Down on the Farm: 7/16/2014

The AAA PCL and AA EL were both idle.

High A San Jose Giants beat the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 9-8 in 10 innings:

Chuckie Jones(RF)- 2 for 5, 2B, HR(8), BB.  BA= .265.
Elliott Blair(LF)- 3 for 4, 2B, BB.  BA= .309.
Jeff Soptic(RHP)- 2.1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 5.28.
Stephen Johnson(RHP)- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 2.84.

Chuckie Jones is 8 for 19 over his last 4 games after an 0 for 13 dry spell over his previous 3.  Elliott Blair is quietly having a breakout season.  The Giants have been extremely patient with him since selecting him in the 46'th round of the 2011 draft.

Low A  Augusta Greenjackets edged the Kannapolis Intimidators 3-2:

Joan Gregorio(RHP)- 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 K's.  ERA= 3.24.

Short Season  Salem-Keizer Volcanoes smothered the Everett Aquasox 1-0:

Nick Gonzalez(LHP)-  6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 2.73.
Eury Sanchez(RHP)- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's, Save(4).  ERA= 2.60.

Rookie AZL  A's downed the Giants 6-3:

Rodolfo Martinez(RHP)- 3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 11.00.
Dylan Brooks(RHP)- 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 7.15.

If you look past Martinez ERA, he has 19 K's in 9 IP so far.  Brooks flashes K stuff here too.

DSL  Giants outlasted the Mets1 9-8:

Carlos Valdez(DH, 19 yo)- 3 for 5, BB.  BA= .293.
Robinson Medrano(RF, 18 yo)- 3 for 5, BB, SB(2).  BA- .299.

Around the League:

Some vicious intrigue going on with the Houston Astros and their #1 overall draft pick, Brady Aiken.  Aiken went down to Houston expecting to sign a $6.5 M contract, but an MRI reportedly showed that he has a congenitally small UCL.  Apparently there is no history of injury nor is there any evidence of injury on the MRI.  His UCL is just unusually small.  The 'Stros are claiming that this puts him at higher risk of future injury and thus diminishes his value and have lowered their offer to $3.1 M.  Aiken's camp is, understandably crying foul and countering that there is no evidence that small UCL's carry a higher risk of injury(It should be noted that we do not know the exact nature of Aiken's alleged UCL problem. It has also been speculated that he has a partial tear).

To make matters worse, the Astros also drafted another Casey Close client, Jacob Nix who they are offering above slot money to with, get this, the money they would save by signing Aiken to the lower contract!  The 'Stros are also reportedly wanting to use some of the money saved to pay Mac Marshall an over-slot bonus.

This situation begs several questions including why would the Astros want to pay $ 3.1M if they really, truly believe he's at a prohibitive risk of injury?  If they don't, then why are they low-balling him?  Why would Aiken want to sign a contract for any amount of money with an organization that is behaving this way if he believes he is truly healthy and not at increased risk of injury?

The Astros, who have had the last 3 #1 overall draft picks are now on the verge of possibly blowing the last 2 as last year's #1, Mark Appel, has shoulder issues and has performed abysmally and now this situation with Aiken.