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It’s all but a certainty we will several of our top prospects to the majors, which is a good thing of course, and it’s very nice to see the new guys step right into those spots with how well things are going for them – specifically Winn, McGreevy, and Graceffo all look like top 100 players for next year, along with Walker.
I really wish they’d start giving him some reps at SS. It doesn’t look like the team has any urgency in moving Edman to SS.
I’ve never seen a team take their starting CFer from the year prior and make him the DH. That kind of says it all for the Cubs. Suzuki was a very good pickup though, but they are going to be stuck for a while with their lack of a farm system after tearing it down.
PugsleyAddams
Moises Manuel Gomez.,….. besides being on RatsBuddy’s preseason radar, I don’t recall anyone else touting this high flying Venezuelan. He looks to have a similar build as “The Toy Cannon”.
He was only signed this off-season, used to be with Tampa:
11/11: FA OF Moises Gomez signed to minors contract, assigned to Spr. Mem C/OF Clint Coulter re-signed, given non-roster spring camp invitation. New organization total: 251 players.
Between what we’ve given up and hit, AAA-Memphis has to be on pace for the most homeruns ever in a season at this point.
They should probably start Sosa a couple times this week and see what develops among the two.
BTW, did Edman get any playing time at SS this spring?
We shouldn’t forget that Hicks is hitting 100 MPH while throwing a sinking fastball. Also, I’ve always thought he had a really nice curveball, but never got the chance to work on it or develop it in the minors or carried it over into the majors as a high-leverage reliever.
stlcard25
At any rate, the scout’s comment on his defense is a bit disappointing. It’s hard to see him having a future on this team at that level.
That was a brutal assessment for such a young, athletic guy. I don’t know what you do with him either if that’s the truth. Sounds like he’ll be more like Yairo Munoz.
Ideally, we use Gallegos, Cabrera, McFarland, Whitley, and a FA relief pitcher in the late inning roles.
Some combo of Reyes, Hicks, and Woodford in the 4-5-6 innings / backup starter roles. It’s difficult to see a spot for them as full-time starters, given we have 5 starters in place already, but one will, unfortunately, get hurt.
My preferred ‘backup’ starter is the Reyes/Hicks/Woodford trio doing the Tampa piggy-backing, rather than just giving the ball to Woodford or Oviedo every fifth day.
I treat it as Reyes and Hicks though competing for that job and the loser ends up in the late-inning bullpen mix.
Brian Walton
Yes, I think Mejia will slot into the Top 50, but he is probably the only one until they all play some professional ball. Cho is getting tremendous attention due to his uniqueness, but his rumored bonus was about fourth-round money in the draft.
Would Won-Bin Cho be a little different since he’s coming from Korea? Maybe under-valued dollar-wise compared to the saturated Central American market. Also, he is closer to ML age-wise having already turned 18. Maybe comparable to Tink Hence or Alec Willis ~ $1M HS arms?
It still makes no sense that they’ve gotten rid of the Rookie Advanced and Short-Season Class A leagues. This only hurts teams like St. Louis, who have great track records with development in those leagues.
We have a very strong base of position players with elite prospects coming up as well. I see no issues there.
Pitching-wise, we have a big hole coming up with Wainwright, Mikolas, and Flaherty all being FAs by 2024. Assume you replace one of the three with Liberatore, you still have just Matz, Hudson, and Liberatore in house with no real prospects behind them (McGreevy and the like)
It’s a shame he’s so into the players association too, because Flaherty is the perfect candidate to sign a long-term extension. Wrap him up through his 31-32 seasons and our entire staff looks way more competitive.
Fact of the matter is that signing free agents, like Matz, instantly puts them into the negative trade value category. Adding FA starters for 2024 ends up being payroll-neutral moves at best. (Matz: -2.9, Jon Gray: -3.5, Eduardo Rodriguez: 0.5, Stroman: -3.5)
It’s hard to find a career similar to that of Bader. Best I can find of an age 27, above-average, but not great bat, with elite defense, is Corey Dickerson, Josh Reddick, Will Venable, and Kevin Kiermaier.
Josh Reddick and Dickerson are really close. Also, they both had a big year in age 30, then the hard fall-off. Venable was similar to those two. Kiermaier fell off offensively after his age 27 season.
With OPS+ from 24-27 in parentheses – Reddick (107 OPS+), Dickerson (118 OPS+), Venable (106 OPS+), and Keirmaier (107 OPS+) all followed their age 27 seasons with 3 seasons of this:
Reddick (118 OPS+)
Dickerson (121 OPS+)
Keirmaier (82 OPS+)
Venable (114 OPS+)All of them fell off hard by age 31 and on.
Given Bader’s career thus far and these contemporaries, it might be smart to sign Bader to a 3 year deal, getting one extra year of FA (through age 30).
#46 – Carlos Soto, CA
#47 – Jose Davila, RHP
#48 – Luis Pino, OF
#49 – Todd Lott, 1B
#50 – Felix Taveras, OFTheBeave
#46 ~ Jacob Buchberger
#47 ~ Wilfredo Pereira
#48 ~ Zane Mills
#49 ~ Inohan Paniagua
#50 ~ Yordy RichardZane Mills has already been selected
I didn’t look at Walker’s A-ball season. I figured it wasn’t unheard of for guys to dominate in that league. That’s good info.
One thing that worries me with Walker is his heavy splits. He absolutely destroys LH pitching. It’s not typically an issue long-term if a RH is killing LH pitching, as much as it is the other way, but I’d still like him to even it out.
My mistake – I was relying on Twitter.
After looking at comparables though, I’m inclined to say that Walker had a lot better year than I gave him credit for. There just aren’t a whole lot of high schoolers that were drafted, ever, that even made it to A+ ball the year after being drafted, let alone put up a 124 wRC+.
Among other A+ ballplayers, his 124 wRC+ is 45th overall. But only Francisco Alvarez (Mets) is the same age. Only Anthony Volpe (Yanks), George Valera (Cleveland), and Andy Pages (Dodgers) are 20 years old. Only Sebastian Espino (Jays) is even 21 years old, among the 44 players that had higher wRC+.
Also, among 1st round position player HS draftees from 2020, he is one of three that even played in A+ ball this year (along with Nick Yorke of the Red Sox and Robert Hassell of the Padres)
Top 100 players for the Cards:
31. Liberatore
38. Walker
40. GormanI believe their team rankings are done independently of their national rankings, hence the Walker, Gorman, Liberatore ranking above.
#36 – Carlos Soto, CA
#37 – Tre Fletcher, CF
#38 – Andre Granillo, RHP
#39 – Logan Gragg, RHP
#40 – Jose Davila, RHP
