Mariner Minors: 12/04/2005

Mariner Minors

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Rule 5 and Torrealba Trade Review

Though the Mariners did not participate in the major league portion of the rule 5 draft, held today, they did pick up 2B Jason Bourgeois from the Braves in the triple-A phase of the draft, then lost LHP Estelin Soto to the Rangers, 1B Aaron Rifkin to the Cubs, and LHP Tim Rall to the Athletics. They also picked up RHP Marcos Carvajal from the Rockies in the Torrealba exchange, at the expense of RHP Jeff Harris' roster spot.

Formerly of the Rangers organization (second round pick, 2000), Bourgeois was on a lot of radar screens after a strong Cal League campaign in 2003 that saw him hit .329/.416/.473 with an amazing 36/33 BB/K. Texas, at the time, was convinced he could be major league regular, and he was viewed as being one of the hardest workers in the organization and a potential regular at second base, but he fell off from there and hasn't hit above .260 at any stop since. Nor has he ever made good on the power potential that he showed that same year when he hit twenty-two doubles, three triples, and four home runs in half a season at Stockton. I don't know what happened to him, or how the Mariners view him, but he's as solid a pick as any we could've made.

As for the losses.... the Soto steal by the Rangers burns me a bit because, despite his lack of results in Peoria this year, he is a live-armed lefty reliever and was their team pitching MVP in 2004. Smart pick by Texas, but it doesn't hurt us that much because Soto's only one of many solid left-handers who are coming through the summer leagues, including teammate Jose Suriel. Besides, at this stage of things, it's hard to say he'll ammount to anything just yet.

Rifkin was snagged from us in much the same style as we took him a year ago. He has a good glove and decent power, but consistency has been an issue for him. The Rainiers will have to turn to the minor league free agent bin for their home run power once again, or promote Espy or Hoorelbeke from the Texas League. It's really the same thing.

Finally, the M's lost Rall to the A's. Rall was another decent, but fairly old southpaw reliever who we picked up from the independant leagues a few years back. He made some strides this year and probably could've gotten himself a Randy Williams-type promotion this season if he kept it up, but as it stands he'll be getting that chance for the A's. I wouldn't rule out him being a contributor at some point, since you're generally going to find a job if you can throw left-handed.

Now for the good stuff. The M's snagged Carvajal, a former rule 5 pick himself, without having to keep him on the roster at all. The Rockies suffered for their 97-mph fastball, slider specialist, and we took the rewards. He kind of sucked with Rockies, but few pitchers don't at that altitude and the fact is, while his command isn't the greatest at 3.57 walks per nine, it was actually better this year than it was at any of his previous U.S. stops. The best part is, he's still just 21 and while moving him into the rotation is pretty much out of the question given his build, he could be one of the best arms out of the 'pen as soon as next season. And we all know how much I dig groundball pitchers.

Killer move. We basically got Jesse Foppert and Marcos Carvajal for Randy Winn now, which is a solid haul.

posted by Jay Y. @ 9:47 AM

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

John Sickels' 2004 Top 20 M's, Revisited

John Sickels of Minor League Ball has revisted his top 20 M's prospects from this past season. There's some discussion in the comments section and a few things I've thrown out there, but one thing is for certain: there is going to be a lot of turnover from this list to the next.

posted by Jay Y. @ 2:44 PM

Minor League MVPs Announced

About time, right? This year featured fewer surprises in the press release, Adam Jones took top honors for a hitter and Felix took top honors for a pitcher. The rest went like this... (with minor edits to keep the names and stats connected, this was copied and pasted from last year in parts of the release...)

Level Team Player Pitcher
AAA Tacoma INF Hunter Brown RH Felix Hernandez
AA San Antonio OF Jaime Bubela LH Bobby Livingston
A Inland Empire INF Bryan Lahair LH Jason Mackintosh
A Wisconsin INF Oswaldo Navarro LH Eric O'Flaherty
Short-A Everett INF Luis Valbuena [LH Paul Fagan]
Rookie Peoria INF Ronald Garth [LH Harold Williams]
Dominican OF Welington Dotel RH Gregorio Rosario
Venezuelan INF Humberto Espinoza LH Jose Escalona

Decent choices all around, I might've picked Bohn over Bubela, and considered Hubbard or Robert Johnson over Navarro, but at least a case can be made for each member of the list this year.

posted by Jay Y. @ 12:13 AM

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Winter Leagues Stats Update (12/4/05)

Venezuelan Winter League:
RHP Nibaldo Acosta: 0-1, 8.31 ERA in 4.1 IP, 4 runs (4 ER), 4 hits, 0/4 K/BB
RHP Yorman Bazardo: 0-0, 2.05 ERA in 22.0 IP, 5 runs (5 ER), 15 hits (HR), 21/10 K/BB
OF T.J. Bohn: .263/.358/.349 in 152 at-bats, 10 2B, HR, 16 runs, 27 RBI, 22/45 BB/K
SS Asdrubal Cabrera: .231/.333/.308 in 26 at-bats, RBI, 2 2B, 2 runs, RBI, 4/5 BB/K
RHP Renee Cortez: 0-2, 5.03 ERA in 19.2 IP, 11 runs (11 ER), 20 hits (HR), 18/8 K/BB
RHP Rich Dorman: 3-2, 2.88 ERA in 40.2 IP, 18 runs (13 ER), 43 hits (HR), 55/27 K/BB
LHP Jose Escalona: 0-0, 3.86 ERA in 2.1 IP, 4 hits, 1 run (1 ER), 0/1 K/BB
RHP Emiliano Fruto: 3-1, 1.35 ERA in 20.0 IP, 9 saves, 4 runs (3 ER), 17 hits (HR), 23/8 K/BB
IF Jesus Guzman: .253/.320/.402 in 87 at-bats, 4 2B, 3 HR, 13 runs, 15 RBI, 9/18 BB/K
RHP Jeff Heaverlo: 0-3, 6.23 ERA in 17.1 IP, 17 runs (12 ER), 20 hits (4 HR), 14/10 K/BB
LHP Cesar Jimenez: 2-3, 2.57 ERA in 49.0 IP, 17 runs (14 ER), 43 hits, 33/20 K/BB
LHP Chris Key: 0-0, 6.48 ERA in 8.1 IP, 7 runs (6 ER), 12 hits (2 HR), 5/3 K/BB
IF Jose Lopez: .267/.356/.344 in 90 at-bats, 4 2B, HR, 8 runs, 10 RBI, 11/13 BB/K
IF Oswaldo Navarro: .265/.286/.382 in 34 at-bats, 4 2B, 7 runs, 1 RBI, 1/3 BB/K
C Luis Oliveros: .250/.250/.250 in 8 at-bats, RBI, 0/1 BB/K
LHP Ryan Rowland-Smith: 0-0, 4.05 ERA in 6.2 IP, 3 runs (3 ER), 7 hits, 2/3 K/BB
C Yorvit Torrealba: .277/.375/.298 in 47 at-bats, 2B, 5 runs, RBI, 7/9 BB/K

No Heaverlo this week, and I'm starting to think that Key and RRS are gone. Dorman's still there, and improving, as are Bazardo and Fruto. I'd add Jimenez to that list, but the number of walks he's giving up is starting to spook me. Asdrubal got in a few more games, but right now, it seems like all of the batters are slumping in some form (except Jose Lopez, who remains somewhat stable). Bohn even got dropped to ninth in the order.

Dominican Winter League:
RHP Julio Mateo: 0-1, 9.52 ERA in 5.2 IP, 2 saves, 6 runs (6 ER), 7 hits, 3/1 K/BB
RHP Rafael Soriano: 1-0, 6.58 ERA in 13.2 IP, 14 runs (10 ER), 28 hits, 8/5 K/BB

Soriano gave up a run on three hits in two-thirds of an inning this week. Mateo allowed four runs to score on three hits and a walk in two innings. I guess there was some shoddy relief work behind him, at some point. He notched a save, but he also lost a game. I also realized that Francisco Cruceta is pitching down there, but since he's been pulled off the 40-man, I'm not going to add his stats unless I'm certain he's still with the organization.

Puerto Rican Winter League:

RHP Sean Green: 0-0, 4.20 ERA in 15.0 IP, 10 runs (7 ER), 21 hits, 13/5 K/BB
2B Erick Monzon: .067/.176/.067 in 15 at-bats, 2/3 BB/K
C Rene Rivera: .196/.260/.196 in 46 at-bats, 2 runs, 2 RBI, 3/14 BB/K

A number of Mariners are listed on the Mayaguez roster right now, but few of them are playing, so I'm stuck with Green and Monzon, plus Rivera, who plays for Carolina. Not much to say about any of them. Monzon hasn't seen much time, Rivera isn't hitting, and Green recently had his luck run out as far as his ERA goes, and with the rate he's been giving up hits (.344 opp avg), I wouldn't be surprised to see it climb a little higher.

posted by Jay Y. @ 12:20 PM