The PTBNL: Ian Krol
The other shoe has dropped on the Michael Morse trade, as the Nationals announced that LHP Ian Krol is the infamous “player to be named later.”
Krol was drafted in the 7th round out of Neuqua Valley HS in Naperville, IL in 2009 and put together a 9-4, 2.65 season in 2010 that put him into the Top 10 (#9) of the A’s system, per Baseball America. Unfortunately, elbow problems and issues between the ears effectively turned 2011 into a waste.
Last year wasn’t much better (2-9, 5.20, 1.361 between High-A and AA), but as John Sickels put it:
Krol avoided injury problems and Archie Bunker outbursts last year… but struggled in the unforgiving California League. He pitched better as the season progressed, showing a better changeup in particular. He gave up some runs after moving up to the Texas League, but his K/BB and K/IP ratios were quite good and that’s more important for his future projection.
Krol features a low-90s fastball, but his curve and change have been praised as “plus” in the past, but what’s been missing is consistency on the field, and maturity off the field (he was also suspended in high school). He turns 22 in May, so suffice to write, there’s still time for him overcome this adversity and return to form.
Schaeffer effect
Huh?
Well, at least he’s young and still has potential.
This is a better return as a PTBNL than I could have hoped. I hope that Krol’s expressed remorse and acceptance of his previous suspension will satisfy fans that it is safe to root for him.
This continues a mystery for me. The fact that they didn’t include Krol right away indicates to me that he wasn’t necessarily the person the Nats were going to receive. Were there a couple of people the Nats could choose from? If so, what was the basis for choosing at this time of year? What other reason could there be for waiting?
Seems like at the time that Rizzo mentioned something about wanting to make sure that the player they had tentatively identified was definitely over a past injury. That could fit with Krol.
From what I have read about past trades that involved PTBNL there is a small pool of players to choose from in some instances or the team is doing due diligence on the player that has been agreed upon and then they announce later.
I have to say that while there are some issues with Krol his upside is much higher than anticipated. Guess as a throw in on a trade Rizzo is willing to take a shot on him and doesnt have much to lose if they cut ties later.
Ian is a very good player. And because of that he has always had the attitude that rules don’t apply to him. Hopefully, as he gets older, consequences will get tougher and he will finally be made to face them, regardless of his ability on the field.
And Krol is hardly unique. There have been others like him in the Nats organization, past and present, and (undoubtedly) future. Some Luddites (*cough*, Matt LeCroy, *cough*) think ignorance and immaturity go away if players don’t use social media, which is specious because anyone can tune into talk radio and discover the medium has little to do with the message. Like most technology, Twitter merely sped up the process of exposing his flaws and may have even done him a favor by having him learn this lesson now versus later (like Yunel Escobar, as another commenter pointed out).
Krol is an interesting case. He was suspended for more than 2 months for his slur while Yunel Escobar only got 3 games. Seems a bit skewed to me. Escobar should have gotten a much heavier suspension last season. Although for awhile there it looked like his punishment was going to be being a Marlin.
Krol has no union representation. EOM.
As a throw-in on the Morse-Cole trade, this is a better than hoped for acquisition.
Having said my share of stupid and regrettable stuff, particularly in my late teens and early 20s, I’m willing to give the guy a pass on the twitter mistake. He’s paid his punishment and claims to have learned from the error of his ways, so until he proves otherwise, I don’t think that should be an issue.
The reality is he’s a lefty who was at AA at a young age. That’s a good sign. His ERA was really high – that’s a bad sign.
But, if he can show his 2010 form at H’Burg, that would give the Nats a really nice LF relief option for sometime in mid 2014 or 2015.
Putting aside the twitter business, I have to admit that getting A.J. Cole, Blake Treinan and Ian Kohl for one year of Michael Morse is a pretty good return. To use Sickels’s grades, that’s a B (Cole), a C (Treinan) and C+ (Kohl) prospect – and Sickels also tabbed Treinan as a sleeper pick that could move up quickly.
One can argue that Rizzo “lost” the Willingham trade (although I will continue to point out that to keep Willingham would have meant no Morse, so the Nationals really wouldn’t have gained anything there). But I think Rizzo did very well in the Morse trade; better than I expected/feared, honestly.
What happened to top prospect Matt Skole? He disappeared off the big board? Is he on the bench behind Bloxom? That seems highly improbable?
I fixed the link to go straight to the 2013 tab, but until the games start, it’s not indicative of anything yet.
Hmmm suspended in high school as well? Another JimBo-like pickup as in Duke, Elijah? According to Jim-Bo he told Ted Lerner that Duke would either end up in jail or in the All Star game. Perhaps Mr. Krol fits that category?
Peric-
Deft pushing of the buttons there, but of course these are two totally different cases. Krol is (was?) a knucklehead, but Elijah Dukes was and is a criminal. Dukes also was a higher-ceiling player, and that matched the much greater risk he posed than Krol apparently does.
+1/2St
And as for losing in the Willingham trade. They still continue to retain and work with both players. Until that ends … admittedly that could occur sooner rather than later at this point …