Potential Top Pick Screams 'Look At Me, Look At Me!'
Durham 5, Toledo 3. Jeremy Cummings picked up the win in his first start for the Bulls, throwing 6 shutout innings. He stuck out 4 and walked 4...Grant Balfour earned his 6th save, striking out 4 in 2 innings...Justin Ruggiano was 2-3 with a 3-run home run, his 4th...Dan Johnson was 4-4 and is now hitting .317.
Mississippi 2, Montgomery 1. Richard de los Santos only gave up 3 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings, but picked up the loss...Sergio Pedroza was the only Biscuit with more than 1 hit. He was 2-2 with a walk.
Vero Beach 1, St. Lucie 0. Heath Rollins finally picked up his 2nd win, throwing 7 shutout innings, on 2 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 6...Joey Callender drove on the only run with a sac fly.
Hickory 7, Columbus 5. Glenn Gibson dropped to 1-5 after allowing 3 runs in 5 innings on 7 hits and 3 walks...Emeel Salem was 2-5 with his 24th stolen base...Maiko Loyola was 2-5 with his 18th steal...Greg Sexton was 2-5 with an RBI.
NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM...
Mississippi 2, Montgomery 1. Richard de los Santos only gave up 3 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings, but picked up the loss...Sergio Pedroza was the only Biscuit with more than 1 hit. He was 2-2 with a walk.
Vero Beach 1, St. Lucie 0. Heath Rollins finally picked up his 2nd win, throwing 7 shutout innings, on 2 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 6...Joey Callender drove on the only run with a sac fly.
Hickory 7, Columbus 5. Glenn Gibson dropped to 1-5 after allowing 3 runs in 5 innings on 7 hits and 3 walks...Emeel Salem was 2-5 with his 24th stolen base...Maiko Loyola was 2-5 with his 18th steal...Greg Sexton was 2-5 with an RBI.
NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM...
- Potential #1 pick by the Rays in the June draft, Buster Posey, played all 9 positions in a 7 inning game...No offense. Wait. Yes, take offense. This is friggin' ridiculous. The just screams, "Look at *me* do something ridunculous against a weak Savannah State squad. This is NOT the type of player the Rays want in their system. And this has only a little to do with DRG's anti-FSU bias. This is really a little league/Bush league move, unless of course the Rays draft this kid, in which case it was friggin' awesome! [Biscuits Batter]
- OK. It has been a while since we ragged on Bill Chastain, so we will keep this minor. But to say "David Price is close to resuming his season" is kinda ridiculous, no? We mean, doesn't "resume" mean it had already started once. And in fact, Price will not only be making his 2008 debut but his professional debut. Of course, there is the little fact that the team is still not ready to schedule the #1 pick for his debut, saying only that he will make another extended spring training start later this week. Oh, Bill, where have you been? We missed you. [MLB]
- Jeremy Cummings got the win last night for Durham after starting the week in China. [Durham Herald-Sun]
Labels: Buster Posey, Jeremy Cummings
posted by The Professor at 7:40 AM
10 Comments:
Completely agree with your Buster Posey comments. It's ridiculous. Rays should just pick up yet another arm, especially with the way Navi's learning to manage the pitching staff. Now that the Rays have managed to get rid of Paul Wilson, Kevin Cash and Eduardo Perez, we don't need to sink into "FSU mediocrity" again.
Professor there's a big difference between "baseball players who act like they enjoy playing the game", as you stated, and baseball players acting like they just won the lottery. So over the top and stupid.
Posey seems like a real scumbag. We could have another Elijah Dukes on our hands.
Oh wait? He's a 4.0 student, still calls his coaches sir, and switched to a position he's never played before after being a freshman all american at SS for the good of the team.
I'll take a defensive catcher that has murdered pitching at every level he's seen.
nobody is comparing him to Dukes.
and by "every level" I assume you are referring to high school, little league and T-ball.
I don't want to knock his skills, but to say that hitting well in high school has anything to do with future major league success, than you are nuts.
The thing that bothers me about Posey is that if the Rays don't pick him first, he'll probably fall out of the top 10 or close to it. Unless I'm way off, I don't see any way one of the teams picking behind us takes Posey ahead of Alvarez, the two Beckhams, Crow, Matusz, Smoak, etc. I know the catching in the system is thin, but I'd much rather add another possible Longoria-type (Alvarez) or Upton-type (Tim Beckham) talent and look for catching depth elsewhere.
If it were up to me I'd have to go with Alvarez. His bat seems too good to pass up. Word is teams might be scared off by Boras's demands for an $8.6 million bonus or whatever, but I believe they gave Price a major league deal for $11.5 million over the first several years (correct me if I'm wrong). I don't see him turning that down if they offered it, especially with the comments he's made recently about wanting to play for the Rays. I'd also be OK with Tim Beckham or one of the college pitchers, but I guess this front office has pretty much earned the benefit of the doubt at this point.
Beckham's talent and athleticism has me very intrigued, but I am also a big believer that you can never have too much pitching.
i do wonder if maybe people are trying too hard to find somebody better than Alvarez. this could very well be a case where a lot of scouts or "experts" are over-thinking the draft.
if Alvarez is clear-cut the best player, that will be the guy the Rays take.
money shouldnt matter. if he doesnt sign, the Rays get an additional pick next year at the #2 overall slot.
of course now that i think about it, that could actually be a clever move by the Rays if there isn't a player they think is worth #1 pick money
Actually, Posey is pegged as a Top 5 pick. Just about every prospect site has him pegged to go high.
If you want to pick nits, I suppose one could argue that spring training is part of the season, and since Price did pitch in the spring he is now near resuming his season.
I watched part of the Posey game and thought the announcers said it was declared Buster Posey day and his manager decided to celebrate with that show of versatility. I saw the home run, which was a bomb to the opposite field over a 35' screen, but saw nothing in his demeanor to suggest he was a showboat.
I was unimpressed by the two strikeouts he got, only saw him catch a couple of routine throws to first (missed the 1/2 inning he caught) and watched him flail at two pitches away and in the dirt when he struck out in his last AB.
I have read that Tim Beckham has the higher ceiling but that Gordon Beckham is more a sure thing and closer to the majors, but his name is never mentioned in the top 4 or 5.
I think the Rays will sign whomever they select with the first pick, and I doubt Boras scares them. He is a good negotiator but so is Friedman and company, and Boras does not hold all the cards.
I hadn't seen Posey's name associated with the top 5 prospects until BA reported the Rays were possibly looking at him with the #1 pick. Scouts have said his power potential tops out at 10 - 15 homers a year -- that doesn't really scream #1 overall pick to me. Obviously I'm not a scout and I haven't seen him play, but I'd be interested in seeing a link to a credible mock draft if you can find one with the Rays picking someone else #1 and another team picking Posey in the Top 5.
I mean, if the Rays scouts truly believe Posey can develop into a gold glove defensive catcher and/or an all star type hitter, then I have no problem with the pick. But remember when the Pirates reached for Bryan Bullington because they had a bigger need for pitching and BJ Upton (the consensus top prospect) fell to us at #2? I'd hate to see the same type thing happen to us with Alvarez/Beckham because they reached for Posey because catcher was a bigger perceived need.
I think you are safe there. the Rays have said on more than one occasion that they do not draft for need. nobody knows what the team needs are going to be in 2-3 years when Posey or anybody else is ready to contribute.
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