Sunday Rockpile: Ian Stewart's coming out party drawing raves
by Rox Girl on Jun 7, 2009 8:22 AM MDT
in Pebble Report
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You have to go through four other great plays to get to Stewie's at #1, but it's worth seeing again.
Troy Renck writes that Stewart's play of late has made it imperative that he be handed a regular role with the team in his recap of yesterday's game:
The issue is no longer if he's going to play, but where. He can't go back to the bench. The days of platooning at second and third and performing more odd jobs than Arm & Hammer should end.
It's probably a difficult reference for a lot of younger people to catch given the way that even the Arm and Hammer brand has a specialized product for everything now, but the point's true. Stewart's carrying this team right now like nobody else has this season, and benching him would be a mistake.
For what it's worth, today Jim Tracy plans on sitting Todd Helton, who has been slumping over the last dozen games or so, hitting .195/.327/.366 since May 25 and certainly is looking as though he could stand to have a day off or two.
Renck's regular column this week looks at the Ryan Spilborghs roster issue, that is the one that seems to suggest that Spilly could be trade bait as there are too many outfielders with the big league club right now. As Renck alludes, Carlos Gonzalez' performance will be the real key, if CarGon's bat lives up to the advanced billing, the Rockies will need to make some action, if he continues to hit as he has in his first five MLB AB's, it might be wise to hang onto some guys for a bit of insurance.
His column also gives an update on Christian Friedrich, who I think won't make it to the show this year, but he could actually be competing for a rotation spot next Spring as Renck suggests.
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Isn't 80 the highest on the scouting scale?
80 is outstanding and 70 is well-above-average.
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
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yea 80's highest
unless it’s up to 80 for specific skills like power or speed and an overall player rating has a max of 70… which would be dumb…
Ian was great last night..
But let’s not forget this team is on a roll without it’s top two catchers!
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Renck draft note
Hobgood looks like a late riser, and I doubt he’ll be there at #32. If the Rox can pick up White at #11 and Hobgood at #32 though, I’d consider this a very successful draft. Add Poythress at #34 and the system could get a HUGE talent upgrade.
Hawpe trade and CarGon
I don’t see why a Hawpe trade has to hinge on CarGon’s performance—at least that’s how I read Renck. If CarGon bombs and needs to go back down for more seasoning, and if Hawpe were traded, you play Smith-Fowler-Spilly with Murton as the 4th OF. Sure, you lose offense in going from Hawpe to Spilly, but you probably also gain 10-20 runs on defense, and the idea of making Hawpe available was to get someone young in return.
If CarGon goes back down and Spilly is traded, yeah, that’s a bit awkward as I’m not sure the remaining CF backup options are that palatable. Then again, backup CF options often aren’t. And sure, you’re really thin if you trade both and CarGon bombs…
More on Hawpe
Oh, and I don’t think they should move him just to move him, but I have no idea what returns would be acceptable. That’s the hard call. The McLouth trade makes for an interesting hypothetical.
How good are the guys the Pirates got back for McLouth?
Not to compare McLouth to Hawpe (not really), but given the controllable years, contracts, etc., and the difference in power numbers, I would expect at least the equivalent in value…but how good are those guys?
Watching the purple row from high atop the big brown monolith on California Ave
Hernandez and Locke
were #4 and #7 in the Braves’ farm system, per BA, so they were both pretty good prospects. Morton is a #4/5 starter type.
I think the Rockies could expect a similar package for Hawpe, but knowing the Rockies, they’ll be looking mostly for major league-ready talent, which somewhat limits the amount of value they can get back.
Thanks
If a deal like that were made, I’d be okay with it, but only after CarGo proves he can hit real ML pitching and not AAAA pitching.
Watching the purple row from high atop the big brown monolith on California Ave
Yeah
At this point there’s no real reason to trade Hawpe, because (a) we don’t really know what Gonzalez can do in the bigs just yet, and (b) we might as well wait until closer to the deadline. Teams will start to get desperate as the deadline gets closer. The Pirates might have gotten an even better deal for McLouth if they had waited until mid-July to make the deal, though it’s also possible the Braves threw in Morton to get the Pirates to do the deal now.
Comparisons
I think McClouth is a fairly decent comparative value to Hawpe. His Defense is better, but his bat might be a bit less than Brad’s. Of course I’m also biased being a Rockie and Hawpe fan. So, the Braves deal would have been about right. From what I’ve read though the Pirates are actually pretty high on Morton for whatever reason, and a lot of people thought the return for McClouth was a bit light in value for that reason. That’s just not the kind of player I’d like to see the Rockies have included in their return. We’re already over-stocked with bottom of the rotation guys, and I’d prefer to see 1 really solid impact player come back than an assortment of average prospects. I just wish a team like St. Louis had an impact bat besides Rasmus or Wallace (who aren’t going anywhere) that they could package with a high-end relief prospect like Perez. To me, that would be the kind deal we’d need for Hawper.
Re: Comparisons
They’re an interesting pair. McLouth has an extra year (potentially—apparently Hawpe can void his team option for 2011 if traded), and is signed for less. Hawpe undeniably has the better track record with the bat. A lot of their value hinges on how good one thinks their defense is. play-by-play based metrics like UZR and plus/minus both see them as below average at their positions (though I think both the fangraphs UZR and plus/minus are based on the same pbp data source, from Baseball Info Solutions). Some Pirates fans think McLouth’s stats are hurt by the Pirates’ positioning.
Getting nearer to the deadline
are there examples of the bounty becoming higher as the deadline draws nearer? Hawpe’s a little different than a lot of deals, since he has another year on his deal. But I presume the Indians were able to get as much as they did for Sabathia because he was traded a little early (July 7) and Milwaukee was able to get a few more starts out of him.
Deadline
Personally, I think the deadline can go both ways. Especially if the guy you’re trying to move has a contract that expires at the end of the season (which is not the case with Hawpe) as you are as motivated to sell as the other team is to buy. Of course when you get to the deadline you may also find that some teams will have dropped further out of contention and may no longer not only be motivated to buy but may also join the rank of sellers. So, if you find yourself in a position where you have impact player and know you’re out of contention…. Why not start shopping around now when more teams are theoretically still in it. There are some teams right now who expected to win this year and find themselves a few games out of contention because their offense hasn’t clicked, and just a hand full of teams that know they will be sellers. Not the time to give away anybody, but a good time to see what’s out there.
Hernandez
isn’t as good as they thought he was. The Pirates received some filler material in that trade but none of those prospects are looking like huge impact guys. If Hawpe were dealt for something like that I think I’d be disappointed – unless the salary relief was funneled into the draft in a big way…
If Carlos bombs again similar to Oakland
you’ve got to seriously wonder whether or not he can hit major league pitching. So I’m not sure at this point that you get rid of BOTH Hawpe and Spilly.
Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?
Author: Jim Bouton
You have the rest of June
And I’m sure that’s why CarGo was called up now. The team knows what they have in Murton, but if Carlos can be productive than you can ship Spilly and Hawpe. If he struggles and need threst of the year in CSP. then expect one to get traded and the other kept. I see Atkins going for whatever they can get.
At this point, I'd think we'd have to eat some of Atkins salary.
Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?
Author: Jim Bouton
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