a major league game. You can clearly see why certain players are at that level and can't get any higher, or, as in the case of guys like Clark, Ruiz, Coats and Taguchi, are hanging on, trying to get one more shot at a major league game. The Las Vegas third baseman, Kevin Howard, who got into some of the antics with the "Zooperstars" mascots who appeared today, is in his seventh year in the minors with his seventh organization and you could see why today -- he made two throwing errors on routine ground balls which led to a couple of Iowa runs.

Blake Parker closed the game for his 13th save, but not before allowing a home run to Angel Sanchez. Attendance was 16,280, about half of what the Cubs drew for the minor league game featuring the Peoria Chiefs last year -- possible reasons: a Sunday afternoon isn't going to draw as well as a Tuesday night; it's a lot farther to Des Moines than it is to Peoria, meaning fewer people would follow the team (although a few busloads from Iowa were dropped off on Waveland), and the heat may have kept a few people from walking up on the day of the game. Ran into BCB reader Damen Jackson today; he had a seat near the photographer's bay and hopefully, will have some pictures to post here later on.

We will no doubt see Hoffpauir returning to the Cubs after September 1, and Scales may also be brought up. Apart from that, I don't see anyone who was in today's game who looks like a "hot prospect", nor will be back in Chicago this year (with the possible exception of Justin Berg). The real Cub prospects are at the lower levels of the organization. Perhaps we'll see some of them at Wrigley in the near future.

Jason Lane Homers Again, Recap Jays and Phillies

Tom Dakers — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:51:26 -0000

Jays and Phillies tied at 7 in today's spring game. They decided to call it after 9 innings. I figured I'd title the post with what was important to me. No use writing for a blog if you can't push your agenda. What else happened? Michael Barrett went 2 for 2, both doubles, maybe he has found his stroke. Brad Emaus hit a home run and single in 3 trips, if I hadn't jumped on Lane's bandwagon early, I'd likely be trumpeting how great Emaus has looked all spring. I think he's climbed up a few spots on the prospect list.

Howie Clark and Angel Sanchez each singled. Rule 5 waiver claim yo-yo Cody Haerther went 2 for 2 but also made an error that cost us 2 runs and missed catching another fly ball that wasn't called an error but figured predominately in the 3 runs Scott Richmond gave up.

Pitching wise, Jesse Litsch went 4.2 giving up 4 hits, 2 walks, 4 runs but just 2 earned and struck out 3. A pretty good day all in all for him. Scott Richmond pitched 3.1, got 4 strikeouts, but gave up 3 hits, a walk and 3 earned runs off a Jayson Werth home run. But had Haether made the catch he apparently should have made, which was ruled a hit he would have been out of the inning before the homer. That doesn't excuse a home run thought. Jeremy Accardo pitched a perfect 9th with a strikeout. Nice to see from him, he's had a rough spring.

Of minor concern, Scott Rolen left the game with a sore back and Travis Snider with a sore knee. Tomorrow Casey Janssen starts for the Jays against the Yankees and that's a 7:15 Eastern start.

In other Jay new, as Torgen noted in the game thread (you get all the good news in the game threads) Jays signed Team Netherland reliever Leon ~~Bond~~ Boyd to a minor league contract. He gave up just 1 run in 4 innings for The Netherlands (do you capitalize the T in the for that?). Bond, 25, was born in Vancouver, BC and will report to minor league camp.

I'm In Love With That Song: Game Recap - Jays 5, Reds 4

hugo — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:22:44 -0000

The Jays beat the Reds 5-4 this afternoon in Dunedin when Curtis Thigpen lead off the 10th inning with a home run. Nothing better than an extra-inning game winning HR, which made me think of the great song Alex Chilton, by the Replacements, from whence comes the title.

Brad Mills started today, and did a decent job. He gave up 2 runs in 4 innings on 4 hits and an unfortunate 4 walks. He wasn't helped when Joe Inglett, playing SS, was unable to turn a ground ball into a double play in the 4th inning. Mills had some trouble after that and ended up walking in a run. Mills was supposed to go 5 innings but ran out of pitches, so it wasn't an entirely successful outing. That said, Mills blanked the Reds until the 4th, and did limit the damage that inning, so it wasn't too bad. Torgen hypothesized that Mills will get sent to the minors after this start, and that wouldn't surprise me. As rince reported, the options for the rotation are paring down and it is looking like it's down to Casey Janssen, Matt Clement, and Scott Richmond, which to me it always did.

Dirk Hayhurst followed Mills and had yet another great inning, striking out the side around a Joey Votto double. In 7 innings, Dirk has given up 5 hits and no runs, and even better, has struck out 12 while walking no one. A great performance thusfar.

Jason Frasor came in after Hayhurst and wasn't good at all, giving up two runs on a couple of hits and walk. After Frasor, things got better. Shawn Camp, Brandon League, Jesse Carlson, and Adrian Martin all pitched scoreless innings. They were all good - Camp got two groundouts and had a K and no hits or walks, League walked one in his inning but struck out the side, Carlson gave up no hits/walks and had two strikeouts of his own, and Martin pitched the 10th inning for the win. Good to see League and Carlson out there and pitching effectively.

At the plate, Rince will be thrilled that his man Jason Lane hit yet another home run for his 4th of the spring. We already mentioned Thigpen's home run, but he also singled in the game. With Michael Barrett having another 0-fer, Thigpen could be making his case. Pitchers like throwing to him and he certainly hits better than Raul Chavez. I don't see the Jays going in that direction, though. Russ Adams had another hit and walk day, Travis Snider had a double, Jose Bautista had three hits, and Scott Campbell had a quality day at the plate with two singles, including his 7th RBI of the spring.

On defense, of course I didn't see it, but Barrett stopped an attempted larceny. We talked about Joe Inglett's difficulties at short, but they were nothing compared to Angel Sanchez, who made 3 errors, ugly.

Lord Knows I've Paid Some Dues Getting Through, Tangled Up in Blue: Spring Training Week 2 Report, the Hitters

hugo — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:56:10 -0000

The plot thickens and things get more tangled as spring training continues and guys keep competing against one another to get through to the major league roster - made me think of the line from the Dylan song.

Game Recap Rays and Jays

Tom Dakers — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:44:10 -0000

Jays 4 Rays 11

Well, it was getting boring talking about our great pitching. So today we get to talk about bad pitching. Matt Clement pitched 4 innings 2 doubles, walked 3, struck out 2 and gave up 2 runs. The 3 walks worry me more than the hits, it suggests to me that he was afraid to throw across the plate, he didn't trust his stuff. Brian Wolfe was terrible, getting only 1 out, giving up 3 hits, a walk and gave up 5 runs, 4 earned. You'd have to think he isn't going to make the team. Bryan Bullington pitched 1.2 innings, gave up 3 hits, 3 runs only 1 earned, 1 walk. Bill Murphy pitched the final 2 innings, gave up a solo homer, a walk and struck out 2.

Offensively Curtis Thigpen hit a homer. Moonraker (Travis Snider) went 1 for 4, the 1 being a 2 run double. Russ Adams was 1 for 1 with a double. Angel Sanchez, Ryan Patterson, Joe Inglett and Brian Dopirak each had a single.

Three Jays made errors Scott Campbell, Joe Inglett and Dopirak had one each.

Doc starts tomorrow against the Pirates tomorrow.

In other new, it looks like Dustin McGowan might not be back as early as we hoped. His recovery has been slowed by some 'soreness'.

Toronto indicated that McGowan might be ready to return to the rotation by May, but the team has since changed its stance, noting that his recovery might last deep into the season.

Ricky Romero and Jesse Litsch are to pitch 4 innings each in a Minor League spring game on Friday, because of all the pitchers in camp the Jays are using minor league games to get everyone work. Apparently BJ Ryan had a 6 pitch inning of work in one on Monday.

And I'm not the only one unhappy wiht Ernie Whitt's managing, Jeff Blair takes a run at it.

I Was Meant for the Stage: Spring Training Week 1 in Review, Position Players Version

hugo — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:17:33 -0000

So yesterday we took a look at the hurlers that the Jays invited to Spring Training and their competition for spots on the Jays and their various minor-league affiliates. Today, we'll focus on the position players and their progress thusfar. Again, I didn't include every single spring invitee, but I included most of them.

News....Well sort of News....

Tom Dakers — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:22:22 -0000

To absolutely not one's surprise, AJ Burnett is opting out of his contract and will be a free agent. We should have a pool on how many years and how much money he gets out of some team. I'm not sure that whoever signs him will get enough innings from him to make the money worthwhile. But that might be sore grapes.

The Jays picked up Les Walrond on waivers from the Phillies. Wes, who will be 32 on Friday, has had three cups of coffee in the majors over the last 5 years and has a 7.07 ERA in 35 total major league innings. But the lefty did well as a starter last year in AAA, striking out 8.8 batters per 9 innings with a 3.61 ERA. Looks like he walks too many, but JP seems to be grabbing up as many left handed pitchers as he can find. He'll fill the hole left by Zaun in the 40 man roster.

Add in shortstop Angel Sanchez and right handed pitcher Kelvin Jimenez who the Jays claimed off waivers yesterday and JP seem to be collecting players that won't be helping the team win. Yeah, I know, not fair, all teams make these little moves this time of year. Hopefully we'll see some big moves this winter as well.

The people at Beyond the Boxscore have been running series of posts ranking players by position. The latest is a ranking of shortstops and, in a total surprise to me, Marco Scutaro rate as the 7th best SS in the Major Leagues. It is mostly due to his defensive rating which is best among all shortstops. Don't believe me. Here, look for yourself.

Oh, and other news, the United States has a new leader. Congratulations. The change over of government without a shot being fired is something that should be celebrated.