Monday’s News & Notes

14 Commments

1. Hoping the ASB, the draft and the first subtraction from the major league bullpen will finally allow the farm to adjust its bullpens throughout the system. We have a surprisingly strong crop of relievers that for various reasons aren’t really being challenged at their current level. For example, Cuevas’ very good outing yesterday was cemented by 3 dominant arms – Brzykcy, Ferrer and Grissom. At least the former two, both on the 40 man roster, should be in Rochester and primed to join the major league team as soon as possible, as Finnegan, Floro, Law and Barnes’ days should be numbered too. Grissom has been just as good, but I understand a slightly more cautious approach, having been promoted a month and a half ago, but Rochester should be in sight before the end of the season.

   In addition to Brzykcy and Ferrer, Jack Sinclair (1.96 ERA, 9.1 K/9), Carlos Romero (0.69 ERA, 14.5 K/9, happy 25th to him!), Daison Acosta (2.73 ERA, 13.9 K/9) have also earned promotions.

   Replacing them in Harrisburg should be Matt Cronin (0.84 ERA, 10.1 K/9, though I would argue he should be promoted to Rochester, not Harrisburg), Richard Guasch (1.80 ERA, 14.4 K/9), Miguel Gomez (2.77 ERA, 8.7 K/9), Brendan Collins (3.38 ERA, 10.6 K/9)

   Then from Fredericksburg, Anthony Arguelles (0.00 ERA, 10.7 K/9), Moises Diaz (2.13 ERA, 6.14 K/9), Bubba Hall (2.93 ERA, 10.6 K/9), Matthew Bollenbacher (3.22 ERA, 8.7 K/9), Samuel Vasquez (3.65 ERA, 8.0 K/9), Merrick Baldo (3.89 ERA, 10.9 K/9) have little left to prove, particularly when you look at their ages, almost all of whom are 2+ years above league average. (Oh, and promote Sykora too)

   Then from FCL, Adam Bloebaum (1.10 ERA, 9.9 K/9) and Angel Roman (3.86 ERA, 9.9 K/9) have played well, and likely have little to gain from such raw competition, but Aldo Ramirez, Dustin Saenz, and Mikey Tepper are all rehabbing there at the moment and won’t be there much longer either. Plus, all the imminent new arrivals from the draft should populate FCL and Fredericksburg’s gaps from the upward migration.

   1. Good stuff Will, and I agree with everything.

   2. Seaver King ? Could he see Wilmington ?

      1. After last year’s draft, the Nats pushed three college hitters — Crews, Morales, and Pinckney — all the way up to AA by the end of the summer, then started them there this spring. I would expect a similar push for Seaver King, and for Caleb Lomavita as well if he hits.

         The additions of King and Cayden Wallace (in the Harvey trade) help a lot with the thin infield crop in the organization (although kudos to Glasser for what he’s doing). Lomavita at catcher was also a need area.

         It’s a very pitching-thin draft, so who knows what they’ll come up with on Day 2. They’ve had good recent success with SEC hitters in these middle rounds, so I would expect to see two or three of those on the list.

   3. If they truly empty out the MLB bullpen with trades — and dealing a guy like Harvey who still had a year of team control signals that nearly everyone is available — then there is going to be A LOT of movement in the pitching conga line.

      They got a significant return for Harvey, so there should be a good infusion of talent for the organization from trades as well as the draft. A lot of new guys to learn about and follow.

   4. Wouldn’t that be a hoot if Bats took Kings WF teammate the lefty
      WiFi on this plane is spotty

   5. Kent should see Fred this summer ?

2. Gausch has had an interesting small sample series of A+ appearances. in two of them he lasted only a third of an inning and walked three batters in each, leaving the bases loaded and his ERA being saved as none of the six scored. on the flip side, in the other 9.1 innings pitched he’s only walked on batter. he needs to figure out what he ate for breakfast for those two days and throw that crap out!

   1. I think there’s special urgency with Guasch as he’s 26 years old, and if I’m calculating correctly, becomes a free agent this winter. Need to see what we’ve got in him. Quick.

      1. respectfully, he’s thrown 250 innings in the minors consistently striking out a lot of guys and walking almost as many. it’s no mystery what we have, it’s anyone’s guess as to what he could develop into. you can’t hold onto guys like that forever. Lord knows we’ve given chances to many other similar players from other systems.

         1. 250 IP over 7 seasons. All that tells me is that he’s injury plagued. But we definitely won’t learn much more than that giving him innings throwing at the same level he’s been stuck at for four seasons now. In a short cameo last season in Harrisburg, he threw 5.2 scoreless innings, then got injured and never got another chance. Give him one. If he sinks, too bad. At least he tried and failed. Meanwhile, the Senators are giving regular innings to older and worse relievers, like Samuel Reyes, Ty Tice and Garvin Alston.

            1. worse relievers, two of the three were just promoted to AAA

3. Ok here is my skinny in this chat game :
   Haas was in Arizona . Think D- bax drafting with Hass on the staff .
   Pitching wise Lara has risen up the chain and written a new chapter in his career .
   Like Todd said let’s see who they take day 2 on the road .
   Yet again versatile athletes in time can be flipped for pitchers who haven’t endured Tommy John or other set backs .
   Meanwhile Alvarez goes on the 7 day and C.C released for draftees adding onto that number near 170

4. There’s lots of talk about how the Nats reached for their number 10 pick, Seaver King (also for Luke Dickerson). As a general question, do sports writers know more than good general managers? I ask because general managers are “graded” by how they do against sports writers’ evaluations. The obvious answer to this question is “wait a few years and then you will know.” Anything to add beyond that?

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