Sunday, April 11, 2010

Down on the Farm: 04-11-2010

Buster Posey continued his hot hitting and Zack Wheeler had a disappointing pro debut in Giants minor league action today. Key lines:

AAA Fresno Grizzlies mauled the Reno Aces 14-2:

Buster Posey- 2 for 5, HR(1), BB. BA= .500.
Fred Lewis- 2 for 3, 3B, 2 BB, SB(2).
Ryan Rohlinger- 2 for 4, 2 2B.
Joe Martinez- 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 10/1.
Horacio Ramirez- 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.

One has to wonder how long the Giants will have the stomach to keep Buster down on the farm if Whiteside doesn't pick up his game soon.

Fred played CF. Maybe the Giants are trying to make him more attractive as trade bait?

AA Bowie BaySox downed the Flying Squirrels 4-1:

Thomas Neal- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .250.
Jackson Williams- 2 for 3, 2B. BA= .556. Williams has been working hard on his hitting. Maybe this is the year it pays off?
Tony Pena- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K's, GO/AO= 6/0.

The Eastern League is proving to be tough on hitters even with the move to Richmond. Neal's .250 BA is the second highest among the regulars after Williams.

High A: Game suspended with San Jose leading the Nuts 7-2 after 2 innings. Ehire Adrianza has 2 hits with a double so far.

Drew Biery is reportedly already on the DL with a hand injury and Mazzola is hurting too.

Low A: Greensboro Grasshoppers chewed up the Augusta Greenjackets 6-3.

Evan Crawford- 1 for 4, BB. BA= .176.
Dan Cook- 2 for 5, 3B. BA= .375.
Luke Anders- 2 for 3, 2 2B, BB. BA= .333.
Zack Wheeler- 0.1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 1 K.
Brian Irving- 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 6.23.

Wheeler was reportedly had way too much run and rise to the fastball and couldn't keep it in the 'zone. Pretty typical mechanical flaw that tends to happen when a young power pitcher gets amped up and opens up too fast. Matt Cain used to do that a lot and still does occasionally.

Nice bounce back from a terrible first appearance for Irving.

Around the Minors:

Stephen Strasburg made his pro debut: 5 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K's. Strasburg had an RBI double to boot!

Aroldis Chapman was even better in his U.S pro debut for the Reds AAA affilate Louisville while repeatedly hitting 100-101 MPH on the radar gun: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K's. Only 1 Toledo hit left the infield.

5 comments:

  1. It has been my opinion that the Giants shouldn't let go of Lewis when neither Torres or Velez are better than he is as a player, at least so far in the majors. I think they want to see if he can play CF well enough or prepare him to play CF, when he comes back, assuming my thought is right.

    I think this because neither Bowker or Schierholtz are proven, so why not keep him around in case neither one figures it out?

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  2. If the Flying Squirrels are using the same park that was in Richmond before (and I believe they are), according to BP's books when it was a Braves affiliate, the park played neutral for the league.

    Can't speak for the other parks though, some were almost as bad as Dodd Stadium, while others where clearly hitter's parks.

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  3. I agree with you on Lewis, but isn't he on a rehab assignment and out of options right now? What happens when the allowed rehab period expires? They have to put him on the 25 man roster or expose him to waivers. It's really hard for me to believe there is no team out there who would find a player like Fred well worth grabbing. I guess Velez has an option so he could go down, but Bochy appears to really like Pharoah, plus he is more versatile because he can play the IF. It's a tough situation.

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  4. Sports Illustrated has an article on the Giants possibly going after Prince Fielder - with a possible cost of $200mil - I don't think it's worth it...

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  5. When you add up the future cost of keeping Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Pablo Sandoval and possibly Jonathan Sanchez, that would be some serious payroll to take on Prince too. I mean, we're talking up in Yankees territory! On the other hand, the Giants ownership can undoubtedly afford to take on a lot more payroll than they have. We'll see, but Bill Neukom, the current managing partner, has said he wants to build the team via scouting, drafting and player development and then pay to keep the homegrown players. With the core of young players the Giants have, plus a strong farm system and scouting departiment, I believe they are as well positioned for the future as any team in baseball.

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