SB Nation User Blog: grover

Not a Minor League Update... More Like a Preview of Things to Come

grover — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:16:02 -0000

I am not here to start trade speculation… or to talk about the A’s farm system. (Bad, grover… I know. Does this mean I need to be spanked now?)

What I am here to do is assess the potential trade markets available to the A’s as they attempt to unload Matt Holliday, Orlando Cabrera, Adam Kennedy & Jason Giambi. Sure, normally I talk about A’s prospects in these weekly chats but I figure discussing the A’s prospects to acquire MORE prospects is close enough to count. Not that I intend to talk about any potential prospect packages in this write up, I feel it’s a little early to start getting into that kind of detail. Besides, I want to give other posters the opportunity to create their own fanposts about whom they’d want from whichever particular team. Designatedforassignment, for example, wrote a very solid piece discussing the New York Mets and their interest in Matt Holliday and I’d like to see him (or her?) tackle some of the teams I’ll discuss in a bit. I encourage other posters to try their hand as well. (Believe me, it’s so much easier on me if I can just comment on the work of others and not have to put in the hours of research!)

Just a friendly reminder… if you’ve got questions about another team’s prospects or you’re worried that your idea is too off-the-wall to avoid ridicule, my e-mail is listed in my bio.

So to do this right, I had to first figure out who might be a potential match for the A’s in a trade scenario. I looked at every team that (as of 6/28) was either leading their division or were within 3 games of their division leader and/or the Wild Card. That gave me 17 teams whose immediate futures are a lot brighter than the Oakland A’s. I then went through each team’s line-up and looked at the cumulative performance of their LF, 2B, SS and DH/1B types, then matched those numbers to the park adjusted numbers of the A’s players. The results were a little unexpected, as I see a HUGE potential market for Matt Holliday but extremely limited options for dealing Giambi or Kennedy. Cabrera’s actually a bit of a wild card, as performance wise his numbers are horrid but based on the scarcity of options at his position there could still be 2-3 teams interested in his services. The format I’ll use is fairly simple to follow: I’ll write the team name, the current triple-slash line for the position and in bold I’ll show the A’s player’s park adjusted numbers. A couple of the teams will have two sets of triple-slash numbers, as a team like the Cardinals are weak at both OF corner spots and I’ll let Tony LaRussa figure out how to best arrange his outfield should his Cards acquire Holliday.

I’m going to start with Matt Holliday… as I’ve sorta segued to him anyways and he’s the biggest trade chip the A’s have. He’s still considered the premier bat on the trade market even though he’s had a bit of a down season in Oakland thus far.

Seattle: 233/293/349 280/377/439 (+174 OPS)

Texas: 258/329/438 285/382/448 (+63 OPS)

Detroit: 261/323/391 288/384/452 (+122 OPS)

Toronto: 270/344/461 (244/323/372 w/o Adam Lind) 288/382/448 (+135 OPS)

NY-NL: 248/323/348 (RF) 281/358/424 (LF) 280/377/439 (+145 OPS vs. RF)

St. Louis: 258/332/395 (LF) 260/312/432 (RF) 285/382/448 (+103 OPS vs. LF)

Cincy: 240/307/403 291/387/456 (+133 OPS)

SF: 245/314/358 285/382/448 (+158 OPS)

Let’s talk about this a little bit. To start with, why did I split Adam Lind’s production from Toronto’s LF figures? Simply put, Lind spends about 2/3 of his time as the DH in the Blue Jays’ line up and the alternative DH’s put up worse numbers then the alternative LFers. The Blue Jays play in the toughest division in baseball and Lind isn’t a good defensive outfielder, it makes some sense that if they were going to add a bat they’d want someone who’d allow them to keep Lind at DH… thus Holliday. Texas might not belong on this list as they have the least to gain (in terms of OPS) and they expect Josh Hamilton back in the next couple weeks. They’re also hurting at 1B and DH.

This leads me right to Jason Giambi! (Gee, it’s almost like I planned that.) I’ll be honest, Giambi becomes much more marketable if he’d get hot over the next couple of weeks and the best chance of that happening is if the A’s make him the DH through the end of July.

Detroit: 257/327/394 (DH) 213/353/395 (+27 OPS)

Seattle: 242/333/403 (DH) 207/347/383 (-6 OPS)

Texas: 211/269/429 (1B) 235/299/510 (DH) 211/357/391 (+50 OPS vs. 1B)

Like I said, there’s an extremely limited market for Giambi but it would help immensely if he went on a tear right now. I doubt the A’s would get a whole lot for him straight up, and they’d have to kick in the cash to cover his $1.25 million buy-out in 2010, but it might be worth it to pick up a couple of low-level prospects with some upside.

I don’t have a clever way of getting to Adam Kennedy, then again, the A’s showed enough cleverness to pull him away from Tampa for next to nothing so maybe I don’t need a clever lead-in. Now the A’s have the chance to flip him for a prospect or two, assuming his magic pixie dust can hold out for a few more weeks!

Seattle: 260/300/420 301/367/471 (+118 OPS)

SF: 231/280/271 307/373/480 (+202 OPS)

Seattle needs a lot of help, yet they’re only 2.5 back from the Angels. Makes you wonder what might have been for the A’s with a couple more breaks. But you tend to make your own luck and I guess the A’s have only themselves to blame. Again, I doubt Kennedy would garner much in return but like I said with Giambi, even a couple of low-level prospects with upside would be a plus… especially since the A’s are essentially playing with house (Tampa) money.

Now to the curious case of Orlando Cabrera. He’s sucked thus far, and if he played any position other than SS he wouldn’t be under consideration for anything other than the waiver wire. As it is, St. Louis, Cincinnati and the Mets have all suffered injuries at the SS position and are looking for band-aids. The A’s would probably have to pick up the $250 K bonus Cabrera gets if he’s traded but it might be worth it just to save a million bucks on the tail end of the deal and to create a spot on the 40 man. Then again, maybe someone on AN can think of a prospect that could be acquired if the A’s kicked in some extra cash.

I’m not going to take the time to write about the bullpen arms the A’s could deal, save one. A lot of people seem to think that Russ Springer has no trade value. It is my esteemed opinion that a lot of people are dead wrong. Sure, his overall numbers are poor but consider what he did in April and June:

April: 11 G 10.1 IP 8 H 4 BB 14 K 1.74 ERA

June: 9 G 7.1IP 7 H 2 BB 10 K 1.23 ERA

Those are not the numbers of a guy with zero trade value.

Enjoy and discuss.

Minor League Update: Do you know where your prospects are?

grover — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:49:43 -0000

The Arizona League (AZL) kicked off its season today, meaning the A’s now have all 6 of their North American farm teams up and running, plus a team in the Dominican Summer League… I need to go on a two week fire assignment just to recover from the effort of covering so much ground! Now seems as good a time as any to get everyone up to speed on where the affiliates reside in the rankings, plus note who are making the key contributions towards the victory efforts.

(In the case of Stockton, there’s not much of a list.)

But before we get to the doom and gloom of the A’s High-A ball affiliate, let’s enjoy the success of the upper minor league teams.

Sacramento (45-25; 1st place in the Pacific-South Division PCL)

The River Cats have the best record of any of the A’s affiliates and they’ve accomplished this without a great deal of top-o’-the-line prospects. Sure, they had Mazzaro for a while but they promoted him up to Oakland and got Dana Eveland in return… and we all know what kind of downgrade that was for the River Cats!

Eric Patterson has been the offensive catalyst for Sacramento, his 274 at bats and 307 plate appearances leading the River Cats. He’s hitting 321/394/511 and has seen time at 2B, 3B, LF, CF and DH. He’s also 26 and has never been able to capitalize on his chances when on a big league roster.

Gio Gonzalez is on an impressive streak, going 3-0 over his last 5 starts while giving up 1 ER (a 0.30 ERA) 13 hits, 13 walks and striking out 38 over 30.1 IP. Does this mean that Gio has finally turned the corner and is ready to take on big league hitters? Probably not, but it’s still a nice run.

Looking at the River Cats roster, it seems as if the one constant amidst all the turnover has been the consistent and often times stellar relief pitching. Jeff Gray, Jay Marshall and Brad Kilby have done the bulk of the heavy lifting but recent contributions by Ryan Webb and Henry Rodriguez have been critical to the River Cats continued success.

On the "no news is good news" front, 1B/RF Sean Doolittle should be returning to action sometime within the next 2 weeks.

Travis Buck is raking to the tune of 15-37 with 6 doubles and a home run, plus a 7/7 BB/K rate. (That’s a 1.127 OPS for anyone interested.) As much as it pains me to say it, I don’t want to see Buck back in Oakland unless he’s going to be playing every day. We’ve tried the Buck-to-the-bench, play-him-randomly approach and it doesn’t work. Stick him in RF and tell him he’s playing every freakin’ day for at least a month.

Midland (36-32; 2nd place in the Texas-South Division TL)

The RockHounds have a few quality prospects in their line-up, but mercy me their pitching is atrocious.

Corey Brown is still hurt, although not enough to end up on the DL.

Adrian Cardenas is in the process of transitioning to 3B, the move seems to be affecting his bat in a negative way… he’s hitting 125/245/150 when he plays the hot corner. I’m sure the 3B-itis is just a phase but I am worried that his slugging has dropped from .590 in April to .395 in June.

Chris Carter continues to hit the ball really hard in route to a 296/402/496 line.

Graham Godfrey has emerged as the Ace of the staff. He’s 6-2 since April, with a sub-3.00 ERA.

Sam Demel is looking for a chance to skip to Sac’s bullpen. In the meantime his 0.61 ERA and 11 Saves make him sexy trade bait.

Stockton Ports (25-45; Worst freakin’ record in the CAL)

Jemile Weeks is the one true bright spot in the Ports line-up and just this week he proved that he belongs on the Oakland roster… not in the line-up, but on the roster. Specifically, the DL.

If I had to find something completely positive to talk about, I’d point to LHRP Lance Sewell’s 17 K’s in the last 10 innings. Another almost positive would be Tyson Ross’s last 3 starts, in which he’s managed to go at least 5 IP each time.

Kane County Cougars (41-29; 1st half division winner MID)

The Cougars have a lot of talent to talk about, both in the line-up and on the mound.

Grant Desme has a 906 OPS in June but needs to work on controlling the strike zone more.

Jason Christian is hitting 300/371/525 in June.

Jeremy Barfield and Dusty Coleman have cooled off considerably and need to make adjustments to what the Midwest League is throwing their way now,

Anthony Capra has a nice ERA and K/9, but he’s got to get the free passes under control. 14 walks in his last 21 IP is a problem.

Pedro Figueroa and Kenny Smalley also need to tighten up their command of the strike zone, although both have made some recent progress in this area.

Mickey Storey has no such problem, as his 23:1 K:BB suggests. Storey is ready for a new challenge.

Vancouver Canadians (2-1; Tied for 1st in the NW Division… seriously though, did you need to know that?)

The names you know are Nino Leyja and Rashun Dixon. Last year they played SS and CF (respectively) in the AZL, this year they’ve started the season at 2B and LF/RF. Leyja is going to share time at SS with Leonardo Gil. Dixon is probably going to spend most of his time, at least early on, at a corner OF position. The A’s are trying Tyreace House in CF, and they’re doing t for a very good reason: Mr. House is really, really fast. How fast you ask? Fast is when a left handed batter can get out of the batter’s box and down to first in under 4 seconds. That’s pretty much considered a 70+ if not an 80 on the scouting scale. House can get to 1B in less than 4 seconds… and he hits right handed. If House can run routes even slightly better than Eric Byrnes could then the A’s might be able to play only two outfielders!

OK, I exaggerate.

Slightly.

And I have absolutely no objective reason for saying this, but keep an eye on P Ricardo Penalba.

AZL A’s (1-0; Undefeated, baby!)

The babiest A’s are built by a combination of 2009 draft picks, and campers from the 2008 and 2009 Dominican Summer League teams. I’ll let you know how things shake out once they have their roster set. I’m not kidding, the pitcher who got the win last night (Rony Acevedo) wasn’t on the roster yesterday afternoon.

So there you have it. Enjoy.

Monday's Minor League Report: Is It Moving Day Yet?

grover — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:35:48 -0000

The short season leagues begin in the coming week and that will probably lead to some roster shuffling among the full season affiliates. This week I've decided to try my hand at anticipating some of those moves. Its not just about identifying the guys who are performing well at a lower level, I need to make sure there's room for them in their new digs.

Oh, before I forget, Mark Ellis has begun his re-hab assignment tonight with the Stockton Ports. He's playing 2B, with Jemile Weeks serving as the DH. (Update: Ellis went 0-2 with a BB.)

I guess I should start with the obvious names... last word is the A's expect Rashun Dixon and Nino Leyja to play for the Vancouver Canadians when the NWL starts on June 20. Fautino de los Santos had a minor slow down in his recovery from 2008 TJ surgery, nothing to be alarmed about but it will delay him getting into games until July. No news seems to be good news regarding Inoa and his elbow; he probably won't see the Arizona Rookie League until mid-July at the earliest. The A's haven't signed any of their 2009 draft class.

I don't have any info on who's doing well in extended Spring Training, so I can't really predict who might be headed to Kane County if and when some space opens up. But I do have a good idea about who might be making the jump from Kane County to Stockton.

The Stockton Ports are currently carrying 23 active players on their roster, plus a re-habbing Mark Ellis. With only 10 position players on the team, it makes sense that Grant Desme and Dusty Coleman head west to seek their fame and fortune. Desme was Oakland's 2nd round pick back in 2007 out of Cal Poly but he's been hurt since before the A's drafted him. His numbers aren't superlative, and his 18/75 BB/K rate in 235 at bats is downright worrisome but the A's need to be aggressive in his promotions to try and get him caught up. He played mostly CF for the Cougars but has the arm for RF, which is probably where he'll see most of his time in Stockton.

I'm probably being too aggressive with the call on Coleman, but I have this hunch that Jemile Weeks is east bound and down before too long and the Ports would need another middle infielder. The safe play might be to demote Larry Cobb from AAA back to High-A, but I'd prefer to see upward movement in the prospect ranks whenever possible. If/when Weeks does leave for Midland I could see the organization move current Ports SS Michael Richard to the right side of the infield, making room for the top SS prospect currently signed and in the A's system.

Desme and Coleman aren't the only two that I see heading out to Stockton. Kenny Smalley and Mickey Storey have been down right dominant in the Cougars' rotation and bullpen, respectively. The Ports need all kind of help, and an infusion of talent from the mid-west would be exactly what the doctor ordered. Unfortunately, adding all four players would require someone on the Ports roster (because Weeks is headed to Midland) to be waived or demoted. My guess is Nick Walters would be saying good-bye.

Midland also has 23 actives on the roster and with Adrian Cardenas seeing time at 3B they're forced to rely on Michael Affronti to man 2B when Cardenas is busy.

Who?

Michael Affronti.

Let me be the first to acknowledge that Mr. Affronti is a much better baseball player than I am, but he's not much of a prospect.

So if Weeks is moving to Midland, does that mean Cardenas is headed back to Sacramento? Doubtful, I think. It makes more sense (to me, anyways) to keep Cardenas in a comfortable hitting environment while he adjusts to the defensive demands of 3B. Chris Carter might get a promotion to AAA, but as of now it strikes me as a coin flip chance. The 296/397/500 certainly supports a promotion but dropping from 39 HR to 9 HR by mid-June has got to be a little worrisome to management. It is obvious that Carter has made some adjustments to his approach this season; do the A's ask him to make another change and go for more power? And if they do that shouldn't they leave him in AA, in a league he already knows to help better another transition? Of course, getting a (presumably) successful half season in AAA would go a long way in determining if Carter could be ready for Oakland come next season.

So I'm actually going to flip a coin to make this call... Heads he stays in AA, Tails he gets promoted...

Tails it is! Carter's headed for Sac.

The A's go Green... AKA: Now is not the time for a scorched Earth policy

grover — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:17:56 -0000

With the 13th pick in the 2009 amateur draft, the Oakland A’s picked USC SS Grant Green.

OK… now what?

I’m not going to write up a detailed scouting report for you, there are a couple examples on the draft thread that I’ll link too instead. The bottom line is a lot of people (including, one hopes, the scouting department and general management of the Oakland Athletics) think that Green can be a good starting SS in the big leagues. Will he achieve what is expected of him? I have no idea, but he faced 3 years of legitimate competition in the Pac-10 and spent some time in the Cape Cod League so it’s not like he hasn’t cleared some hurdles already.

The big question is, how quickly can the A’s sign Green and get him in their development program? Green is represented by Scott Boras and Mr. Boras is known for hardball dealing and not letting his clients sign until near the deadline… that’s how he gets top dollar for his people. I understand that Green is likely to require an above-slot bonus to come to terms. I can accept that as the cost of doing business. What I cannot tolerate is the idea that the A’s don’t get Green signed ASAP and into their farm system. Having Green sit on the sidelines for two months is unacceptable. This is a player with the potential to move quickly and get to the Show and play a position of need in the Oakland line-up.

Major League Baseball has requested that teams cut the recommended slot bonuses by 10% from last year in an effort to control costs. That means the MLB recommended bonus for the 13th overall pick in the 2009 draft is $1.656 million. The A’s already know that Boras has no intention of letting Green sign for slot, so let’s skip the foreplay and go straight for the hardcore porn. The A’s don’t have a 2nd round pick this year because of the FA signing of Orlando Cabrera, that’s a recommended slot bonus of $614 K that the A’s have sitting in the bank. Combine those two figures and the A’s have $2.27 million that they were planning on spending anyways before they signed Cabrera. I haven’t heard a specific number attached to Green but $2.27 million should go a long way towards getting a deal done.

The A’s aren’t going to win a price war with Scott Boras; they aren’t going to get Green to sign on their financial terms. Victory can only be achieved by finding the price tag quickly and getting the deal done. Get Green into an A’s uniform and get him playing professional baseball. Drafting Green was the easy part, now is when the work starts.

Link.

Draft well or die slowly

grover — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:01:02 -0000

I need to start today’s post with an apology.

I planned on doing something special today, rather than post an update on the farm system I got Blez to help me land an interview with A’s Director of Player Personnel Billy Owens and I was going to type up the transcript of that conversation for AN’s perusal today. Unfortunately, Muppets aren’t renowned for their technical savvy and somehow the interview was deleted from my digital recorder. I’ve already e-mailed apologies to Mr. Owens and Blez, and now I apologize to AN as a whole because I cannot provide you with hard "these are his very words" evidence regarding the A’s intentions in the June 9th amateur draft. I will not try to quote Billy Owens based on my memory of the conversation we had, I’ve got too much respect for the man and in the concept of journalistic professionalism (actually, I may have made that concept up just now) to attempt what could only end up a hack job.

I do want to talk about tomorrow’s draft though, in place of the weekly minor league update, and I’m going to use concepts and ideas that I learned from my conversation with Mr. Owens to try and paint a more accurate picture of what we might expect to see on Tuesday. I want to make something clear before we begin: at no point in my conversation with Mr. Owens were specific players ever mentioned as being possible targets for the 13th pick in tomorrow’s draft. Yes, I brought up specific names in the conversation and yes, Mr. Owens could talk intelligently about the players I brought up but in no way have any of the players I’ll talk about in today’s article been hinted at by the Oakland organization itself. I’m basing today’s discussion on the players most rumored (or hoped for on AN) to be under consideration by Oakland at #13 and have a strong likelihood of being around when it’s the A’s turn to draft.

Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and John Sickels have all released pre-draft rankings for the amateurs in tomorrow’s draft, the oldest of which (BA) came out on May 27th. The 2009 draft promises to be one of the most fluid drafts in recent memory, because after San Diego State RHP Stephen Strasburg no one is sure who goes where. North Carolina CF-1B Dustin Ackley is generally considered the 2nd best prospect in the draft, but latest word is the Mariners, who pick #2 overall, are starting to get a little worried about his bonus demands. Seattle’s still likely (and even expected) to pick Ackley #2 in spite of the potential 8-figure signing bonus but its rare to see a team blink on what is essentially the first real choice in the draft this late in the process. But if we assume that Seattle grows a pair and realizes that its picking 2nd overall for a reason (as in, they lost 101 games in 2008 and their 2 best hitters are 33 and 35, plus Beltre and Bedard are free agents after this season) then we can write in Dustin Ackley as the #2 pick in the 2009 draft. Maybe we’ll write it in pencil.

A lot of people consider Georgia HS OF Donovan Tate to have more upside than any draft eligible amateur. (Strasburg is already considered just about as good as he can get, thus not much upside. He’ll have to get by with his 99-101 MPH running fastball, 80 MPH curve and laser sharp control… woe is him.) Tate also has a baseball/football scholarship to Georgia and an estimated $6 million price tag… which would be fine if there wasn’t some concern over his bat. San Diego (read: Grady Fuson) is rumored to be well nigh enamored with Tate and might have even found enough change under the sofa cushions to afford the price tag. Or not. If the Padres don’t/can’t pick Tate he could fall quite a ways… possibly to Oakland at #13. I’ll talk about that possibility a little later. The point is after Ackley at #2 things get muddled, as there are a lot of good prospects but few who stand head-and-shoulders above the crowd. I mentioned that BA posted its Top 100 list on May 27th, that list is already outdated! Kyle Gibson, a consensus Top-10 (most would have said Top-5) pick at the time has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right forearm. A California HS arm by the name of Matt Hobgood ranked 40th on the May list but was just picked at #27 in a mock draft run by BA chief scribes John Manual and Jim Callis.

Gee, I wonder why I picked those names to highlight.

So what does all this mean for the A’s come Tuesday?

The A’s are (probably) still in the process of building their Draft Board, and on that board they will list the Top 100 draft eligible amateur baseball players in the world. After those 100 names (which will take the team through it’s 3rd round pick at #92) the team will then divide the rest of the draft class up by position. I can say one thing with certainty; the A’s are looking to add talent in this draft. To those on AN who clamor for a new SS or 3B, I will discuss the 2 names which could conceivably fit those needs at #13. Those 2 names are Southern Cal SS Grant Green and Florida HS 3B Bobby Borchering… there isn’t another SS or 3B prospect in the 2009 draft worthy of even being considered with the 13th pick in the draft so do not cry and wail if the A’s don’t spend their 1st round pick on a player at 1 of those 2 positions. Since I brought ‘em up, I might as well start with the discussion with them.

(National ranking per publication.)

Bobby Borchering, 3B Florida HS (BA: 16; BP: 15; JS: 15)

A switch hitter with power and good hand/eye co-ordination, he’s been climbing the draft boards lately. He’s considered maybe the best prep bat in the draft and he’s got a strong arm to go with soft hands. At 6-4, 195 pounds he’s not an especially graceful athlete although he did improve his agility while filling out his senor year. The best anyone will say about his defense at 3B is that he projects to be average; most feel that he’ll have to switch over to 1B. There in lies the rub for the A’s. Every mock draft I’ve seen has Borchering there for the A’s at #13 but that’s because most teams view him as a 1B. The publications have him rated as a solid mid-1st round pick and the talent/reliability level between the guys at the 5-20 spots is so close that a lot might come down to personal preference between the teams, so drafting the nationally 15th ranked guy at #13 is in no way an over-draft. But chances are Borchering won’t rank higher than some of the other guys I’ll be talking about unless the A’s are convinced that Borchering can play 3B.

Grant Green, SS USC (BA: 13; BP: 5; JS: 11)

Green seems to have suffered a bit from over-expectation. All the publications say the same thing: Green has the potential to be a solid hitting, starting SS for a contending MLB team… and some are saying he’s pretty much the only guy you can say that about in the entire draft! He’s certainly the guy with the best chance of achieving that goal, and as such it would be something of a coup if the A’s had a chance to draft him at all. There are at least a couple teams (Washington at #10, KC at #12) with up the middle needs. Does that mean Green is the pick if he’s sitting there at #13? Maybe not if the next guy is still on the board…

Mike Leake, RHP ASU (BA: 14; BP: 8; JS: 8)

Remember what I said about a team’s personal preference? Mike Leake doesn’t have a ton of upside, but what he’s got is still pretty damn good. "The most consistent pitcher in college baseball had a lower ERA than Stephen Strasburg while pitching in a tougher park against much tougher competition" – Kevin Goldstein, BP

Leake can touch 94 MPH but sits at 88-92 with a lot of run and sink, a change-up and a slider that both grade out as above-average. He’s got a bulldog mentality; he’s smart on the mound and has excellent control of his stuff (21 BB, 150 K in 132.2 IP). But he’s not a big guy at 6-0, 180 lbs and he’s pretty much done growing. The mock drafts have him going anywhere from #8 to #17 and while no one is expecting him to be a #1 SP everyone is expecting him to be in the middle of a big league rotation soon.

Oh, and he’d be a re-draft. The A’s used a 7^th round pick on him in the 2006 draft but weren’t able to sign him. His college career hasn’t done anything to have lowered his value to the A’s.

Tim Wheeler, OF Sac State (BA: 15; BP: 25; JS: 17)

Wheeler is a high energy outfielder with good instincts on the bases and above average (some say plus potential) power. His LH bat is his best tool, but he has average arm strength and above average speed. At 6-4, 205 pounds he’s got the frame to get bigger (and potentially develop more power) but would it cost him speed if he did so? There seems to be a decent contingent of folks who think he can stick in CF but there are more voices saying he’ll end up in LF. If that’s the case then the extra power better come. There’s a lot of chatter in the mock drafts about the A’s selecting Wheeler, in fact BA’s last two mocks had the A’s taking the Sac State product. (Although both times Jim Callis made the pick… just saying.)

Tanner Scheppers, RHP Independent League (BA: 9; BP: 6; JS: 9)

Scheppers has a mid-90’s fastball and a hard curve and some say that his stuff is second only to Strasburg’s in the 2009 draft class. He ranks at the bottom of the Top 10 and shows up in the mid to late 1st round in most mock drafts because of the shoulder that went bad on him last year. He’s been cleared medically and has been pitching for St. Paul in the Indy League but he showed some rust with his command… which was never his strong suit at Fresno State. Scheppers is a very high risk pitcher (due to the previously mentioned shoulder injury which did not require surgery but was never fully explained) who probably won’t/can’t demand much more than a slot signing bonus. If he hits you could have an Ace. Or you could end up with a long string of medical bills. The A’s are right there on the edge of the 13th pick being too soon to take that kind of risk or the perfect time to gamble.

Donovan Tate, CF Georgia HS (BA: 3; BP: 3; JS: 6)

Let’s check the tool shed, shall we? Depending on the scouting report, Tate has a minimum 70 (out of the 20-80 scale) in raw power, speed and arm strength. If he becomes everything the scouts think he can become he’s the next Andruw Jones (Good Atlanta Version) with Gold Glove defense and 30+ HR power. There are some caution flags, however. I already mentioned the $6 million signing bonus thanks to the Georgia scholarship. He’s so damn good that he can coast and dominate at the high school level. The big question is his bat, in particular his hitting ability. He’s shown some ability to make adjustments but he’s not a natural hitter. I mentioned a Good Andruw Jones as the top end of his ability, but the name he’s most compared to is that of a different Atlanta outfielder… Jeff Francoeur. Tate is an incredible athlete and he knows it; he has the potential to be a perennial All-Star and he might even be flashy enough to get SportsCenter to show some A’s highlights. But there is risk.

Can the A’s even afford Tate? Keep in mind the A’s don’t have a 2nd round pick this year and last year they spent almost $2.7 million to sign Weeks and Ross to slot bonuses in the 1st and 2nd rounds, respectively. They also went well above slot to sign Hunter, Dixon, Leyja and Coleman. So the cash is (probably) there to sign Tate, although I’m not sure how much extra would be left over to sign additional players to over slot bonuses. Donovan Tate is the ultimate high risk/high reward option for the A’s in tomorrow’s draft. Drafting him commits the bulk of their available cash into signing him, essentially making the success or failure of the 2009 draft class fall all on Tate’s shoulders.

Feeling lucky?

Kyle Gibson, RHP Missouri (BA: 4; BP: 12; JS: 3)

(The BA grade was made in May, Sickels’ in early June and BP’s after the drop in velocity during a complete game shut-out but before the diagnosis. Interestingly, in BA’s last mock draft Jim Callis picked Gibson at #11 to the Rockies.)

Gibson was, as I said before, a probable Top 5 pick in the draft before his forearm injury. No one’s whispered his name in conjunction with the A’s; ergo here I am shouting it from the rooftop. The guy had slightly better stuff than Leake, with a consistent low-90’s fastball with good sink, a good change-up and a good slider. At 6-6, 210 he could use a few more pounds and maybe that would help the fastball. Good control and a calm demeanor on the mound, he projects as a #2 or #3 SP in a big league rotation.

But he’s hurt. Yeah, I know but he’s supposed to be healthy well in advance of the August 15th signing deadline, meaning whichever team drafts him will get to see him pitch again before making a decision on how much to spend on him. In the A’s case, if things don’t work out Oakland has the option of letting him go back to school and they get the 14th pick in the 2010 draft, as well as whatever pick they earn from the 2009 season. But if he’s healthy, the A’s just took a gamble and it paid off for them by landing 1 of the consensus 5 best amateurs in the country at little more than slot wages, an opportunity that typically doesn’t happen unless the big league team struggles epically.

The key to answering all of these questions lies in the A’s Draft Board. Having talked to Billy Owen I feel pretty confident in saying that the A’s plan on sticking to their internal rankings… although how much their rankings are influenced by signability (Tate) and minor injury (Gibson) remains an open question. As I’ve said, draft boards can be heavily influenced by a team’s personal preference… some teams tend to lean towards rawer/higher upside guys while the A’s have tended towards more polished players. I think the fact that the A’s have already drafted Mike Leake once will push him up their draft board a bit and if he’s still around at #13 he’ll tempt the team quite a bit. Donovan Tate is a very pretty dream, but in the course of writing this I think I kinda talked myself out of going that direction. I think I’d rather see the A’s spend (essentially) $3.5 million over slot on 4-5 players than see it all go to one guy. I’m going to roll the dice here and put Grant Green higher on the board than Leake. Grant gets a lot of Troy Tulowitzki comps, the 2005 1st round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies who made his big league debut in August, 2006 and was the Opening Day SS in 2007. If the A’s think Green can move that fast through the system it’s tough to see them going in another direction if he’s sitting there at #13. Kyle Gibson makes a lot of sense if Grant and Leake are already off the board, which is a very possible scenario tomorrow. In fact, since I’ve pretty much talked myself out of Tate at this point I’d say Gibson is my 3rd choice behind Grant and Leake.

So I hope you found this helpful, and I’ve no doubt that the A’s are going to go and draft someone that I didn’t mention. Hopefully that guy will be even more amazing than the guys I wrote about! See you manana, folks.

Monday's Mazzaro is the Man Manana Minor League Update

grover — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:49:12 -0000

I had absolutely no intention of writing an update today, as I’ve got a 200+ comment diary rolling and I’m coming down with a bug… so I should be limiting my time on AN and getting some rest.

But NOOOO!

The A’s done gone and plan to call up Vin Mazzaro

to pitch on Tuesday and I would be remiss in my duties as AN’s minor league writer if I didn’t suck it up and give the masses the info they crave on tomorrow’s starting pitcher.

So let’s do this.

I’m not sure who the A’s plan on waiving/cutting/60 Day DLing from the 40 man roster to make room for Mazzaro but my guess is Rajai Davis, with the waiver wire and on to Sacramento. The way I see it, Cunningham and Buck (once he returns from the DL) will get the bulk of the playing time in RF. Add Sweeney and Holliday, plus Cust when he’s not DHing and you’ve got your big league outfield depth. And what if the A’s need another outfielder between Wednesday and whenever Buck gets back? Old stand-by Chris Denorfia gets the call.

At least, that’s how I’d play things.

So what does AN need to know about Mazzaro that they might not already know?

He’s 22 years old and has been absolutely dominant over his last 4 appearances, striking out 21 in 27.2 IP while allowing 9 hits, 4 walks and 1 earned run. Over the course of his career he’s posted a very strong groundball rate but that changed in May of ’09, with his 1.16 GO/AO being a great deal lower than his 2.93 rate in April. Does this represent cause for alarm? Hard to say. Mazzaro got a lot of ground balls in April but he also walked 12 in 24 IP. He needed to make an adjustment or the walks were going to kill him. He had a lot of luck limiting hits in May (17 Hits in 33.0 IP) but he also bumped his K/9 from 5.96 to 7.36.

Primarily a fastball/slider pitcher (FB in the low-90’s with reports that it can touch 95, BA grades the slider as an average big league offering) it seems like he’s always been working on his change-up. Perhaps his off-speed pitch is starting to come around as he’s shown marked improvement vs. lefty batters in 2009. (Lefties posted a 1.33 WHIP vs. Mazzaro in 2008; they’re at 1.06 this season.) Mazzaro also improved his numbers vs. RH batters. Basically, he’s shown improvement across the board two months into the season.

But is this improvement for real or is Mazzaro just hot? Hard to say for certain, although I feel the A’s are rushing him just a bit. I’d have preferred another month of AAA dominance before calling him up but oh well. Tuesday’s performance won’t really answer the question either, as if he does poorly you could just chalk it up to rookie jitters and if he pitches great it could be an affect of no one having a book on the rookie pitcher and he catches the White Sox by surprise. What ever he does, I’d like to see him last at least 6 innings so the bullpen doesn’t get worn out.

Best o’ luck kid, and welcome to the Show.

My modest proposal to improve the A's

grover — Sun, 31 May 2009 03:18:23 -0000

Given the recent hue and cry I thought now might be a decent time to introduce my plan for improving the A’s in the near and long term. Please note that I didn’t say “immediate” improvement, ‘cause that’s not how things should play out. I think any significant move to improve the team immediately would be a Fool’s Errand at best and an epic disaster at worst. There will be a bit more suffering before happiness can be achieved but if my plan works the A’s could have a new, long term answer at 3B by July and the fiscal freedom to pursue significant upgrades next offseason.

Oh, and more wins in 2009.

First things first as they say and unfortunately the first thing that must be done is address the Eric Chavez situation. He’s done and he needs to retire. The trouble is Eric doesn’t want to retire because baseball is his career, its how he provides for his family and once he retires there’s no coming back. I don’t care if you’re a multi-millionaire athlete or a construction worker, if you’re a halfway decent man the thought of no longer being able to work and provide for your family is terrifying. The A’s owe Chavez approximately $22.25 million guaranteed over the next 3 seasons and that’s more than enough incentive for a man with a family to try and beat the odds and attempt another comeback.

The A’s, and Beane in particular, need to sit Eric down and reach an accommodation. The A’s know how unlikely it is that Chavez could come back from his latest back injury and they don’t want to continue pouring money into a lost cause. My suggestion would be to keep Chavez on the 60 Day DL, thus freeing up a roster slot for Oakland and guaranteeing that Chavez could earn the remaining $7+ million due him this season. The A’s could then buy out Chavez’s remaining year plus option (total: $12 million + $12.5 million/$3 million buy-out) for $6 million, split into two $3 million payments in 2010 and 2011. The sum of the buy-out, including his 2009 wages, would amount to approximately $13.25 million over 3 years. That should placate Chavez and it frees up $9 million the A’s can spend on roster improvement as early as this winter.

So how do the A’s go about replacing Chavez? It is clear that Jack Hannahan is not the answer, especially in the long term, as perennial fan favorite Bobby Crosby is seeing more playing time at 3B. The best 3B prospect in the system is Jason Christian, who is currently hitting 241/320/356 for Low-A Kane County. (Translation: There’s reason for optimism but he’s still a couple years away.) There are some veteran 3B being shopped that are under contract/team control through 2010 (or longer) by teams eager to get younger, and frankly, better players into the line-up. The two most frequent names are Colorado’s Garrett Atkins and San Diego’s Kevin Kouzmanoff, and let me make my opinion clear by stating those two players suck and it would be a waste of time and effort to acquire either one… and forget about acquiring the young hotness their respective teams are trying to move into their place in the line-up.

My idea is to acquire Pirates prospect Neil Walker, a 23 year old switch hitting 3B currently in his second year of AAA. I’ve already written a rather detailed spiel on why the move could work for the A’s and I have no intention of re-hashing here, but the beauty of the move is the low cost of making the deal. My proposal is a straight up trade of Daric Barton for Walker, as the Pirates are planning to let current 1B Adam LaRoche leave as a free agent next offseason if they don’t trade him in July. The Pirates currently have Andy LaRoche at 3B; he doesn’t even qualify for arbitration until 2011 and is hitting 302/373/423. They also used the 2nd pick in the 2008 draft on college 3B Pedro Alvarez and he’s currently in High-A ball. Simply put, Neil Walker looks to be extremely available because he doesn’t have anywhere else to go in the Pittsburgh organization. My best case scenario for Walker has him turn into an above-average defensive 3B who doesn’t post a high OBP (I’m guessing he sits around .330 in the Show) but hits for a bit of pop. Even if Walker ends up flopping, all it cost the A’s was a player (Barton) who was blocked in Oakland by Giambi and being pushed from behind by River Cat teammate Sean Doolittle and AA Midland’s Chris Carter.

Next is to figure out what the A’s have in Sweeney, Buck and Cunningham. Holliday’s a fixture in LF, Cust is the DH and Giambi can cover 1B. That means Sweeney, Buck and Cunningham are fighting for playing time at two positions: CF and RF. Whoever’s playing best gets the most playing time. Someone goes into a slump then whoever was on the bench gets another chance. The goal is to find at least two big league outfielders by the end of 2009, and to see if this current bunch can provide that kind of production. Brace yourself, ‘cause I’m sure this next part will be difficult for a lot of you… this plan means Rajai Davis needs to be let go. Put Davis on the waiver wire and call up Cunningham, then let whoever is healthiest/most productive win the jobs. I would imagine that Cunningham would play CF over Buck should Sweeney find his way to the bench. This would require some line-up juggling on the part of Geren, then again, it’s not like he ever has the same 9 guys healthy on back-to-back nights anyway!

So my plan to get the A’s to win more games in 2009 is pretty simple: Trade for Walker, find playing time and production from two of Cunningham, Sweeney and Buck, get Duke healthy and into the rotation by July (or maybe Mazzaro is ready by then) and have all the hitters who’ve been struggling to hit as expected (not counting Crosby here… he’s hitting exactly as expected) to start hitting as expected. Pretty simple, really.

What of Holliday and the trade deadline?

I’m typically of the opinion that a non-contending team like the A’s should trade a star like Holliday rather than settle for the draft picks, because repeat after me, there is no guarantee that you’ll land the other team’s 1st round pick as compensation for losing a top tier free agent. I’m not feeling that so much in this case. The market has shifted in the last couple years and teams have started to hold on to their very best prospects at the trade deadline. I can respect that, but there are more than a few teams that could use a Matt Holliday bat to make a run at the 2009 post-season and it just so happens that those teams all have a prospect I’m really interested in. So I’m against trading Holliday for a package of 2-3 mid-grade prospects but would pull the trigger if the return netted the A’s an A-grade youngster.

The teams that would, in my mind, most benefit from landing Holliday include Atlanta, Tampa, the Cubs and maybe the Mets. From Atlanta I’d want Jason Heyward (even I accept that asking for Hanson is a waste of time) Tampa could part with Desmond Jennings, the Cubs would have to split with Vitters and the Mets need to buy Wilmer Flores a plane ticket West. To any other offers from those teams I’d politely say “No thank you” whilst my warm and fuzzy inner voice would be saying “Go fuck yourself!”. The Braves in particular could use Holliday, as the NL East is once again up for grabs. And if they aren’t willing to part with an A-ball outfielder to land thee best available hitter than I guess they just aren’t going to win the division this year. Please understand, this has nothing to do with the what it cost the A’s to acquire Holliday in the first place… it has everything to do with what I think the 2009 trade market can bear. I’m insisting on a single A-ball player from Atlanta, Chicago and New York, while Tampa would have to part with an AA outfielder that profiles best in LF or CF… positions the Rays have covered through 2010 as is.

I would much rather hold on to Holliday all year, butter him up on the idea of staying in Oakland (after he tastes FA, no way does he not try the offseason market) and if worse comes to worse take the draft picks than trade him to someone like the Braves for a package centered around Gorkys Hernandez or crap of his ilk. Go big or go home, which in this case means landing someone like Jason Heyward or settling for a couple draft picks.

In case you hadn’t guessed it, I’m penciling in Matt Holliday as the A’s starting LF in 2010. He’s not going to sign an extension, the A’s are going to have to pony up in the FA market with the Yankees and the other big money teams and bid for his services. I think he lands a contract similar to (but not as long as) the 8 year/$180 million deal Teixeira signed with the Yankees. That’s $22 million annual to sign Holliday, for I’m guessing 6 years guaranteed. The obvious question is: Can the A’s afford to spend that kind of money?

The simple answer is: Yes.

But I’m guessing you’d like to hear a little more detail. I’m more than happy to share my insights on this matter….

The next time I post a diary.

Monday's Memorial Day Minor League Update

grover — Tue, 26 May 2009 04:29:50 -0000

Tonight’s update is going to spotlight 4 players, one from each of the A’s full season minor league teams. I used a process of selection slightly more ordered than merely throwing darts at a wall covered in prospects names… yes I chose to not piss off my wife by putting holes in the wall, my couch is very comfy but I’d rather sleep in my bed. Basically, these 4 struck my fancy in some way or another, either by performance or by seeing their name pop up in discussions on AN.

Today’s test subjects are Sacramento River Cat (AAA) Vin Mazzaro, Midland Rockhound (AA) Josh Donaldson, Stockton Port (High-A) Ben Hornbeck and Kane County Cougar (Low-A) Petey Paramore. All stats are as of 5/24/09… ‘cause that’s when I started researching/writing this and I don’t feel like re-doing the math to account for today’s performances.

Vin Mazzaro

I decided to write about Mazzaro because he’s currently sporting a K/9 rate almost identical to what he had in Midland last year, 6.84 vs. 6.83. That coincidence (or is it?) set my inner stat-geek all a-twitter. Doing a little more research, I saw that he had allowed fewer hits per 9 but his BB/9 was up .5. So basically Mazzaro’s striking out the same number of guys in AAA as he did in AA last year while allowing pretty much the same number of base runners per 9 IP. I’m particularly impressed by his last 5 appearances.

In Mazzaro’s first 4 starts he allowed 13 hits and 11 walks while striking out 15 in 20 IP. Hits allowed can be fluky for a pitcher but the number of guys he walks is almost all on him. In Mazzaro’s next 5 appearances (4 GS, 1 relief appearance when a re-habbing Santiago Casilla pitched the 1st inning) saw him give up 25 hits and 5 walks while striking out 23 in 30.2 IP. Like I said, hits allowed can be a bit flukish and in 1 GS from the 2nd batch he gave up 12 hits in 4 IP. 9 of those hits were on the ground and 3 never left the infield, so there’s some reason to chalk it up as having some bad luck that day.

What does this mean in the near future?

The recent 5 games sample is too small to offer any definitive conclusions as to if Mazzaro is ready for the Show, but it makes a compelling argument that he’s finally made the necessary adjustments to be successful at AAA. I’d like to see another 5-7 starts that feature an extremely low walk total before believing he’s ready for the next challenge.

Josh Donaldson

Donaldson has fully recovered from an abysmal April, hitting 333/442/528 with 4 doubles and a homerun in his last 10 games. He’s been a workhorse for the Rockhounds, catching 31 of 43 games and also making 3 starts at 3B. (And no, Donaldson does not appear to be in consideration for a full time gig at 3B!) He’s been particularly effective against the running game, gunning down 18 of 33 attempts (55%) and adding an extra 4 pickoffs.

There is a downside to his aggressiveness with the arm. He’s made 5 throwing errors; at least 2 appear to have been pickoff attempts. The big question with Donaldson’s defense is his mobility behind the plate, as last year he allowed 18 Passed Balls in 94 games catching. This year he’s done a little better, but 4 PB in 31 games is still too many. This is something he needs to continue to improve on or it could cause him to be moved out from behind the plate.

As for the long term, Donaldson seems to be creating an interesting dilemma for the A’s. If he can clean up his footwork behind the plate, Donaldson has the bat and arm to profile as a big league starting Catcher, possibly as early as Opening Day 2010. Kurt Suzuki has established himself in Oakland as a young and talented backstop and it would be a waste of Donaldson’s potential value to make him the back-up. Either Donaldson or Suzuki could become an extremely valuable trade chip in the next 6-8 months.

Ben Hornbeck

Hornbeck’s Stockton debut deserves another mention: 6 IP, 1 hit, 1 walk, 12 strike outs, 5 ground outs. A dominant performance, pure and simple.

Does this mean the A’s have another potential pitching stud on their hands?

Not at all.

Hornbeck posted strong numbers in Kane County before earning his promotion but he doesn’t have overwhelming stuff. What he has is an upper-80’s fastball and the ability to spot his pitch to both sides of the plate. He’s got a good change-up and is developing a cutter and a curveball. Essentially, he’s a smart lefty who can change speeds well and he was facing a team that had absolutely no idea who it was facing. It’s going to be another couple starts before the Cal League develops a book on Hornbeck, and when they do it will be up to Ben to make the necessary adjustments to have continued success in Stockton.

Do I think he can do that? Absolutely, I just wanted to talk about him now in order to stave off unfounded hype from the Oakland faithful

Petey Paramore

Apparently Petey is his legal name. Yech.

Anyways, Paramore had a rough and virtually non-existent April for Kane County as he wasn’t fully healthy to start the year. And if you thought Donaldson was hot for the Rockhounds, check out Paramore’s 419/526/452 line over his past 10 games. His overall line sits at 284/407.358 but he’s only had 67 at bats and 14 starts behind the plate. Defensively, he’s only allowed 1 PB and has thrown out 10 of 24 base stealers (42%).

The problem with Paramore is that while he controls the strike zone well (15/12 BB/K) he has shown virtually no power, with 2 doubles and a HR to his power resume thus far. Scouts think his bat is slow and so far his pro numbers suggest another Cliff Pennington… a good back-up with switch hitting ability but probably not starting material. At this point it’s hard to project Paramore as anyone’s starting big league Catcher.

That’s it.

Go home already!

Monday's Minor League Report: The Upwardly Mobile Edition

grover — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:28:33 -0000

Today’s theme is to accentuate the positive and look at some prospects that I think will be getting a promotion very soon. Let me make it clear that just because I might not talk about a player in this post doesn’t mean they’ve done anything wrong or bad or to distinguish themselves as “true Athletics”. Need based promotions can tap any player at any time. What I’m talking about tonight are players whose performance lines up with a need in the level above. The guys I’m talking about are players who I believe will be hunting for a new apartment before the month of May concludes.

The only negative to all this is that none of these guys will be apartment hunting in the Bay Area.

Kane County Cougars (23-14)

The Cougars have more guys with immediate upward potential for a couple of reasons. The first is Kane County received a lot of talented players in their 1st full professional season, including a number of college draftees from the 2008 draft. That gives the A’s farmhands a distinct advantage as they’re typically playing against opponents 2-3 years younger then they are. The second reason is even more basic. The Stockton Ports have a really weak roster, thus creating opportunities for baseball players with more than a pulse going for them.

Shawn Haviland has good, not great numbers in the Cougars’ rotation but as he’s already 23 and a graduate of Harvard University he needs the challenge High-A hitters (not to mention the offense friendly ballparks of the Cal League) offer.

Ben Hornbeck, on the other hand, has dominated the Midwest League. The Cougars used Hornbeck and Hunter as a designated dual SP tandem in the early part of the season, which means that while Hunter “earned” the start on a given day once he hit his pitch limit Hornbeck automatically took over. This is a fairly common practice in the low minors when an organization has set a strict and limited pitch count for a SP as the A’s did for Hunter. So the fact that Hornbeck hasn’t made 7 GS thus far is on the A’s, not his performance. A 32nd round draft pick last year, he features a fastball that (as of last report) tops out at 88 and a “great” change-up. Good command, some groundball tendencies and he’s working on a curveball and a cutter. Basically, he’s a classically trained college lefty who’ll continue to dominate Low-A ball because he’s so much more developed than the opposition. He needs a tougher challenge and the Ports are sufficiently challenged to give him that.

Jamie Richmond might best be known as the other breathing body the A’s acquired from the Braves in the Mark Kotsay trade. A SP in the Braves system, he was a guy with more moxie than stuff. The A’s moved him to the bullpen this season and the early results have been fairly impressive. He’s 23 years old already and Stockton’s pen isn’t the greatest, so a move seems likely.

I don’t think Dusty Coleman is quite ready for a promotion to the Cal League, but if the next player gets called up to AA it just might create a large enough vacuum to force the A’s hand and send Coleman to Cali.

Stockton Ports (14-23)

The red-headed stepchild of the organization this year (yes, even more unloved than the big league club) Stockton started badly and really hasn’t improved that much. An infusion of talent from the Cougars would be much appreciated as it would replace some deadwood that’s been building up.

The guy who might make Dusty Coleman a Port player (I thought I had a funny little word play there… I don’t) is Michael Richard. Currently hitting 340/484/420 for May, he’s also a 24 year old middle infielder who needs an opportunity to prove himself against his peer group. Midland’s current 2B, 25 year old Michael Affronti, is hitting .194. Ergo, opportunity.

Midland Rockhounds (20-17)

Midland doesn’t really have anyone who I think is banging down the door to get to Sacramento, but I have a hunch Travis Banwart is going to get the call to replace Gio Gonzalez in the River Cats’ rotation. Banwart has pitched well for the Rockhounds but 20 K’s in 39 IP does not suggest instant success in AAA at this time.

Sacramento River Cats (21-16)

Sorry folks, no one’s ready just yet. Although I will say that Vin Mazzaro’s last 2 appearances have been relatively promising.

Monday's Way Delayed Minor League Report

grover — Tue, 12 May 2009 03:01:57 -0000

This edition of the Minor League update is going to focus on the lower minors after last week’s hack spent all his time yakking about the Sacramento and Midland rosters. The baseball gods were not pleased with this display of attention and punished those teams for stealing his heart by cursing them with losing records in the days following the article.

Or something like that.

Anyways, it was a tough week for the A’s affiliates, with only the Kane County Cougars winning more than they lost in the previous 7 games. Sacramento saw their offense stagnate vs. Reno and their pitching implode during a road trip to Vegas in route to a 1-6 week. Midland scored 27 runs in their 2 wins, but gave up 37 runs in their 5 losses. Stockton went 3-4, including winning their first series of the season vs. Rancho Cucamonga. Kane County went 4-3, getting shut-out once but scoring no fewer than 5 runs in every other contest.

AAA Sacramento River Cats (15-15)

Not a lot of good things to talk about right now.

Yung Chi Chen got called up and put on a hitting display to the tune of 563/632/750 while playing 3B for the River Cats… then proved how much he belongs on the Oakland roster by getting hurt and going on the DL.

Speaking of the disabled list, that’s where you can find Sean Doolittle! He’s got tendonitis in his left knee.

In other news, Adrian Cardenas is struggling to adjust to AAA pitching, Jared Lansford got demoted back to Arizona to work on whatever wasn’t working for him in Sacramento and Dana Eveland got beat up in Las Vegas. Vin Mazzaro struggled a bit in his last start while Simmons got pounded and hasn’t made it past 5 IP in any of his last 3 starts. Daric Barton’s sporting a 557 OPS and Cliff Pennington started in LF yesterday because while Aaron Cunningham is now off the DL he wasn’t ready to play.

AA Midland Rockhounds (17-13)

I read something interesting last week. It seems that Danny Putnam and Tommy Everidge are back in Midland to help mentor Corey Brown and Chris Carter, plus provide them with protection in the line-up. While that says much about the esteem the A’s have for the character and work ethic of the two minor league vets, it doesn’t say anything good about their chances to become big league players. Brown and Carter continue to hit and (Brown in particular) have managed to tone down their strike out issues from last season.

Jason Fernandez, Travis Banwart and Graham Godfrey continue to pitch solidly in the Rockhounds rotation but Chris Farley threw his way (‘cause you’d be hard to pressed to call what he did pitching) into the bullpen while Kristian Bell seems determined to head back to Stockton. Sam Demel hasn’t seen much action but he didn’t give up any runs in his 1 appearance.

High-A Stockton Ports (9-22)

A year ago Stockton was loaded with young talent. Carter anchored the line-up while Cahill and Anderson headed to rotation. Then all those guys graduated and now Stockton is in a rut. First year manager Aaron Nieckula must be wondering what he did wrong in a past life, ‘cause his pitchers don’t pitch very well and he has 2, maybe 3 hitters in the current line-up.

Craig Italiano has pitched well in his last 3 GS, throwing 18.1 IP while allowing 17 Hits, 6 ER, 7 walks and 17 K’s. Sure, not the greatest line ever but its something for the 22 year old to build on. If Craig posts 3-4 more starts of a similar nature there’s a very good chance he earns a promotion to Midland. Simply put, the Rockhounds are playing to win in 2009 and they need another SP. The Ports are a long way from even being able to keep their heads above water. Derrick Gordon and Jon Huntoncontinue to offer solid bullpen support but they’re too old (25 and 26 respectively, with birthdays later in 2009) to be considered legit prospects.

The offense is centered on recently promoted David Thomas and Matt Spencer. Spencer has hit half of the Ports team total 20 HR while Thomas’ 404 OBP is ideal for the lead-off spot. Spencer turned 23 last January and Thomas has his 23^rd birthday in July, so it’s likely that the A’s will look to promote either or both players to Midland at some point during the season. Maybe by them someone else (preferably, someone elses) will be ready to score runs for the Ports by then.

Low-A Kane County Cougars (19-11)

There is no reason to believe that the Cougars could actually win a home game against the Oakland A’s. None whatsoever.

Really.

Dusty Coleman continues to pound Midwest League pitching. He’s also committed 9 errors so his defense at SS needs more polishing but the A’s are thrilled with the polish he’s shown thus far. Jason Christian’s bat has cooled off of late but he’s busy learning 3B, so no one in the organization is complaining. In a recent interview to Scout.com Director of Player Development Keith Lieppman made it clear that the A’s consider Christian’s move to 3B a permanent switch. They think he has the tools to play at the hot corner, he just needs the experience of playing the position in game situations. A recent scouting report in Baseball Prospectus said that Christian needs more practice in handling to quick reaction plays that doth dub 3B as the hot corner. Steve Kleen missed all of last year due to an injury (see, he’s practicing to be an Oakland Athletic!) and is probably going to see a promotion to Stockton soon.

The Midwest League is a great place to pitch, but the performances of Shawn Haviland, Anthony Capra and Ben Hornbeck in the rotation, plus Jamie Richmond, Kenny Smalley and Leonardo Espinal in the bullpen all stand up under scrutiny and could/should earn some of these players a mid-season promotion to Stockton. The A’s still have a bevy of players in Extended ST and will look to send some of them to Kane County once the summer weather settles in. That plus the draft in less than a month means we’re going to see some roster movement in the coming weeks.

Other Notables

Jemile Weeks has recovered from his hip injury, but now he’s suffering from calf and Achilles problems that can probably be traced to the initial hip injury. Last week I said that Tyson Ross went on the DL because of shoulder pain, he’s back and the A’s insist that while his delivery is unorthodox they don’t believe it to be the source of the problem. Brett Hunter, on the other hand, has had his delivery completely re-vamped by the coaching staff. Don’t worry too much about the numbers at this point, he’s basically re-learning how to throw a baseball.

That’s about it. I’m sorry for the lateness of the post but stuff came up.

I’ll try and make it up to AN somehow…