Weekly Minor League Thread: Interesting Developments in Pawtucket
A few pretty interesting things are going on at Pawtucket right now. First, Brandon Moss is expected to be used at first base soon, which could mean any number of things. Perhaps they think that his bat is for real and want to prepare to give him at shot at winning that job next year. Or maybe they consider him a bench player who could take over the role that Eric Hinske currently handles. Another possibility is that another team has shown interest in him as a 1B.
The next item is Jed Lowrie’s promotion to AAA. The move makes sense, of course, because Lowrie has been consistently excellent at AA this year and, at 23, is ready to tackle the next level. I think there are also a couple reasons to think that the Red Sox are happy with his defense at SS. First, he’s been playing behind two of their most promising pitchers, Buchholz and Bowden, for much of the year. I don’t think they would want to have a sieve at short when those guys are on the mound. Second, they are likely to need a 3B next year if Lowell departs. If there was any question about Lowrie’s defense at SS, wouldn’t they want to find out if he could play 3B?
The last interesting development at AAA is the reemergence (probably too strong of a word) of Craig Hansen. Since July 15, he’s put up this line: 5 G, 9.2 IP, 10 H, 1 ER, 0 HR, 2 BB, 13 K. Some have attributed this to him rediscovering the slider that was his calling card in college. It would be nice if he was able to contribute in a setup role in 08.
(Sidenote: I know Brad Correll is a 26-year-old non-prospect in a High-A hitter’s paradise, but his numbers are just fun: 313/369/828 with 15 HR and 38 RBI in 24 games.)
Darren
Posted: July 28, 2007 at 08:47 AM |
28 comment(s)
Related News:
Boston
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
Called it baby.
Perhaps they think that his bat is for real and want to prepare to give him at shot at winning that job next year. Or maybe they consider him a bench player who could take over the role that Eric Hinske currently handles.
i told you so.
The last interesting development at AAA is the reemergence (probably too strong of a word) of Craig Hansen. Since July 15, he’s put up this line: 5 G, 9.2 IP, 10 H, 1 ER, 0 HR, 2 BB, 13 K. Some have attributed this to him rediscovering the slider that was his calling card in college. It would be nice if he was able to contribute in a setup role in 08.
W00t
Btw, I hear Daniel Bard is getting pwn3d because he can't find the strike zone to save his life, or in nicer terms, "losing his arm slot"
or they really don't want a sieve at short for such an extreme groundballer as masterson is.
1) Very few observers say he's good at SS. Some people have doubts, others (BA) say he simply can't handle the position.
2) The Red Sox don't need a 2B, and Lowrie's trade value is higher at short. The combination there explains his position, provided he isn't a complete disaster.
My guess is that Lowrie is something like a -10 shortstop- bad, but able to play perfectly well in the minors, and possibly able to convince some other GM that he's good enough. He's probably the most likely Red Sox prospect to be traded.
I like the idea of Lowrie at third. I don't think Youkilis is a good third baseman. My guess is that Lowrie may be tested at third if he sticks around past the deadline.
I think your post above sort of goes against a couple of smart things that you've said about prospects in the past. First, you've said that you think that promotions should be viewed as a positive for a player because they reflect the team's view that said player is a good one. I'd view defensive assignments similarly. As outsiders who don't often see Lowrie, the best evidence that we have that Lowrie is a SS is that they continue to play him there despite a couple motivating factors not to.
Second, although you've railed against the assumption that the Red Sox are going to dupe some stupid sucker GMs in trades, you seem to think they'll be able to pull exactly that off WRT Lowrie. If Lowrie's not an acceptable SS, other teams are not going to trade for him as a SS. Even the "dumb" ones.
The last thing I heard from BA was them talking to some scout and him saying Lowrie was pretty good. I think I've asked this before and forgive me if I'm forgetting the answer, but what have they said that is negative? My sense is that there's been a lot of questioning his ability to stick there, but not much saying he's actually bad.
Lowrie has been rated by the industry standard prospect report as not good enough for SS, and while the obvious place to move him is 2B, the Red Sox wouldn't do that because they don't care if he's a good 2B. I don't see a lot of reason to assume that Lowrie can play SS well in the majors. I'd love to be wrong, but the evidence out there doesn't point in that direction.
From what I remember, UZR rated Youkilis as an above average at third although the sample was smaller than you would want it to be. Based on that combined with what I've seen from my own eyes and his zone rating, I think Youkilis is no worse than average at third. I always thought that he was a better thirdbaseman than Lowell.
i must have missed that.
I guess the issues are twofold - (1) what's the most likely reading of the overall evidence and (2) what can we say the Red Sox ought to do. To me, the most likely reading is that Lowrie is a well below average MLB shortstop. I certainly think that the occasional drum-beating that the Red Sox are dumb for not calling him up doesn't have any basis. (Unless one has seen him in person and can articulate why they think differently - I'd still be skeptical, but that would be a basis.)
I can take post 5 as CFBPSing, and certainly there's more than enough evidence for hope that Lowrie's a major league SS, but I don't see more than that.
the soxprospects guys also like to quote an anonymous scout that raves about his defense at short ... so there's that.
Why haven't they tried him there already, I wonder. (Really, I wonder that, it's not snark.) I've given my guess in the intro, but there's also the chance that he has a lousy arm, which would mean he couldn't stick at SS.
What's the deal with his speed, anyways? He had 6 triples last year and 7 already this year, which suggests he has some wheels. Yet he has very few steals. ???
What if he is -10, as MCOA guesses? Would that be decent enough that it'd be worth having his bat at SS? His MLE suggests that he'd be an above average, though not great, hitter in the bigs.
Maybe he doens't feel like stealing bases, doenst' want to get caught, doesn't feel confident about his read, etc.
Whatever, if he doenst' want to steal, ther eare other ways of being a good baserunner than stealing. Such as NOT stealing.
Another development in Pawtucket - Buccholz struggled a bit last night, allowing 4 walks and a 2-run homer. According to guys at SoSH who watched on milb-tv, Buccholz was apparently restricted from throwing either his change or curve, and he had to rely primarily on fastball command with his slider as his only secondary pitch. As the Sox have stated (or is it just internal reports from the plugged-in fanboys?), fastball command is the main area where they want Buccholz to improve, so this makes sense. At the same time, it certainly cautions us as to relying too much on statistics for minor league pitchers.
And if they're doing this with Buccholz, how likely is it that they did it with Lester, and his statistics should be questioned? Lester's hugely improved curveball might in part be a consequence of the restrictions put on him in AAA. Dunno, but it's worth noting.
yeah that sounds fun. count me in.
...What day does it happen?
Let's organize something else not long thereafter.
If anyone's up for a road trip, I hear the Red Sox have an interesting pitcher and a SS with questionable fielding down in Pawtucket.
Nice to see Schilling dominating at Pawtucket when he could be taking Gabbard's spot in the rotation tomorrow. ???
Also, our hero Breslow has been horrible for a while now. Wonder what his problem is. Frustration?
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main