baseball blog

#15. Maikel Cleto Stats Amateur Free Agent Ranked: jeff – 13, azruavatar – 15 Player Comments: Any ranking of Maikel Cleto starts with: he can throw 100 MPH.  That allows him to throw a changeup at 91 MPH and a slider at 85 MPH.  Anytime you have those type of numbers on the radar gun, [...]
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#10. Lance Lynn Stats 1st Round of 2008 Draft Ranked: jeff – 10, azruavatar – 11 Player Comments: Lance Lynn was impressive in 2011. The velocity gain that came from adjusted mechanics in the latter half of 2010 was legitimate. Lynn further showcased his talents with a major league stint in the pen where he [...]
how doe this impact my state

#5. Matt Adams Stats 23rd Round of 2009 Draft Ranked: jeff – 6, azruavatar – 5 Player Comments: Matt Adams can mash, there is no doubt about that.  However, he strikes a bit of an odd offensive profile as a slugger that doesn’t walk very much, but instead hits for an over .300 average.  Some [...]
does anyone know the real story

Before rolling out the 2012 Future Redbirds Top 20 prospects, I trolled everyone inadvertently with a compilation of the 2011 list. There was a lot of turnover from last year with nine players who appeared on the previous list failing to make this years. Who were they, and why did they go drop off? The [...]
oh i can’t beleive it

This is the consolidated top 20 list rolled out last week. #20. Boone Whiting Stats 18th Round of 2010 Draft Ranked: jeff – NA, azruavatar – 18 Player Comments: Whiting is going to have to prove detractors wrong on an annual basis. There’s legitimate reasons to doubt him including the similarities to former prospects like [...]
it should be interested what change will this make

The Cardinals are approaching the end of what will be a nine-year relationship with catcher Yadier Molina barring an extension beyond 2012.  Over that 9 year period, Molina will have earned something in the neighborhood of $25M according to Cot’s Contracts.  It’s almost certain that Molina would have been a starting catcher on the merits [...]
it should be interested what change will this make

This is oldish news (from Friday) – but Matthew Leach the (soon to be ex – don’t leave us Mr. Leach!) beatwriter for the Cardinals on MLB.com sat down with Kantrovitz to talk about his history and his philosophies.  Read the whole thing, it is a good look, but be still my beating heart: MLB.com: If [...]
wonder what this really means

The Cardinals placed 11 pitchers in our top 20 prospect list this year. One item that sticks out is that while the Cardinals have had the occasional late round break through (Trevor Rosenthal was drafted in the 21st round), the Cardinals have drafted well with their early round picks. Consider that there are 3 first [...]
and i though i was the only one to see it this way

A .310/.373/.512 line in the Midwest League at age 19 is a great performance. A .386/.444/.584 in the Midwest League at age 19 is great enough to lead the entirety of single A baseball in offensive performance as measured by wOBA (min 200 PA). The first line, Colby Rasmus’ performance in 2006, cemented his position [...]
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Just a curious Friday question for you.  If you were General Manager of the Cardinals and you were discussing the parameters of a trade, which would include prospects, are there any prospects you would consider untouchable? The details: You’re trading for a good not great player. Someone around 4 WAR like a Chris Young or [...]
does anyone know when this will take effect