11am start for Frisco today, with Blake Beaven on the mound.

Later today, Weiland goes for Hickory, Jake Brigham and Bakersfield try to finally get a game in, and Derek Holland goes for OKC. (Probables courtesy of shroom's calendar, as always.)

Seems like there's always a couple of pitching prospects worth paying attention to, and another one or two with a chance of having a breakout year. I love this farm system! Now if only we

I'll try to chart Beaven's start as much as possible. Not getting all the pitch calls from the Frisco booth, and no radar readings, though.

Just got back from the RoughRiders game in Tulsa, and thought I'd share a few thoughts. Originally I just intended to jot down a couple of notes on a few players, but ended up with a full scorecard and a page of notes to boot. So, I'll go around the diamond and share some observations on everyone who saw action for Frisco tonight. Click on the linked names for some of the pictures I took this evening.

Martin Perez's line looks a bit ugly: 2.2IP, 8H, 7R, 6ER, 1BB, 3K, 1WP, 1HR. As strange as it may sound, though, it really didn't seem that bad. In the first, it seemed like he was battling nerves a bit, as he forgot to cover first on a grounder to the right side, and walked the next batter. The double that scored the first run was off a good fastball that got fisted into the air and landed near the chalk. A couple of the other hits off of him were rollers through infield holes and another blooper down the right field line. Two singles were well-struck, although not smashes, and the home run was an absolute bomb across the street in left field. Perez throughout his 74 pitches demonstrated shaky fastball command and often fell behind early, throwing first-pitch strikes to only 7 of 18 batters faced. The curve seems like it could be a plus pitch, but I didn't see it enough to get a good feel for it. The change looked good, getting some off-balance swings, but hitters mostly took it. Also, he showed what could turn out to be a decent pickoff move, but still doesn't hold runners that well.

Michael Ballard got hit hard, although the 3 runs in 4.2 innings doesn't necessarily show it. Even the outs were hit hard. Whereas hitters were often late on Perez's fastball, they had no problems getting around on Ballard's, pulling no less than five sharply down the left field line.

Thomas Diamond induced weak contact when he induced any at all. His fastball was up in the zone, and command was shaky tonight.

Behind the plate, Manny Pina looked about as advertised defensively, although there wasn't a lot to do. He was 0-3 throwing runners out, through little fault of his own: two solid jumps off Perez, and one easily caught runner that Lemon dropped the throw on. Seriously, he was out by 10 feet, and the ball just fell out of Lemon's mitt. Pina showed good toughness by getting right back up after being plowed over in the first inning, and showed no ill effects afterward. He went 2-4 with a double, and all but one of his balls was hit hard.

Chad Tracy did not like to take pitches, at least tonight. In all five at bats, he swung at one or both of the first two pitches. Not a lot to show for the night, hitting into a double play and making another very easy by running into a tag.

Ian Kinsler got on the first two times up via a HBP and a walk, but popped out both other times up. He demonstrated a pronounced uppercut, swinging from the heels on the few swings he took. In the field, he moved quite well, showing good mobility in both directions and making a couple of solid plays.

Renny Osuna subbed for Kinsler defensively in the 8th and proceeded to knock a ball down that I thought was easily into right field. Still went for a hit, though. He blistered a double in his only AB, but the sample was too small to get any real idea of his play tonight.

Marcus Lemon didn't look very good at all. In addition to the error, he was well behind every fastball he was thrown. To his credit, he did manage to foul a few off in his last AB, drawing a walk to start the 9th inning rally. He may have been the victim of a bad call in the 2nd, when the pitcher appeared to be bobbling the feed from the second baseman when he crossed the bag. A safe call would have brought Kinsler up with two on and one out.

Adam Fox played third, and showed decent defensive skills to go along with a 3-4 night at the plate, driving in two and scoring two. The home run cleared the left-center fence by 5 or 6 feet.

Johnny Whittleman was the DH, and took no less than the first two pitches in all 5 PAs. Some weak contact early in the game, along with a questionable CS, but a hard double in the 9th.

Steve Murphy in left was rather average. Nothing outstanding at the plate; in the field, he made a nice catch toward the line, but also seemed to have some problems digging another ball out of the corner, though no runners advanced because of it.

Craig Gentry had an overall forgettable night, partially due to bad luck. Nothing bad, but not one to remember either. With two one and none out in the 9th, he blistered a ball up the middle that kicked off the pitcher's foot and right to the first baseman. If that ball goes up the middle, it's a two run single and a runner's on first with none out down 4, instead of a runner on third with one out down 5.

Mitch Moreland showed something by making adjustments in-game. After walking his first time up, he swung over a change and rolled another trying to pull it. His next AB, though, he waited on it and drove one well out to left. The double in the 9th was hard-hit as well, to the right-center gap.

Overall, it was a very lackluster game from a Frisco perspective until the final half inning. I look forward to seeing all of these players again at some point, and hope to see improvements!

Per mlb.com, http://tinyurl.com/yvg957

No specifics as to salary in the press release, but seeing as it's a one year deal, and Vazquez was eligible for arbitration, it can't be too much. He works as a utility infielder type, I suppose.

They also signed 27 year old infielder Ryan Roberts to a minor league deal with a spring training invite. Roberts was .077/.200/.192 in 26 ABs over the past two years in Toronto, and had a .769 OPS in AAA last year. He went to UTA.

Galaragga: 4 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 3 K
Hurley: 4 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 5 K

Hurley just gave up a homer for run #2.

Oklahoma's up 12-2, and all 12 runs have come via the homer. Diaz has two and Cruz has one. Diaz and Cruz both hit grand slams.

Hurley's working fast and hitting 95+.

Omar Poveda starting for Clinton against Quad Cities. Line so far:
   4 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 5 K        

Poveda is on tonight. He's getting a lot of called strikes on the breaking ball, and has hitters out in front of his change.                                                          

Carlos Lee just left agent Andy Katz and will now be represented by none other than...Scott Boras!!!

Any questions now about whether or not we should resign Lee?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2557508