Salome Suspended for 50 games; Update - Only Five Games Remain

[pogokat]

I don't know...i think this is a humongous deal...part of the reason i liked Angel so much is because he wasn't saltalamacchia or palmisano (both guys who've had their image tarnished by questionable behavior in the past...This really sucks, and i kinda feeel like we've been taken for a quick one....

 

Angel will still be a heckuva prospect when he comes back, but this is a huge strike against his reputation as the hardest working guy in the farm system...I always saw him as an upstanding guy and this, well unless it's a total mistake, really hurts that image...Tom wilhelmsen was a guy who many questioned...i don't think i ever read about him when his maturity wasn't mentioned as suspect...when he had trouble and eventually left the game, it wasn't a shock. This is so surprising about Angel precisely because everything we've heard about him is the opposite..

 

He can certainly come back from this...and he can probably repair his image...but it will be very hard...and the brewers may very well just want to move on from him at this point as welll..

 

and i don't mean to assault his character...it's just that i feel let down...hopefully there's more to this, but if not, it's pretty aggravating...

 

 

oh, and before i get an email from some of lou's followers, i have heard that he's matured quite a bit in the last few years...

[Mass Haas]

I'm just dismayed that even if Angel fulfills his promise and spends six wonderful productive pre-free agency years with Milwaukee, that means we'll hear references to this incident for the next 8-9 years or so -- ugh.

[jackalope02ca]

I wouldn't be surprised if we traded him and moved on. Not give him away but move him to another organization for something decent.

 

He has just shown a huge character flaw and a lack of maturity. He has to drop out of the top 10 on the Power 50 at this point.

 

Other than Turnbow how many minor leaguers who have tested positive have made it or are legitimate prospects at this point? I'm just asking as I am not sure.

[wvpowerblkwel]

Has anyone heard anything definitive as to what the substance was? Is there any possibility it could've been something that he was taking in relationship to his past injury? Just seems like we've hung this guy already.......I see leave him alone in the P50....

[rwa12]

Quote:

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I'm just dismayed that even if Angel fulfills his promise and spends six wonderful productive pre-free agency years with Milwaukee, that means we'll hear references to this incident for the next 8-9 years or so -- ugh.

---

 

Maybe not, they didn't really beat up Turnbow much, and if it takes him a few years to make it, he will be overshadowed by newer, possibly bigger names.

[mothershipconnection]

to be in the minority and to be verbally abused, I'm not surprised at all, who has that picture of him flexing with his shirt off?

 

That's exactly the first thing I thought. He may very well be a genetic freak, but when I saw those pics I remember thinking "who the heck looks like that as a high school kid? That ain't supposed to happen."

 

As for Mass's question, I'd say he should drop no further than 11 or 12. Even that may seem harsh, but I'd drop any guy who's going to miss 50 games for any reason quite a ways. Keep in mind that I haven't followed some of the other guys enough in recent weeks to know how they should rise or fall around Salome.

Edit: I guess Thatcher and Gamel could be bumped up while I'd send Cain and Gillespie down a could notches.

[battlekow]

It was definitely a performance-enhancing drug, according to the mlb.com article, so the Dock Ellis scenario is out.

[battlekow]

Oh, and what's the rationale for the demotion to Helena? Was it an internal punishment before the test results were announced to the team?

[pogokat]

well, demoting him to helena would cut his paycheck quite a bit...though i don't know if he's being paid during the suspension

[And That]

He has to serve the suspension on an active roster, hence the demotion to Helena.

[Never Outhustled]

I wasn't huge on his prospect status in the past, but this doesn't drop him at all in my eyes. It shows he is willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. Minor leaguers are tested more than major leaguers, so its not like he built up his prospect status while taking performance enhancers the whole time.

[battlekow]

But are you allowed to demote him after being notified of the suspension? That seems like shenanigans.

[rotoherb]

I didn't see anyone bring this up before, but Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus did an updated positional rankings for minor league catchers last week and Salome didn't make the top 15. He actually had Lou Palmisano in the "Honorable Mention" area, but no mention of Salome. I thought it was a little strange, but maybe scouts don't think as highly of him as we do around here.

 

It's a free article, if anyone wants to give it a read:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6467

[danzig6767]

I wouldn't be surprised if we traded him and moved on. Not give him away but move him to another organization for something decent.

 

I can't see that happening,talk about selling an asset at it's lowest value point.I'm assuming this will teach him a lesson,doing it again could be a death sentence to his career if caught.

 

If he cleans up his act,losing 50 games is like him missing that time via injury,except for the stigma attached to taking whatever he did.

[colbyjack]

I didn't see anyone bring this up before, but Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus did an updated positional rankings for minor league catchers last week and Salome didn't make the top 15. He actually had Lou Palmisano in the "Honorable Mention" area, but no mention of Salome. I thought it was a little strange, but maybe scouts don't think as highly of him as we do around here.

 

I would chalk this up more as an oversight than as Kevin Goldstein having a strong finger on the prospect pulse. While I respect Goldstein's insights, he doesn't exactly have the strongest track record when it comes to prospect evaluation at the minor league and amateur levels.

 

Although Salome's height really hurts him in the eyes of scouts.

[Team Canada]

It shows he is willing to do whatever it takes to succeed.

 

 

If there was a huge eye roll emoticon, I would use it here. That's a horrible "ends justifies the means" mentality.

[TheCrew07]

I'm so disappointed right now as I just read through the entire thread before posting. I guess the best way I can put my feelings right now is that I feel like I would had Yo! got hit by a car last year. Catcher has been such a huge void in the system... he's mashing... I keep wondering if this is somehow related to the ankle injury.

 

Well Lou, get on it and start raking again. Lucroy will also be interesting to watch.

 

I'm seriously the most devestated I've ever been by the loss of of a prospect, although it's very temporary.

[DHonks]

I'm a bit surprised, but I'd put him no lower than 5th in the rankings. Angel was punishing the ball in Brevard! I think we've been spoiled in Milwaukee, where we've had the fewest farmhands test positive over the years. He'll come back next year, hit .300 with 15 jacks in AA, and be named Southern League MVP. The Brewers will be disappointed, just as they were with Hernan. But to be honest, he's had a good year. The big punishment for him is that he's suspended without pay. And I think the mistake someone made earlier is that if he were paid, he'd still get paid at an A+ salary. I'm fairly certain you get paid the highest salary between: 1) your pre-minor league rule V draft placement, and 2) your highest level played at thus far in the season. In other words, a AAA guy signs a AAA contract, gets demoted to AA, but still gets AAA pay. Or a guy signs an A-ball contract, gets bumped to AA and the new pay-level, then demoted, but retains the AA pay level.

[Nader Raider Tim]

As everyone else has said, this sucks. This really sucks. Angel Salome was one of the Brewers prospects that I really was extremely enthusiastic about. Now, I just don't know. I doubt this affects his prospect status all that much, but I just don't really wanna root for him.

 

I truly hope this is just an oversite on Angel, and or the Brewers organization. I hope that this just ends up being that Angel got some supplement that he thought was A-OK and didn't take it to the team nutritionist to see if it was infact ok to take. (If in fact A ball clubs have a nutritionist)

 

This is bad but this should be a wakeup call to the Brewers organization.

 

 

 

On a side note, wasn't Brendan Katin "caught" for steroids earlier in the season? I have seen Katin in the boxscores continuosly so I might have my facts mixed up.

[aracko]

www.floridatoday.com/apps...002/SPORTS

 

Little more details - but still not telling us what the substance was. Reading into the words of Buck Rogers, it sounds to me like it was clearly not an accidental slip.

[Mass Haas]

New photo of Angel at the link above if you haven't checked it out yet...

[The Big Cheese]

Don't give up on Angel guys. He still has the potential to be the best catching prospect we've seen here since the 1980s, and I trust he'll have learned his lesson by this epic suspension.

 

And remember what Delmon Young did. No one seems to even care about that and all the games he received now that he's shagging fly balls in the majors.

 

I trust the Brewers won't give up on Angel either...

[Mass Haas]

From MLB.com:

 

Minor Leaguer suspended: Angel Salome, one of Milwaukee's top catching prospects, has been suspended 50 games "for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program," Major League Baseball announced on Tuesday.

 

Salome, 21, and a fifth-round Draft pick in 2004, was batting .318 in 64 games for Class A Brevard County. He got a late start this season because he suffered a broken ankle in late 2006.

 

"Obviously, we're disappointed as any team would be," said Brewers general manager Doug Melvin. "Reid [Nichols, the team's farm director,] has talked to Angel and he knows he has to suffer the consequences of the suspension."

 

The suspension will stretch into next season. The Brewers sent Salome home to New York for the next two weeks, but after that he will be permitted to work out at the team's Spring Training facility in Phoenix.

 

Salome is the second Brewers player disciplined under the policy. The first was Nic Slack, who was Brevard County's 22-year-old closer when he was suspended in 2005. Slack retired from baseball at the end of that season. .

 

NOTE: Arizona Brewer RHP Luis Jimenez has already served a suspension. -- Jim

[filthyfrog]

One thing to keep in mind is that if the drugs he took truly enhanced his performance, his performance could take a nosedive once he's clean. Not to mention the fact that he won't be able to see live pitching or catch in a game for seven months or so. He might never be the same.

 

And when it comes to Power 50 placement, which is at least partly based on past performance, you have to ask yourself whether or not he truly earned all the numbers he's put up.

[toolemeister]

I understand the furor over this bombshell, but this kid needs support not rebuke. He made a mistake. Who hasn't?