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Thursday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Lost, 2-1 OFF DAY N/A
Harrisburg Won, 10-1 vs. Binghamton,
6:30 p.m.		 Bacus (AA Debut) vs.
Cessa (3-2, 2.97)
Potomac Won, 4-3 vs. Carolina,
7:05 p.m.		 Simms (0-4, 5.60) vs.
Carlos (0-6, 4.23)
Hagerstown Won, 5-2 @ Lexington,
7:05 p.m.		 Van Orden (1-1, 2.86) vs. TBD


Lehigh Valley 2 Syracuse 1
• Lively 4IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 4K
• Delcarmen (L, 1-3) ⅔ IP, 2H, 2R, 1ER, BB, K
• Minicozzi 1-3, R, BB, HR, RBI
• Mastroianni 1-3, 2B, BB

If you got up to hit the concessions in the 6th, you missed all the scoring as Lehigh Valley got their two in the top half while Syracuse responded with one in the bottom half. Manny Delcarmen suffered the loss, giving up both runs on two hits and walk over 2/3rds of an inning. Mark Minicozzi homered for the sole Chiefs run.

Harrisburg 10 Binghamton 1
• Spann (W, 1-0) 7IP, 7H, R, ER, 0BB, 3K, 2HBP
• Janssen 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• D. Robinson 2-4, R, 2B, BB, 3RBI
• Ramsey 2-4, 2R, 3B, BB, RBI
• Pleffner 2-4, BB, 2RBI

Matt Spann is winless at High-A, but unbeaten at AAA and now AA as the southpaw turned in seven strong innings in a 10-1 Harrisburg blowout win. Spann gave up the one B-Mets runs on seven hits and no walks, striking out three, though he the same batter twice. The Senators put up crooked numbers in the 5th, 6th, and 7th innings to turn a 3-1 game into a laugher as they pounded out 11 hits, including three doubles (Derrick Robinson, Ricky Hague, Brian Jeroloman), a triple (Caleb Ramsey), and a homer (Mario Lisson).
Roster moves: RHP Dakota Bacus, LHP Matthew Spann reassigned to Harrisburg; RHPs Brian Rauh, Tim Alderson placed on the 7-Day DL

Potomac 4 Carolina 3
• Giolito (W, 1-2) 7IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 9K, WP
• Davis (SV, 1) 1IP, 0H, 0R, BB, K
• Ward 2-3, R, BB
• Kieboom 2-4, 2B, RBI

The breaks evened out for Lucas Giolito and the P-Nats as they edged the Mudcats, 4-3. Giolito gave up all three runs over seven strong innings on six hits, but with no walks and nine strikeouts, including four in the 6th when a wild pitch to the leadoff man got turned into an earned but unlucky run when followed by a single and a two-run triple that put him behind 3-2. Potomac tied the game in the 6th with a walk and two infield singles. Stephen Perez got the Homer Simpson RBI with a bases-loaded HBP in the 7th. Derek Self pitched a scoreless 8th for the hold while Cody Davis worked around a walk in the 9th to pick up the save.
Roster move: RHP Kevin Perez reassigned from XST.

Hagerstown 5 Greensboro 2
• Williams 5⅔ IP, 6H, 0R, 3BB, 5K
• Bach (BS, 1) 1⅔ IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 2K, HR
• Amlung (W, 1-0) 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 0K 3-0 IR-S
• Keller 3-4, R, 2B, RBI
• Middleton 2-4, R, 2B
• Marmolejos-Diaz 1-3, R, BB, SB

The Hagerstown ‘pen blew a 2-0 lead but the bats came alive in the 8th for 5-2 win to complete the sweep of Greensboro. Austen Williams pitched five and 2/3rds of shutout ball with six hits and three walks allowed and five K’s. The win went to Justin Amlung who stranded three in the top of the 8th and pitched a scoreless 9th. All three Suns runs in the 8th came after two outs, highlighted by Osvaldo Abreu’s two-run double.

Trea Turner Update
Turner was a triple shy of the cycle while going 3-for-4 with a double and a home run in a 2-0 San Antonio win.

22 Commments

  1. Notably, that was only the second time Giolito has ever pitched 7 innings. It looks like they may have finally lifted the innings limit on him, or at least they’re capping him at 7 IP now.

  2. Man, this situation must suck for the Padres. Trades are sort of like exes. They’re bad enough when you can log onto Facebook and see that they’ve moved on really quick, have found another better looking partner and are generally doing really well (just like Joe Ross killing AA with a 2.54 ERA, 41 K and 11 BB over 39 IP). But it’s gotta be extra bad, when you break up with your ex, and still have to work with them everyday, except that since the breakup they’ve lost a bunch of weight, got a makeover, and are generally making you question why you ever broke up in the first place. And then each day you see them at work, they just get hotter and cooler and remind you of what an idiot you are. This is what the Padres must be thinking…

    Oh, and to make matters worse, your new girlfriend (Myers) is currently injured and out of commission for the foreseeable future. Ouch.

    1. Thankfully, we get him soon. You have to figure the Padres are combing through things to see how they can keep Turner.
      The ex-squeeze analogy is great, and very accurate.

    2. We should just request he goes on the DL now and heads over to Viera for “rehab.” Only 3 weeks to go… would hate for anything to get screwed up now.

  3. Impressive that at his age and stage, Turner is showing this kind of power. The trade is looking wiser each week, and Turner may be a more valuable prospect than Giolito by year’s end.

    1. Good trade? Yes. Turner looking like he’s going to be better than we thought, quicker than we thought? Yes. More valuable than the #1 pitching prospect in baseball, who has struck out 20 over his last two games? No.

  4. Guys so sorry off the subject I have been part of contributing for a while and an old subject , of being a Manno minion(haha) I watched the Yannkee nationals game and watched Matt Grace Pitch. Listen I wish him the best but I have watched our guys come up in the minors the last 15 season. I am a very good student of this game. But as a minion I have to say, that Manno is so much more of a ballsy cleaner pitcher, How is he not in our system and how can he not be up in the bigs is a very difficult pill to swallow

    1. Mel, as a fellow Minion, I heard that he went off to chase other dreams last July.
      A degree from Duke does open other doors. I thought I had heard it was his idea.

  5. At this stage of his career, Desmond had already been in pro ball a few years and was not showing this kind of power. Nor speed.

    All 20 strikeouts aside, and taking nothing away from Giolito, he is in A+ and one year younger. Turner has an OBP over 400, his slugging is over .500, and he has held his own at ss, one of the most pivotal positions on the field. All while playing for an organization that traded him already. He is regarded by his pro teammates as a winner who has a great feel for the intangibles of the game. Very coachable player. and yet he is experiencing his first year of pro ball and transition to wooden bat.

    Let’s say he continues to shine to the degree he has. Then he will most certainly draw favorable comparisons to the Addison Russells be compared to the Carlos Correa class.

    My point is not to diminish Giolito, but take a look at the trajectory that Turner is on and recognize that he is more than just better than we thought, but a player who may be very, very special.

    1. Perception is everything in the prospect world and while Trea has solidified himself as a top 100 prospect and could push himself into a few Top 50 lists, guys like Russell and Correra are on a different level when it comes to value. Same with Giolito.

    2. For one, both Russell and Correa are younger than Turner, AND they’re putting up comparable or better numbers than he is at HIGHER levels.

      I don’t mean to diminish Turner’s abilities, but these two guys are considered better for a reason.

      I’m also not sure if Turner can sustain this power. He’s a very slight guy 6’1″ 175 lb), and none of his scouting reports speak very highly of his power tool. Instead, he should be a gap hitter who can use his great speed to turn singles into double and doubles into triples. A masher (as his nearly .200 ISO attests) doesn’t look sustainable. However, he doesn’t need to be ARod to be useful. He’d be massively valuable as a Jose Reyes/Derek Jeter type of player, with decent pop, great speed and great defense.

      1. Let’s see how things look at year’s end. I appreciate the year Correa is having, and he was a #1 pick overall, but let’s just see how things look at year’s end. Russell is six months younger, Correa one year. Scouts reports change as players mature.

    3. Like others, I’m intrigued by Turner’s power bump. Someone on this list pointed out last week what a good hitters’ league the Texas League is, though, so don’t read too much into his “power” just yet.

      For me, here are the questions that will define Turner: 1) Can he get on base? (He figures to be the leadoff hitter for the big club.) 2) Will his speed be “elite” speed at the MLB level, or just above-average speed. 3) Can he be a shortstop at the major-league level? The big club has Escobar for one more season and Espinosa for two, but by 2018, they’ll need someone who can play SS, be it Turner, Difo, or someone else.

      The ranking and “value” issues are all relative. The Nats will need a leadoff hitter, probably in 2016 (Taylor strikes out too much to do it), and within the next couple of seasons will need a new infield combo. Turner came at a very reasonable price, and he seems to offer a piece that the Nats need. Perhaps he’s not the stud that some think Russell will be, but then the Cubs would probably trade Russell in a heartbeat for Giolito, so define value however you wish.

      1. Yes, define value as you wish. No one heard of Lopez at this time last year. He was a 17K investment. And now look at him! I’ll bet the Cubs would consider a trade of Russell for him just as well.

        Say what you want about Texas as a hitters league, but among his peers, Turner leads his team in HR and RBI and is among league leaders in slugging, TB and OBP despite starting the year 1-14 and despite only a double in the first nine games of his season. When you account for that slow start, he is hitting .365 with a .441 OBP in the 33 games since then. That is a good sample size and reflects that my exuberance is not irrational.

        He showed in the fall league that he has the stolen base goods; I suspect he is being leashed on the basepaths in order to keep him healthy for the DC transfer.

        The only point I have made and keep making is that Turner is not on an impressive trajectory in the context of the organization, but an impressive trajectory in all of baseball. Let’s see how this discussion looks at year’s end. God knows Syracuse needs all the help it can get 🙂

        1. Call me surprised that with two starters elevated from Potomac to Harrisburg that Lopez wasn’t one of them. I know he’s only had a couple of starts at A+, but it doesn’t look like the Carolina League is going to give him much of a challenge.

          2. Spann went the long way, by way of Syracuse, but he’s essentially coming from Potomac.

          4. Not official yet, but one of the sad things is that I’ve been having use the verb “reassign” instead of “promote” and “demote” because of the plug-and-play moves like this.

  6. Given that MLB has now changed the rule and allowed PTBL from the previous year’s draft to change teams within 6 months of the draft (as a result of the Trey Turner situation), do not understand why MLB does not simply allow the change to be made now rather than in 3 weeks. Continue to fear that he will be hurt until the move can be made.

    Difo is already playing for the Nats, and more and more, it’s looking like Turner may be MLB ready next year. Espinosa has found his stroke, Escobar has been rock solid, and Rendon will be back soon. Suddenly, the Nats middle infield looks loaded with a ton of options after being a massive question mark less than a year ago. Kudos to Rizzo. Also, Desi is so gone. With salary relief provided via all of the options mentioned above all of whom either have club friendly contracts or will be making the MLB minimum, Rizzo will have options to spend money elsewhere.

    1. Hopefully, with Desmond playing better and Turner playing well, the Nats will forget all about this trading for Tulowitzki nonsense. Tulo is his prime would have been a great addition, but now he is already 30, having a down year and is still owed over $100 million.

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