jacksonianmarch

we agree on something

This story by Ken Rosenthal got me thinking. It essentially says that the yankees should be alright atfer Jeter moves off his current position since the pair of kids, Ramiro Pena and Eduardo Nunez are playing so well with the ST time they got http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9368910/Yanks-should-be-fine-when-Jeter-vacates-shortstop?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49 For a bit of perspective, Pena and Nunez have been in the yankee system seemingly forever. Pena was signed in 2005 as a INTL FA. He's currently 23 yrs old and just finished up an unspectacular season in AA where he hit .266/.330/.357 for a .687OPS. Pena is your prototypical middle infielder. No pop, all glove guy who makes average contact and has average speed. Not sure what the scouts at ST are seeing since his MiLB record is unimpressive on the offensive side and he doesnt really offer much more than what he already is offensively. He profiles to be a utility infielder since his defensive skills are so good, he could be a late inning infield replacement anywhere. He is ticketed to start in AAA this yr Nunez is the real high ceiling prospect of the pair. He was signed in 2004, but is 2 yrs younger than Pena (Nunez is 21). He was signed with a lot of fanfare (in the scouting community), considered a 5 tool prospect, and started off in Staten Island as an 18 yr old. He absolutely raked for a teenager (.313/.365/.427). But he fell off the prospect map after that. In 2006, he split time between A and A+ ball, although his aggregate BA was around .200 with no power to speak of. In 2007, he once again split time between A and A+ ball batting .251 overall with minimal power and no patience. 2008, he started in Tampa as a 20 yr old and started off the same way. But he had a very solid finish (.300+ over the last half of the yr) and finished with a respectable .271BA, although his patience and power still were late to the party. He did steal 14 bases though and projects to be a basestealer if he could get on base more often. Now, at 21 and fresh off a very solid spring training where he faced MLB competition and held his own, he is going to rocket to the top of the depth chart right behind Jeter. His ST stats may give us a clue that the end of last yr was no fluke. Right now, he's 10 for 26, with 2 doubles, a homer, 4 walks and NO strikeouts. And to go with that, Nunez is a guy with plus range but less impressive hands (4 errors this spring). He is ticketed to start at AA this yr. So, while both were kinda non prospects last yr, it is refreshing to see scouts so interested in them. It also would be nice if we got some world class defense from the SS position. Either way, at least at the upper levels, we have two guys who could really make an impact should we move Jeter off the SS position. Now that begs the question, what about deeper in the system. Well, SS is one of the positions that we actually dont have a ton of depth on the horizon. Carmen Angelini looks like he's gonna take a lot of time to develop after having a dismal yr both offensively and defensively in 2008. He's likely to repeat Charleston. Addison Maruszak, a 2008 draftee who is small but has a professional approach to the plate is our A+ starter. His ceiling is a Loretta type player, with no real plus tool aside from batting average. And below that, Garrison Lassiter, a 2008 HS draftee has the highest offensive ceiling, but he wont last as a SS. And the DSL signee from 2008, Giancarlo Arias, hasnt played a game in our system. So needless to say, if Nunez or Pena flail this yr, then we might be seeing a SS acquisition should Jeter be moved off SS.

The HOF makes that decision after Boggs tried to sell his cap to the Rays

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4007993 his blog isnt working. Now the question becomes, is he a HOFer? I dont think he'll make it first ballot, but I dont think a guy like this gets past the veteran's. So I think he'll be a HOFer eventually, and will probably go in as a DBack.

Posted via his blog, link to follow

He still has it and he shows it when he needs to. I think he's adapting. He was pretty wild with the hard heater. Maybe its a location thing.

This is gonna be great. I thought the Bard pickup was very shrewd and offered the sox the kind of backup that could theoretically platoon even playing time with Tek should he continue his offensive cliff dive. But now you have a lefty catcher who is marginal defensively at best who is going to try and hit at a big league level when he really hasnt proven much at a minor league level? I smell a mid season signing att he catcher position.

fair enough. I have been to Fenway a few times. I played there and I got to go into the underbelly of it. It really is a historic place, but it was in bad shape back then. Its insides were worse than the local municipal stadium where I grew up.

Zero, IMO. Tazawa could be much better than just a pen arm. I think they'll figure that out in the minors and then bring him up once he establishes his arsenal

how bout the Toilet at Fenway?

The sox have the makings of a solid pen. But there are two guys they cannot live without (just like we have one guy we can absolutely not lose). You lose Papelbon or Oki for an extended period of time and that pen drops to mediocre quickly. ORS is right. Bullpens are notorious for having waxing and waning success over the yrs. Those with marquee players typically disband quickly.

I was being sarcastic. Depth is more than just numbers, its quality. Our depth last yr was very green and then we lost a TON of pitchers to injuries. Think about it like this. Here was our opening day 5 man rotation 1. Wang- missed half the yr 2. Mussina- was awesome 3. Pettitte- ate innings 4. Hughes- was injured 5. Kennedy- injured and ineffective to begin the yr, he were our options 6. Alan Horne- MLB stuff, good size, supposedly durable and on the rise. Blew out the shoulder and missed the yr 7. Humberto Sanchez- huge, imposing figure coming off TJ, needed the elbow cleaned out and came back as a reliever 8. Jeff Marquez- supposed innings eater with a power sinker who injured his leg and missed 2 months 9. Chase Wright- one of those last resort guys who missed a bunch of time throughout the yr with various injuries. 10. Steven White- 10th on the depth chart, regresses in AAA as a starter, get converted to relief and then DFAd. 11. Darrell Rasner- brought on after being dropped from the 40 man and signing a MiLB deal, makes 20 starts 12. Jeff Karstens- injured early and then got dealt away to Pitt 13. Daniel McCutchen- dominated AA and then solid in AAA, but we inexplicably dealt him when we could have used his innings eating capability 14. Phil Coke- Converted to relief halfway through the yr and dominated in that role. 15. Kei Igawa- he's Kei Igawa Those are 10 contingency plans. Of those 10, 5 missed significant time, one flamed out, two got traded, one was Kei Igawa, and the other was converted to relief. This is what happens when the "stable" part of your rotation goes down. And that doesnt even mention Joba who was lights out then got hurt.

so you'd laet a guy walk who is gonna do the job and then deal away valuable commodities for a player who might be able to reproduce what he brings? All over a few mil per yr? It isnt like the sox will be offering 5 mil a yr and the yankees will throw 20 mil a yr at him. The difference is gonna be on the order of 1-2mil per yr most likely

I agree. I'd actually prefer a platoon, the problem with that, though, is that Gardner is hitting lefties well this ST and Melky sucks batting right handed.

But look at the acquisitions from yrs past. This is what I am talking about. Wells at 41, Clemens at 45, Sheffield at 36, Posada at 36, Rivera at 37. These are all massively risky deals because you are expecting players to continue to perform at their early 30s level while playing in their late 30s/40s. I dont want to see those anymore. I'd much rather see my team either develop a player for the position or signs prime level guys while they are still in their prime. Bay will still be in his prime come the end of this yr and will likely still give prime level performance for 2-4 more yrs after that. The concern comes around when you try and limit the amount of dead space a contract has. Also, the other guys who fit in this boat (Matsui and Damon) have seen no significant dropoff in offensive production. What we have seen is a loss of durability. Its a risk, that much is obvious, but it is a risk I think we should be willing to take in the short term. Its at least better than banking on the elderly ballplayers. It is a step in the right direction. The ultimate step will be when we can get back to our roots (and back to the roots the sox completely copied successfully) and fill in with FAs around a home grown core. It will come as long as we leave Cash in place. But it takes a long time

Expanding the game itself has a massive monetary motivation.

I meant MLB. Not Japanese league. Think about the amount of money the US has been able to get from their overseas marketing of Ichiro, Matsui and DiceK. Then consider a much bigger audience in a country that has already shown its merchandising might in the NBA with Yao. It is a massive moneymaker. And now, India is getting into the mix too with the 2 guys the Pirates signed. It is coming. Thats why I am so pumped that the yankees opened an academy over there 2 yrs ago. They'll get the first bang for their buck and it will grow the brand.

they let guys walk when the have an adequate contingency plan. The question is, who is their contingency plan. Lets put it this way. The sox have a lot of offensive ??s as do most teams. One guy who I do not consider to be a ?? is Jason Bay. I fully expect him to hit .280 30HRs 100+RBI and a near .900OPS. Which player on the open market after 2009 will be able to pick up for Bay? Or, which guy in the sox system can compensate for Bay's loss? Lars, maybe. Reddick? Eventually maybe, but not right off the bat IMO

I dont think you get what I mean. I meant no more long term deals for players who are already 35. Bay turns 31 in September, so essentially he'll play this entire yr as a 30 yr old. So you say he signs a deal at 31 for 5 yrs and you are talking about paying a player through his yr 36 season. I am fine with that. No more signing 35 yr olds through their yr 39 season.

It is a MASSIVE money deal in the long term. If China develops a MLB superstar, think about all the endorsements you can get from the 1 billion plus Chinese.

very nice post

The thing is, George royally f***ed us with his handling of the minor league system and it has only been recently that our system has improved dramatically. So, therefore, we couldnt actually build from within when there wasnt anything within to build from. That will change, but it will take time. Our pitching has come right up to the cusp with 2 recent home grown guys in our rotation (and a long termer with Pettitte) and a pen full of home grown guys as well as a plethora of upper level pitching talent. But our offensive side has been tough to develop. We had a lot of duds with Sardinha, Poterson, and Duncan just being useless. But it is coming. I think our OF depth is improving with Gardner and Jackson in the shorterm and Sosa, Deleon, Almonte, and Urena in the long term. Our catcher position is the deepest its ever been with Montero, Romine, Weems, and Higashioka. Not to mention the fact that Romine and Montero are 2 of our top 5 offensive prospects. And our IF depth is improving with Suttle, Sublett, and Joseph moving up the ranks. The problem is, of all the names listed, the only 2 guys I see in the bigs before the end of 2010 are Montero and Jackson, with Montero likely an OFer. Thats how bad our system was, we had Cano, Cabrera and then a bunch of s*** (one could argue that Cabrera is in that shitpile). We dont have the position player depth the sox have and continue to manufacture. I'd still say our pitching depth is superior, but the sox have a definite upper hand in the offensive department and have proven it with Youkilis, Pedroia, and Lowrie and the emergence of Lars.

From a global baseball perspective, the WBC is big. But a lot of us dont care about the globalization of baseball, most of us care about our own team. I, for one, do care about the game bettering itself, but not at the expense of our best players. Think about it. Lets say Pedroia has an oblique tear, needs surgery and is shelved for 3 months. Thats the MVP being out for 3 months because he pushed it too early in this tourney. As a Sox fan, I'd be more upset that my team took a hit during a tournament that is meant to help globalize the game. Unless a kid from China all of a sudden shows up and plays MVP caliber 2b, I wont care.