SB Nation User Blog: thejd44

The View From the Press Box - Kane County Cougars (Wrigley Field Edition)

thejd44 — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:14:09 -0000

Tonight's game was certainly eventful. It was the first minor league game at Wrigley Field, Ryne Sandberg's return to Wrigley (well, he's been there many times I'm sure, but this time as a manager), a new Midwest League attendance record (31,103), and, of course, I got to cover the game for ChicagoSporting.com.

As I've done with the previous two write-ups, I'll type up a few comments about what I saw of some of the A's prospects. We will start with the first round pick, Jemile Weeks.

As Taj reported here, Weeks hurt himself in the first inning. Here's what I wrote about it in that fanpost:

I don’t think it’s been reported anywhere yet, but word from Nuke (Cougars manager Aaron Nieckula) is that it’s a hip flexor injury.

It didn’t look particularly bad, other than him going down. He hustled out a routine grounder, almost beat it out, and just past the base he did a face-plant into the dirt. It looked just like he ran so hard and on that last step lost his footing (I’m not describing this well, but I’m trying to say it didn’t look like an injury). He laid there for a second, slammed his helmet down, and then was eventually helped off the field. Not carried, but definitely helped off. He was replaced in the lineup by Michael Richard, who later made one of the silliest errors I’ve ever seen in my life. More on that later.

One thing I should mention that's a little bit funny. Because of the rain/game suspension, there was a little bit of chaos concerning manager and player availability after the game. So at one point, the Cougars media director, Shawn Touney, had Aaron Nieckula on a cell phone. 3 or 4 beat reporters and myself were all huddled in a press box bathroom asking him questions. I didn't ask anything because the only thing I wanted to know was about Weeks and somebody else took care of it, but I just found the situation a little funny.

Ok, so, here are some other notes:

Petey Paramore looks like he is starting to find his way in professional baseball. He had a couple hits tonight, including a bases clearing double that gave the Cougars a 6-5 lead. He jumped all over a mistake pitch (count was 0-2) and drilled it to the gap in right center. Really nice hit and the ball just jumped off the bat.

He is also very, very slow. Very slow. Like you know how guys like Paul Konerko are slow? Well, imagine someone took a sledgehammer to Paul Konerko's right knee. Then they set his left leg on fire. Yeah. Slow. Ok, perhaps I'm being slightly hyperbolic but Paramore was thrown out at home in the same inning as the double on a single to center. The throw was strong, but offline. I'm still a little shocked they even had a play on Paramore. He didn't fall down like Jack Cust in Baltimore, but...that would've at least been a better excuse than "slow as can be."

Oh, and he struggled to block one ball in the dirt. It went as a wild pitch, but it looked like a ball a really good defensive catcher would've blocked. Not going to make an overall judgment on one play though. He also couldn't throw out a runner on a pitch out. That runner was 14 for 17 in steals coming into the game. The throw wasn't bad, just late. Make of that what you will. Without video, I can't say if he has a weak arm or a slow release or what.

"Legendary" Larry Cobb can rake. He's the sleepiest of sleeper prospects, but I really like watching the guy hit. He doesn't belong anywhere near center field, but the A's should try to get him out of Kane County. I think he could handle Stockton, and a double jump to Midland might not be a bad idea. He's already at the age where taking it slow isn't going to help. May as well take a risk and see what he can do.

Reliever Jason Glushon pitched 3 innings, gave up 1 run (that shouldn't have happened because the runner left third waaaay early on a sac fly). He struck out four, including striking out the side. He has a slider (I think) that was filthy. The Chiefs hitters just looked silly up there.

But he pitched 3 innings because Jamie Richmond really struggled. I'm disappointed in him. He's just hittable. And it seems like if he's giving up 1 hit, he's giving up 5. I wonder if it's a confidence/focus thing. He gave up back-to-back homers in the 2nd (including one to a guy named Rebel Ridling. I hope the A's find a way to get him because that name is awesome). He was yanked after giving up 3 singles in the 5th.

MIchael Richard both impressed me and made me scratch my head like a confused little boy. Offensively he had one nice at bat that resulted in a bloop single. He was fooled by a breaking ball, flailing at it. The next pitch was the same thing, and even though he was fooled again, he managed to hang back just long enough to flip the ball into shallow center. It was nice to see.

He's a bit of a wreck defensively, but he made a couple nice plays. I even wrote down that he made a couple nice plays. Then there was the run down play. With a runner on second, a grounder was hit to Justin Frash at third. Frash (who can dance, by the way) tossed it to Matt Ray at second. Ray ran the runner towards third and flipped the ball to Richard who was standing around 30 feet from third base. He caught the ball. He went to tag the runner. I looked down to mark my scorebook. And Richard dropped the ball. Somehow. I'm a little confused. But the runner was safe on the error.

Outfielder Todd Johnson can hit a little bit. The system is loaded with OF prospects, but I liked his swing tonight. It's the first time I've seen him play. He had a couple hits.

DJ Hollingsworth is an itty bitty little Elfsteinian guy. He's listed at 5'9" 175. He was hit by a pitch and walked. Man, he's soooo tiny for a corner OF and he's not Juan Pierre fast or anything.

And, finally, I feel bad for the third base umpire. In the 6th inning, a Chiefs player hit a ground ball down the third base line that was very, very clearly fair. The umpire got all excited, pointed foul two or three times and then realized his mistake. He pointed fair, but it was too late. The hit was a double, and would've been a double even with the right call, but because he called it foul they play was dead. Oops. That ended up being one of Glushon's strike outs.

Duchscherer to White Sox talks heating up

thejd44 — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:39:21 -0000

I haven't seen this posted anywhere yet, but I feel it's worth noting:

According to The Score, WSCR-AM 670, talks between the A's and White Sox are "heating up." With Jose Contreras hurt and mostly bad, it looks like the Sox want Duke.

The names being discussed coming back to Oakland: 3B Josh Fields and LHP Aaron Poreda.

The deal has not officially happened, but it was reported as a breaking news bit. It wasn't just a fan calling in with speculation. I would not have posted if I didn't feel that the "rumor" had merit.

For what it's worth, Aaron Poreda was ranked the #3 prospect in the White Sox system behind Gio and DLS by John SIckels. Fields didn't qualify for his rankings, but he probably would've been a top 5 guy. This would mean that in 2 trades, the A's will acquire 5 of the top 6 prospects the White Sox had before 2008.

Aaron Poreda - L/L - 6'6" 240 - 21 years old

This year at A+ Winston-Salem, Poreda went 5-5 with a 3.31 ERA in 12 starts. 46 Ks, 18 BB, 1 HR in 73.1 IP. He was then promoted to AA Birmingham where he's gone 1-2 with a 3.95 ERA in 7 starts. 30 Ks, 11 BB, 3 HR in 41 IP.

Josh Fields - R/R - 6'1" 220 - 25 years old

Last year, Fields proved he belongs in the majors. In his first real time in the majors, he put up an OPS+ of 101, was 7th in ROY voting, and had 23 HR in just 373 ABs. Of course, he also struck out 125 times. The Sox still think Joe Crede is a great player though (and they wouldn't trade him to SF for Dave Roberts), so Fields has been playing in Charlotte all season where he's struggled a bit: .248/.325/.450. He was hurt for a while earlier in the year, but he's healthy now.

Just to say it one more time, this trade, as I type this, has not happened. But whatever "talks are heating up" means, that's what the report said. I couldn't find a link , but if I do, I'll edit the post to include one.

The View From the Press Box - Kane County Cougars #2

thejd44 — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:47:07 -0000

Just got back from an interesting game at Elfstrom Stadium, my second covering the Cougars. You can see my first write-up here if you missed it.

This morning there was a pretty large storm in the Western Suburbs of Chicago. The result: the stadium was without power. No A/C in the press box, no scoreboard to remind me of the count, and no free food :(. But there was still baseball, so let's get right into it.

Today's starter was Jamie Richmond, who was one of the players acquired in the Mark Kotsay deal. I was excited to watch him pitch because he was a guy who had numbers I liked. This was the first time I've seen him.

* He has an interesting delivery. The best way I can describe it is sort of like a 3/4 "slinging" delivery. It's like he whips the ball more than he throws it. I don't know a lot about pitching mechanics, so I have no idea if this is something that will cause his arm to fall off. It did seem to make his pitches more difficult.

* I brought my dad for Father's Day, and he commented at one point that a pitch Richmond kept getting a swing and a miss on "didn't do much." I think he meant that as a compliment, because the pitch (which was a sinker, split-finger, or something. I don't know exactly what Richmond throws, but it looked like a fastball that just dove straight downward) didn't look nasty. But the hitters took some ugly swings at them. He only struck out 3 in 7 innings though.

* He gave up 3 unearned runs in the seventh. With a runner on third and 2 outs, a slow chopper went up the middle. He stupidly tried to barehand the ball (I HATE when pitchers do that). Luckily he missed. The shortstop, Michael Richard, sorta ran to the ball and then...tripped. Or something. But he definitely booted the ball. That run cam in and the next hitter hit a two-run homer.

Some other notes:

Corey Brown looked better today than last time I saw him. Drew a walk and lined a single to center. The single was a nice piece of hitting.

Keough looked good again. The guy has no power, but he can hit. And he made a tremendous catch jumping into the wall on a ball jacked down the left field line. I'm not sure Keough is going to make it (he has something like 5 XBH this year), but he's certainly a fun player to watch. He also stole a base.

Justin Friend pitched two scoreless innings in relief and he looked SICK. Friend leads Kane County in saves in the first half with 7, but today he pitched two innings and faced the minimum. He struck out three, two looking. Whatever he was doing, the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Angels A-ball affiliate) weren't hitting it. A-ball relievers don't typically rank very high on the Top Prospects list unless they're super special, but Friend is a guy who looks like he could progress through the system. He turns 22 later this month, so he's still young enough to have an impact down the road.

One last note: Kane County has one sleeper, Larry Cobb. He's a 5'9, 175 pound guy who plays a little infield and a little outfield. He's a Midwest League All-Star this year because he's hitting .325/.369/.483. He had a cup of coffee with Stockton (17 ABs) earlier this year and did nothing, but I expect he'll get promoted again as soon as new draft picks filter in and whatnot. Cobb will turn 23 in July, so he's not young, hence calling him a sleeper. But without too many other guys to watch at Kane County, Cobb (27th round pick in 2006) got my attention with three htis today (and two in the first game I covered).

I lied before as this is the real last note: The Cougars have six All-Stars. Richmond, Craig Italiano, Scott Mitchinson, Brown, Cobb, and Greg Dowling. Not too shabby.

The View From the Press Box - Kane County Cougars

thejd44 — Sun, 25 May 2008 03:48:19 -0000

Tonight was my first night of what will end up being rather sporadic duty at Elfstrom Stadium in Geneva, IL covering the Kane County Cougars for ChicagoSporting.com. I figured I'd give some impressions I got from a first-hand look at a few A's prospects. As I type this the game report isn't up on the site, but you should go there to check it out.

Tonight Craig Italiano took his 6-0 record and 0.80 ERA (including 26 innings at home this season without giving up an earned run) to the mound against the Cardinals A-ball affiliate, the Quad Cities River Bandits. It was my first time seeing Italiano and here are some thoughts on him:

* His fastball was pretty much unhittable. The in-stadium gun registered every pitch at 39 mph, so I have no idea how hard he was throwing, but he struck out 6 in 5 innings of work.

* 5 innings = A PROBLEM. I have a feeling the reason he's still pitching at Kane County is that he can't seem to go more than 5 innings. This was his 10th start, and he's only pitched more than 5 innings twice. He hasn't pitched more than 6 innings at all. He throws a ton of pitches. I didn't keep a pitch count, but it seemed like every hitter was seeing 5 or 6 pitches. A ton of 2-2, 3-2 counts. He walked 3 guys tonight, but from my viewpoint it could easily have been just 1. In the first inning a hitter walked on a really close pitch. Then in the third inning he threw a curveball to River Bandits right fielder D'Marcus Ingram (who was involved in a number of odd, controversial plays tonight) that was just disgusting. It fooled the umpire, too, because it was definitely a strike.

* He threw almost all fastballs, a few curveballs, and a couple changeups that were fairly ugly looking. He seems like a 2-pitch pitcher right now. He might do some different things with the fastball. Not sure on that.

*I wonder if he's going to end up a relief pitcher. If he is basically a 2-pitch pitcher, and with his inability to go deep into games, he might be the kind of guy who ends up working long relief. The guy has good stuff though.

Alright, some other things:

Corey Brown needs work. He did have a couple singles tonight. One was a ball he caught off the end of the bat and just muscled on a line into right field. He's definitely got some strength. The other was a seeing-eye single up the middle. The problem is that he takes some ugly swings and misses some pitches. Though I tend to ignore strike out totals, Brown has 58 in 165 ABs this year. And it's not just that he's patient and getting into a lot of 2-strike counts like Jack Cust. He seems to have some trouble with pitch recognition or something. He's clearly got some talent, but I think he's probably a few years away right now. One game is not enough to make that judgment, but in talking to a beat reporter who is at all the home games he seemed to feel the same way.

Shane Keough looked good tonight. Made a tremendous sliding catch that was ruled not a catch and had two singles. Two singles were pretty much the highlight tonight, so maybe he looked better than he is.

In general, Kane County has a lot of pitching (best ERA in the Midwest League) and not much offensive anything. Brad Hertzler pitched the final 4 innings, gave up 4 runs, but actually looked a lot better than his line would indicate. I'm not very familiar with him, but he's left-handed and he just turned 22 a month or so ago. He seems like one of those guys who could progress through the organization and become a decent lefty reliever at some point.

I'll be covering more games over the summer, and next game I'll try to get one of the players to agree to an interview for AN.

The 40-Man Roster Problem

thejd44 — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 07:30:10 -0000

There's been a lot of talk here lately, and even on the A's official site, about some of the players who might play their way onto the 25-man roster. Guys like Greg Smith, Mike Sweeney, Todd Linden, and, I guess, even Brooks Conrad are all playing well and there's a good chance a couple of them are going to be on the 25-man roster (or even the expanded 28-man Japan roster).

But there's a problem: None of those four guys are on the 40-man. Neither are Kirk Saarloos, Gio Gonzalez, or a third catcher (Powell is, but he was already optioned). So what will the A's do?

Without going into the 40-man roster details for those who are unaware, here's the simple explanation: For any one of those guys who the A's want on the Major League roster, somebody on the 40-man has to go. This means risking losing that person to another team, or, in some cases, having that person choose free agency over a minor league assignment. I'm looking up and down the A's roster trying to figure out who might be the odd man out.

I'm not sure when Kiko Calero is going to be ready, but as far as I know he hasn't done anything yet. If that's the case, I could see the A's putting him on the 60-day DL to start the season. If he is, that opens up a 40-man spot without losing anybody (players on the 15-day DL are still on the 40-man, those on the 60-day DL are not - without the risk of losing that player). At this point, it doesn't appear the A's really need Calero, so I could see this happening.

If Fernando Hernandez doesn't make the 25-man roster, the A's have to offer him back to the White Sox. Hernandez has been solid so far this spring, and I can't imagine the A's would offer him back unless he really blows it over the next week and a half. As far as I'm concerned, he's going to be on the team. There's a spot that could be freed, but likely will not be.

There's the possibility of a few trades before the season begins. Aside from the big names like Blanton and Street (who would almost certainly bring back players who were on the 40-man), Alan Embree and Dan Johnson could be moved for low minors players that would free up a spot. Johnson seems to be on his way out anyway, and Embree is a guy who could probably help another team more. I want to see the kids. Some of those guys who lose out on the 5th starter spot need to take a spot in the bullpen, and they all seem to be left-handed anyway.

When I look at the pitchers, none of the ones who are on the bubble have been awful. Even Dana Eveland has been alright, but he might really need to prove himself over his next couple outings to make the team. I think he's out of options, so if he struggles he could go, unless Beane wouldn't want to lose a player from the Haren trade so quickly. I can see them releasing Foulke if he can't get himself ready in time, but that's sunk cost and Beane doesn't want to do that, either. I honeslty can't find one pitcher who I can definitely see being designated for assignment. Maybe Dan Meyer?

When I look at the position players, guys like Mellilo and Petit could probably be designated and then outrighted, but with the left side of the infield perpetually day-to-day, you want some infielders ready to step in.

The only player on the 40-man I think is totally expendable from management's perspective is Jeff Fiorentino. He was a waiver wire pickup, cost the team nothing, and is really just a body in camp. He might have some potential, but he's behind so many guys right now and with Todd Linden playing well, Fiorentino is certainly a possibility.

Most of this is just thinking out loud, and I'm not sure I came up with much in the way of answers. Trade Embree and Johnson, I guess. Put Calero on the 60-Day DL. That frees up 3 40-man spots. Will the A's end up needing more than that?

Which A's jersey should I get?

thejd44 — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 03:14:57 -0000

With the trade of Nick Swisher to the White Sox (and Aaron Rowand leaving the Phillies), I now have no baseball jerseys that are current. I want to get a new A's jersey, but I'm worried. When I bought the Swisher jersey a couple years ago I thought for sure I was going to get a solid half-decade or more out of it. But, alas, I root for the A's and nobody stays for long.

So now I need to decide who's name and number I'll wear next.

I take a few things into account when deciding on a jersey. I don't like to get the most popular players. I got my first Aaron Rowand jersey after his rookie season when he still wore #44. Swisher eventually became the most popular A's player, but I picked up early. I like to be at least somewhat unique in my jersey selection.

I also want a jersey of a guy who will likely be on the A's for a while. I know, this is the hard part. The obvious choice is Travis Buck, but I'm worried he's just going to be Nick Swisher 2.0. And really, I'm not keen on having to buy another new jersey because my Buck one is obsolete in 2010. I could go and get a Carlos Gonzalez jersey, but he hasn't played a game in the majors yet and maybe he'll never be any good. He's also more likely to change his number once he sticks with the big club.

So right now I'm not sure. I'm a big Jack Cust fan, but he doesn't exactly give me thoughts of long-term. I really like Donnie Murphy, but I'm not convinced he'll ever get a shot to succeed with the team. I'm not even going to bother with pitchers because they'll either get hurt or get traded (although I'm considering Jay Marshall because I love LOOGYs). I like Mark Ellis and would love to get a jersey of him (with unicorn patches instead of the elephant, of course), but he might not be with the team much longer either.

So I think I'm left with two choices: Kurt Suzuki and Daric Barton. I've been following them since they came into the organization and have high hopes for both, so either one could work. But I can't decide and I'm not made of money so I don't think I'll be splurging and getting two.

So what do the fine folks at AN think? Suzuki or Barton? Any dark horse options I didn't consider? Maybe I should just get a blank A's jersey and get some removable stickers so I can remove the name and number when the player gets traded. Hmmm.