Minor Lines 6/6 -- Is Lars Back?

by Ben Buchanan on Jun 7, 2009 12:46 AM EDT

Pawtucket W 2-1

Box Score
Jeff Bailey: 1-4, HR, K
Dusty Brown: 0-2, 2 BB
John Smoltz: 6 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Portland W 4-3

Box Score
Jorge Jimenez: 1-3, BB
Aaron Bates: 1-4
Lars Anderson: 2-4, HR
-Lars' line over his last 10 games is .349/.378/.488. He's getting there.

Salem L 3-8

Box Score
Kris Negron: 2-4, 2B, BB
Jason Place: 0-3, 2 BB
Luis Exposito: 1-4, 2B
Che-Hsuan Lin: 1-2, 2 BB

Greenville W 9-1

Box Score
David Mailman: 2-3
Tim Federowicz: 2-5, 2B
Anthony Rizzo: 2-5, 2B, HR, K
Ryan Lavarnway: 1-4, K
Will Middlebrooks: 1-5, 2B, K, E
Pete Hissey: 0-4, BB, K
Nick Hagadone: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

-35 pitches
Caleb Clay: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Tweet Comment 10 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Two positives: Lars + Caleb Clay (I have high expectations for Clay)

Sad face of the day goes to… Jason Place. I think we can officially call him a bust, no?

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Jun 7, 2009 1:00 AM EDT reply actions

Let me put it this way...

He doesn’t make it easy not to. His OPS never seems to breach .750, he strikes out a ton, and he doesn’t show much power. He’s got a nice glove, but man, he needs to hit the ball, and he doesn’t.

Still, my sad face of the day would go to Pete Hissey, who I think might need a DL stint. He seems to be absolutely worn out by the long season at this point, and is in a slide of epic proportions.

As for Caleb Clay, I’m not too encouraged. The guy just doesn’t strike people out, and he hasn’t yet proven to be a particularly great control pitcher yet, either. The ground balls help, but with a 95 MPH fastball you need to miss a few bats.

On the other hand, he’s barely pitched at all. He missed all of 2008 for all intents and purposes, and only started pitching when somebody realized “Hey, this guy can throw REALLY fast.” He’s trying to build up a starter’s repertoire of pitches all together, so maybe even though he’s 21 it’s not fair to expect much more than rookie numbers out of him. You just hope to see it start to come together at such a low level fairly soon.

by Ben Buchanan on Jun 7, 2009 4:13 AM EDT up reply actions

When could Mailman be called up?

His seems to be excelling in A ball.

by bdalebs on Jun 7, 2009 3:12 PM EDT reply actions

Should be soon. There's not much more for him to show at A-Ball.

Likely moves in the near future involve Bates being pushed up to AAA by Reddick’s return.The odd-man out would probably be Jered Stanley leaving Mailman with a lot of DH ABs and a little corner-outfielder. They’ll probably pull off the massive catching shift at the same time, with Wagner, Exposito, and Federowicz all moving up at once.

by Ben Buchanan on Jun 7, 2009 3:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Cool.

Making space for draft picks in A ball?

by bdalebs on Jun 7, 2009 3:48 PM EDT up reply actions

Not many.

They’ll mostly be stashed in GCL and Lowell for their rookie years. Then there’ll be the typical cuts and promotions in the offseason.

I wouldn’t bee too surprised to see a purge of AAA guys, really. We’ve got a lot of mediocre non-talents down there while guys like Bates, Reddick, Anderson, Wagner are likely to be prime candidates for promotion. Maybe Bell and Jimenez too.

by Ben Buchanan on Jun 7, 2009 6:06 PM EDT up reply actions

How many of the AAA guys would have any sort of trade value?

Possibly use them as filler if we are negotiating with a small market team?

by bdalebs on Jun 7, 2009 8:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Not many.

A bunch of those guys are purshing 30 years old and not on the 40-man roster. They are true AAAA guys that are used just to fill out minor league rosters. So other than the obvious (Buch and Bowden) there is not much worth trading down there.

"Ninety percent [of my salary] I'll spend on good times, women, and Irish whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."
-Tug McGraw

by BTLove on Jun 8, 2009 12:53 AM EDT up reply actions

Darn.

Oh well, they’ll just have to be content with their roles for now.

by bdalebs on Jun 8, 2009 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Pretty much this.

A few of them could fill the occasional “Player To Be Named Later” capacity—say, Carter or JVE. The place has been bereft of positional talent since Jed left. A far cry from the days of Youk and Pedroia.

That being said, next year has a chance to be a very good year for the team, assuming call-ups for Lars, Reddick, Wagner.

by Ben Buchanan on Jun 9, 2009 1:17 AM EDT up reply actions