SB Nation User Blog: FanBall

Desmond Jennings placed on DLs

FanBall — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:25:39 -0000

And by DLs, I mean Durham bulLs. Is he over his injury past? The Rays could have another Carl Crawford on their hands and this time one with strike zone judgment. Crawford is hit or miss and this year he us hit. I think Jennings could be hit, big hit even, every year. That's a very scary thought for any AL East fans out there. What's his power projection? I'm thinking 20HRs, 850 OPS, maybe .900?

Jeff Clement : Total erosion of strike zone judgement?

FanBall — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:25:06 -0000

Jeff Clement

What happened to the K judgment? Does this show he is pretty much a Triple-A slugger?

2003	USC	Pac10	19	-	NCAA			56	208	53	62	8	1	21	53	1	1	32	43	5		0	1	3	.298	.402	.649	1051
2004	USC	Pac10	20	-	NCAA			52	198	36	58	12	1	10	43	1	5	38	39	5		1	2	3	.293	.416	.515	931
2005	USC	Pac10	21	-	NCAA			63	230	52	80	17	0	15	54	5	6	44	43	13		2	3	1	.348	.472	.617	1089
	EVE	Nwst	21	Sea	A-	c		4	11	4	3	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	2	0	0	1	0	.273	.400	.364	764
	WIS	Midw	21	Sea	A	c		30	113	17	36	5	0	6	20	1	2	12	25	1	0	0	1	0	.319	.386	.522	908
2006	SAN	Tex	22	Sea	AA	c		15	59	7	17	6	1	2	10	0	0	7	8	3	0	0	1	1	.288	.386	.525	911
	TAC	PCL	22	Sea	AAA	c		67	245	23	63	10	0	4	32	0	2	16	53	8	1	1	2	8	.257	.321	.347	668
2007	TAC	PCL	23	Sea	AAA	c		125	455	76	125	35	3	20	80	0	0	61	88	10	4	0	4	8	.275	.370	.497	867
	SEA	AL	23	Sea	MLB		5,9	9	16	4	6	1	0	2	3	0	0	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	.375	.474	.813	1287
2008	TAC	PCL	24	Sea	AAA	c		48	173	40	58	17	0	14	43	0	0	35	30	3	0	0	0	7	.335	.455	.676	1131
	SEA	AL	24	Sea	MLB	c-dh	6,8	66	203	17	46	10	1	5	23	0	1	15	63	5	0	0	1	4	.227	.295	.360	655
2009	TAC	PCL	25	Sea	AAA			91	371	65	106	32	3	14	67	1	0	43	81	4	2	0	2	11	.286	.364	.501	865

It's like he took his MLB strike zone judgment with him. I've been fooled by this guy twice now in my fantasy leagues. I'm done with him. I even got tricked into getting excited when it was mentioned he was going to be traded today.

Carlos Santana: cranking out the hits!

FanBall — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:21:34 -0000

Carlos Santana hit yet another HR last night to make it 4 HRs in 4 straight games. 39 of his 81 hits have been for extra bases (19 2B, 1 3B, 19 HR) AND he has 63 BBs vs. 57 Ks. Is this guy going to tear up MLB pitching or what? Okay, maybe that's a bit much, but what are the Indians waiting for in promoting him?! I just don't get it.

Is Wyatt Toregas really standing in the way? Maybe once Matt LaPorta gets called up again, Santana can see some action at DH for Columbus? Anyway, can you believe Carlos Santana for Casey Blake? Dodger fans have to be raving mad.

Major League Draft / Minor League Ball

FanBall — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:02:49 -0000

One of the SBN partners with Bleed Cubbie Blue is Minor League Ball with John Sickels. One of the things that John likes to do is conduct a mock Minor League Draft with his readers volunteering to take over every team. Now, it's only the first three rounds, but really, I'm having diffucluty reading up for the first round pick, could you imagine having to sort through players for pick 1,000 or so?

Anyway, I volunteered to conduct the Cubs mock draft and I thought I would make a fanpost here to get a good draft conversation going and maybe we'll start talking about the Cubs system as a whole.

This year the Cubs have picks

No. 31

No. 79

No. 109

The overall goal I always believe is to take the best talent because it often takes 3 or 4 years for players to develop and who knows what will happen with injuries, trades, and what not at the major league level. That being said, I think the Cubs are good on 2B/LFs. Fire away on your thoughts/suggestions.

My Minor League Ball Cross Post

General Minor League Ball Mock Draft Post

MOD: Cubs

FanBall — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:23:11 -0000

Okay Cub fans we've got the following picks:

No. 31

No. 79

No. 109

What can we do to make sure we rock this draft? I think the Cubs are pretty good on 2B/LF. I'll take a good bat or a good arm if I see it. I welcome all thoughts and suggestions.

I need more words, so here we go:

Baseball season's underway
Well you better get ready for a brand new day.

Hey, Chicago, what do you say
The Cubs are gonna win today.

They're singing ...
Go, Cubs, go
Go, Cubs, go!

Gathright traded to the O's - Cubs get Ryan Freel

FanBall — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:25:42 -0000

Ryan Freel is a Cub

What does this mean for Bobby Scales? I'm not sure Ryan Freel is that much of an upgrade for the team versus Scales.

When will Ryan Freel get hurt again? What do you think the over/under is?

I guess he is somewhat of a poor man's Mark DeRosa because he can play IF & OF.

Anyway, a penny for your thoughts and more and more and more and more.

Chris Coghlan: The Time is NOW

FanBall — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:18:02 -0000

Wow, just one day ago, the people of this blog asked when is it going to be Chris Coghlan time.

That time is NOW! Let's start 'calling up' other players too! Perhaps we will have the same effect on all players. Who is next? Hanson? Gamel? What player do you think will be next? Make your bets now.

Right now though, it's:

COGHLAN TIME

Behold MLB, Chris Coghlan, may his time be fruitful!

Aaron Hicks & Extended Spring Training: Why?

FanBall — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:12:26 -0000

If we take a look at Aaron Hicks minor league stats: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Aaron%20Hicks&pos=LF&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=543305

We see that in 2008 he put up some great stats at a very low level.

His 2009 stats are unaviable and it doesn't seem like he is playing for the Advanced A team or even the low A team for that matter. After a little bit of research, I've found out that he is still in extended spring training but I can't seem to find out why. Does anyone have inside info on Aaron Hicks and why he isn't playing at Beloit? Is he hurt? Thanks for the info guys, this one is really baffling.

Adrian Cardenas

FanBall — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 06:19:35 -0000

Adrian Cardenas

If you would have told Adrian Cardenas was going to have a breakout year, I probably would have laughed at you at the beginning of the season; now I might take you at face value.

This is a small sample size, but his stats are impressive. He is batting .407 with 7 doubles, after striking out 3 times in his first game, his BB:K ratio is 4:5. Is this just a hot start or does anyone think he could be the next hot SS prospect? Anyone seeing his team play in Texas?

Brian Matusz

FanBall — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:55:53 -0000

You won't see the word masterful in the article, but on the MILB front page, they do say that Matusz was 'masterful': http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081011&content_id=3611706&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Umm... then you read this:

"Matusz (1-0) did not disappoint in his first taste of pro action. He struck out one and walked one while throwing 45 pitches, including 26 strikes."

Granted he retired the first 7 batters he face, but 26 strikes versus 19 balls is hardly a masterful performance. Anyway, good work on the outs at least. Sickels is rating him very highly so far.