What did you think of Joey Votto the other night?
Votto is ineligible for Rookie of the Year. He finished 2nd last year.
He’s a stud, and is going to win a batting title soon.
They weren’t exactly mutally exclusive. They could have slid McLouth to a corner and brought up McCutchen to play center. I don’t really have a problem dealing McLouth though, but the return was a little light.
I would say he is a very good young player, but playing a little over his head right now. Perhaps, 290, 10 hr, 25 sb over a full season.
The Indians radio announcers had a lot of nice things to say about McCutchen. I was impressed (not so impressed by my Indians, however).
Gorkys Hernandez is a solid outfielder who I’m sure you’ll see in the coming seasons as he matures in the minors. Charlie Morton isn’t terrible, but in the few times I saw him (last year our starting pitching was decimated, our 5th starter became our Ace by the end) he didn’t impress me much. Certainly not a top prospect, but again, there’s something there that just needs a little time to mature. I really don’t know much about Locke, can’t say anything about him.
But holy crap that guy McCutchen is fast! When we played the bucs right after the Mclouth trade, I can totally understand the switch. Dude can hit, run, field with a speed I rarely see in the majors… I wish we had a monster outfield prospect like that.
RICKJAY, is Cameron Maybin a bust? He was really ,really thought to be a star in the making in Detroit. It appears he can not hit big league pitching. But I do not follow him anymore.
Erick Aybar just hit a bunt home run against the D-Backs.
<snicker>
Go, Arizona!
Homer Bailey pitches against the Tribe tonight. Should be, ah, interesting. He’s been a so-called “can’t miss” prospect for awhile, tends to dominate AAA and then shit himself in the bigs. We’ll see. Supposedly he’s developed a couple more pitches.
Checked the Reds lineup. Thanks be to God, no more Taveras or Rosales in the lineup. I think the Reds will generate some offense tonight. For a change.
This is probably the second best month in the history of the Colorado Rockies (October 2007). They are 20-6 and I never expected anything like this. They started the month getting swept by Houston to go 20-32 on the season. They then ran off 11 wins in a row, mostly on the road, to get to one game under .500. After a loss to Tampa Bay, everyone expected a return to mediocrity, but they ran off six more wins. They finally lost two in a row to the Angels and this must be the start of the crash. No, they sweep at Oakland.
Now they go into LA for the Dodgers and a huge test. I’d be happy with one win. July provides an incredibly easy schedule. The only team on the schedule with a winning record is the Mets, and they are one game over .500. 16 of the 25 July games are at home.
How inept are the Mets right now? A couple of errors/misplays in the first inning allowed the Yankees to score three runs. In the 9th, Cora and Castillo fail to communicate on a short pop that drops in. Later, with first base open, Derek Jeter up and Mariano Rivera on deck, they pitch to Jeter! Even Joe Morgan, Jon Miller and Steve Philips were shocked. After unintentionally getting a 2-1 count they finally put him on. Then K-Rod walked Rivera with the bases loaded to give the Yanks an insurance run. Unbelievable.
Maybin’s only 22 years old. His cup of coffee with the Tigers in '07 didn’t mean anything - you can’t judge a 20-year-old kid on 49 at bats after he’d barely played about A ball. I think he’s a great prospect, I think he’ll hit, and I think he’s going to develop lots of power. I like McCutchen more among outfielding prospects but Maybin is a Grade A prospect all the way.
The reports on Maybin are that he still struggles a bit recognizing big league breaking pitches, which is something experience can solve.
Well, Mark DeRosa is a nice addition for the Cards, can play anywhere, hits for average, has some pop in his bat and the Cubs hate it:
So we got that going for us.
It’s always fun watching Halladay work, even if he still has a little rust from his time on the DL. Doesn’t hurt that the Jays have some good defense behind him.
In Detroit he went from a player that was the future to being gone so fast I could not believe it. One of his first at bats was a rocket blast over the center field fence. Big league pitching seemed to overmatch him. but he was a kid. He also did not show a great fielding eye. He had a poor jump . They thought his speed would compensate. I would think if he were a real player ,he would have made more headway by now.
Dude, he’s 22. Most major leaguers don’t get so much as an at bat by that age. You’re judging him based on what he did in a few games when he was TWENTY, an age at which most players haven’t even made AA ball. Manny Ramirez wasn’t in the major leagues that young. Mike Schmidt didn’t make the majors until he was 22, and at age 23 batted .196.
The only reason Detroit traded him was to get Miguel Cabrera. The Tigers absolutely did not want to lose Maybin, but nothing less would have gotten Cabrera.
This is part of what makes the Upton brothers, BJ and Justin, so remarkable. Both broke into the majors at a young age just under 20 years old and both are making a big impact.
You can catch flyballs at 20. But he was considered a great prospect. The Tigers claimed he was absolutely untouchable , then traded him so fast, we were shocked.
It isn’t like they deal for a player on the decline. Cabrera was what 24 when the Tigers go him? A superstar entering his prime is worth any prospect. Best case scenario that Maybin becomes as good as Cabrera, but very few top prospects ever get that good.
Maybin also is hitting much better since being send back to triple A. I still think he is bit overrated due to high strikeout numbers, but he is still a top prospect.
Cabrera has been very good. Our end has been very successful. I wonder if the Tigers are hurting young players by pushing them into the bigs too soon. But the Maybin hype in Detroit was unprecedented. They touted him long and loud as the next great superstar. A can not miss superstar. Then they traded him . It was hard to take . Now it seems like a pretty good deal.
When the Tigers said he was untouchable, I’m willing to bet that **no one **in the GM office would have even dreamed that Cabrera would have been available.