Minor League DL Status

Anyone know the status and possible return dates for these minor leaguers on the DL? With guys like Costanzo and Negron getting a look, any of these guys may be bench "help" down the road or as backfills for others who may go in a deal. Some are possible trade chips or at least sweeteners themselves.

Paul Janish - His steady SS play could probably help some teams right now. The Reds probably aren't one of them.
Denis Phipps - Was hoping to find out about his possibilities as a bench player (he can play CF and if the Reds recall Negron for that purpose....).
Daryl Jones - Lefty OF "bat" who can play all 3 OF spots. I'll again note Negron's recall.
Chris Valaika -Has been fading, but was OK in a big league look and maybe some team may want him in a deal for a journeyman platoon/bench guy.
Kanekoa Texeira - Has been effective in relief and may be a depth option if the Reds need to deal some one like Lecure or Hoover to address the offense.
Josh Ravin - was hopeful to see if a move to the pen would boost his stock.
Henry Rodriguez - Most likely of all the position prospects to help at some point in 2012.
Blaine Howell - Lefty arms with some success are always potential chips or temp help for the big leagues. Still young and could develop into a middle of the pen lefty down the road.
Donald Lutz - The Reds best offensive prospect IMO.

Other than Lutz or H-Rod, these guys don't rank near the top 10 of the team's prospect list, but many of these injuries have weakened the system this year none-the-less.

You do realize that Negron has better stats than either of the guys you mentioned him for, right? Phipps and Jones were hitting .168 and .158 respectively with just terrible peripherals to boot.

Chris Valaika now has nearly 1500 PA's in AAA with a .671 OPS. He has absolutely no value at all.

Ravin seems close.

Lutz says he is hoping to be back after the AS break (about two weeks).

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Originally Posted by dougdirt

You do realize that Negron has better stats than either of the guys you mentioned him for, right? Phipps and Jones were hitting .168 and .158 respectively with just terrible peripherals to boot.

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Phipps in AAA (337 PA's) .772 OPS
Negron in AAA (733 PA's) .608 OPS

Phipps BABIP last year in AAA was something like .450. He has 24 walks and 85 strikeouts in his AAA career in 337 PA's. That isn't anything to be looking forward to.

Negron hasn't hit either. I am not saying he is all that good. But calling for two guys who weren't able to hit their body weight minus 50 pounds in favor of him just seems strange.

Also, from Fay:
INF Chris Valaika had surgery to repair a torn meniscus and a torn anterior cruciate ligament in is right knee. Valaika had surgery on the same knee Sept. 19.

Phipps is a more productive hitter than Negron and has been through his entire minor league career.

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Originally Posted by BuckeyeRedleg

Phipps is a more productive hitter than Negron and has been through his entire minor league career.

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He should be. Negron can play a legit shortstop and center. Phipps is a corner player who can cover center in a pinch, but shouldn't play there every day.

Also, this just came in from Sheldon on Valaika:
After talking to trainer, Valaika has torn meniscus and irritation/fraying of ACL but not torn ACL. 3-4 weeks is recovery time.

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Bill Bray threw 1 2/3 perfect innings for Single-A Dayton last night. Bray, rehabbing from groin and back injuries, is scheduled to pitch Thursday and Friday for Triple-A Louisville.

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I guess by Monday there could be a decision to be made.

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Originally Posted by dougdirt

You do realize that Negron has better stats than either of the guys you mentioned him for, right? Phipps and Jones were hitting .168 and .158 respectively with just terrible peripherals to boot.

Chris Valaika now has nearly 1500 PA's in AAA with a .671 OPS. He has absolutely no value at all.

Ravin seems close.

Lutz says he is hoping to be back after the AS break (about two weeks).

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Sure. I wonder if Phipps would still be scuffling if he was healthy. Since he's not playing we don't know. Look, I'm not high on any of them, but coming into the season, Phipps and Valaika were more highly regarded. Jones, well, he's left handed. And for the record, I was pushing Negron as a sleeper pretty hard prior to last season. IMO he has some usefulness, but had the Reds had another CF like Phipps or Jones when Stubbs bot dinged, I'm guessing there is a chance they would have been called instead. But for me, I want a number of options available who can play CF. The more options, the more likely the team may be to include Heisey or Stubbs in a deal for a real asset. If the Reds could get a big bat for LF that required Stubbs or Heisey as a CF option for some team, I think the Reds would be reluctant due to lack of options to play CF if the other goes down. I Phipps came back and started to hit a little, it may be different.

The Reds have dealt lesser guys than Valaika for guys who have helped in the big leagues. I'm not talking about dealing him for David Wright, but maybe some one like Mark Kotsay would be available for a suspect and a savings. The Reds got Jeff Keppinger for Russ Haltwanger and dealt Alex Gonzales for Negron himself. Non-prospects or faded prospect lottery ticket types are dealt for journeyman occassionally.

For a team with so little OF depth in the upper minors, it's sort of baffling why they let a Quintin Berry walk after last season. Detroit says thank you.

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Originally Posted by BuckeyeRedleg

For a team with so little OF depth in the upper minors, it's sort of baffling why they let a Quintin Berry walk after last season. Detroit says thank you.

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I don't have any knowledge of the Berry situation, but sometimes the player just wants to play elsewhere. Be it that they think there is a better situation for the them to move up or wants to go somewhere else because they don't like the coaching situation they were in. It isn't always that a team just doesn't want a guy, those guys have other options and perhaps other reasons for going somewhere else.

Josh Ravin is heading to Bakersfield.