Minor Lines 9/1/10: Heights And Depths

by Ben Buchanan on Sep 2, 2010 12:41 PM EDT in Minors

Pawtucket L 3-9

Josh Reddick: 1-4, A
Aaron Bates: 0-3, BB, 2 K
Lars Anderson: 2-4, HR, K, E
Jorge Jimenez: 0-4, K

Rizzo hits rock bottom after the jump. But Lavarnway's still running crazy hot.

Portland L 5-6

Che-Hsuan Lin: 0-3, BB, K
Jose Iglesias: 1-5, K
Anthony Rizzo: 0-5, 4 K, SB
Ryan Lavarnway: 2-3, 2 BB, K
Nate Spears: 1-4, 2B, BB, K
Luis Exposito: 0-4, BB, K

Alex Wilson: 3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 2 HR
Eammon Portice: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

Salem L 2-4

Box Score

Alex Hassan: 1-3, BB
Oscar Tejeda: 1-3, 2B, BB, E
Will Middlebrooks: 0-4, K
Tim Federowicz: 0-4, E
Ryan Dent: 1-3, 2B, K

Greenville W 7-2

Box Score

Jeremy Hazelbaker: 1-3, HR, 2 BB, 2 K, CS
Derrik Gibson: 0-5, K
Ken Roque: 0-2, E
Michael Almanzar: 2-4, BB, 2 K
Kolbrin Vitek: 0-2, 2 BB
Reymond Fuentes: 2-4, K
Shannon Wilkerson: 0-3, K

Manny Rivera: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K

Lowell L 1-11

Box Score

Bryce Brentz: 1-4, 2B, 2 K
Brandon Jacobs: 0-3, K
Henry Ramos: 0-3, K, E

Tyler Wilson: 3.1 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 1 HR

Tweet Comment 29 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Lars wants his caffeine next week.

Fenway: "An alternate and better universe, disguised as a ballpark." --Thomas Boswell

by lone1c on Sep 2, 2010 12:57 PM EDT reply actions

i dont get why they dont send him to the afl

they need as much info as they cen get out of him.
we have to find either a 1b oder 3b for next season. 3b market is very thin. have they given up on lars to start next year in boston? his july and august ops in aaa are > .800

by loeres on Sep 2, 2010 2:22 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah he's not starting next year in boston

to move Youk to third, it would have to be a guaranteed amazing first baseman

by wolf9309 on Sep 2, 2010 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions

well....the 3b market basically is: beltre there is no one else. beltre + boras + career year = guarantee for desaster

the 1b market has carlos pena, konerko, lyle overbay, adam dunn, aubrey huff. its way easier to find a 1b

by loeres on Sep 2, 2010 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions

That's why we're going to re-sign Beltre.

"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.

by Rogue Nine on Sep 2, 2010 3:04 PM EDT up reply actions

and any of those guys would be better choices than Lars

but still not great options.

by wolf9309 on Sep 2, 2010 3:05 PM EDT up reply actions

and I think Lowrie becomes the full time third baseman

before Lars becomes the full time first baseman. Probably a better bat, and probably better for defense.

by wolf9309 on Sep 2, 2010 3:07 PM EDT up reply actions

Before, probably.

But I’d much prefer Lowrie start at short, with Beltre coming back.

I think Beltre becomes a “necessary expense” just because of the market. Even if we’re only talking .850 OPS, above average defense Beltre.

USG

by Ben Buchanan on Sep 2, 2010 3:09 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah definitely agree

by wolf9309 on Sep 2, 2010 3:42 PM EDT up reply actions

+1

Lowrie’s bat at 3B is average at best—but his OPS right now is higher than any “qualified” SS (.893 versus Hanley Ramirez’s .852), and only four other qualifying shortstops even have 0.750 (Starlin Castro, Stephen Drew, Alex Gonzales, and Alexei Ramirez).

Fenway: "An alternate and better universe, disguised as a ballpark." --Thomas Boswell

by lone1c on Sep 2, 2010 4:05 PM EDT up reply actions

not intended just for you, because I see this everywhere

and I don’t know what kind of production everyone thinks usually happens at third base… but there’s only 4 qualified 3B in the MLB with a higher OPS. Just eyeballing it, average looks lower than 800. Maybe he can’t keep up those same numbers, but his bat looks to me like it would be decently above average at third.

by wolf9309 on Sep 2, 2010 4:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Can he keep it up?

Thatswhatshesaid.

Michael Scott moment accomplished. Ahem, anyway, we really don’t know. We haven’t seen a long enough sample to know if he can. Which is why even with a regression I think his bat plays great at SS but would be much closer to average at 3B and a big downgrade for us from Beltre. If he can continue this pace than yeah, he’d play fine at 3B but I don’t know if we can count on it.

"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.

by Rogue Nine on Sep 2, 2010 4:54 PM EDT up reply actions

fair enough.

except for the office reference, that wasn’t.

by wolf9309 on Sep 2, 2010 4:57 PM EDT up reply actions

The median's about .800

I’m getting this from:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/position/3b/sort/OPS

So cooling off to .800 would put him sort of in the middle of 3B’s.

Fenway: "An alternate and better universe, disguised as a ballpark." --Thomas Boswell

by lone1c on Sep 2, 2010 7:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Cant sign Beltre long term

That could block Lars, Rizzo, Vitek, Middelbrooks…, etc

2010 Red Sox Playoffs.... We Can Do It!
"That place was for diehard sports fans. I only follow my team when they're in the playoffs" - Homer Simpson
Join the Lacrosse community The Lacrosse Blog

by bestbostonsports on Sep 2, 2010 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions

there's no guarantee any of them are better than Beltre

and no other good options. If he is good and somebody absolutely is dominating, Beltre’s contract wouldn’t necessarily be untradeable, or someone could be brought in as a DH. If there was any other legitimate short term option I’d agree, but I don’t see it.

by wolf9309 on Sep 3, 2010 9:32 AM EDT up reply actions

i really hate the idea of resigning beltre

heres why:
- his best two seasons came with expiring contracts (his insane 2004 with the dodgers and this year, last year doesnt count because he was injured).
- his ops may very well dip below .800 (career .788)
- he got 10 mil + incentives after a downyear, what do you think he will get after this season? 15 per minimum, with boras presumably more
- how many years can he get in fa? 4, 5 or even 6?

theres almost no way he can earn us what he is going to get paid

by loeres on Sep 2, 2010 6:24 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't agree with the money/years situation at all.

And he’ll definitely not repeat offensively what he did this year, but his numbers were consistently killed by Safeco. There’s no reason to assume he’ll be as mediocre as he was in Seattle.

USG

by Ben Buchanan on Sep 2, 2010 7:11 PM EDT up reply actions

ok, what kind of contract does he get?

by loeres on Sep 2, 2010 7:24 PM EDT up reply actions

I'd guess $10-12 million a year for 3-4 years

haven’t seen anyone projecting he’ll make nearly what you’re suggesting.

And I just don’t see the logic in the contract year thing, for any player anytime. Beltre is a player known for playing 100% all the time (For example in 2009, in the game he took a grounder to the balls, he finished the game before hitting the DL), are you suggesting that he just doesn’t care except on contract years? Because I don’t buy it.

by wolf9309 on Sep 3, 2010 9:34 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, your lower limit (4/60) is my upper limit.

USG

by Ben Buchanan on Sep 3, 2010 12:18 PM EDT up reply actions

ok maybe i was a bit high on the annual salary, we'll see

at least omar minaya cant destroy the market (like he did with bay) by overpaying, since they have wright at 3b =)

to me it makes no difference whether you call it playing a season at 110% or playing some seasons 90% under contract. players obviously have good and bad seasons, but a lot of those good seasons seem to happen und contract years. and NO i dont want to diss beltre, i think he’s a good player!

by loeres on Sep 3, 2010 4:11 PM EDT up reply actions

I dunno, maybe I'm wrong about it

I just can’t see someone who’s spent their life as a pro athlete being motivated in every at bat for a whole year by “I’m gettin PAID after this year!” and not the rest of the time. Maybe there is something to it, I just find it hard to believe.

by wolf9309 on Sep 3, 2010 4:18 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't see that he has much to gain from an AFL stint.

The level of pitching there will be lower than in Triple-A, and if he’s spent time adjusting to the better pitching, throwing him a month or two of easy mode could undo some good.

USG

by Ben Buchanan on Sep 2, 2010 3:10 PM EDT up reply actions

by Ben Buchanan on Sep 2, 2010 3:05 PM EDT up reply actions

And given the increased walk rates, my guess would be he's overthrowing trying to keep the velocity up.

I’d have shut him down a few weeks ago, personally, and come into 2011 with him closing.

USG

by Ben Buchanan on Sep 2, 2010 3:07 PM EDT up reply actions

Good idea

I always saw him as a reliver anyways

2010 Red Sox Playoffs.... We Can Do It!
"That place was for diehard sports fans. I only follow my team when they're in the playoffs" - Homer Simpson
Join the Lacrosse community The Lacrosse Blog

by bestbostonsports on Sep 2, 2010 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions