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Mass Haas

By Mass Haas,
in Brewers Minor League Talk

Mass Haas GOAT

Mass Haas

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It didn't take long for LHP Brandon Ritchie to find a home -- the just-released Ritchie signed with the Evansville (IN) Otters of the independent Frontier League.

 

Never-say-die LHP Lindsay Gulin, now 34, returned from a 2010 season in China to sign with the Lincoln Saltdogs of the independent American Association.

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battlekow ACL Brewers

battlekow

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Terry Pluto/Cleveland Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- For Tribe fans, the first shock wave came on July 7, 2008. That was when CC Sabathia was traded to Milwaukee for Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson and a player to be named later.

Less than a year after coming one game away from the 2007 World Series, the Indians traded the Cy Young Award winner. In Sabathia, they also traded one of the best pitchers to come through the farm system in decades.

"We knew it would be traumatic for the fan base," said team president Mark Shapiro. "But we also knew they was no way we'd sign CC."

Sabathia was heading to free agency, knowing his destiny was to become baseball's highest paid pitcher.

"The question wasn't trading CC," said Shapiro. "It was should we wait until after the season and take the amateur draft picks [as compensation], or try to find someone who'd trade us some top prospects."

Milwaukee was in serious contention and needed a big-time pitcher. The Indians convinced the Brewers to immediately part with LaPorta, who was leading all of the minors with 20 homers in 84 Class AA games at the time of the deal.

Jackson and Bryson were pitching prospects, but not high on anyone's list. Then the Indians faced a choice -- an outfielder named Michael Brantley or third baseman Taylor Green -- as the last piece in the trade.

They went with Brantley despite having more of a need for a third baseman. Three years later, Brantley is hitting .309 for the Tribe, sixth best among all American League outfielders. He doesn't turn 24 until May 15, meaning Brantley is not at his prime.

As for 24-year-old Green, he's hitting .211 with three homers and nine RBI in Class AAA. Last season, he hit .260 with 13 homers and 81 RBI in Class AA.

So they made the right choice.

Patience is needed

Matt LaPorta has begun to show the extra-base power that could provide the Indians with much-needed punch from the right side of the plate.

Sabathia did pitch the Brewers into the first round of the 2008 playoffs. He then signed with the Yankees.

The Indians have LaPorta at first, where he's hitting .263 (.857 OPS) with four homers and 15 RBI. He's second on the team with six doubles and has been solid defensively.
Brantley can play all three outfield positions and eventually will be the team's leadoff hitter. LaPorta should be the right-handed bat with some pop that the team has needed for years at first base.

"I'm always guarded when it comes to [talking about] these deals, because progress with prospects is never in a straight line," said Shapiro. "Guys have to go back to the minors. The [performance] goes up and down in the big leagues. But I do know that patience is usually rewarded."

That may be the case in this deal. The same is true with the trade of Victor Martinez to Boston for Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price.

In the summer of 2009, the Indians were on their way to 97 losses. They knew attendance would dip again in 2010. They knew they couldn't afford to sign Cliff Lee or Martinez -- both free agents after 2010.

They knew they'd be ripped by the media and fans for trading Lee (another Cy Young winner) and Martinez (a popular .300 hitter) when they were 1 1/2 seasons away from free agency.

"It came down to the same choice between picks and prospects," said Shapiro. "Emotionally, the Victor deal was the hardest because of what he has meant to the organization."
That's also the trade paying off the fastest, as Masterson is 5-0 with a 2.25 ERA in six starts. At Class AA Akron, Hagadone has not allowed a run in 14 2/3 innings, striking out 19 and walking only two. The 25-year-old lefty throws 95 mph after having major elbow surgery in 2008. He could be in the Tribe bullpen before the end of the season.

Money is always a factor

Dealing away Victor Martinez was emotional for the Indians front office and the Tribe's fans, but Justin Masterson's 5-0 start to the 2011 season eases memories of Martinez's departure.

What the Indians don't say is economics also drove the Lee and Martinez deals. They would have added nearly $16 million to the 2010 payroll, and the Indians simply didn't think they could afford that. So they traded.

They are still waiting for the payoff of the Lee deal -- Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald, Lou Marson and Jason Knapp. Carrasco is very close to establishing himself as a viable big-league starter. Marson is a solid backup catcher, Donald is at Class AAA but it's easy to project him as a utility infielder. Knapp throws 95 mph, but he's still preparing to start his Class A season.

The Indians mention "patience" when it comes to this trade. It was made in 2009, a year after the Sabathia deal. At this point last season, Brantley and LaPorta were struggling. Both would eventually go back to the minors before returning to Cleveland after the All-Star break.

These trades are risky. After the 2007 season, Minnesota traded Cy Young winner Johan Santana to the Mets. They received Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey in return. Only Guerra is still in the Twins' organization, and he's 2-3 with an 8.81 ERA in Class AA.

Gomez, a career .245 hitter, is with the Brewers. Mulvey is 1-2 with a 12.93 ERA in Class AAA for Arizona. Humber was traded twice after joining the Twins, and is now 2-3 with a 3.06 ERA for the White Sox.

The Indians have a remarkable record of dealing for prospects, be it Carlos Santana (Casey Blake deal), Asdrubal Cabrera (Eduardo Perez), Shin Soo Choo (Ben Broussard) and Chris Perez (Mark DeRosa). Grady Sizemore, Lee and Brandon Phillips were obtained for Bartolo Colon in 2002, a mega deal that began this trend of trading veterans for prospects.

Along with the players obtained in the Sabathia, Lee and Martinez deals contributing to the surprising 19-8 start is the fact that Masterson can't be a free agent until after the 2014 season. The other players in these deals don't see free agency until after 2015 or later.

"We feel good about the players we got in return for those trades," said General Manager Chris Antonetti. "They gave us some depth with young players, and they are guys who we can build with. It means a lot to see them develop and help us win right now -- knowing that we will have these guys under our control for quite a while."
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battlekow ACL Brewers

battlekow

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Baseball America:

Jake Odorizzi[/b], the highest-profile prospect the Royals picked up from the Brewers in the Zack Greinke trade, struck out 10 batters and walked no one in seven scoreless innings against Winston-Salem. It was the second consecutive start where Odorizzi has struck out a career-high 10 batters.

Odorizzi was clocked at 94 mph for his final strikeout in the seventh inning.

"I started out with fastballs down and away to either righties or lefties. I follow it up with a changeup or something offspeed. It worked tonight and it was effective. They were swinging early," Odorizzi told Blue Rocks play-by-play man John Sadak. "I felt I was throwing every pitcher for strikes. When I was up in the zone it was meant to be up in the zone. Other times it's been up not on purpose. Tonight it was down, down, down and up late."
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Mass Haas GOAT

Mass Haas

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Jake Odorizzi again makes the home page at MiLB.com --

 

Rocks' Odorizzi fans career-high 13

By John Parker / Special to MLB.com

 

Need to bring a losing streak to an end? Put Jake Odorizzi on the mound.

 

Odorizzi allowed one hit while fanning a career-high 13 batters over six innings Tuesday night as Class A Advanced Wilmington snapped a four-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over visiting Salem in a battle of first-place clubs.

 

The former first-round draft pick whom the Royals acquired from Milwaukee in the Zack Greinke deal has won his last three starts, all of which followed Blue Rocks losses. He's allowed two runs on 10 hits while striking out 31 over 19 innings in the three outings.

 

"Early on, I had my control and fastball location and things were just working well all night long," Odorizzi said.

 

The gem gave the 21-year-old right-hander both the Carolina League and Royals organization lead in strikeouts.

 

"I try to throw strikes and get ahead in the count," he said. "Working off the fastball opened up a lot doors, and when you throw strikes you'll get some strikeouts. The strikeouts are a side effect of the way I want to pitch."

 

Odorizzi started hot Tuesday and never let up. He fanned the first five batters he faced and did not allow a hit until the sixth inning.

 

"Jake set the tone for us," said Wilmington manager Brian Rupp. "He was aggressive with the fastball and his curve was maybe the best we've seen it so far."

 

Though Odorizzi (3-0) walked a season-high three batters, just one Red Sox player reached second base during his six frames.

 

Kevin Chapman posted his sixth save after allowing one run on one hit in the ninth.

 

The Red Sox, who entered the game with the Carolina League's best road record (7-2) and best overall record (20-8), did not get on the board until Reynaldo Rodriguez led off the ninth with his fifth homer. They managed just three hits in the game.

 

Wilmington and Salem, who lead the Carolina Northern and Southern Divisions respectively have two more games in their three-game set. The Blue Rocks visit LewisGale Field for a four-game series next week, but it remains to be seen whether Odorizzi will have pitched himself to Double-A Northwest Arkansas by then.

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TooLiveBrew Milwaukee Brewers

TooLiveBrew

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I really hope the Royals have a resurgence. I have an uncle & cousin who are lifelong Royals fans (live near KC), but just in general, too. The Royals used to be a proud franchise, and their fans deserve better. Hopefully it'll be fun to watch these prospects blossom at the MLB level.
Stearns Brewing Co.: Sustainability from farm to plate
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CheezWizHed Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

CheezWizHed

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The Royals used to be a proud franchise, and their fans deserve better.

 

Yeah, they parallel the Brewers quite a bit. I remember the old George Brett vs. Robin Yount comparisons. We both put average to good teams on the field in the '80s. Then both fell into the cellar during the '90s, then we were able to "rebound" a bit to the point of some respectability (more in the average range than cellar-dweller) .

 

Even the '05 draft with 3B Alex Gordon vs. 3B Ryan Braun. At that time, not a single person would have taken Braun over Gordon, but look at how that turned out....

 

As far as the prospects that we gave up, it will be interesting to see how many really turn out. I'll miss Odorizzi, I'm sure, but frankly, I'm liking Grienke now...

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battlekow ACL Brewers

battlekow

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RHP Chad Robinson, released sometime in the offseason, signed with the Pittsfield Colonials of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball (my wife, born in Pittsfield, gives a small fist pump). Robinson, signed for $500,000, was part of the Brewers' last draft-and-follow class in 2006 that also included Lee Haydel and Rob Bryson; shoulder surgery caused him to miss all of 2008 and seems to have robbed him of his former plus stuff.
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Tedaldtada Draft Eligible

Tedaldtada

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From FOX Sports

Speedster Cole Gillespie is tearing up Triple-A Reno (Diamondbacks). Gillespie has been an absolute terror on the basepaths, registering nine triples and eight stolen bases in 32 games. He’s batting .350 (42-for-120) with seven doubles, 23 RBI and 16 walks against 21 strikeouts.

Third baseman Brett Lawrie of the Las Vegas 51s (Toronto) is doing everything he can to get the attention of the big club by producing in all five standard categories. He’s hit safely in nine of his past 10 starts. Lawrie is batting .338 (50-for-148) with 12 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 24 RBI and eight stolen bases. The lone knock on Lawrie’s stat line is that he’s drawn only six walks. Alas, there’s a guy named Bautista in front of him.

Brantley, Odorizzi, Lawrie, Gillespie, Jeffress, and even LaPorta, Wilhelmsen. That is a boat load of young, former Brewer talent having very productive early seasons. I'm happy for them is all I can say.
@AlfredAugust
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Mass Haas GOAT

Mass Haas

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LHP Marques Kyles, the 6'9" son of bullpen coach Stan Kyles and who was released in spring training, has signed with the Joliet (IL) Slammers of the independent Frontier League.

Didn't last long, released yesterday...

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jjfanec ACL Brewers

jjfanec

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From FOX Sports

Speedster Cole Gillespie is tearing up Triple-A Reno (Diamondbacks). Gillespie has been an absolute terror on the basepaths, registering nine triples and eight stolen bases in 32 games. He’s batting .350 (42-for-120) with seven doubles, 23 RBI and 16 walks against 21 strikeouts.

Third baseman Brett Lawrie of the Las Vegas 51s (Toronto) is doing everything he can to get the attention of the big club by producing in all five standard categories. He’s hit safely in nine of his past 10 starts. Lawrie is batting .338 (50-for-148) with 12 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 24 RBI and eight stolen bases. The lone knock on Lawrie’s stat line is that he’s drawn only six walks. Alas, there’s a guy named Bautista in front of him.

Brantley, Odorizzi, Lawrie, Gillespie, Jeffress, and even LaPorta, Wilhelmsen. That is a boat load of young, former Brewer talent having very productive early seasons. I'm happy for them is all I can say.

Gillespie is going to be 27 this June, surprised he is not with Arizona's big league club.

Brantley is valuable as a CF. His numbers are falling lately but he should be fine.

Lawrie will be a stud if he can play the field.

Odorizzi is the one I think will hurt the most. He has a chance to be very, very good.

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