SB Nation User Blog: mcrose

BA on Chiz, plus Tribe Notes

mcrose — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:46:45 -0000

BA on Chiz, plus Tribe Notes

A brief feature on Chisenhall's switch to 3B. Another entry has notes on Herrmann, Rondon and others.

One interesting note is that '08 HS lefty draftee T.J. House has shown enough polish to likely crack the rotation at Lake County, despite having yet to throw an official pitch as a pro.

Tragic End for Minor League "Batman"

mcrose — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:56:34 -0000

Tragic End for Minor League "Batman"

Unusual story. Tried to write a quick comment on it but failed - seems like it would need a larger treatment to do it justice.

Grady pulls out of WBC

mcrose — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:25:01 -0000

Grady pulls out of WBC

Slight groin strain, no classic for Grady. can't say I'm unhappy about that. Only downside from a fan perspective is perhaps seeing less of Brantley.

Valbuena/Cabrera Comp

mcrose — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:21:42 -0000

Nice Pitching Line

mcrose — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:28:00 -0000

Nice Pitching Line

Man, would I love to see something like this, say, next August in a tight race?

Hector Rondon - Futures Game Report

mcrose — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:14:05 -0000

Hector Rondon - Futures Game Report

BA was blogging the game inning by inning and had a nice review of Rondon. "Clean arm action - explosive fastball sitting at 93" . Nice.

Tony Sipp Writeup

mcrose — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:21:59 -0000

Tony Sipp Writeup

Good article by David Hall at Kinston.com . He took over the beat from Chris Kline, now at BA, and always catches non-baseball context in his stories, to very good effect.

Sipp's back throwing 93 again, but I'm not sure I like the qualified "largely pain-free" assessment of his elbow.

Sipp Sighting

mcrose — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:48:28 -0000

Sipp Sighting

The GCL Tribe began their season today, dropping two close games to the GCL Yanks after a rainout yesterday.

Tony Sipp made his first appearance since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year, pitching a scoreless inning to start the second game before giving way to 18 yr old Alex Perez who finished the game out.

Also making his first post-surgery appearance in a game was Matt McBride, who DH'd and had a hit and a stolen base. Great to see some guys actaully coming back after extended absences due to injury.

The GCL Tribe team has a lot of young talent this year, featuring a rotation fronted by TJ MacFarland, who pitched well in the first game, and a roster filled with prep draftees and grads from the Dominican Academy. Also a couple of international signees, Aussie Jason Smit (may be hurt, he didn't play in either game) and Taiwanese catcher Chun-Hsiu Chen.

The bulk of the talent as usual is on the pitching staff, but the G-Tribe does have some fairly high ceiling athletes on the offensive side as well, with Abner Abreu (3B) perhaps getting the most early attention. '07 draftees Bo Greenwell and Kevin Rucker join Devi Cid to make a very athletic outfield.

Looking forward to following the youngsters for the rest of the year, especially given the anti-inspirant vibe from the parent club this year.

Captains Notes

mcrose — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:02:55 -0000

Captains Notes

Lake County recap...

In other news, Trevor Crowe goes on the DL with back tightness, Stephen Head takes his place in the Akron OF, coming in from EST where he was recuperating from shoulder surgery.

Marte's Role In '08

mcrose — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 02:39:04 -0000

Entering the holidays and hot stove doldrums, I figured this deserved a diary thread, seeing as how its likely the roster will not undergo much upheaval going into spring training.

Assuming the roster stays pat, to me one of the biggest questions for next year is what role Andy Marte plays. He was our starting 3B at the beginning of last year, and even though his avg sucked, he handled himself pretty well at the hot corner throughout the cold weather and his ISO was decent. If he hadn't pulled a hammy, he probably would have made it into the warm weather as our 3B and gotten the sustained ML at bats most have figured he needs to give some indication of what kind of player he'll be.

A year later and much is the same - nobody knows. With the crucial distinction that he's out of options. Assuming health and a decent spring training, is he our starter at third once again? A backup at third and first? DFA? Minor part of a trade package? A very unusual range of options for someone who was an uber-prospect 2 years ago, and caused ShapCo to go through a very extended and public trade negotiation to acquire him as the third baseman of the future.

I'm of the opinion that he more than others needs consistent playing time to show anything, but given last season and the pressure to win in '08, it's hard to see him handed the starting job. Which means he's in a tough spot. And there are only 25.

Any thoughts?