Trayvon Robinson, Seattle Mariner
August 6, 2011 at 7:12 am | Posted in Javy Guerra, Nathan Eovaldi, Trayvon Robinson | 35 CommentsIn his MLB debut for the Seattle Mariners, Trayvon Robinson sure made a nice impression, no?
Robinson also chipped in a single, though the Mariners lost 1-0 to Jered Weaver and the Angels in 10 innings. Of course, the Dodgers had a pretty good night of their own – six runs in the top of the third inning will do that for you – and I promise that this isn’t going to turn into the daily Robinson report. (Unless, as expected, he provides far more value than the players the Dodgers received in return for him, though it should be noted catcher Tim Federowicz homered in Albuquerque, as did John Lindsey and Justin Sellers.)
I also want to take the time to praise Javy Guerra, who struck out three in 1.1 scoreless innings to get his 10th save, coming in with two outs in the eight after Mike MacDougal walked two and made a throwing error. I’ve been lukewarm on Guerra for some time, feeling that simply getting “saves” doesn’t make a pitcher any good, especially since his peripherals were iffy and his minor-league track record showed little indication of success. At the end of play of July 6, Guerra had struck out just 10 in 17.1 innings, while allowing 19 hits and five walks, good for a line of .284/.342/.343 against. In the month since, he’s appeared in 10 games with a 12/2 K/BB, allowing just five hits without an earned run. I’m still not sure that Guerra can keep this up over the long-term, but for the moment, he’s outdoing all our expectations.
Speaking of pitchers who bypassed Albuquerque on their way to the bigs – as has happened more than a few times this year – Nathan Eovaldi has been recalled to make tonight’s start, with John Ely headed back to AAA. Kudos to ESPNLA’s Tony Jackson on that one, since Tony predicted this seemingly out of nowhere earlier in the week.
The Aftermath of the Trayvon Robinson Trade
August 1, 2011 at 9:16 am | Posted in Hiroki Kuroda, Juan Rodriguez, Stephen Fife, Tim Federowicz, Trayvon Robinson | 85 Comments
A day after the unexpected Trayvon Robinson trade with Boston & Seattle, the dust has started to settle, but the shock is still there. 98% of Dodger fans, at least the ones I’ve heard from, are horrified, and rightfully so. However, I want to clear up one misconception, and this is the same one I heard often when the Dodgers traded Carlos Santana for Casey Blake and several prospects for Scott Podsednik, Octavio Dotel, Ryan Theriot, and Ted Lilly last year: trading away a prospect, no matter how good, does not automatically make it a bad trade.
With the rise of the internet and social media, fans have become far more aware of prospects than they’d ever been before. For decades, fans would only perhaps know their team’s best prospect, if even that. Whereas before, you might have only heard of Robinson when he hit 26 homers in little more than half an AAA season, now you have fans who have been following his career for 3-4 years already. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; it’s good that fans have more interest in the team’s fuller organization. However, it also means that people get invested and attached to a prospect, and it’s understandably difficult when someone you’ve been dreaming about as a Dodger for several years gets shipped out weeks before he’s likely to make his debut.
That means that fans – not just Dodger fans, this happens on all teams – tend to overvalue their own players, and even yesterday on Twitter I saw people groaning about losing Robinson before even knowing who was coming back. I think that’s short-sighted, because I have no problem with trading prospects. A solid farm system exists to provide value, and while the obvious outcome is “good young player comes up to join the big club”, value can also come from “good young player is traded for immediate impact veteran or another good young player”. Depending on the circumstances, trading a top prospect is not always a bad thing – as long as you get value back. If the Dodgers are deep in outfielders and short in catching, than the idea of trading Robinson for an impact catching prospect is not a terrible plan.
The problem here is that few think Tim Federowicz is an impact catcher, and many doubt he can hit enough to even be a viable major league starter. This isn’t a new theme, because so far in Ned Colletti’s tenure, he’s often spent prospects to get players who were not of equal value. I didn’t mind trading Santana when we all thought Russell Martin would be here for 5-7 more years; I hated trading him for two months of a good-but-not-great third baseman. (If Santana had been sent to Cleveland for CC Sabathia that year rather than Blake, I guarantee you there wouldn’t have been anywhere near the same outcry.) I didn’t mind the idea of trading James McDonald & Andrew Lambo, two players unlikely to be stars, but the problem was a team that had no business going for it in 2010 trading them for an elderly reliever who wasn’t going to make a difference. This is why the Robinson trade stinks so bad, because you’re trading a top-5 Dodger prospect for three guys who are barely top-25 Red Sox prospects. (Jon Weisman has more on the newcomers at Dodger Thoughts.)
Worse, there’s also the feeling that this goes back to Hiroki Kuroda‘s refusal to accept a trade. Boston writers Gordon Edes and Sean McAdam each reported that Federowicz and Juan Rodriguez were initially discussed in negotiations for Kuroda, an assertion backed up by Ned Colletti’s comments that Federowicz was someone he’d been eyeing for some time. (McAdam says that a third prospect likely would have been included, though he doesn’t state if that was Stephen Fife or not.) Kuroda was clearly higher on Boston’s starting pitching shopping list than Erik Bedard, so if he agrees to the deal, the Dodgers send two months of Kuroda to Boston for a package nearly identical to the one that ended up coming for Robinson. That’s a deal that I think most of us would have been pretty satisfied with – I know I’d have been – and Robinson would have remained in the system. Remember when I said I was disappointed in Kuroda’s choice? Yeah, that paid off a lot quicker than I thought it would.
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It’s no question that most Dodger fans don’t like the trade, but we’re not a fair sample. We’re biased. We loved Robinson, none of us had heard of the three Boston guys before yesterday, and we don’t trust Colletti. What’s really informative is looking outside our little sphere of Dodger fandom, and seeing what the feeling is on the other side of the trade and from the national writers who don’t cheer for either team. If the trade is getting positive reviews from those groups, then maybe we need to shift our way of thinking.
Not today, however, because just about every smart person who writes about baseball is completely confused about what the Dodgers are trying to do. Red Sox & Mariner writers are thrilled. Prospect writers are blown away. Just about everyone is united in killing the Dodgers over this; in fact, the only person I could find who wasn’t 100% against it was Steve Dilbeck of the LA Times, and even he could only muster an “it ain’t so bad”. Read these assorted quotes on the deal at your own risk.
Mainstream media!
Jeff Passan, Yahoo:
Los Angeles Dodgers, who couldn’t convince Hiroki Kuroda(notes) to drop his no-trade clause and gave up their top hitting prospect, Trayvon Robinson, an outfielder with pop and plate discipline, to get into the Erik Bedard(notes) three-way deal and land catcher Tim Federowicz and two arms. As is the case with everything Dodger-related this year, they are losers.
Evan Brunell, CBS Sports:
There was only one trade made the entire week in which a team was instantly ridiculed for its move. The Cardinals were headed for the loser’s seat before the waning minutes of the deadline, but Los Angeles took it away with a staggering display of incompetence. To help Boston facilitate acquiring Erik Bedard, the Dodgers agreed to trade away Trayvon Robinson, one of the few bright spots in the high minors that could actually hit. Robinson, along with Jerry Sands, could have made a pretty decent first base-left field combo over the next few years. Instead, Robinson will take his .293/.375/.563 line with 26 home runs in Triple-A to Seattle while the Dodgers come away with three organizational pieces.
And really, that’s all they are. You’ve got catcher Tim Federowicz, who has a strong defensive reputation but whose hitting will be challenged enough that he best profiles as a long-term backup catcher. Those aren’t tough to find. Add in starter Stephen Fife, who has pitched to Federowicz all season for Double-A Portland, who profiles as a back of the rotation starter or solid middle reliever. Lastly, Juan Rodriguez, a reliever who throws smoke but is 22 years old and in Class A. Splendid. Oh, and all three will be Rule 5 eligible after the year, meaning they need to be added to the 40-man roster or risk being lost in the draft — and all three would be strong candidates to be taken. The Dodgers, in one fell swoop, traded away one of their few high-ceiling prospects for three organizational players who will all require 40-man spots, which are incredibly valuable.
Nationally respected prospect writers!
Kevin Goldstein, Baseball Prospectus:
I spent 15 minutes after this trade waiting to hear which players I’m missing while simultaneously trying to talk Jay Jaffe off a ledge via instant messenger. The Dodgers took a perfectly good Top-11 prospect, a player who is having a great year at Triple-A and easily projects as an everyday outfielder, and received three pieces of fringe in return. You’d almost think Frank McCourt was running the team.
Keith Law, ESPN:
The Dodgers get … I’m not really sure what they get. Tim Federowicz is a catch-and-throw specialist who isn’t likely to produce enough at the plate to be an average regular, but is plus across the board behind the plate (including a career 34-percent caught-stealing rate) and is no worse than a good backup in the majors. Stephen Fife probably profiles as a right-handed reliever rather than a starter because he lacks the out pitch to start; he’ll touch 95 as a starter with a fringe-average curveball. Juan Rodriguez has a plus fastball, no average second pitch, and below-average command and control — a nice arm to add to your system but a reliever at best and not a high-probability guy either. Unless Robinson was somehow burning a hole in their pockets, this doesn’t make a ton of sense to me, as they didn’t get any prospect as good as he is in the exchange.
Statistically-inclined sites!
Jay Jaffe, Baseball Prospectus:
What the… excuse me… whiskey tango foxtrot? A deal sending a good prospect such as Robinson in one direction and a possible stretch-run helper such as Bedard in the other is the stuff deadline deals are made of, but what business did the Dodgers have for throwing their good prospect into this deal in order to enable somebody else’s stretch run acquisition without something to make it especially worth their while? Is Colletti expecting a playoff share from the Red Sox? A future job with the Mariners? Is this being written off as a charitable donation? Is it a cry for help from a man about to jump out the window? Is there somebody out there who will post bail if I fly to Los Angeles myself and extract a few teeth in search of the real truth?
(later in the article – MSTI) Against this bleak backdrop, the GM managed to make the situation worse by trading down in a deal he had no business butting into, punting away a future everyday player. This wasn’t the Angels taking on Vernon Wells‘ bloated contract or the Cardinals punting the future of Colby Rasmus, but it ranks among the most shockingly inept deals of the year. In a five-and-a-half year tenure that’s seen its good moments—three playoff appearances, including back-to-back trips to the NLCS—and bad ones (the Jason Schmidt contract, the Andruw Jones contract, the Juan Pierre contract, the Blake trade…), Colletti may have set a new low. That’s saying something.
Jack Moore, Fangraphs:
It did take four warm bodies to acquire Bedard, but that’s about it. None of the players moved by Boston appear on Kevin Goldstein’s top 20 organizational prospect list, nor do they appear in our Top 100 Prospects list or top 10 organizational prospect list. This isn’t to say they’re doomed to complete non-productivity in the Major Leagues — the prospects will be covered in a separate post — but the Red Sox don’t lose much from a good farm system and improve their chances at a World Series. Hard to argue with that logic.
Other Dodger bloggers!
Jon Weisman, Dodger Thoughts:
For those three, the Dodgers gave up Robinson (24 in September), who has a .375 on-base percentage and .563 slugging percentage (26 homers) this year for Triple-A Albuquerque. Robinson, who has hit well on the road as well as at home this season, has had his fine year marred by striking out 122 times in 100 games. But it’s stunning to see him traded for such an offensively challenged catcher and two sketchy pitching prospects.
In 2007, A.J. Ellis had a .382 on-base percentage and .409 slugging percentage in Double-A – better than what Federowicz has – and Ned Colletti does all he can to keep Ellis from getting regular playing time.
The only rationale I can think of is that the Dodgers think they’ll do better in the offseason trying to find a proper left fielder than they would trying to find a proper catcher. Essentially, Robinson was not in their plans, and they decided to unload him to fill a positional need. But it’s still puzzling, because the trade feels less like a step forward behind the plate and more like a step backward in outfield depth.
Eric Stephen, TrueBlueLA:
There is a decent enough chance Trayvon Robinson may never be a major league regular. But at the very least, Robinson could have been a cheap fourth outfielder for three to six years, which seems like more of an upside than the Dodgers received in return. To me this trade is an overreaction to fill a need, a need Colletti himself was largely responsible in creating. I’m not even confident that need was anywhere close to being filled. Which leaves me empty.
Jared Massey, LADodgerTalk:
At least it appears that Ned tried to address an area of need with Federowicz, given the fact that their catching depth is suspect. The problem is they didn’t need another glove first backstop with questions about his hitting. They have that guy in Matt Wallach. They also have the aforementioned Griff Erickson, who’s batting .275 thru 19 Double A games, is younger and has more potential at the plate. Add to that the three catchers drafted this past June and Tim becomes even less valuable.
The two pitchers profile as relievers, which is another area in which the Dodgers don’t need help. With the young hurlers in the majors, as well as guys like Steve Ames and Shawn Tolleson in Double A, Fife and Rodriguez don’t fill areas of need.
I suppose it’s nice to have depth, but you don’t trade the best hitting prospect in the organization for warm bodies. Unless Tray had incriminating photos of members of the front office, I really don’t get this deal.
Jimmy Bramlett, LAist:
So fine. The Dodgers got a catcher. The other source of confusion was the Dodgers receiving two pitchers who project to be back-end of the rotation guys at best in the deal.
“We’ve got a lot of pitching,” Colletti told reporters on Saturday explaining his evaluation of the Dodgers’ farm system.
“You’ll never turn down good pitching, but a lot of our emphasis is on position players.”
Evidently good pitching can be expanded to mean mediocre pitching.
With all of this double-speak, it is hard to determine the direction of the Dodgers. It seems they acknowledge and want to remedy their offensive holes, but all of the actions they undertake are contrary to that goal. Perhaps Colletti is thinking two or three moves ahead of everyone and will pull off a genius move.
But here’s is a sobering thought for everyone. With both Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp eligible for free agency in 2013, what happens in the very likely possibility the Dodgers cannot re-sign them?
Federowicz might be the catcher of the future for the Dodgers, but what good will it do if the only power sources for the Dodgers jump ship?
Bloggers from the other teams involved!
Jeff Sullivan, Lookout Landing:
But the Mariners just gained two good talents without really making any kind of significant sacrifice at all, and that’s the sign of a hell of a trade. It is impossible to be disappointed by this.
Jay Yencich, U.S.S. Mariner:
All-in-all, I’d say this is a win for the M’s, far better than what was initially coming down the wire, which was some backup catcher coming our way. I wouldn’t say either of these guys is a guy that I’m going to pencil in as the anything of the future, though Robinson has good odds on seeing some time down the road. For what may end up as a rental for the Red Sox (and whatever it is that Fields is), this is a pretty darned good return.
Marc Normandin, Over the Monster:
Most importantly, Federowicz, Fife, and Chiang were all going to be Rule 5 eligible this upcoming winter, so Boston was moving pieces it was planning to lose anyway in exchange for help now.
All in all, this was a good trade for Boston, as they didn’t give up anything they weren’t planning on losing in the short-term anyway, and they received a high-risk, high-reward hurler in Bedard. If Buchholz ends up missing significant time the rest of the year, and Bedard can stay on the mound, the Red Sox and their fans will be very happy about a rare July 31 deal that has a major impact.
Chip Buck, Fire Brand of the American League:
The good news for the Red Sox is that none of the prospects they traded away were highly touted. According to Sox Prospects, Federowicz was ranked #22; Chiang #23; Fife #32; and Rodriguez #44 in the Red Sox farm system. Essentially, they traded depth, rather than premium talent. All-in-all, I’m pretty psyched they were able to obtain a pitcher while holding onto Will Middlebrooks, Ryan Kalish, Josh Reddick, Anthony Ranaudo, Ryan Kalish, Kyle Weiland, and Felix Doubront. You should be as well.
Dodgers Shock Baseball by Trading Trayvon Robinson For Organizational Depth
July 31, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Posted in Juan Rodriguez, Stephen Fife, Tim Federowicz, Trayvon Robinson | 111 Comments
I… am… speechless.
About 30 seconds after the deadline passed, I tried to hit publish on a post titled “Trade Deadline Passes Quietly for Dodgers”. WordPress blew up as I did, and the post never made it live. It included the line that I’m pretty sure I’m glad WP ate, “But let’s look at this in a positive light: being mildly disappointed at the lack of deals is far better than freaking out over the idea that Scott Podsednik, Ryan Theriot, and Octavio Dotel are improvements, right?”
Yeah… about that.
Shortly after the deadline, word broke that the Red Sox had traded for Erik Bedard. Okay, nothing unexpected there. Then Twitter blew up – I mean, literally exploded in a firey hellscape of “WAIT, WHAT?!” – when the news started to filter that the deal was actually a three-team move, and that the Dodgers had included Trayvon Robinson.
Before we all freak out, here’s the facts: Robinson goes off to the Mariners (via Boston) in exchange for catcher Tim Federowicz, RHP Stephen Fife and RHP Juan Rodriguez. I copied that from someone on Twitter, and I have so many browser tabs open right now that I can’t even pretend to know who it’s from at this point, so deal.
On the players coming in – none of whom I’ve heard of before – here’s the bad news: none of the three made Kevin Goldstein’s preseason list of top 20 Sox prospects at Baseball Prospectus before the season. (Robinson, for what it’s worth, was #4 on the Dodger list; it’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, because the Red Sox system is probably deeper overall, but still.)
Over at SoxProspects.com, none of the three are on that top 20 list either. Federowicz is rated #22 (up from 27 in April), Fife is #32 (up from 39), and Rodriguez is 44 (up from 45). From the same site, quick scouting reports on the three:
Federowicz: (24 next week)
Intelligent catcher with ideal frame and strong core. Line drive hitter. Average power potential as swing is on the flat side. Profiles as a gap-to-gap doubles hitter. Makes best contact on balls down and out over the plate. At times struggles to get his hands above the baseball on higher velocity elevated fastballs. Good pitch recognition skills, but can chase hard breaking balls off the plate. Improving plate discipline. Behind the dish, Federowicz presently is above-average defensively. Plus, accurate arm with a fluid release. Can struggle with his grip when throwing, which causes ball to tail into runners during stretches. Outstanding instincts and reflexes. Excels at staying square to the ball with both his body and glove. Fluid footwork, especially when blocking pitches in the dirt. Improving with game management skills and taking charge of the pitching staff. Below-average speed, but heady on the base paths. Projects as a major league backup catcher, with potential as a second division starter. (emphasis mine - MSTI)
Fife: (25 in October)
Great pitcher’s frame. At Utah, Fife worked middle relief in 2007 and earned a rotation spot for 2008.Two-seam fastball sits between 88-91 mph. Has a four-seamer with more velocity, but doesn’t feature it. Great movement on his two-seamer, tailing down and in on righties. Also works in a biting 76-79 mph curveball and an improving 79-81 mph changeup. Relies mostly on his fastball, but has gone to his curveball as his out pitch on occasion. Working on improving the command of his curve, but has outstanding control overall. Really pounds the strike zone. Fife also has a slider in his arsenal that has been put on the shelf while he works on his curveball. Extreme groundball pitcher. Fares better against righties. Workhorse, went deep into games in college, maintaining velocity well. Ultimately, Fife has a high potential to become a major league pitcher, and whether or not he’s able to become a starter in the bigs depends on how well he hones his secondary stuff. Somewhat jerky delivery with a lot of torque – snaps the ball as it comes out of his hand. Really came on as a draft prospect late in the 2008 NCAA season. Fife missed the first few months of the 2009 season with weakness in his throwing shoulder.
Rodriguez: (23 in December)
Large-framed righty dominated DSL competition in 2009, but was slightly old for the league. Mechanics can use some tuning-up, but he demonstrates a live arm. Attacks hitters. Fastball sits 92-95 mph and shows more life (96-97 mph) in short blasts. Also throws a 79-81 mph slurve, that has some potential if he can sharpen it and get it up in the mid-80s. Lots of projection, but he’s behind the age scale because he signed at 19, unlike many other Latin prospects who sign at 16. Needs to develop his curveball to be starter material. Has accumulated impressive strikeout numbers at every level so far with the Red Sox.
Those reports were all from before the season. Here’s what they’ve done so far in 2011:
Federowicz: .275/.337/.397 at AA (is reportedly considered a “plus defender“, says Yahoo’s Tim Brown. BP’s Marc Normandin concurs, saying “above-average defender, better blocking than throwing, possible doubles power. probably a second division starter, more likely solid backup”)
Fife: 11-4, 3.66 ERA, 6.1 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 at AA (known for “pitchability”, whatever that means)
Rodriguez: 2-4, 5.19 ERA, 13.4 K/9, 4.8 BB/9 at A
Mike Andrew of SoxProspects commented on this on Twitter:
My take: #Red Sox traded 3 Rule 5 eligible B-prospects, each w/ a chance to be MLB role players, & a C-Level prospect w/ marginal MLB future
FWIW, each of Chiang, Fife, & Federowicz are Rule 5 eligible this winter. Rodriguez is the 4th chip – predicted that earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Robinson was tearing it up in AAA: 26 homers, and a .293/.375/.563 line. Lest you think that’s merely a product of ABQ, he’s hitting .306/.394/.585 at home, and .280/.354/.537 on the road. That’s in a hitter-friendly league overall, so take it with the requisite grain of salt, but by all indications he’s on the path to being a solid regular, though maybe something less than a star. Meanwhile, the three prospects coming in return all look to be something less than that.
Obviously, this all came out of nowhere, and we’ll need time to digest it. My initial impression, though? Pretty disappointed, and not just because we’ve all grown to love Robinson and the idea of him coming back to play in his hometown.
If anything, this summary of Ned Colleti’s post-trade interview from Eric Stephen of TrueBlueLA sums it up best:
Synopsis from Ned Colletti: “We need catching…it’s easier to find an OF [on FA market] than it is a catcher.
He then went on to claim that you can create an outfielder, but not a catcher, though his comments were drowned out by Russell Martin and Carlos Santana (among others) laughing. In theory, that idea sounds fine. But in practice? Robinson is a solid outfield prospect with a chance to be much more. Federowicz sounds like a placeholder, and the pitchers are intriguing but little more. Position isn’t everything, otherwise you’d see the Jays trading Jose Bautista for, well, Dioner Navarro. (Actually, you wouldn’t, because the Jays have a real general manager.) I like the idea of Ned trying to address the catching issue (you know, the one he created), but in no way is this the way to do it.
Besides, what in the hell is a team deep in pitching, desperate for offense and with a gaping hole in the outfield doing trading an MLB-ready outfield prospect for a catcher who may or may not be able to hit and two mildly interesting pitchers?
The more I read about this trade, the less I like it. It hurts the Dodgers short term, since Robinson was by all accounts coming up in the next month or so. It probably hurts them long term, if Robinson develops as we hope he will. And I can’t imagine how it must feel for Robinson, expecting a call to LA any day, and instead being told to pack his bags for Seattle.
More to come. I guess.
Update: added Keith Law’s thoughts…
The Dodgers get … I’m not really sure what they get. Tim Federowicz is a catch-and-throw specialist who isn’t likely to produce enough at the plate to be an average regular, but is plus across the board behind the plate (including a career 34-percent caught-stealing rate) and is no worse than a good backup in the majors. Stephen Fife probably profiles as a right-handed reliever rather than a starter because he lacks the out pitch to start; he’ll touch 95 as a starter with a fringe-average curveball. Juan Rodriguez has a plus fastball, no average second pitch, and below-average command and control — a nice arm to add to your system but a reliever at best and not a high-probability guy either. Unless Robinson was somehow burning a hole in their pockets, this doesn’t make a ton of sense to me, as they didn’t get any prospect as good as he is in the exchange.
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Not that anyone cares about this anymore, but the canceled post had info on Alex Castellanos, so
I might as well include it here. Los Angeles did send several million to the Cardinals along with Furcal, though they send up saving $1.4m overall, which was as much the point as it was getting Castellanos, who turns 25 next week.
Castellanos, a 10th-round pick in 2008 out of a small North Carolina college, played second and third base in his first two years with the Cardinals, but is now strictly a right fielder. He was a Texas League All-Star this year with a line of .319/.379/.562, and 19 HR. That sounds nice, though I’ve yet to see a scouting report that says he’s more than a fourth outfielder; he wasn’t even mentioned in Kevin Goldstein’s preseason Top 20 Cardinals prospects list at Baseball Prospectus. Of course, since Furcal is old, incredibly injury-prone, and having a terrible season, anyone who thought he was bringing back a top prospect was fooling themselves.
Since I admittedly hadn’t heard of Castellanos prior to yesterday, let’s let people who know a lot more about him than me fill in the blanks on what to expect.
Jim Callis of Baseball America:
Castellanos was having a career year in Double-A (he ranks eighth in the Texas League in hitting, fifth in homers and fourth in runs scored), but he’ll turn 25 on Thursday and his tools don’t live up to his performance. He has some pop but he has a long swing and chases too many pitches out of the strike zone. His speed and defensive tools are fringy, and the former Belmont Abbey (N.C.) second baseman fits best in right field. Despite his 2011 numbers, he doesn’t have the bat to profile as a big league regular there. He signed for $70,000 as a 10th-round pick in 2008.
The 24-year-old right-handed hitter was the Cardinals’ 10th-round draft pick in 2008. Castellanos set a new Palm Beach record with 35 doubles last season and his seven triples led the Cardinals system. Though he received votes, he did not crack The Cardinal Nation Top 40 Prospect List during the off-season.
In 2011, Castellanos was The Cardinal Nation Player of the Month for April and has twice been named the Texas League Player of the Week. He has a .319 average, 19 home runs and 62 RBI in 93 games. Castellanos has been especially hot recently, batting .419 with ten RBI in his last ten games.
Castellanos, a 10th-round draft pick in 2008 from NCAA D-II Belmont Abbey (N.C.), owned the Texas League’s eighth-best batting average, its fifth-most home runs (19), fifth-most total bases (119). His 62 RBIs are second on the Cardinals behind Matt Adams’ 81.
A right-handed batter, Castellanos, 24, emerged as a potential prospect last season in the high Class A Florida State League, batting .270 but hitting 35 doubles, 13 home runs and owning a .462 slugging percentage in what is widely considered a pitcher’s circuit.
In Springfield, Castellanos still tends to chase too many off-speed pitches he couldn’t handle anyway (off-speed out of the zone). But when on base, he showed good speed and instincts, stealing 10 bases in 11 attempts.
Defensively, he played right field and showed a strong arm, though he tended to get too aggressive with runners on base and would go for the out, rather than hit the cut-off man.
Castellanos said he is being assigned to Chattanooga, Tenn., of the Double-A Southern League.
Future Redbirds (from April 2011)
Looking at the stats, it is pretty clear what type of player Castellanos is so far in his career. He will swing for the fences and is happy to go down swinging while trying. He will not try to work a walk and his OBP will not be much more than his AVG. But when he hits the ball it will go very far and he has the ability to stretch a single into a double and double into a triple which helps his slugging numbers. Once on base, he also has dangerous speed to steal bases at will. Castellanos is an intriguing prospect based on his power and speed numbers, but will need to cut down on the strikeouts and add some walks to really push his prospect status to the next level.
So it seems pretty clear that Castellanos is a 4th outfielder prospect, at best, with a small possibility of more if his sudden burst this year has something behind it. There’s value in that, I suppose, since Furcal had almost no value on the market, but this isn’t someone who is suddenly a building block for the future.
Which Prospect Could Replace Marcus Thames?
June 25, 2011 at 6:39 am | Posted in Dee Gordon, Jerry Sands, Marcus Thames, Rafael Furcal, Trayvon Robinson | 36 Comments
The Dodgers lost to the Angels for the sixth time in seven tries last night, in a game marked mostly by some hilarious base-running and another wild start by Rubby De La Rosa, but let’s focus on some possibly impending roster moves.
Marcus Thames strained his left calf doubling in his first at-bat last night, with Tony Gwynn immediately coming in to replace him. Tell me this doesn’t sound like someone who’s about to take a nice long stay on the disabled list:
Thames is listed as day to day, but he already missed a month earlier this season with a strained right quadriceps muscle. After Thames pulled into second base with a double, Dodgers medical-services director Stan Conte ran out from the dugout to check on him. Moments later, the two left the field together, an obviously frustrated Thames stopping as he entered the runway leading to the clubhouse to slam his helmet against a wall in disgust.
“Initially, I heard three to four days,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “But obviously, they’re going to look at it again. That would be the best-case scenario.”
Even if Thames wasn’t old and injury-prone – which he is, don’t you know – Thames is hitting just .207/.258/.362 on the year, and has seven hits (six singles) in 26 plate appearances some returning from injury in early June. With negative defensive value and little production at the plate, there’s little point in playing a man down for several days in order to keep him on the roster. With Thames hobbled, Gwynn as lifeless of a hitter as usual, and Trent Oeltjen neither getting much of a chance (16 PA) nor doing much with it (.641 OPS), the left field hole is as big as ever.
Here’s the question, though: do you call up Sands or Trayvon Robinson? When the Dodgers shipped off Sands, which at the time I agreed with, the idea was that he just needed to get his confidence back, not that there was any specific giant hole in his game. I’d say he’s done that; he homered twice last night, giving him three in three games, and since he’s been back in ABQ he’s hitting .297/.378/.568. You can make an argument that 2+ weeks back down isn’t enough, but he’s clearly got nothing left to prove in AAA.
There’s also Robinson, who’s shown a great deal of improvement as the season goes on. While his season stats are great – .316/.386/.582 – there’s a lot more of interest when you look deeper. For most of the season, we’ve been concerned about his high K/BB rate, which was 57/16 at the end of May. That’s a factor of over three; in June, he’s cut that down to 26/13. But dig this: every time we talk about an Isotope who is putting up numbers, we also have to caveat it with the usual line about how ABQ is a high-offense environment. That doesn’t apply to Robinson – at home, he’s hitting .304/.376/.574, while on the road he’s doing even better, with a .330/.398/.591. Unlike Sands, he can play center, though he isn’t an option at first base.
They’re clearly both better options than Thames or anyone else the Dodgers are currently playing in left, but while calling them both up would probably give the team the strongest 25-man roster, you’re also not going to do that when there’s only one starting spot available.
So which do you prefer? I tend to go with Sands, simply because he’s been here before and you hope that his break from the bigs would serve him well the second time around. On the other hand, you could probably DFA Gwynn with Robinson’s experience in center. I can certainly see an argument for either.
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The other news of the day is that the Dodgers are reportedly considering what fans have been asking me for years, which is moving Rafael Furcal to second base when he returns. In theory, this sounds great, right? Playing Furcal and Dee Gordon up the middle would be one of the more exciting duos in baseball, and it would strengthen the bench by having three of the Casey Blake, Juan Uribe, Jamey Carroll, and Aaron Miles group – whomever isn’t starting at third base – available in reserve. Great! Where do I sign up?
Except… it’s not that simple. In order to do that, the club would need to have seven active infielders, which is a configuration they rarely go with. That would leave room for just one reserve outfielder behind Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and whomever the starting left fielder is, which is unlikely unless the often-discussed-but-never-implemented idea of letting Blake play the outfield is revived. Of course, Blake is banged up and Uribe is awful, so you could potentially put one on the DL to make room.
Even still, as exciting as Gordon’s been, I wouldn’t consider him up for good. He’s reached base just twice in his last 21 plate appearances, sinking his season line to .246/.270/.295. Ludicrous speed is nice and all, but as the old saying goes, “you can’t steal first”. That doesn’t mean that I’m saying he needs to be sent down right now, of course; just that I’m not sure he’s proven himself enough that it’s really worth trying to make a veteran player make a position switch for him.
Monday Roundup: The Law Firm of Miles, Wade, Loney & Gould
June 13, 2011 at 10:22 am | Posted in Aaron Miles, Cory Wade, Garret Gould, James Loney, Manny Ramirez, Trayvon Robinson | 51 CommentsI was a little off the grid this weekend thanks to a wedding and other family commitments, and there’s so much going on right now that I could probably write six different posts about it. In the interest of expediency, let’s try to hit as much as of it as I can right here.
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ESPN’s Molly Knight brings us news that’s relevant to the only thing more important than winning baseball games: being rid of Frank McCourt. But this isn’t the usual business about Frank’s court fight with Jamie, or even about his fight with Bud Selig and MLB. This story has a quite unexpected hero: Manny Ramirez.
We’ve long known that the Dodgers owe Manny a nice chunk of deferred salary both this year and in years to come, but what’s noteworthy here is the amount and the timing: the Dodgers owe Manny a full payment of $8.33m by June 30.
Here’s how Knight lays out the June responsibilities:
$9ish million for June 15, $9ish for June 30, $8.33 for Manny.
Remember, every two weeks we’ve been wondering if McCourt would make payroll. He had to borrow from sponsors to meet the May 30 payroll, and while he’s reportedly ready to make the June 15 bill, that’s yet to be confirmed. Manny’s bill is essentially a third payroll responsibility for June, and it’s anyone’s guess where McCourt thinks he’s going to come up with that kind of money.
Imagine if, after all of the garbage spewed at Manny (much of it deserved, but certainly not all) by the media and some fans, that he was the one who finally sank Frank McCourt? I’d start measuring him for a statue, if that’s the case.
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The Rays have released ex-Dodger Cory Wade from their AAA affiliate in Durham, NC. (They also added ex-Dodger Lance Cormier to Durham, which, ha.) Wade was released not because of his performance, which has been excellent in Durham, but because of a logjam in the Tampa bullpen – and because Wade had a June 15th opt-out.
You probably remember that Wade was a surprisingly effective reliever for the 2008 Dodgers, before spending most of the next two years being injured and ineffective. (You can probably search the archives here and find reference to me pinning that blame on his overuse by Joe Torre in 2008.) After shoulder surgery last season, he was quietly signed to a minor-league deal by Tampa this winter… and he’s been very good. In 36.2 AAA innings, he’s allowed just five earned runs with a 34/6 K/BB, and Rays fans aren’t happy that he was let go.
Wade is a 28-year-old relief pitcher and while he’s no longer a “prospect”, he looked like a player that could help in the Rays’ bullpen this season. After having shoulder surgery last season, Wade was doing very well in Triple-A this year, striking out 8.4 batters per nine, while walking a miniscule 1.5 batters per nine. He’d allowed four homeruns over his 36 innings pitched, but still, he had a 1.23 ERA and 3.34 FIP — he was darn good. Not only that, but Wade had frequently worked two innings at a time, making him a prime candidate to serve as a long man for the Rays.
I’m beginning to wonder what sort of compromising pictures Andy Sonnanstine must have in his possession in order to stick on the roster instead of Wade. Sonnanstine is getting lit up every time he takes the mound, posting a 6.06 ERA and 7.52 FIP, and he simply doesn’t look like a major-league caliber pitcher anymore.
Why, Friedman, why? Do you enjoy subjecting your fans to the horrors of watching Sonny pitch? Are you afraid of those pictures from the playoff celebration last year getting out? Because man, I would have liked to see Cory Wade get a shot.
Other than Sonnanstine, the Rays bullpen has been effective, so the fact that he couldn’t get a shot isn’t a black mark against Wade. (As for Sonnanstine, Tampa has been overly devoted to him for some time, and Rays fans and bloggers have been bemoaning his roster spot for months.)
So getting to the obvious question – why shouldn’t the Dodgers go and try to give him a shot? I’m sure that he won’t be unemployed for long, so I’m sure he’ll end up in the big leagues soon for someone, and why not the Dodgers? It’s not like it’d be hard to make room in the bullpen. Matt Guerrier and Blake Hawksworth aren’t going anywhere, but Ramon Troncoso, Josh Lindblom, Scott Elbert and Javy Guerra all have minor-league options, and Elbert & Troncoso just got lit up in Colorado. There’s also Mike MacDougal, who would have to be DFA’d, but who has done nothing to live up to his shiny 2.01 ERA.
(Update: Wade signed with the Yankees. Of course he did. Oh well.)
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James Loney‘s grand slam over the weekend in Colorado was his second career salami, with the previous one… also coming in Colorado. This isn’t the first time I’ve noted his brutal home/road splits (or the second… or the third…), but the success he’s found in Denver is particularly noteworthy.
| I | Split | PA | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAD-Dodger Stad | 1316 | 119 | 313 | 55 | 6 | 20 | 171 | 112 | 167 | .265 | .327 | .372 | .699 | |
| COL-Coors Fld | 178 | 26 | 53 | 12 | 1 | 8 | 49 | 14 | 18 | .325 | .376 | .558 | .935 |
I’ll be the first to tell you hitting is about more than just home runs, but of all the numbers there, that’s what stands out to me the most. Loney has more than seven times as many plate appearances in Dodger Stadium than he does in Coors Field… and just barely more than twice as many homers. Dating back to last season, three of Loney’s last five homers have come in Colorado, and even one of the others, against Jason Hammel on May 30, came against the Rockies, though at home. (The fifth came against Florida’s Javier Vazquez, possibly the worst starting pitcher in baseball right now.) When Loney gets non-tendered, as we all believe he will, just wait for the Rockies to snap him up. It’s not a perfect fit, since Todd Helton is also a lefty and having a great season, but Helton’s going to be 38 next year – and the Rockies have found a way to squeeze lefty first baseman Jason Giambi onto the roster this year anyway. I look forward to the day when Loney is both not a Dodger and tormenting us from afar.
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In the comments yesterday, I made an off-hand remark that Aaron Miles has the emptiest .300 average in team history, and it’s true. He never walks, and he hits for no power whatsoever. That’s why his OPS is a subpar .658. I didn’t say that meaning to bash Miles, but that upset a lot of people who felt I wasn’t giving Miles enough credit. So let me clear that up by saying Miles has been far more than I’d ever expected. His .300 may not be indicative of much by itself, but it’s about 150 points higher than I thought he’d give us. When I give out midseason grades next month, he’s almost certainly going to get a B+ or higher. As a multipositional, switch-hitting backup, he’s been something of a pleasant surprise. You’ll notice that I haven’t been making calls to have him DFA’d or replaced.
The problem here, which is not on Miles, is that he’s not serving as the 5th or 6th infielder. Due to the rash of injuries, he’s been an everyday starter. His 190 PA is fifth most on the team, behind Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Loney, and Jamey Carroll. An empty .300 from a bench player is great, but it’s a problem from a starter. Again, that’s not on Miles; he didn’t create the injury situation, and all he’s done is help fill the holes while playing better than expected. That also doesn’t mean he’s someone we should want to see every night.
Tony Jackson of ESPNLA looked at the infield situation recently, and his takeaway was while Don Mattingly seemingly prefers Juan Uribe and Casey Blake to play every day at 2B and 3B around Loney and Dee Gordon, that Carroll and Miles have outplayed the two enough that they should be playing everyday at 2B and 3B. Jackson’s argument is that Blake & Uribe get preferred treatment because of their salaries, and he’s probably not far off there.
I understand where he’s coming from – after all, I’ve been saying for two years that counting on Blake to be an everyday player this year was a mistake and that the Uribe contract was a terrible idea – but I can’t say I totally agree, and that’s partly because I’m more focused on the future than the present.
Here’s my optimal infield, with the pieces around right now. At first base, Loney and Blake split time. Blake sees all lefties and half of all home starts; Loney gets to bat in all nine positions the next time the Dodgers go to Colorado. At second base, Carroll needs to be the nearly full-time starter if only for his on-base skills, with Miles starting twice a week to get him time and keep Carroll fresh. Gordon is certainly going to play most days at short, though Uribe or Carroll can spot there now and then, and Uribe should play most days at third, with Blake or Miles getting a start or two a week there. I say this because even though I have little faith in Uribe being worth the value of his contract, the fact is that he’s here for 2.5 more years and it’s too soon to give up on that. Besides, he can’t always be this bad. Right?
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News on two Dodger prospects from Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus:
Garrett Gould, RHP, Dodgers (Low-A Great Lakes)
A second-round pick in 2009, Gould had a so-so 4.09 ERA in the Pioneer League last year. When scouts saw him, all they could really talk about was projection, as while the skinny 6-foot-4 righty oozed it, his right-now stuff left plenty to be desired. That projection is starting to come through; what was once an upper-80s fastball is now in the lower 90s, and he is maintaining his good control and a very good curveball. He’s looking like one of the best arms in the Midwest League after reeling off back-to-back starts without allowing an earned run. Consistency is a word rarely used in Low-A, but with a 1.55 ERA in 12 starts, in which he has never allowed more than two earned runs, Gould has been just that and maturing.Trayvon Robinson, OF, Dodgers (Triple-A Albuquerque)
Over the past six weeks, we learned that hitting in Chavez Ravine is very different from hitting in Albuquerque. Just ask Jerry Sands. Still, is it time for Robinson to get the next chance? With a home run on Friday, a double and two walks on Saturday, and five hits on Sunday, he’s now batting .299/.357/.543 in 58 games, and while he might not have Sands’ pure bat, he his speed and ability to play all three outfield slots offers more lineup flexibility. Robinson still struggles against lefties (which is all Sands could hit), so there would be a different dynamic in play, but when Tony Gwynn Jr. is on pace for nearly 300 plate appearances, there has to be a better way.
Gould is someone we’ve never heard all that much about, obscured as he’s been by the Zach Lee / Chris Withrow / Allen Webster types, so it’s good to see some positive news there. We’ve heard plenty about Robinson and I’ve contemplated making a “when will he arrive?” post for a few weeks now. If the Dodgers have surprised at all this year, it’s in that they’ve promoted prospects like Jerry Sands, Rubby De La Rosa, and Dee Gordon far sooner than we’d expected. Robinson’s probably not completely ready yet – a 67/19 K/BB mark at AAA isn’t something I’m dying to add to the lineup – but as Goldstein notes, the production is there and Gwynn (and Trent Oeltjen, and Marcus Thames) are clearly not the answer in left. I’ll say Robinson doesn’t get the call in June, but I could see it any time after Independence Day.
An Interview With Christopher Jackson, Albuquerque Examiner
May 5, 2011 at 7:23 am | Posted in Christopher Jackson, Corey Smith, Dee Gordon, Jerry Sands, Trayvon Robinson | 32 Comments
Over the last few weeks and months, you may have noticed Christopher Jackson, baseball writer for the Albuquerque edition of examiner.com, has been dropping by in the comments section and providing some great on-the-ground info about the Dodgers’ top farm club. Earlier this week, Chris was kind enough to spare a few minutes to speak with me about baseball in Albuquerque, the place of the Dodgers there, and what he’s seen from the young Isotopes before the club kicked off their current homestand against Omaha on Monday evening.
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MSTI: Thanks for taking the time, Chris. Are you an Albuquerque native? If not, how did you end up there?
CJ: Sort of. I went to middle school & high school here, and my dad was in the Army so we were traveling all over the world before that. So I ended up here, and after high school I went to the University of Arizona for four years, and then it was like, you’ve caused enough trouble, here’s a degree, now go away.
MSTI: How did you end up covering the Isotopes?
CJ: I was working for the Daily Breeze down in Torrance, and I got called into human resources one day, and I thought I’d forgotten to fill out some form, and they were more like, “no, ha, goodbye.” So after a few months of fruitless job searching as the nation’s economy cratered, I ended up moving back here, and some of my friends suggested I take a shot at writing for the Examiner, and so I picked up the job that was available writing about the Isotopes, in, I think it was September of 2009, and I guess I did enough with that that the Isotopes were willing to give me a credential, so I covered them all last season and I’m back out here this year.
MSTI: So the entire time you’ve been covering them, they’ve been a Dodgers affiliate, not a Marlins one.
CJ: Yeah, they switched to the Dodgers the first season I was back here, when I was just coming to the games as a fan.
MSTI: Were you in Albuquerque when the Dukes left in 2000?
CJ: Yeah, I was, I graduated high school in 1996, we used to come out to Dukes games at the old, rotten, crumbling stadium, but it was always a good time out there.
MSTI: The Dukes were in Albuquerque for almost thirty years; was it difficult on the town when they left and there was no team there for several years?
CJ: Yeah, it definitely was, this town revolves around Lobo football in the fall, Lobo basketball in the winter, and then the Isotopes or Dukes would take over in the spring. Those are the three big things here, and I wasn’t in Albuquerque when it happened, but it certainly was weird to come back to Albuquerque in the summer, when I was visiting my folks, and there was nothing to do. There was literally nothing going on in this town, it was just sort of quiet and kind of despondent. Right around that same time when the Isotopes came into existence, when they moved the Calgary team down here and they redid the stadium and everything else, it was right around the same time they were doing a big revitalization effort downtown, and compared to the Albuquerque I grew up in, it’s a lot nicer city now. The baseball team had something to do with it.
MSTI: How much do the people of Albuquerque identify with the Dodgers because of the long history, or do they just mainly care about the Isotopes no matter who they’re affiliated with?
CJ: This is a Dodger town. This is very much a Dodger town. Pretty much, I’d say 90% of the kids I grew up with were Dodger fans. If you weren’t a Dodger fan, it’s because you either lived somewhere else originally, or your dad instructed you, like mine did, to be a fan of a different team. This town is kind of divided between Cowboys and Broncos football, but in baseball there’s no question this is a Dodger town. I think, especially any of the guys who played here, whether it was Mike Piazza, or Tommy Lasorda managing, there’s sort of this connection that forms between the fans here and those guys who move up.
MSTI: Especially Tommy Lasorda, I’ve seen plenty of stories with him where he talks very fondly about his days in Albuquerque.
CJ: Yeah, he loves it here. I think the big thing is, this isn’t a place where the fans come out because they’re giving away a t-shirt, or just because there’s fireworks or something. There really are a lot of die-hard fans here in this town, and certainly moreso for the Dodgers. When the Isotopes were a Marlins team, it was more like “we’ll come out and see whoever, we just like watching baseball”, but as soon as the Dodgers came back, there was a definite spike in interest in everything that was going on with the team. The kind of people who would read the Dodger blogs were coming to the games again.
MSTI: On the topic of playing in Albuquerque, we all know it’s a high-offense environment, and every year you get a nondescript minor-leaguer with great stats, like Trent Oeltjen or Jamie Hoffmann this year. We can see that from the stats, but since you’re there watching the games, how extreme is the effect really on a daily basis?
CJ: Sometimes it has nothing to do with it, but if anyone’s been to the park, it’s a big park. This place is like Coors Field, it’s very big. You can’t have a bunch of slow, old guys running around in the outfield or they’re in trouble. We’ve got that crazy little hill in center field, and the wind will whip up here, but this year, I haven’t really seen a lot of wind-aided home runs, which is crazy, because we’ve had a lot of wind. It’s a big park, it plays big, there’s a lot of wind, but you’re more apt to see a lot of hits that are going to fall here just because of how spacious it is. I don’t think it necessarily inflates home run totals as much as people try to make it out to, but certainly it helps. I think the impact is bigger on pitchers than hitters, because obviously you’ve got a pitcher who comes in here with a great curveball, and that thing isn’t going to curve as much. It’s pretty much the same thing you’ll see even at a lower elevation in Arizona because of how dry the air is.
MSTI: Does it worry you that you might miss out on some of the better pitching prospects in the system due to the Dodgers wanting to skip them past Albuquerque?
CJ: I guess the main thing is that we haven’t really had a situation where a superstud guy, I mean, they sent James McDonald here, they sent Scott Elbert here, those two guys came through. If they skip Rubby De La Rosa, or if Chris Withrow ever gets his act together and they skip him over here, yeah, it’ll be disappointing, but I go back to what DeJon Watson told us once – as a Dodger, you’re going to have to pitch at Coors Field, you’re going to have to pitch at Chase Field, and the ball’s going to carry there more than it will at Dodger Stadium, more than it will at Petco. So you’ve got to learn to pitch in any environment. I certainly think the Dodgers, as compared to the Marlins, aren’t afraid to send their guys here.
MSTI: That’s a great point, especially with those other parks in the division.
CJ: And even with the other parks in the league, like Philadelphia and Cincinnati. Just look at what’s happened to Aaron Harang this year, he’s gone to San Diego, and he’s a whole new pitcher.
MSTI: Which was basically the most predictable thing ever.
CJ: Exactly. If you’re a flyball pitcher, go to Petco.
MSTI: That’s why Jon Garland was so happy to go there. You mentioned guys like de la Rosa and Withrow in the lower levels. Last year the Isotopes had 56 different players hit and 42 different pitchers, so how closely do you follow the lower teams of the Dodgers, keeping an eye on who might be coming up to Albuquerque?
CJ: I try to follow them. Usually what I do is when the Isotopes go on the road, when I’m not taking a college class, especially when summer hits and there’s not a lot going on, I’ll always try and start looking at some of the lower teams. Chattanooga is the team I look at the most, trying to keep track of the guys. I try once a month to do a farm report, but I haven’t done one yet for April, and April’s over, so I’ll end up starting with May this year. But I definitely try to keep track; nowadays, there’s so much information out there, people know about the baseball draft now, probably more than they ever have before, so I think people are curious, for example, “where’s Zach Lee? He was the first round pick last year, where’s he at?” Another guy, he’s a good example, I’ve had a lot of people ask me about because he was in extended spring for a while was Brian Cavazos-Galvez, he’s an Albuquerque native, he went to high school here, he played at UNM. He’s someone who’s played in this ballpark a lot, and when he gets here to Albuquerque, he’s going to be a very big deal.
MSTI: Speaking of the lower teams, those teams are generally all younger guys on the way up, but Triple-A tends to be more of a mixture of younger guys coming up and older guys on the way down or stuck there. When you’re in the clubhouse, do you see a divide amongst those two groups?
CJ: I don’t see it much. You do a little bit, certainly – when Sands was here, Jerry, Dee, and Trayvon, the three of them would be sitting there talking to each other. You’ll see the divide of the guys who speak Spanish as their first language, they’re usually talking together, but there are plenty of times where the entire team will be hanging out and doing stuff, and the whole bunch of them are goofing around. I don’t think it makes a difference that John Lindsey is 34, he can still act like just as much of a goofy kid as Dee Gordon. I think the one thing that struck me last year and again now, just because so many guys are back, is that it’s really a fun clubhouse. It’s very loose, and there is a sense of camaraderie, and a lot of the veterans, I think, are very inclusive of the young players. They give them a hard time, but not to the point where the young guys are sitting over there sulking in the corner.
MSTI: It’s an interesting divide on the roster, in that there’s several good hitting prospects, but not much in the way of top pitching prospects. Is there anyone who’s really stood out to you on the mound that you didn’t expect?
CJ: Oddly enough, the most impressive guy to me has been Dana Eveland. He is what is, he’s a lefty, he’s got to be kind of crafty, he’s not going to overpower anyone out there, but he’s definitely a character and a half in the clubhouse, you can tell he’s one of the practical jokesters on the team. He’s kind of stood out, but I think the bullpen guys have been impressive this year. I know Jon Link had a bad game on Saturday, but otherwise he’s been pretty much lights out, Roman Colon, he’s been pitching very well in the 9th inning role. I know the concern right now is Scott Elbert and Travis Schlichting. It just seems like Elbert can mow down every right handed hitter he’s facing, but you give him a lefty hitter, and he’s walking him or giving up a base hit. I know that’s the exact opposite of what the Dodgers want, and then Schlichting has really had an issue so far with keeping the ball down.
MSTI: That’s disappointing, he was at times impressive in his short stints up with the Dodgers last year.
CJ: I know. It’s one of those situations where you wonder with him is it that he can’t get the movement on his pitches here in Albuquerque that he can in LA, and that’s one of those questions I’ll have to ask him at some point.
MSTI: Trayvon Robinson‘s off to a good start, his line looks good, he’s got a good hitting streak, but he’s struck out nearly four times as often as he’s walked. What have you seen from him as far as command of the strike zone?
CJ: I think right now, he’s an aggressive hitter, he’s going to be aggressive, he’s going to stay aggressive no matter what. I think at this point with him it’s a matter of pitch selection; I think he’s going to be okay in time. The first series, against Omaha, who’s back here tonight, he chased a lot of pitches out of the zone, stuff that was a good foot off the plate, and he was swinging at it when he shouldn’t have. He’s settled down with that somewhat, and I’d have to go break it down start-by-start, but especially when he faces the veteran guys, an older pitcher like a Jeff Suppan and those kind of guys, they really seem to be able to get him to chase, and I think if he stops doing that, starts being more selective, starts waiting back for his pitch, he’s going to be able to be even better than he is right now.
The power is there, and he’s fast, though he hasn’t really been stealing many bases, but either they haven’t been giving him the green light or he’s been up in situations where somebody’s at second, so he can’t really go steal anything. But he’s got speed, even though he’s not as fast as Gordon. Defensively, he’s had some really horrific days out in that outfield, but it’s not really his fault, it’s the wind – the wind has been murderous so far this season. He’s had some where he’s got a beat on the ball, that thing’s coming right toward him, and all of a sudden you see him stop, and he’s got to sprint ten feet to his left, because the ball suddenly just hooks. The good news is, the hill that intimidates so many guys, he’s done okay on the hill, he fell down once during BP, and he fell down once during a game, but again it was the wind more than the hill, because the ball corkscrewed on him and he had to suddenly shift. Hoffmann’s been helping him out on the hill.
I think Robinson’s going to be a good player if he starts being more selective, if he settles down a little bit and gets over the whole “I’m at Triple-A” and starts making that adjustment that guys need to make. To me, he’s a potential future leadoff hitter or #2 hitter in a lineup.
MSTI: What about Dee Gordon, who’s hitting .300 but has shown no power, even at Albuquerque, and has made a ton of errors. Do you think even next year is too optimistic for him to be in the bigs?
CJ: It’s hard to say. The thing everyone has to remember with Dee is, he was a basketball player most of his life. He really hasn’t played baseball anywhere near as long as a kid his age normally would have. He’s tremendously athletic, and his speed is breath-taking. But he is far, far from a finished product. He is, I would say, the most raw player I have ever seen in Triple-A. In my mind, I think he should have been back at Double-A for another season, but they decided to challenge him up here. It’s true he doesn’t have a lot of power, and I don’t think he ever will – he is reed-thin. I’m not a big guy, and I’m almost bigger than him. He’s very thin, but he’s strong, he’s fast, he’s got the bat speed, but he really hasn’t bulked up yet, and I’m not sure he ever will, because I don’t know how much that would detract from his speed.
Defensively, he can make the spectacular play, then on a routine play, he’ll air mail it. But he’s getting a little better about that, he’s had games where he’ll make the spectacular stop, and he’s got no chance to get the runner, and he’s swallowing the ball, he’s not trying to make an off-balance throw. He tried to make a throw one time, I couldn’t even say it was from his knees. He was basically lying flat on his stomach, he tried to throw the ball to first base. That thing just shot right between Jerry Sands‘ legs, and you’re just like, oh. I don’t care what first baseman you had playing there, it could have been Albert Pujols playing there, and he wouldn’t have fielded that ball.
I know everyone wants to see him up in 2012 because Rafael Furcal‘s going to be gone, but I don’t know. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had a quantum leap at some point, where things just come together for him, but it wouldn’t surprise me too if he needs another year, two years, even three down here. It’s really hard to say with him. You see the potential, but you just wonder, ‘is it all really going to come together for him’, or is he always going to be this this super fast kid who isn’t quite a baseball player, he’s just an athlete.
MSTI: I hear from so many fans asking about him, and I’m always trying to caution them “certainly not now, and maybe not even next year.”
CJ: You know, I think he might do okay offensively, but defensively, no. Defensively, you put him in the majors right now, and he’ll break Jose Offerman‘s errors record.
MSTI: You mentioned Sands – were you surprised he got called up so soon, and did you think he was ready?
CJ: I will say this about Sands; from a maturity perspective, just in terms of his personality, his attitude, his approach, he was ready. I didn’t know if he was physically ready, but I didn’t see anything about him that made me think, “he’s got to work on this, he’s got to work on that.” He looked fine defensively in the outfield, he looked fine at first base, not so great at third base in that one game where he was the third-string third baseman. As a hitter, he looked very good, he was using all fields. I just thought it was impressive that his first three home runs were all the opposite way. He went deep three times to right field here, as a right-handed hitter, and you don’t see too many guys here, even the veterans who can do that.
Was I surprised, well, yeah, I didn’t think the Dodgers, I knew they were desperate, but I thought they were going to give him at least a little more time. As far as can he handle it mentally, I think he can. He really was sort of an amazing person to talk to, someone his age, his experience, because you’re looking at this guy going, ‘how old are you again?’
MSTI: The production hasn’t come yet, but the big club seems to have confidence in him, he’s hitting second tonight.
CJ: He’s selective. I think that’s the key. Unlike maybe Gordon, or Robinson, he would sit back and wait for his pitch. He had a great eye, and a great personality, and you could tell his work ethic was just unbelievable. Robinson even told me that, that Sands’ work ethic was just off the charts. He outworked everyone in Glendale this spring, there was no one else – major league, minor league – who was even close to the amount of work he put in.
MSTI: Not quite on the same level as Sands, or Robinson, or Gordon, but everybody seems to want to know about Corey Smith, who was a Cleveland first round pick about ten years ago. He’s the new John Lindsey in everybody’s hearts. What do you think about Corey?
CJ: I talked to Corey for the first time the last game they were here, against New Orleans, and the first thing you should know about him is physically, he looks like he should be playing outside linebacker. He’s big, he’s not particularly tall, he’s just strong. He’s one of those strong as an ox kind of guys, the guy you want backing you up in a fight. He’s quiet, but he always seems to be listening, he’s kind of that teammate where everyone else is talking, and he’s nodding and listening, he’s taking it all in.
He’s quicker than you think. I haven’t seen him play third yet, I’ll see him tonight because he’s playing third tonight. (MSTI note: Smith has made three errors, I believe, playing third base since this interview was conducted on Monday. To put it lightly, he’s probably not an option there.) At first base though, he had a couple of plays in one game, one was a tough throw, I think probably from Gordon, that he had to corral and did a really good job on. Another one was one of those real bad hop choppers coming up the line, that thing was shooting at him at about 70 miles an hour and he was able to field that and make a great play on it. There’s some agility there, and clearly the man can hit. He doesn’t hit anything soft – everything is hard. Every ball he hits, even the singles he hits on the ground, are hard, just bullets. It’s a small sample size; of the twelve games he’s played at Triple-A I’ve seen eight, or nine, and it’s hard to say, but I think he’s had some better at-bats, he’s not striking out as much, his errors have gone down, and his walks have gone up. Certainly, he’s definitely someone who’s driven, to have spent eight years at Double-A, and not have thrown in the towel at this point.
MSTI: It’s interesting to have both him and Lindsey, who I know has been hurt, on the same roster, fighting for that same spot.
CJ: Lindsey’s perseverance is astounding, and he’s not bitter. The one thing that strikes me about this entire team is, you’ve got a lot of guys here, maybe not have been in the minors as long as Lindsey, or even Smith, guys who haven’t seen their careers turn out the way they expected them to. But there really isn’t a bitter, curmudgeon, angry at the world, life’s not fair, I got hosed by so and so, and Smith, he probably could have easily fallen into that, becoming an angry veteran guy, saying “I never got my chance”. But he’s not, and the Dodgers organization, they’ve really assembled some great character guys in the minors.
MSTI: I remember reading your story about JD Closser, who’s an older guy, and seemingly at peace with where he is.
CJ: Closser’s the best. Closser and I talk (smack) every day. I think I went two days without and he came up to me and goes, “where the hell have you been?” I’m like, “I’ve been here,” and he goes, “I know you’ve been here, but where the hell have you been?”
MSTI: That sure has to make your job a lot easier.
CJ: It does, and like I said, there’s not a bad apple here, and it makes things a lot nicer, and even over the grind of a season, these guys stay as upbeat as they do, despite all the times they’re stuck at the TGI Friday’s at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, which apparently is the single most common place they visit. It’s a fun bunch, it’s a fun little job to do, and I’ll keep on keeping on out here.
MSTI: One last question, what do you see as the difference, both on the field and in the clubhouse, between the team as managed by Tim Wallach and the team as managed by Lorenzo Bundy?
CJ: I don’t know if I see too much of a difference. I think the difference isn’t necessarily in the two managers, as much as the difference is that they’ve added youth to the team this year. Maybe it tends to be a little livelier, just a little bit, but part of that is that the veterans are just big kids. I think Lo, maybe it’s a little less formal with Lo than it was with Wallach, but not too much. Wallach, he’s kind of a quiet, stoic guy a lot of the time, but he’d joke around with them, he’d talk smack with them too, and the players responded well to him, and they’re responding well to Lo, so no complaints. For me as a reporter, Lo tends to be a little better quote, he gives us more after the game; with Wallach, you talk to him pre-game, he’d give you a good quote, but after the game, he tended to be kind of tired and frustrated, but I would be too if I were on my 40th pitcher of the season in July.
******
Thanks, Christopher - lots of good info here, particularly in how the people of ABQ really do care about the Dodgers, and it’s a good way to take our minds off the current state of the big club during the day off. Speaking of which, the team is traveling to New York to play the Mets; you can look for me somewhere behind the third base dugout for Friday night’s game.
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