Wednesday 5/11/11 Minor-League Updates

[GOYA]

Dayton won 3-1

[Caveat Emperor]

That's not pretty. It can't be that bad.

Shade Stubbs and Bruce over towards left. Hope for the best.

[GOYA]

Bats win 7-3

[mace]

Just noticed that Alex Buchholz played his first game of the season tonight for Bakersfield, which lost 17-8. He was 0 for 3 with a walk. And Stephen Hunt didn't play for the second straight night against a lefty starter.

Partial edit: Hunt pitched an inning. Gave up one run.

[corkedbat]

Bakersfield is chipping away. It's now 10-6, Visalia, and LaMarre is 3 for 3 (with a 3B), suddenly batting .303.

LaMarre is one of the position players I'd most like to see have a breakout season. It woould be a big boost to the system, IMO.

[Tony Cloninger]

He's just trying to prove that he can fit in on this club. Looks like he's doing a good job.

Actually, Daryl Thompson pitched well last night...another bullpen implosion.

Did they not put anyone of value at Double A?

[camisadelgolf]

Did they not put anyone of value at Double A?

They sure are trying. Just look at the age discrepancies between AAA and AA:

22.89	Devin Mesoraco	23.81	Kevin Coddington
26.89	Danny Dorn	27.67	Mike Costanzo
25.27	Kris Negron	25.92	Jake Kahaulelio
25.24	Todd Frazier	27.25	Eric Eymann (before the injuries)
25.74	Zack Cozart	22.21	Miguel Rojas
24.09	Yonder Alonso	24.10	Cody Puckett
24.35	Dave Sappelt	26.49	Felix Perez
27.28	Jeremy Hermida	29.80	David Cook

And that's not to mention Chris Denove, Quintin Berry, and Denis Phipps . . .

[_Sir_Charles_]

Picture Corky in left.

LOL. Great image.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Shade Stubbs and Bruce over towards left. Hope for the best.

Have Janish play a DEEEEEEP shortstop.

[Tony Cloninger]

They sure are trying. Just look at the age discrepancies between AAA and AA:

22.89	Devin Mesoraco	23.81	Kevin Coddington
26.89	Danny Dorn	27.67	Mike Costanzo
25.27	Kris Negron	25.92	Jake Kahaulelio
25.24	Todd Frazier	27.25	Eric Eymann (before the injuries)
25.74	Zack Cozart	22.21	Miguel Rojas
24.09	Yonder Alonso	24.10	Cody Puckett
24.35	Dave Sappelt	26.49	Felix Perez
27.28	Jeremy Hermida	29.80	David Cook

And that's not to mention Chris Denove, Quintin Berry, and Denis Phipps . . .

Yet they are still pretty bad....reminds me of the Reds system in AAA during the late 90's....a bunch of nothing.

[Benihana]

While it is nitpicking at best, I am actually somewhat concerned about the state of the minors below AAA. We have enjoyed great success up until now, and that is a big part of the reason the system is so bare below AAA, but other than 2 or 3 guys, there is nothing to get excited about in Bakersfield and Carolina.

We have a couple of really young guys that have huge ceilings (Hamilton, Y-Rod, Duran, Guillon) in Dayton, but there is a pretty large gaping hole of talent in the 20-23 year old age range in the system. Mez, Grandal, LaMarre, and that's about it. Again, maybe it's picking nits, but I like to point out weaknesses so that we can look to address them.

[camisadelgolf]

While it is nitpicking at best, I am actually somewhat concerned about the state of the minors below AAA. We have enjoyed great success up until now, and that is a big part of the reason the system is so bare below AAA, but other than 2 or 3 guys, there is nothing to get excited about in Bakersfield and Carolina.

We have a couple of really young guys that have huge ceilings (Hamilton, Y-Rod, Duran, Guillon) in Dayton, but there is a pretty large gaping hole of talent in the 20-23 year old age range in the system. Mez, Grandal, LaMarre, and that's about it. Again, maybe it's picking nits, but I like to point out weaknesses so that we can look to address them.

I'm actually not worried at all. Let's assume the following players won't be around next year (and some of them will be):
C Ramon Hernandez
C Corky Miller
C Chris Denove
C James Skelton
C Chase Weems
C Jordan Wideman
1B Chris Richburg
1B Jonathan Kaskow
1B/3B Eric Eymann
1B/3B Mike Costanzo
1B/3B Carlos Mendez
3B Frank Pfister
3B Eric Campbell
SS Edgar Renteria
IF Jose Castro
IF Jose Gualdron
OF Jonny Gomes
OF Brent Clevlen
OF Brian Barton
OF Jeremy Hermida
OF Quintin Berry
OF Denis Phipps
OF David Cook
OF Welinton Ramirez
OF Drew Poulk
UT Mike Griffin
SP James Avery
SP Tom Cochran
SP Chad Reineke
SP Justin Lehr
SP Dontrelle Willis
SP Daryl Thompson
SP Matt Maloney
RP Francisco Cordero
RP David Johnson
RP Jerry Gil
RP Ruben Medina
RP James Adkins
RP Kyle McCulloch
RP Carlos Fisher
RP Daniel Ray Herrera
RP Drew Bowman
RP Scott Gaffney
RP Mike Henry
RP Tyree Hayes
RP Doug Salinas
RP Jason Braun
RP Aguido Gonzalez
RP Derrik Lutz
RP Tzu-Kai Chiu
RP Blair Carson
RP Luca Panerati

That would leave the minors pretty thin, right? Well, keep in mind that that's not including the undrafted players from this year. That's also not to mention minor league free agents and trades. Even with all that pessimism, here's something how the rosters will shape up next year:

	AGE	MLB		AGE	AAA		AGE	AA		AGE	A+		AGE	A
C	31.62	Ryan Hanigan	24.70	KevinCoddington	23.39	Yasmani Grandal	21.23	Tucker Barnhart	23.43	Danny Vicioso
1B	28.56	Joey Votto	24.98	Yonder Alonso	23.09	Neftali Soto	23.27	Dominic D'Anna	23.45	Robert Maddox
2B	30.76	BrandonPhillips	26.16	Kris Negron	22.14	Henry Rodriguez	22.97	Devin Lohman	19.58	Ronald Torreyes
3B	36.99	Scott Rolen	26.13	Todd Frazier	24.50	Alex Buchholz	22.44	David Vidal	20.23	Junior Arias
SS	29.47	Paul Janish	26.64	Zack Cozart	24.52	Brodie Greene	22.12	Didi Gregorius	21.53	Billy Hamilton
LF	31.31	Fred Lewis	25.00	Cody Puckett	24.02	Josh Fellhauer	23.11	Jaren Matthews	20.35	Kyle Waldrop
CF	27.49	Drew Stubbs	25.25	Dave Sappelt	23.36	Ryan LaMarre	21.66	Theo Bowe	19.63	Yorman Rodriguez
RF	25.00	Jay Bruce	27.78	Danny Dorn	23.22	Stephen Hunt	23.15	Donald Lutz	20.58	Juan Duran
C	23.78	Devin Mesoraco	25.47	Chris McMurray	23.91	Mark Fleury	24.18	Chris Berset	22.39	Yovan Gonzalez
2B 	26.63	Chris Valaika	26.82	Jake Kahaulelio				24.94	Adam Muenster
3B	24.77	Juan Francisco
SS 				23.10	Miguel Rojas
OF 	27.30	Chris Heisey	27.38	Felix Perez	25.56	Andrew Means	23.93	Josh Garton	21.23	Juan Silva
OF 							25.72	Kyle Day				22.74	Kurt Muller
UT	37.91	Miguel Cairo				24.99	Shane Carlson	21.96	Jefry Sierra	21.09	Samuel Diaz
										
SP	35.10	Bronson Arroyo	24.73	Matt Fairel	26.55	Mark Serrano	22.44	Kyle Lotzkar	21.59	Mitch Clarke
SP	26.12	Johnny Cueto	27.52	Scott Carroll	24.19	Josh Ravin	24.65	Josh Smith	21.55	Jake Johnson
SP	28.75	Edinson Volquez	27.48	Matt Klinker	25.56	Clay Shunick	23.10	Tanner Robles	21.55	Jonathan Correa
SP	25.91	Homer Bailey	27.39	Dallas Buck	24.31	PedroVillarreal	22.74	Dan Renken	20.13	Ismael Guillon
SP	25.15	Travis Wood	24.39	Mike Leake	22.39	J.C. Sulbaran	21.60	Dan Corcino	20.54	Wes Mugarian
SP	27.91	Sam LeCure	26.00	JordanHotchkiss	25.48	Lance Janke	21.61	Dan Tuttle	23.60	Stalin Gerson
RP	24.09	Aroldis Chapman	26.15	Jordan Smith	23.85	Brad Boxberger	23.87	Brian Pearl	22.34	Porfirio Martinez
RP	29.88	Nick Masset	27.66	Travis Webb	24.99	Mace Thurman	24.11	Tim Crabbe	23.62	Dan Wolford
RP	28.82	Bill Bray	25.13	Phil Valiquette	25.44	Justin Freeman	22.66	Chad Rogers	23.59	Kevin Arico
RP	28.01	Jose Arredondo	27.29	Lee Tabor	24.71	Nick Christiani	24.91	Jamie Walczak	23.58	Matt Leonard
RP	27.13	Logan Ondrusek	27.55	Joe Krebs	25.13	Curtis Partch	24.58	Drew Hayes	23.35	Lucas O'Rear
RP	30.83	Jared Burton	26.50	Jeremy Horst	24.71	Chase Ware	23.89	Pat Doyle	22.41	Ryan Smith
RP				24.42	Donnie Joseph	23.50	Blaine Howell	23.58	EzequielInfante	20.85	Tony Amezcua

Where are the weaknesses? If Bakersfield goes into 2012 with that outfield, they could be in trouble, but there's more than a decent chance that Yorman Rodriguez or Juan Duran could step up to take some of those at-bats.